10 Reasons That Prove Sylvester Stallone Is Underrated

8. He's Not Afraid To Parody Himself

Granted, this is something that's come with age, and the earnest mumbling of Rambo II probably wouldn't suggest the banter with Schwarzenegger in Escape Plan or the meat punch joke in Grudge Match but Stallone has learnt to self-mock. It probably started with Tango & Cash, but the run of late eighties/early nineties flops probably helped Stallone with the realisation that the days of Rambo and Rocky taking on whole countries had passed. Demolition Man is probably the best example of this as he completely deconstructed his action persona by freezing his John Spartan for 36 years before thawing him out in a world where weapons are banned, vices are outlawed and the only way to can wipe your backside is with a shell (no, I don't want to think about it either). It's essentially an action comedy, something you'd never find Rambo in and Spartan must find his way around this brave new world by destroying things in his clunky, 1996 ways. Later examples include various animated voice-overs and, most obviously, in The Expendables series, which completely parodies the careers of all those involved either through action set-pieces or by (admittedly clunkily) inserting dialogue from earlier action franchises. If nothing else though, Stallone can laugh at himself now and his career is the better for it.