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Bruce Willis, the main ingredient of famous action-thrillers such as Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, and The Fifth Element, is on board to star in his next action-packed role in the upcoming movie Extraction, according to a Deadline exclusive. 

Willis steps into familiar territory as a former CIA operative and widower, with nobody to call family except for his only son, Harry. Together, father and son construct a super-weapon called the Condor, but their plans grind to a halt once Willis is abducted by a terrorist organization. Left to his own devices, Harry must submerge himself into government conspiracy in order to rescue his father.

Willis’s characters – much like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s – have been exalted in pop culture as the quintessential heroes of 80s and 90s cinema, giving the actor a fruitful career as macho protagonist who expertly battles the incumbent Evil (terrorists, rival species, criminals, etc). Both Willis and Schwarzenegger even showcased their similar qualities in The Expendables franchise (due for one final chapter), paying playful homage to their uber-masculine personas.

However, Willis’s opinion on the common action flick seems to have deteriorated. In a 2013 interview with Spanish magazine XLS, Willis described his boredom with the genre, saying:

Explosions are one of the most boring parts of my job. When you have seen a few fireballs, it’s not exciting anymore. I know part of my audience enjoys the explosions, but to be honest, I’m a bit bored of it now.”

Willis is also regarded as a respectable dramatic actor, having been a part of film productions like The Sixth Sense, Looper, and Moonrise Kingdom, and his comedic talent is evident in projects Ocean’s 12 and the satirical Planet Terror.

Despite his versatile range as an actor over the past two decades, Willis still manages to draw in audiences with classic gunplay. The Expendables 2 received top box office marks on its opening weekend with $28.6 million, and Red saw similar domestic revenue when released in 2010. A large conglomerate of Die Hard fans is even petitioning for the 1988 movie to be entered into the National Film Registry, preserving the film permanently into the Library of Congress.

Not much more is known about the plot of Extraction, though many have grown to appreciate Willis as the “heroic working man”. As a possibly embittered weapons creator however, this movie could potentially change the rhythm of Willis’s typical character arc. Instead of an unassuming average guy who is thrust into an uncompromising situation (demonstrated in a countless number of his action films), Willis’s character may be the origin of conflict and suspense in this new project.

Perhaps Extraction will mark the passing of the torch for Willis, so to speak, finally delivering the title of the Reluctant Action Hero to a younger generation.