Its a fun action movie, with Kurt Russell and Steven Seagal getting top billing in the movie.

But theres little suggestion that anything particularly radical was lying ahead.

Yet in hindsight, theres something far more surprising than perhaps it was given credit for even then.

Not in a dramatic last scene kind of way, or major swirling moment of sacrifice.

Rather, he falls from a plane, and is never seen again.

Bluntly, he was always supposed to die.

And in doing so, it destabilizes the film a little.

An element of peril and unpredictability has crept in.

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Take, too, 1993sCliffhanger.

Or My Mom Will Shootis something of a write-off).

Our first big moment with Stallone as a mountain rescuer, and he fails.

Yet if you go down the list of this summers big movies, this was an ingredient sorely missing.

Thus, inStar Trek Beyond, we see early on in the film the destruction of the USS Enterprise.

Yet nobody surely sat there and thought they wouldnt just build another one at the end of the film.

That there were real consequences to losing the prize ship in the Federation fleet?

Or what aboutCaptain America: Civil War?

I liked the film a lot, and enjoyed the airport-set action battle immensely.

But what if a marquee Avenger had died, and crucially stayed dead?

What if, for instance, Ant-Man had gone?

Or Captain America himself?

Wed be feeling the impact of that in the Marvel cinematic universe for years.

Its not just Marvel, either.

Big movies, then, dont do a feeling of peril very well at all at the moment.

They do excitement, certainly, but rarely a sense of danger.

There are still odd moments.

I found myself clinging to my seat during the opening set piece of JJ AbramsSuper 8, for instance.

But back to peril.

Ive thought about this a lot.

There are many scenes where nothing much seems to happen inArrival, yet the sheer tension was palpable.

I hadnt seen this kind of alien invasion film before.

What was going to happen?

How can this turn out well?

I think Ben AfflecksArgodeserves credit too for introducing genuine, palpable tension.

But I do suggest that it remains a very strong one, when it works.

At the very least, unpredictability would help.

That Tommy Lee Jones took on the part of Richard Kimble, and Harrison Ford became Sam Gerrard.

There are those that are trying, I do appreciate that.

Mind you, theMission: Impossiblefranchise also demonstrates the problem.

There are been few casualties since as they embarked on their entirely possible missions.

Id rather they rediscover a sense of danger, a real belief in the peril on screen.

Easier said than done, of course.

But then Im still talking aboutExecutive Decision20 years on…