It almost feels like people might have seen Ryan Lambert a time or two since his time as Rudy in The Monster Squad, doesn’t it? Well, kind of like his costar Andre Gower, he has been present on the movie and TV scene since his time in the movie that helped the kids to make a name for themselves, but there hasn’t been a lot of buzz around his name moving forward since also like Gower he’s been more or less stuck doing projects that have managed to gain him some attention, but not a lot. One can say that he’s been moving forward just like many other actors, and it’s even possible to say that he’s been successful, but saying anything other than this, that he’s been an A-lister, is really pushing it past reality and into fantasy. He’s been kept around as a part of the nostalgia that surrounds The Monster Squad, meaning that he does have value as more than just a human being, and is someone that can rightfully claim that he had a moment and tried for more once the moment was over. But apart from that, he’s someone that people will look up when they want to know who played which character in the one movie that brought him a bit of fame. It’s not out of cruelty that this is said, but more out of a sense of realism since the old stars from back in the day are seen to still be around quite often, but not in the kind of capacity that people might expect.
Let’s be honest though and say that he played a fun and needed part as the bad boy Rudy in The Monster Squad since everyone in that movie had their role to play and his was the guy that wore the black jacket, slicked his hair back, and was basically the toughest guy in the group. Against monsters though even Rudy kind of came up short until the squad found a way to deal with each threat. The leader of the squad, played by Gower, was tough and resolute, but Rudy was the bad boy that a lot of people identify with since he was the kind of guy that made it clear that he would fight just to fight sometimes and wasn’t easily intimidated that often. Plus, being the oldest member of the squad, Rudy had access to and knowledge of how to make a few different weapons, and he knew how to use them. From stakes and a crossbow to silver bullets, Rudy was kind of a dangerous kid in the right situation since he also had pretty extensive knowledge of monsters. The only thing was that it was never firmly established that he was an official member of the squad, even though he hangs around the other guys quite often. It’s easy to think that Rudy was there because of their shared love of monster movies and had nothing better to do with his time.
When a person is still young it’s easy to think that the stars they idolize are going to be just as great once they grow up, but as the years pass and things change it becomes a little more obvious now and then that the people that were great in one movie starts to fade a bit and their acting skills are revealed to have been good for the movie they were in, but either don’t develop or change enough to really make them stand out, or are just good enough to get by with as they continue to churn out one mediocre performance after another. To be realistic, Ryan has been keeping his career going for a while, so it’s fair to state that he has enough talent to sustain his career for a while yet, but as far as being able to contend with some of the better and more experienced actors it’s likely that he might not get the chance to show what he can really do unless he manages to get a lucky break at some point. It would be kind of great to see the actors that everyone thought were going to be great get together and create an epic of some sort, a return to prominence of some sort that might be enough to get them back in the main spotlight once again. But until that happens we get to remember their best times that came years ago and possibly hope for another chance to see the movies that put them on the map.
As I mentioned, Ryan is still acting and he’s still pushing his career forward, and it does feel that he’ll continue to do this as long as he can. But it would be great to see a Monster Squad sequel or reboot.
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