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Do you even care about Chris Hemsworth?

Hollywood keeps telling us that we should. He’s a handsome Aussie with a beautiful wife and a thriving film career. He’s Thor. He’s Captain Kirk’s dad. He’s the Huntsman. He’s the “Sexiest Man Alive.”* Oh, and famed directors like Michael Mann and Ron Howard love working with him.

However, while he has the goods to be a movie star on the level of Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt in their 1990s heydays, something is not connecting. He’s rich, famous, and headlining numerous films, but is anyone going to see these movies for him? Is the name “Chris Hemsworth” alone going to pull you into a multiplex? The box office receipts say “no.” Blackhat didn’t just disappoint at the box office; it was a colossal misstep. The film is currently ranked at the 11th worst wide release in film history.

A few months ago, I decided to stream Rush on HBO Go. Maybe it was because I was a little buzzed off boxed wine, or maybe it occurred to me that Rush felt like a film I’d have seen in theaters in my tweens, but I realized why I can’t connect with Hemsworth. He’s a ’90s movie star stuck in 2015. This is why I think directors like Mann and Howard (who were big in the ’90s) want to work with him, and why modern mainstream audiences need a little more incentive to see a Chris Hemsworth film beyond being told it’s a “Chris Hemsworth film.”

Let’s back up. I think Rush is going to be an interesting film to study in about 20 years’ time. It’s directed by Ron Howard, and while Howard has continued to make many solid films in the last decade, he really hasn’t had a major film since 2001’s A Beautiful Mind. The ’90s were his heyday and his approach to storytelling still reflects this. Rush has a distressed Instagram finish, but it’s constructed like a ’90s biopic. Furthermore, while Rush stars Hemsworth, German character actor Daniel Bruhl and the slyly sexy Natalie Dormer steal every scene they’re in. Sure, it’s supposed to be a film about both James Hunt and Nikki Lauda, but Hemsworth’s Hunt is set up as the one we’re supposed to fall in love with. And honestly, I really found Bruhl’s Lauda to be infinitely more interesting. Rush is interesting to me because it’s a film that stuck between the sensibility of the ’90s and Hollywood’s future star system.

Characters are going to be Hollywood’s big new stars. Theater-trained actors are starting to eclipse pretty faces with compelling personalities, and it’s because they can (cheaply) sell a myriad of different characters to an audience hungry for big name superheroes and recognizable franchises.

Think about it: Are you really seeing The Hunger Games for Jennifer Lawrence or for Katniss Everdeen? Are you lining up for The Avengers because you love all of Chris Evans’ work or because you like Captain America? Are you curious about Star Wars: The Force Awakens because you really enjoyed what Oscar Isaac did in Inside Llewyn Davis or are you excited because it’s Star Wars? There will always be film buffs and rabid fans who will line up for their favorite actor, but most people aren’t going to go to the movies unless there’s a story they care about. Does it matter to people that Bradley Cooper, star of The Hangover and Silver Linings Playbook, is headlining American Sniper, or were audiences pulled in by the true story of an American sharpshooter?

People are starting to flock to films for the stories and not just the stars. This is why Marvel can cast the goofy guy on Parks and Recreation as Star-Lord and have a massive hit on their hands. It’s also why I think people didn’t care about seeing the new Chris Hemsworth/Michael Mann flick this past week.

Hemsworth has the earnest masculinity and pretty-boy good looks that would have swept through Hollywood in the 1990s. But now, unless he’s swinging his hammer as Thor or appearing as a fairy tale hero, we’re not really all that into it. That isn’t to say he couldn’t have a breakout moment in Avengers: Age of Ultron or in Ron Howard’s upcoming In The Heart of the Sea. Nor am I implying that he isn’t going to remain a successful actor for a long time. All I’m saying is that Chris Hemsworth is a famous actor in 2015, but he would have been a megastar 20 years ago. [Watch Rush]

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[Photos: Everett Collection]