Koki on 21/7/2009 at 07:37
Back in the day it was all lone commando/ex-commando infiltrating city/jail/ship/spaceship/forest/jungle/mountains with nothing but silenced MP5/knife/loincloth, and now what? Is dodging fucking rockets the new bullet time? Can't we have action movie without a landmark blowing the fuck up anymore? Or without teenagers?
At least back then this shit pretended to make sense.
june gloom on 21/7/2009 at 07:48
No it didn't.
Thirith on 21/7/2009 at 07:51
The action movies of the '80s simply had different conventions and clichés, but if you truly believe they made more sense, then you've got a weird idea of what makes sense, Koki.
Koki on 21/7/2009 at 07:57
Are you fucking detached from reality? One man infiltrating enemy base makes more sense than DODGING A FUCKING MISSILE.
EvaUnit02 on 21/7/2009 at 08:01
The art of Action Filmmaking in Hollywood has been MIA for a long time now. Now shaky cam, super zoomed shots and quick cuts reign supreme.
Batman Begins and Quantum of Solace immediately come to mind. Christian Bale apparently trained hard for the fight scenes in Batman 1, but you'd never know by watching that film.
There's this one scene where Bond walks into an elevator in QoS. I'm convinced that there was no actual fight chereography for that, the actors were just filmed flailing around while the camera shook.
From my experiences the only the director that's managed to get this "kinetic photography" style work was Paul Greengrass, but even his films take concentration to sit through.
I'll just quote myself:-
Michael Bay can't compose action scenes properly. The action in TF '07 consisted of too many zoomed in shots, shaky cam and fast cuts - it's neigh impossible to follow what's going on the screen at times. Compare the action cinematography to genuine classics of the Action film genre like James Cameron's Terminator 2, John Woo's Hardboiled and Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch - THAT'S how action is done well, those talented directors could compose action scenes that were so beautiful and well executed, that they could be revered as art.
People love to criticise Zak Snyder until the cow comes home, but at least he can fucking shoot action competently, unlike Bay.
Actually add the Wachoskis to that list too. The Matrix sequels were badly written, in dire need of a Roger Corman-esque script editor and much better pacing, but at least the action scenes were well shot and choreographed. That Dragonball Z bullshit at the end of Revolutions was a nigh masterpiece of filmmaking in comparison to any fucking action sequence from Quantum of Solace.
Angel Dust on 21/7/2009 at 08:05
Quote Posted by Koki
Are you fucking detached from reality? One man infiltrating enemy base makes more sense than DODGING A FUCKING MISSILE.
Didn't Arnie, like, outrun a nuclear explosion in
Predator?
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
People love to criticise Zak Snyder until the cow comes home, but at least he can fucking shoot action competently, unlike Bay.
Make no mistake Synder is also incompetent, just in a different way. Bay and co are incomprehensible and while you can follow Synders actions scenes they are completely inert, with zero momentum and punch. Great action is both easy to follow
and propulsive. James Cameron, John Woo etc the names that are usually brought up for great action, as well they should be, but here's one not often though of: Nick Park. The climatic chase sequence in
The Wrong Trousers completely blows away
everything that fucking tools like Bay and Snyder have ever done.
Thirith on 21/7/2009 at 08:14
Are you fucking detached from reality? One Austrian bodybuilder outrunning a nuclear explosion makes more sense than DODGING A FUCKING MISSILE.
Angel Dust on 21/7/2009 at 08:27
:laff::laff::laff:
Right you are sir, my mistake.
rachel on 21/7/2009 at 10:16
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
That Dragonball Z bullshit at the end of Revolutions was a nigh masterpiece of filmmaking in comparison to any fucking action sequence from Quantum of Solace.
Get out. I'll pick QoS over any Matrix sequel any day.
Matthew on 21/7/2009 at 10:41
I liked Reloaded. :(
