From shaky cam to unimaginative reboots to endless sequels and just plain bad movies, there are no shortage of culprits when it comes to the pretty woeful state of contemporary action movies. Sure, there are recent exceptions — "The Raid" flicks, "John Wick" — but for the most part, template-driven blockbuster entertainment has resulted in spectacles that are increasingly familiar and far less exciting. But the issues with these movies go much further.
In an extensive, well-thought-out, twenty-minute video essay, Chris Stuckmann explores the various problems facing the action movie genre today. From heroes that are so invincible we never fear for their peril, storylines that don’t spark immediate tension, and sequences poorly shot and edited to the point of incomprehensibility, it would appear Hollywood has lost its way when it comes to original, exciting thrill rides.
So check it out below, and be sure to share your thoughts on how the action movie genre can be refreshed. [via Reddit]
You assholes, I\’m just trying to go through the updates and see that picture, and I was all excited for a Jeff Bridges/Liam Neeson/Colin Farrel movie, and now it\’s just a thing in my head, and now I kinda hate you a little bit.
We have a responsibility to tell better stories! Business as usual won’t cut it on Earth anymore. When making this huge Sci-Fi Storytelling Projects we have a responsibility to put together a large team of Futurist that can try to imagine and show us what one or another future might look like depending on what path we trod down. Make Better Art! Make Better Stories!
Intresting. I blog much about the Blockbuster Myth
We must use Storytelling and Science Fiction to envision a new Future. And to raise important question for an ongoing dialog about the future and where we are going. We should draw parallels to our past and present to give us better picture of who we are and how we build our society. Why do we go forward? If we want to change the present into a better world tomorrow, then Epic Storytelling is the Ultimate tool to communicate a common vision of that future. Things we must invent and obstacles we must overcome. Everything is made up and we make up the future, together.
Action movies are never just stupid entertainment where you turn your brain off. No can do. The brain doesn’t come with an off-switch and it are constantly affected by what it experience and the stories that it craves for so much. And everything has a message. If you can’t spot it, it’s just cleverly or unthoughtfully hidden from plain sight within the story. And the wrong message does actually affect us in the wrong way. I don’t give me any crap about that you are some kind of superhuman with a Teflon Brain. Like an On/Off switch that you can flip when you want to become invulnerable to the world around you. Your brain doesn’t work that way. Most of the cognitive work of your brain is hidden from the conscious you. The one part of your brain, that is actually a story told by your brain for you, to live through.
Engage with the stories around you on whole new conscious way and a new world will open up for you. If you want to know more check out Jonathan Gottschall’s book The Storytelling Animal.
“We are critical and skeptical. But when we are absorbed in a story, we drop our intellectual guard” — Jonathan Gottschall
I agree, Daniel. But then again, I care very little about action films at all. With the rare exception here and there (i.e. Casino Royale), action films are practically all the same, and have been since they took off in the 1970\’s and 1980\’s. I mean, Speed? The Matrix? Die Hard? Terminator? Mission Impossible? Jason Bourne? The Dark Knight? John Wick? Edge of Tomorrow? Seriously?
Unwatchable. Shallow observations and amateurish writing. Very little in the way of actual insight.