I like action movies, for the action. Unfortunately, the action in many of them is horrible (e.g., Iron Man, the last Indiana Jones, every Superman movie). So one of my persistent itches is to figure out what makes for a good action scene. Starting with some exemplars (The Incredibles, Raiders of the Lost Ark), I've come up with two ingredients:
--restricted arenas with logical dynamics (e.g., the rolling boulder in a cave or hanging from a moving truck).
--the combinatorial use of well-defined abilities (as when the Incredibles fight as a family, or in some X-men sequences).
Both of these ingredients are reminiscent of the truism that creativity is most highly expressed within boundaries, whether formal (as in literature) or physical (as in sport).
Thus, it's hard to make good action scenes with Superman, because his abilities (flying, limitless strength) makes it such that no arena can confine him. It's also worth noting that the cool scenes with Superman are those where he combines his abilities (e.g. when he freezes a lake, and then picks it up drops it onto a fire). In general, the ability to fly is a hindrance to satisfactory action (see also Iron Man).
Any other ingredients?
3 comments:
We need more data! Here are ten successful action scenes. I'm sure we can come up with many more.
1. Defense of the British compound in Zulu
2. French commando attack on the Ouistreham Casino in The Longest Day
3. Dustin Hoffman defending his cabin in Straw Dogs
4. Final shootout with Mapache in The Wild Bunch
5. Running gun battle between mercenaries and Simbas culminating in escape by airplane in The Wild Geese
6. Bank robbery gone wrong, running street shootout in Heat
7. Motorcycle vs. Semi chase in the LA reservoir in Terminator 2
8. Fight on and around the German airplane in the first Indiana Jones (which is better than the truck chase)
9. Escape from the high school into the mountains in the beginning of Red Dawn
10. Battle with storm troopers in the cell bay in Star Wars
my favorites tend to be chase scenes, like the french connection, as they go through a subway system. also the italian job, for all of its cheesiness (one last score, pathetic use of mos def) had some good car chases, and ronin did as well.
car chases are generally constrained by roads + gravity, but don't rely on combinatorics.
I think everything you (Ben) say is right about the scenes you're thinking about, which are good exemplars. But what your question leads me to wonder about is (a) chase scenes and (b) fight scenes more generally. What is it about them that captures our interest?
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