Why Every Action Movie Looks Like This Now
Summary
TLDRThis video script explores the evolution of action cinema, noting a shift towards greater visual clarity and legibility in modern action scenes. It discusses the prevalence of long takes and wide angles that celebrate stunt work, reflecting an industry-wide convergence on what constitutes 'good action.' However, it also raises concerns about the potential loss of narrative diversity and the separation of action from storytelling. The script argues that truly effective action should serve the story, using examples from various films to illustrate how different approaches to action can enhance narrative impact.
Takeaways
- 🎥 The evolution of action cinema has led to a new standard of quality with films like the John Wick saga, raising the bar for fight sequences and visual storytelling.
- 🔄 There's a convergence in the aesthetic of modern action scenes, with many films adopting a similar visual language characterized by wider angles, longer shots, and a focus on clarity and legibility.
- 🤔 The author expresses concern over the trend towards a singular aesthetic in action scenes, which may be divorcing the action from the broader narrative context of the films.
- 🎬 The prevalence of 'oner' or long take action sequences is highlighted, noting their impact on audience perception and the potential for these to be disconnected from the film's narrative.
- 👥 The role of second unit directors, often stuntmen turned directors, is emphasized in shaping the look and feel of action scenes across different productions.
- 🚀 The script discusses how action scenes in big studio productions are sometimes pre-visualized by external companies, which can impact the integration of action with the rest of the film's story.
- 🔍 The author suggests that the pursuit of 'good action' has become somewhat formulaic, with a focus on techniques that emphasize visual clarity over narrative coherence.
- 🎭 The importance of action serving the story is underscored, with examples given where action scenes are most effective when they are in harmony with the film's narrative.
- 👂 The role of sound in creating visceral action experiences is highlighted, suggesting that sensory impact is as important as visual clarity.
- 🎭 The author argues that 'good action' is not one-size-fits-all but should be tailored to the specific needs of the story and the emotional response it aims to elicit from the audience.
- 🔗 The script concludes by emphasizing the importance of anticipation and narrative build-up in making action scenes impactful, suggesting that the best action is deeply connected to the story's tension and stakes.
Q & A
What has changed in the quality standards of action movies over time?
-The quality standards of action movies have improved significantly with advancements in filming techniques such as the use of wider angles, longer shots, and better lighting, which have replaced the previously common shaky cams and poor lighting.
What is the concern about the convergence of aesthetics in modern action cinema?
-The concern is that the distinct look and set of principles shaping modern action scenes may be leading to a blending of styles, making different movies and scenes seem increasingly similar and potentially losing their unique identities.
What does the script suggest about the importance of 'legibility' in modern action scenes?
-The script suggests that 'legibility', or greater visual clarity, is a key aspect of modern action scenes, with a preference for wider angles and longer shots that clearly show the stunt work and action, rather than hiding it through quick cuts and close-ups.
How does the script relate the evolution of action scenes to Chinese filmmakers?
-The script points out that Hollywood has come to understand and adopt a principle that Chinese filmmakers had already embraced decades ago: the importance of showing the action clearly so audiences can appreciate the effort, danger, and artistry involved.
What is the potential downside of the singular aesthetic developing in action scenes, as discussed in the script?
-The potential downside is that this singular aesthetic might lead to a loss of diversity in action scene presentation, creating an almost objective ideal of what 'good action' is, which could become disconnected from the broader narrative and storytelling of the movies.
Why have long take action scenes become popular in modern cinema?
-Long take action scenes have become popular because they offer a seamless and immersive experience, showing that the action was not cheated and allowing audiences to feel as if they are part of the struggle, thus enhancing the sense of realism and engagement.
What is the role of second unit directors in the creation of action scenes?
-Second unit directors are responsible for directing parts of a movie that the main director may not be interested in or capable of doing, often including action scenes. This allows the main director to focus on other aspects of the film while ensuring the action scenes are handled by specialists.
How does the script discuss the impact of digital previsualization on action scenes?
-The script discusses that digital previsualization, which are low-quality computer-generated mock-ups of scenes, can sometimes be created before the script is finished or even before a director is attached to the project, potentially leading to a disconnect between the action scenes and the overall narrative.
What is the script's stance on the importance of narrative in relation to 'good action'?
-The script argues that 'good action' is not just about visual clarity and impressive stunts, but also about how well the action serves the story. It suggests that action scenes should be integrated with the narrative to create a more impactful and meaningful experience for the audience.
What examples does the script provide to illustrate the point about the importance of narrative in action scenes?
-The script provides examples such as the fight scene from David Fincher's 'The Killer' and Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator' to illustrate how narrative purpose and the intended audience response can shape the style and impact of action scenes.
How does the script suggest that the anticipation of action can enhance its effectiveness?
-The script uses the example of 'Taken' to show how the story builds anticipation for the action scenes, making them more effective when they finally occur. This is achieved through the setup of the scenario, the establishment of stakes, and the tension created before the confrontation.
Outlines
🎥 The Evolution of Modern Action Cinema
This paragraph discusses the transformation in the quality of action movies over time, with a focus on the increased standard of visual clarity and legibility in action scenes. It reflects on the convergence towards a common aesthetic in action cinema, where wider angles and longer shots are favored to showcase stunt work and artistry. The paragraph also raises concerns about the potential homogenization of action scenes and the risk of divorcing them from the broader narrative of the films they are part of.
🔍 The Impact of Previsualization and Second Unit Directing
The second paragraph delves into the behind-the-scenes aspects of action filmmaking, particularly the use of digital previsualization and the role of second unit directors. It highlights how action scenes are sometimes developed separately from the main narrative and directed by specialized individuals, which can lead to a lack of narrative cohesion. The paragraph also mentions specific industry professionals known for their work in second unit directing and the potential influence they have on the genre.
🤝 The Influence of Stuntman-Turned-Directors
This section examines the trend of stunt performers transitioning into roles as directors or second unit directors, bringing their unique perspective on action to numerous films. It discusses the potential for a limited set of creative voices to shape the look and feel of action across the industry, while also acknowledging the skill and demand for these directors. The paragraph suggests that the uniformity in action scenes may be a result of industry and audience preferences rather than a single vision.
🎭 The Narrative Versus Aesthetic in Action Scenes
The fourth paragraph contrasts the narrative purpose of action scenes with their aesthetic presentation, using examples from films like 'The Killer', 'Gladiator', and 'The Raid'. It argues that while visual clarity is important, the visceral impact and sensory experience of action are equally, if not more, crucial. The paragraph emphasizes that 'good action' should serve the story and that different films may require different stylistic approaches to action to achieve their narrative goals.
📈 The Power of Storytelling in Elevating Action
In this paragraph, the importance of storytelling in enhancing action scenes is underscored. It discusses how the build-up, anticipation, and narrative context can amplify the impact of action sequences. Using 'Taken' as an example, the paragraph illustrates how a well-crafted story can make action scenes more engaging and satisfying. It concludes by advocating for a multifaceted approach to evaluating cinema and media, sponsored by Ground News, which aims to provide a balanced view of news stories by revealing their political bias and sources.
🌐 Ground News: Unveiling Media Bias in Cinema Discussions
The final paragraph introduces Ground News, a platform designed to reveal media bias in news reporting. It discusses the features of Ground News, such as the visual breakdown of political bias, factuality, and ownership of news sources, and how it can help users identify and navigate ideological bubbles. The paragraph promotes the use of Ground News to gain a more balanced and informed perspective on media content, including discussions on cinema and cultural topics.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Action Movies
💡Legibility
💡Long Take
💡Second Unit Directing
💡Convergent Aesthetic
💡Visual Clarity
💡Visceral Experience
💡Narrative Considerations
💡Stunt Work
💡Media Bias
Highlights
The evolution of action movie quality with the advent of modern cinematic techniques.
The blending of action sequences in modern cinema, indicating a convergent aesthetic.
The pursuit of legibility and visual clarity in modern action scenes.
The celebration of stunt work and its foregrounding in contemporary action cinema.
The influence of Chinese filmmakers on Hollywood's understanding of 'good action'.
The hesitancy towards a singular aesthetic in action scenes and its impact on storytelling.
The prevalence of unbroken takes in action scenes and their narrative implications.
The role of digital previsualization in shaping action scenes independent of directors' vision.
The phenomenon of second unit directing and its contribution to similar action styles across movies.
The dominance of a few creative voices in action movie directing and its potential drawbacks.
The importance of narrative purpose in shaping the style and impact of action scenes.
The argument that 'good action' is not solely about visual clarity but also viscerality.
The sensory approach to action in David Fincher's 'The Killer' as a counterexample to standard 'good action'.
The significance of sound design in creating a visceral response in action scenes.
The idea that 'good action' serves the story and enhances the overall narrative experience.
The importance of setting up anticipation and tension to make action scenes more impactful.
The role of Ground News in providing a media bias breakdown for a more transparent news landscape.
Transcripts
It is a great time to be a fan of action movies. Where once we had to settle for shaky cams,
poor lighting, and of course… Now we can pretty much pick any action movie or TV show at random,
and be treated to… But at the same time, the standard for quality has been raised
for quite a while now. We have 4 entries in the John Wick saga, I don’t even know how many of
those long take fight sequences, and I can’t help but feel it’s all blending together a little bit,
sometimes literally so as the later entries in this new wave of action cinema already seem to be
circling back to the early ones. There’s an easy way to demonstrate this by just taking a bunch of
action clips and editing them together as if they are all from the same sequence. Besides being a
fun exercise, it’s quite telling just how seamless you can weave a lot of these together, with only
marginal differences in the ways that they were shot. It clearly reveals the sort of convergent
aesthetic, the distinct look that seems to have emerged from a new cinematic language, a new set
of principles and goals that more and more action scenes seem to strive towards, and that now, for
better or worse, is shaping the way we perceive and talk about the meaning of ‘good action’.
So, what is it that modern action scenes have been doing, what have they been striving towards? The
key word here, I think, is legibility, and more specifically, the movement towards greater visual
clarity. If you’re a fan of action, you already know what this means; instead of close-ups and
quick cuts, we now tend to see wider angles and longer shots. Instead of hiding the stunt work,
it is now celebrated and put to the foreground as the main reason why we go see these movies in the
first place. In other words, it seems Hollywood has finally come to understand what Chinese
filmmakers had already figured out decades ago; we want to see what’s going on, we want to see the
effort, the danger, the artistry. That is ‘good action’, right? That’s what we mean when we tell
our friends they should watch The Raid movies, or Extraction or John Wick. That’s why we keep
raving about that hallway sequence from Oldboy. That’s the one scene from Kingsman we still talk
about. But the thing is, while I still enjoy these movies as much as the next guy, and will
probably continue to do so when new ones come out – man, that Monkey Man trailer looks absolutely
insane – I do have some hesitations about this development towards a more singular aesthetic,
mostly with the way we seem to have created this almost objective ideal of what ‘good action’ is,
and probably more importantly, with the way this ideal has become somewhat divorced
from the general language of storytelling. To explain what I mean, consider those many,
many action scenes that are presented as one unbroken take. You can often tell pretty quickly
when you’re about to see one; as a movie that up until that point may have been shot in one
way will suddenly look like this, you know, that camera-man look where you really feel
the physical presence of the camera moving around the characters. Often a wider angle,
shot hand-held and over the shoulder, which allows for quick pans but which also repositions slowly.
The long take has become quite ubiquitous in action movies and beyond because, well,
it is really cool. It’s perhaps the ultimate way of showing that none of the action was cheated,
even though nowadays most of these long takes are digitally stitched together and therefore aren’t
truly continuous, which as a side note, has come to distract me to no end as I can’t help but look
for all the hidden cuts, you know, like that one. Or, here. Nevertheless, a good oner never fails to
get a positive reaction from audiences. But it’s interesting to stop for a minute and think about
the meaning and implications of its usage. For the long take is not just a mechanical
feature, it’s also a narrative tool that can serve to deepen the experience of a story. It
can create a more gritty experience by putting us in the middle of a conflict, making us part
of the struggle that the characters are going through as if we are right there with them. Or
it can emphasize a more otherworldly feeling by turning us into more of a detached spectator,
creating that sensation of floating through some sort of dream. Point is, the usage of long takes
can be an integral part of a story. But in many of these action scenes, it doesn’t really feel like
this is the case. They feel more like momentary deviations, like they were created separately
from the rest of the movie. And to be clear, this is not to say a movie has to be 100% consistent
in its presentation or that it cannot have any sequences that take a different approach from the
rest of the story to emphasize certain impactful or important moments, I’m just using the long take
here as an example of this wider development in which the form and content of action sequences
seems less informed by narrative considerations, and more so by these broader principles of what is
deemed to be ‘good action,’ as if the two have come to exist independently from each other.
As for why, well, there’s a few things we have to talk about, the first being that
on some productions nowadays, action scenes felt like they were created separately from
the story because they literally were. Have you ever seen one of these digital previsualizations
for big budget action sequences? They are these low-quality computer generated mock-ups of what a
scene is going to look like. It’s basically the evolved version of what directors like Robert
Rodriguez and Gareth Evans have done in the past, which is to film cheap versions of their action
scenes during pre-production so they would have a better idea of what it’s going to look like when
they do it for real, which in turn I guess is the evolved version of drawing storyboards. Anyways,
the idea here is that you give yourself a low stakes opportunity to play around with
different angels, different edits, different stunts, and so on, so that you can get a sense
of what works and what doesn’t. And so, when the actual day of shooting then comes around, you’re
prepared as best as possible. Virtually every action movie has some form of previsualization,
and that’s not the issue here. The issue is that, especially with the bigger studio productions,
these previsualized action scenes aren’t made by the directors themselves, but by companies
specialized in digital previsualization, and they can sometimes already be in place before the
script is finished or before the movie even has a director. When Lucrecia Martel for example was in
talks to direct Marvel’s Black Widow, she was told not to worry about the action scenes and that the
studio has already taken care of them, after which she promptly walked away from the entire project.
But even if she had stayed on, it’s not just that the pre-visualization was already locked in place,
from what I found, this is actually a pretty rare occurrence outside major studio productions,
but more so that, and this brings us to the second and as far as I can tell the more common issue,
that even with a template to follow, she still wouldn’t be the one directing the action. For you
see, much of the action we see today isn’t shot by the actual director of the movie,
it’s shot by these guys; Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. And that’s not true, it’s not just them,
but they are good examples of a behind the scenes phenomenon that I think has contributed to action
scenes feeling increasingly similar and divorced from the stories they take place in, and that’s
second unit directing. So, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch are generally known as the stuntmen
turned directors who created the original John Wick. Stahelski then went on to do the sequels
while Leitch moved on to other projects such as Atomic Blonde, Bullet Train and the upcoming The
Fall Guy. But before that, aside from doing stunt work, they also worked as second unit directors
on, among other things, some Jason Statham movies, The Wolverine, Hitman: Agent 47, The Hunger Games,
Captain America: Civil War and Birds of Prey. Now, a second unit director directs parts of a
movie that the main director isn’t interested in or capable of doing. On bigger productions,
especially nowadays, that often means action scenes. The benefit of this is that studios can
hire directors who aren’t necessarily experienced with grand-scale action, but who are very good
at all the other stuff. And so combining those with second unit directors who are specialized
in action can definitely result in a win-win. But if you look more closely at who’s getting
all these second unit directing jobs, you will start to see some interesting connections. For
Atomic Blonde for example, David Leitch worked with Sam Hargrave, another veteran stunt guy who
also did second unit directing on Suicide Squad, The Accountant, Deadpool 2, Avengers Infinity War
and Avengers Endgame. He’s also the guy who went on to make the Extraction movies. And on
Captain America: Civil War, Leitch and Stahelski also worked with Spiro Razatos, also a veteran
stunt guy, also a second unit director. He did the action for movies such as Captain America:
The Winter Soldier, The Fast and the Furious movies, Venom and The Gray Man. Actually,
Captain America: Civil War had a fourth second unit director, Darrin Prescott. He worked with
Stahelski on the John Wick movies, and directed action scenes for Baby Driver, the Black Panther
movies, Deadpool 2 and Black Widow. I could go on as this list goes much further, but you can
probably already see what I’m getting at here, that’s a lot of action movies that are influenced
by a relatively small amount of creative voices. However, I do want to add some nuance here.
Because the issue is not as simple as ‘same guy directs all the action and that’s why it all
feels the same.’ Second unit directors generally follow the main director, and therefore have to
be like chameleons who are constantly adapting to their desired vision, not unlike the way a
cinematographer can come up with a completely different presentation depending on what a
director asks of them. For example, I still can’t quite believe that Hoyte van Hoytema, the gritty,
grand-scale IMAX cinematographer of Nolan’s most recent movies, also created that warm,
comfort-blanket look for Spike Jonze’s Her. But sometimes a cinematographer’s style can carry over
from one director to another, think of Emmanuel Lubezki for example whose presence is clearly
recognizable in the work of Terrence Malick and Alejandro Iñárritu. And when this happens,
it’s usually because a director specifically desired that style and wanted to utilize it for
themselves. And I think that’s what might have been happening with stunt work too;
it’s not that these handful of guys are just imposing their own view of what ‘good action’ is,
it’s simply that they are really good at doing their kind of action and it just so happens to
be that that is what a lot of the industry and the audiences seem to desire right now. And so,
the reason why the action in Casino Royale for example feels so reminiscent of that in the Jason
Bourne movies is not so much because they both had the same second unit director for the action,
that being Alexander Witt, but probably more so because the creative team behind James Bond wanted
to create a more gritty version of the character and therefore sought out someone who was known for
being really good at gritty action. By the way, Alexander Witt also went on to work on Fast Five,
Skyfall, Spectre, Avengers Infinity War; No Time to Die and Fast X, these guys really
have impressive resumes. But again, all that is perfectly fine, I’m definitely not blaming these
individuals for being really good at their job and being in high demand because of it.
As I’ve mentioned earlier, I enjoy these action movies as much as everyone else does and deeply
respect the skill and the effort that goes into creating these sequences. But the whole thing does
give us some insight in how we got to this more singular perspective of what ‘good action’ is,
and it does make me wonder what we are missing out on by not having more diversity here.
My favorite fight scene of last year wasn’t actually from John Wick 4 or Extraction 2,
it wasn’t from an action movie at all. It was this one from David Fincher’s The Killer, which I found
quite surprising because on the surface, it looks like it’s breaking all the rules of ‘good action’,
with the shaky cam, quick cutting and dim lighting obscuring much of what we generally claim we want
from a scene like this. And yet, clearly, it goes hard, I mean, Jesus Christ. It made me realize,
for one, that we might have been misinterpreting the exact properties that define ‘good action,’
that even though the wide angles and the Steadicam and the long takes are all really nice,
it’s not the visual clarity that necessarily makes for ‘good action.’ No, for me at least,
it’s just as much, if not more so, that sense of ‘viscerality,’ for lack of a better term.
It’s not that we can see what’s going on, it’s that we can feel it, and this takes more than
just getting all the action clearly into frame. Just pay attention to how important sound is in
this scene, both the sound effects... as well as the music... It’s a beautifully vicious symphony
that takes a more sensory approach to action. Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained?
We can see something similar in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, who also isn’t particularly concerned
with showing off the action, but rather with eliciting a specific response in the audience.
He does this, in part, by cutting to these close up inserts of the wounds that are being inflicted.
They are these blink and you miss it shots, but combined with the sound design, they’re enough to
make you flinch. And I think this is also the real reason we speak so highly of movies like
The Raid and John Wick; it’s because they used visual clarity not so much as an end in itself,
but rather as a means, as just their way of delivering those sheer gut punch moments. And
I guess that’s the real point here, that there is more than one way to achieve these moments,
that when it comes to creating ‘good action,’ there is no one method or filmmaking
philosophy that should be treated as sacred. The second realization I had watching that
brutal fight scene in The Killer is simply that, at the end of the day, ‘good action’ is whatever
best serves the story. Because even though I’ve just been arguing how ‘good action’ is actually
about viscerality, it is also very much true that that’s just what it needed to be in that
particular movie. The Killer is about a guy who thinks he is on the top of his game while in
actuality he’s making one mistake after another, and what better way to show this visually than by
letting him engage in his first actual fight and having him being absolutely mauled like DiCaprio
in The Revenant? With Gladiator too, Ridley Scott’s gritty, visceral action had a clear
narrative purpose as it served to emphasize the tension between the spectacle of violence and
the reality of combat. But when it comes to other movies, action may take on completely
different stylistic forms, invoke completely different sensations and feelings, in order to
serve completely different narrative purposes. But what is perhaps the most important thing
about this is that if action and story are more in sync, if they operate in unity with one another,
it creates this sort of positive feedback loop that doesn’t just make the overall story better,
but that also specifically elevates the action itself. Or to put it like this, ‘good action’ is
made greater by the storytelling that surrounds it. I think one reason why the first Taken movie
was such a surprise hit wasn’t just because it had cool action scenes, but because of how the
story created such anticipation towards them. Take this scene for example, probably my favorite one.
To recap the story in one sentence, Taken is about a father, played by Liam Neeson,
who has to find his kidnapped daughter. He has one clue, two words spoken at the end of
that now iconic phone call – good luck – which eventually brings him here, to this criminal
hideout of sorts. But instead of just barging in and rushing to the action, the movie takes its
time as Neeson pretends to be a crooked cop trying to extort the criminals. He drinks their coffee,
hurls a few insults, you know, the stuff you’d expect an overly confident crooked cop to do.
Your arrogance offens me, and for that the rate just went up 10%
At the same time, however, if you pay close attention, you’ll also notice
he’s trying to get each one of them to say something, trying to find the same voice
that spoke those two words to him earlier. How do you say 'sugar' in your language?
One by one, he crosses them off, until he reaches the last one-
A friend gave this to me, it's Albanian, would you mind translating it?
At this point, you know he just has to take the bait, and- Good luck.
oh, yeah there we go… You don't remember
me? I told you I would find you. Man, that’s… that’s how you earn an action scene.
Enlisting great stuntmen, coming up with cool set pieces, choreographies,
and with the best ways to film them, they can all result in action that is impressive,
damn impressive even. But without story, it’s just mechanics. ‘Good action’ is legibility, clarity,
viscerality, but it’s also setting up heroes and villains, setting those high stakes that
draw us in, that make us care. It’s establishing rivalries, promises, that sense of impending
doom. It’s everything that creates the tension before the confrontation, that turns the entire
experience into a rubber band that stretches and stretches, that gets you on the edge of your seat
and builds that nail-biting anticipation to its absolute peak until it finally…
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