Yeah, that darn "hero exemption" rule. How does your vehicle tumble over thirty times, explode into a ball of flame and then you can crawl out without a scratch while a bad guy dies while tripping over a street curb.
How to instantly ruin a good action sequence!
- Thread starter sojourner
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The icing on the cake: After all the vehicles are disabled and 99% of the bad guys dispatched by the hero, the one last hold-out bad guy who still clings to life takes aim at the hero. The audience THINKS the hero doesn't know the baddie is about to take him out but then the hero A: fires a last shot B: drops a lit match C: tosses a smoldering cigarette or D: otherwise triggers a MASSIVE pay-off explosion that leaves NO DOUBT all the bad guys are finished as the hero STRIDES in slow-motion toward the camera and the huge, angry flower of red, yellow fire and flying debris fills the screen behind him in the greatest eruption since Krakatoa--and all the while, the hero cannot be bothered to flinch from the sound or concussion or even glance back at the destruction of his handy-work. He's CONTENT the job is done.
I
HATE
THAT!!!
I
HATE
THAT!!!
I am also tired of actions scenes/sequences where the front window of a speeding vehicle is shot out and/or beaks into large shards. All vehicles have had laminated safety glass since the 1950's. It also gets irritating that whenever a character fires at almost *any* vehicle, rather than bullet holes there are sparks shown. LAME!
Oh, and how characters, who are in a vehicles being fired upon, never get hit by any bullets that would (obviously) penetrate the thin skin of a car.
Oh, and how characters, who are in a vehicles being fired upon, never get hit by any bullets that would (obviously) penetrate the thin skin of a car.
Didn't you hear? Cool guys don't look at explosions.
Another thing that always bugs me in an action movie... the hot chick who can ditch her shoes and still be able to run around a fraggin' mine field or city or building and not stub her toe, cut her feet up, or stop because she stepped on a pebble or some tiny piece of debris. And let me tell ya... even a little pebble or a screw or a piece of something HURTS!
I mean like True Lies, Jamie Lee is barefoot for most of the big action stuff and she's running around outside, inside buildings and not once do you see her limp or stumble.
Die Hard was the most realistic in that regard where at least he hurt his feet and limped around a bit.
I mean like True Lies, Jamie Lee is barefoot for most of the big action stuff and she's running around outside, inside buildings and not once do you see her limp or stumble.
Die Hard was the most realistic in that regard where at least he hurt his feet and limped around a bit.
That was nicely averted in the film Alien Nation. Roger Aaron Brown's character was hiding behind a car from a baddie with a high-powered rifle, and the shots blew huge holes clear through the car. The only sense in which it provided cover was that the bad guy couldn't see exactly where he was. But in the long run, it didn't protect him.
Regarding the exploding fuel-tank, this trope was actually averted in Terminator: Salvation of all films! It's in the scene where Marcus and the female lead find the hideout full of mercenaries and are attacked by a 100' terminator (way to infiltrate!)
They roll a truck out to it, then fire shot after shot at the fuel tank - and nothing happens!!!
They roll a truck out to it, then fire shot after shot at the fuel tank - and nothing happens!!!
On the other hand, maybe you are watching way too much TV when something like that annoys you.
Shaky cam and seisure inducing editing is what really destroys action scenes.
I think my favorite variation is the guys outrunning an explosion, usually in slow-mo. 
I always hate (and this is especially bad in Indiana Jones and Bond movies) when the villains have a mini-gun or other type of machine gun firing DIRECTLY AT the hero, and instead little dust clouds pop up either right in front of or right behind the hero, indicating that the bullets being fired DIRECTLY AT THEM are falling short.
I think my favorite variation is the guys outrunning an explosion, usually in slow-mo.
You would think that they would run faster from an exploding fireball of death.
I haven't watched any of these teen dance movies that have come out in the past few years, but the reviews all seem to indicate that the actual dance scenes are edited and hacked up to death with all these quick cuts and close ups, basically wasting the time and effort they put into choreographing and performing them. But that sort of thinking also kills a lot of action scenes too. If there was an awesome martial arts fight scene between Jet Li and Ray Park, wouldn't you like to actually be able to SEE it?
I think my favorite variation is the guys outrunning an explosion, usually in slow-mo.
There was a great bit in an NCIS episode a few years back. Searching a room they find a bomb. Team immediately runs outside and dives behind the car just in time for.... nothing. They then proceed to call the bombsquad.
One of my favorite moments in T2 is Sarah Connor running around in the asylum. It can clearly be seen that she is barefoot, but the sound effects crew has added in the sound of hard-soled shoes as she runs. Unfortunately, this seems to have been corrected in some edits of the film.
That's what's great about Serenity. In both of Summer Glau's big fight scenes, Joss Whedon eschews quick cutting in favor of long master takes that let us see in no uncertain terms that Glau really performed these long, elaborate stunt sequences straight through without a break, an extraordinary feat of athleticism and skill. It was frustrating by constrast to watch Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and see all of Glau's fight scenes so hacked apart with quick cuts that it was impossible to appreciate her physical performance.
That said, there are contexts where that kind of frenetic quick cutting actually works. Batman Begins has a great example, the sequence where Batman makes his debut going up against the mobsters. The editing skillfully captures the fog of battle, the mobsters' fear and uncertainty as this unseen figure picks them off one by one. It's like a monster movie with Batman as the monster, which is the perfect way to portray how criminals perceive Batman. In that case, obscuring the action was the right choice narratively and stylistically, rather than just being a gimmick.
I think my favorite variation is the guys outrunning an explosion, usually in slow-mo.
You would think that they would run faster from an exploding fireball of death.
Nah, outrunning is lame. Outwalking is way, way, way cooler.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d54Ok6Uz_A
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