The action film
 |
The action film |
The action
film is a type of film that staged a succession of spectacular scenes often
stereotyped (chases, shootings, explosions ...) built around a conflict
resolutely violently, usually by the death of the enemies of the hero.
Action
cinema has several sub-genres:
• The detective film, such as The
Weapon of Death or The Beverly Hills Cop, whose story is based on a police
intrigue and featuring police or detectives;
• Spy movies, realistic spy movies (
The Spy from the Cold or The Tailor of Panama ) can be distinguished from
whimsical espionage movies ( James Bond );
• The action thriller, dominated by
suspense and a permanent tension ( Crystal Trap, Speed );
• The superhero movie, featuring
heroes with supernatural powers (Superman, Spider-Man ) or
ultra-sophisticated gadgets ( Iron man, Batman );
• The science-fiction film, which
can involve aliens ( Independence Day ), robots (Terminator) or other
imaginary and extraordinary elements;
• The action comedy, which mixes
action and comedy (The Beverly Hills Cop, Charlie and his funny ladies).
Many movies
called "action movies" can be attached to other genres. For example,
Terminator has been called an "action film", but it's primarily a
sci-fi film because of the themes it covers time travel, cyborg, or future
post-apocalyptic. Similarly, The Fatal Weapon is a detective film before being
an action movie because it has a police intrigue.
It is the
many spectacular scenes that punctuate all these feature films (multiple
explosions, fights, falls in the void ...) that earn them to be called
"action movies". To say that a film belongs or not to the cinema of
action, however, is a subjective judgment. Thus, some critics will call
"action films" westerns, epics or gangster films which the
spectators do not see for whom "action film" is synonymous with great
explosions and destructions. series, and for whom this expression does not
evoke John Wayne or Charlton Heston but rather Sylvester Stallone and Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
Characteristics of action film
Action
cinema is essentially related to popular cinema. Many of his works end with a
happy ending and are based on elements familiar to the general public (strong
and courageous hero, seductive female character with whom the latter will have
an affair, infamous villains, humorous support role ...). On the other hand,
action films are often criticized for giving little importance to the psychological depth of their characters and to rely on stereotyped intrigues
which are, in some works, only a pretext to make spectacular scenes.
Action
cinema is also characterized by its deliberate lack of realism. It is not
uncommon to see a hero kill by himself a hundred bad guys armed to the teeth
and avoid all the bullets they shoot at him ( True Lies ), survive an explosion
with only a few scratches ( The Wings of Hell ), or escape unscathed from a
fifteen-meter drop that ends in a pool less than two meters deep ( The Weapon
Fatal 2 ). It seems logical then that the contemporary action film tends more
and more to self-parody ( Last Action Hero ).
According
to a German director's cinematographic essay, the codification of the
blockbuster action movie evolved during the late TWENTIETH century into a
chaotic movie style. The shaky cams, more frequent cuts and tight shots have
led to a destructuration of the film, making it more confused, hyperrealistic
and aiming to overwhelm the viewer. These changes may have several origins:
technological (multiplication of cameras), cultural (young audience accustomed
to video games, very fast image changes) and societal (public more accustomed
to instantaneous, parcel information). However, some contemporary feature films
are counter-current to this trend, offering less erratic framing, fewer
cameras, longer shots, and more elaborate choreography in the case of battle
scenes. Examples include Snowpiercer, Transperceneige, A Bittersweet Life, Mad
Max: Fury Road and the John Wick film series.
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