Duh (Gaming)

by Claude Errera , Monday, May 30, 2016, 17:18 (2948 days ago) @ Cody Miller

I feel like action movies have lost their way recently, and will soon see a return to form.

Could you elaborate on that? Most action films seem to all the be the same recently, but I guess I'm just not familiar enough with film to see that as any different than it's always been. I'm honestly not much of a movie buff and don't pay much attention to the trends.

A lot of Modern Action films fail on the following counts:

1. Forgetting action scenes have to be SCENES. Many have pointless action that has no weight.
2. Unstoppable badass hero. This is boring.
3. Fewer stunts and more computer graphics.
4. Actors who can't do physicality such as running, jumping, fighting etc, leading to things being shot and cut to hide the weaknesses rather than show the stunts and action.
5. The sound design is over the top and outrageous, with too many layers and too much volume assaulting your ears all the time.
6. Focusing on the action first and story second.

Compare the openings of Casino Royale and Quantum Solace. In the former you have a fucking sweet parkour chase with thrilling stunts done on camera, with lots of physicality and wide shots to show it. In the latter, you have shakey cam and cuts every 6 frames. Then in Spectre you just have a long take where the DP and director are jerking off rather than giving you a thrilling time.

Show the action and make it motivated meaningful. Make your technique invisible. Do stunts. Have a good story. Now you're back on track. Superheros punching each other for 90 minutes accomplishes none of those.

I went to see Captain America: Civil War yesterday with nico, who pointed out something I completely hadn't noticed:

There is no longer a huge connect between the music and the movie.

Movie scores have often complemented the on-screen action with themes - characters have specific themes that follow them throughout the film, which helps build emotion during any climax scenes.

Cap has a theme... but it's used so infrequently in Civil War that by the time the big fight comes at the end, the theme does nothing for you... because you don't even recognize it as related to Cap.

The overall mix of the movie is so weighted towards dialogue and sound effects that the music is nearly inaudible in places.

As nico rightly said, it was a huge wasted opportunity... and apparently, it's becoming more common.