Is There Too Much Talking in Action Flicks?
Filed under: Action, Fandom, Images
With a long weekend behind us and a big film festival ahead, things have been slow. When there's far from a plethora of news of deals and major casting info to share, we get to be even more fannish than usual (if that's even possible!). Funny enough, while I was writing up my Uber Cool & Quotable Gun-Toting Antiheroes, my friend sent me a comic -- one that gave love to the complete opposite kind of fighter -- the silent, butt-kicking hero. You might have heard of the site -- xkcd. While it is, by no means, an example of stellar art, their strips are damn funny and often movie-nerdy.Recently, they tackled action movies, ruing over the amount of conversation in them -- go read it here. As the disappointed stick figure rants: "Just once, I want a real action movie. 30 seconds of exposition followed by a perfect 90-minute action scene. One with a huge budget, a good choreographer, and a great director." Of course, there's probably no one better than River Tam to do that. You know -- the chick who wildly kicked arse with her ballet ways in Joss Whedon's Serenity (and we can't forget Firefly).
The strip is not only funny -- it also brings up an interesting point -- have action flicks gotten too talky? We're all suckers for a good, wonderfully-delivered line, but have we forgotten the allure of silent strength? Summer Glau's character didn't say much, but she made many fans with her slick fighting moves. District 13 would be another example -- David Belle talked, but it was his fluid parkour that made waves. I love a good quote as much as the next person, but there's just something to be said for the sweet, choreographed action on its own. And call me crazy, but I'd pay to see River Tam beat up everyone!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-05-2007 @ 4:52PM
MosquitoControl said...
Sounds like they were describing the Bourne Ultimatim. 30 seconds of talking, 120 minutes of chase.
Action movies aren't worth singling out, though. 80s horror movies, however... it's like they couldn't figure out what to do with 80 minutes. They could give us 15 to 20 minutes of killing, but what about the other hour? Pointless, horrible talking, needlessly extended scenes of walking, etc. All of those movies could have made for great shorts, but are mostly unwatchable at length.
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9-05-2007 @ 4:56PM
mish said...
Good lord, District 13 is perfect example of a crap feature film built around one great 10 minute action sequence (from which that still is from).
I've said about Transformers I seriously would've been happy if they just had 20 minutes of all the cgi effects and cut out all of the story elements - I couldn't be bothered to sit through all of that.
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9-05-2007 @ 10:55PM
Charles said...
I would rather have plenty of story and character development so the action scenes make sense, as opposed to Steven Seagal-type films where there is action for no discernerable reason. The scene may look cool, but if there is no point to it, if there's no reason to care about the characters and plot devices in danger, I tune out.
Personally, I *loved* The Bourne Ultimatum. Most of the action helped to further the story along, even DURING the action. Action should support a story, not stop it. IMHO, anyways.
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10-05-2007 @ 7:15AM
C++ said...
The problem isn't that the characters talk too much, it's that too many directors think their action film can and should carry some deep emotional or philosophical meaning, so instead of 90 minutes of butt kicking and some witty dialog we get a lot of pseudoemotional crap that just feels overly contrived and lame.
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