Lights, camera, ACTION!

And ACTION is the genre we exploded this week. Kick started the week with an action-spy-thriller film, Ronin, 1998, directed by, John Frankenheimer, starring Robert De Niro. The film features all tropes of the 90s action films where stunts and visual effects were actually done in real life, rather than leaving it to the special effects team to develop it during post. The period when Jackie Chan could perform all his stunts without the use of ropes and cables, and car chase scenes neatly choreographed, before all the fast cutting, fast camera movement and loud explosions took the driver seat.

Personally, I found the film a little mundane, however, being a 90s baby myself, we’ve been exposed to films produced in the late 90s into the new millennium. And sad to say, only the films that I’ve watched during the early 2000s-2010s left a stronger impression in my memory. A good example of how the action genre has evolved together with technology would be the Star Wars series. George Lucas launched the initial Star Wars trilogy with episode IV, V, and VI, before I, II and III. The first original trilogy were released in 1977, 1980 and 1983 respectively, and the prequel trilogy were released 1999, 2002, and 2005. With that, we can see how the story telling through action sequences changes and evolves with the advancement of technology. Since the first movie genre that comes to mind would be Science Fiction instead of Action, Action thus takes place quite a bit when it comes to the fighting scenes, maneuvering of the X-wing Starfighter, and of course the light saber duels between the Jedis and the Sith Lords.

There’ve been arguments going around saying that the prequel trilogy were not as good as the original trilogy as it contained too much action, it lacked story, and overall just seemed a little overcooked with the action sequences. But maybe that’s not what people should be arguing about, instead, what about debating over the thought of, with the advancement of technology, is having special effects, computer generated images, and various tools on the computer at the filmmaker’s disposal, does it enhance the film’s narration and storytelling? Or does it distract viewers from the actual narration and storytelling and focus heavily on the action sequences itself?

The top 10 blockbuster films are no doubt either in the genre of Action films, or relies heavily on the action sequence. Certainly there must be an unwritten formula that sells the action theme. And I am definitely one who enjoys the thrills of the action films and sequences, one of my all time favourite action film would be the Fast and Furious franchise, but I, too, found that the latest instalment of the Fast and Furious franchise lost a bit of nuance from the very first Fast and Furious movie, just a bunch of alpha male enjoy riding fast cars, getting involved with the law and gang related activities.