Alright so, this week I felt like writing an opinion piece, more specially, my thoughts on some common action movie issues.
The first major problem (especially in 007 movies) is that the bad guys always have such bad aim. I mean seriously, is there no marksmanship criteria for henchmen? What would happen if the first time Bond pops out from cover he gets killed with a head shot? Or what is the German sniper in Enemy at the Gates got the Russian officer on the first attempt (now I admit I've never seen the movie completely, so I am partially guessing here)? In fact, one of the only movies I can think about where the bad guy (we are initially lead to believe he's bad) has amazing marksmanship is Phone Booth. Kiefer Sutherland plays a sniper who keep Colin Farrell trapped in a Phone Booth (creative name eh?). In a good deal of action movies, the villains will run through entire clips and never once hit the protagonist, yet often with a single clip the protagonist can eliminate a room full of henchmen. Wheird! And yes I am aware of the "h" in "wheird"! Watch the movie Hot Rod.
Another major problem the henchmen cannot seem to get is logistics of a group fight. It is not uncommon for the hero to find themselves surrounded by henchmen who then proceed to attack ONE AT A TIME. I mean come on! Of course you will lose since this now becomes a series of one-on-one fights in sort of Mortal Kombat styled series of battles. If they had any sense, they would swam the hero all at once. True, a few henchmen might get injured but it would be minimal and the hero would be taken no problem. If I ever get jumped by a gang of people, I hope they follow this common action movie issue (and of course they don't know martial arts or carry weapons).
Not all of the problems in action movies are the fault of the henchmen. Sometimes the issue is the people making the movie. I love movies with montages. The point of a montage is to show progress of the main character through progressive clips that give the illusion of time passing while at the same time, remind the audience about what is going on. Listen to "You Need a Montage!!" from the movie Team America:World Police if you require more help with montages. The audience is basically left with one conclusion...that the main character is somehow allowed to learn and improve in a Matrix like fashion and speed by being a part of a montage. If that was all it took in real life I'd learn every though montages. I would be a super genious and have awesome soundtracks playing in the background while I do.
Anyway, these are just of the few great things about action movies. If you think of one, we would love to hear about it. Post a comment below with your thoughts below and thanks for reading.
If the henchmen had better aim, action movies would be a lot shorter.
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