Things I'm Sick of - Action Movie Cliche #39

[S'mon]

Originally posted by Pielorinho


Poison Ivy was an eco-villain, right? And Twelve Monkeys had animal-rights terrorists.

Problem is, however, that animal-rights and environmental criminals are way into the property-destruction crimes. And it's hard to see Schwarzenegger really getting worked into a gun-toting tiff because a ski lodge got burnt to the ground.

Not wanting to get too political, but spiking lumber trees kills & maims lumber workers as well as damaging machines.


Now, I could imagine Bruckheimer or his kin making a movie in which the animal-rights criminals start assassinating scientists -- he's got no problems moving into the realm of fantasy. I think the real reason such a movie won't get made, however, is that it touches on to many hot-button political issues, and action movies aren't supposed to stir up political controversy. For the same reason, you won't see an action movie made in which the bad guy is blowing up abortion clinics or gay nightclubs.

Daniel

I can see the gay nightclub thing - certainly in the UK - I think they've already darmatised a real case of this which happened a couple of years ago. Generally speaking, killing people for being gay is regarded as beyond the pale in a way that killing people for cutting trees down isn't. I agree about the abortion clinic, though.

 

[S'mon]

I remember one real life story about two "cowboys" having a gunfight in a hallway in the second story of a hotel/saloon. Said hallway was very narrow, only wide enough for a single person to walk through. The gunmen were 5-10 feet from each other. The gunfight ended when both emptied their guns and one jumped out a window. Neither were hit.

That can easily happen, but that's, what, maybe 10-12 bullets fired in total? Like the scene in Pulp Fiction where the yuppie empties a revolver at the hitmen. Plausibility is strained when it's 100+ bullets being fired in similar circumstances.

 

[Pielorinho]

Not wanting to get too political, but spiking lumber trees kills & maims lumber workers as well as damaging machines.[/B]

I think this is an exagerration, but if I discuss further, I'll veer into political territory, which I shouldn't do. So I'll just encourage people to look into the above quote and decide on its truth for themselves. And I'll say no more on it.

Daniel

 

[Mr. Grimm]

Without (hopefully) touching on anything political or otherwise taboo, something I miss most in action movies would have to be a plot that is remotely intelligent. Why can't the protagonists or antagonists (not good guy or bad guy) be someone or some group that is involved for or against something politically devisive?? At least a controversial topic would be good for debate or make the watcher think.

And even if it isn't controversial, why not intelligent? I'm not the smartest cookie in the jar, but why do the stupidest notions have to be explained? Why does the science always suck? I don't mind poetic license but why is history always twisted into something that makes me groan in disgust when the true history would have been even more entertaining (Gladiator, The Patriot)??

And why Oh why does Chris Tucker have to be in a movie with Jackie Chan -- a movie series where the director confesses to believing that the American public can only tolerate 2 minutes of action per ten minutes of dialogue (if what Tucker does can be called that)??? Like listening to a bloodhound howl for 90 minutes!

 

[Pielorinho]

I don't mind poetic license but why is history always twisted into something that makes me groan in disgust when the true history would have been even more entertaining (Gladiator, The Patriot)??

When Gladiator came out, I remember a reviewer saying that the late Roman empire had sexual deviancy, people tortured in gruesome fashions, surrealities of excess -- and this was the best they could come up with? It's hard to imagine a time or place more suited to degenerate Hollywood moviemaking, but they squandered the opportunity.

I didn't see the movie.

As for political controversy in action movies, I think they avoid it because action movies are supposed to be feel-good killing romps. Overly controversial politics would cut down on ticket sales.

Even my favorite action movies -- thoughtful gems like Unforgiven, Ghost Dog, and Heat -- don't really deal with politics that much. Not overtly, anyway.

Daniel

 

[S'mon]

I think this is an exagerration, but if I discuss further, I'll veer into political territory, which I shouldn't do. So I'll just encourage people to look into the above quote and decide on its truth for themselves. And I'll say no more on it.

Daniel

I only know what I was told by a friend who's a lumber worker's wife - he apparently narrowly avoided having his head taken off by a flying piece of cutting blade when the circular saw was shattered by a spike. I suppose you could class such injuries and deaths as industrial accidents, I know they're not reported much. I also (independently) know that people who cut trees have by far the highest death/injury rate of any job, police and military included.

Anyway, the fact that we're discussing this proves the point that it's too controversial for Hollywood!

 

[Corinth]

Hollywood has no balls because the American public cut them off generations ago. Joe Average bears some of the responsibility for the craptacular state of American action films, as he's rewarded Hollywood time and again with his cash by seeing them.

Don't buy them, don't rent them, don't see them in the theaters, don't spend any money on them at all and you'll get the point across to the suits in the studios.

 

[MythandLore]

The agriculture industry accounted for 780 deaths and 130,000 disabling injuries in 2000. Agriculture workers had the second highest death rate among the major industry divisions.
Construction workers had the highest number of deaths among major industry groups with 1,220 deaths and 470,000 disabling injuries.
Whenever you work with large machines or uneven terrain you are in very real danger.
Forestry, fishing, landscape and horticultural services, mining, and the oil and gas extraction industry are also bad as far as deaths/injurys go for the same reasons.
Big killers are like on-the-job falls and electrocution.
Lots of disabling injuries and deaths are from common falls just off ladders or slipping on a wet/loose surface.
And a slip is as easy as a little sand on concrete and poof, someone dies.
I know several people with career ending injuries from falls (broken backs from from ladders - amazingly I know 3 people with the same thing that happend).
Machine failer is very dangerous, it doesn't take a spike in a tree to to break a saw blade or snap a chain on a saw, many other things can go wrong.
People get run over by trackers, trees can knock over other trees that in turn hit people, all kinds of really bad stuff.

Anyway, as some of you know, Hollywood is in Southern California, so movies are made from that point of veiw.
Action movies follow this, as someone said before they go with Cliche bad guys, why?
Because this is what the movie industry sees as bad guys.
Terrorists, Para-millitary groups, Dictators, Drug Lords, International Theives, these make good simple action movie bad guys.
People will pay a lot of money to see these guys beat up by the "hero".
When you get into the more realistic, it's harder to make it good vs. bad.

As far as eco-peeps, anti-abortion peeps, etc are very touchy subjects in Hollywood, because there are a lot of people belonging to diffrent "movements" in Hollywood.
So they wont want their ideas shown in a bad way, if it is, it's not in a general action flick, it's in a drama at that point.
Movies like "the Patriot", "Unforgiven", "Saving Privite Ryan" aren't considered action moives by Hollywood, they are "Epic Dramas".
Action Moives are the "Die Hards", "Rush Hours", even the "Indiana Jones's" it's easy to see who the bad guy is in these kinds of movies, "Look there's a Nazi, he's got to be the bad guy".
You got to keep the Genre in perspective, to Hollywood "Gladiator" and "Braveheart" were Dramas not an action movies.
Action Movies don't get very many Acadmey Awards.
Even "LotR" is trying to pin itself as a "Epic Drama", not a Action/Adventure movie.
Movies like "Exit Wounds" (not a bad movie) and "Lara Croft - Tomb Raider" and "Fifth Element" are action.
"12 Monkeys" and "Heat" aren't (to Hollywood).

Now...
Did anyone see in todays Daily Variety, MGM is doing a "Remake of Seven Samurai" a "contemporary retelling".
OH LORDY LORDY! Is anyone else worried about this???

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

Heat" aren't (to Hollywood).

Now...
Did anyone see in todays Daily Variety, MGM is doing a "Remake of Seven Samurai" a "contemporary retelling".
OH LORDY LORDY! Is anyone else worried about this???

Wonderful. By "contemporary retelling" I presume they'll be bringing it into modern times and "adapting" it to our modern sensibilities. I hate to kill the cat before I hear it howl, but this just oozes bad idea. Especially considering Seven Samurai was ALREADY remade as The Magnificent Seven, a classic film in its own right. There's only so many times you can go to the well folks.... especially when we saw (or, rather, NO one went to see) the overripe fruits of MGM's remake frenzy so recently in Rollerball.

 

[SteelDraco]

Gladiator was a good flick...

When Gladiator came out, I remember a reviewer saying that the late Roman empire had sexual deviancy, people tortured in gruesome fashions, surrealities of excess -- and this was the best they could come up with? It's hard to imagine a time or place more suited to degenerate Hollywood moviemaking, but they squandered the opportunity.

I didn't see the movie.

For the record, I think you should. While it might not have been historically accurate, it was still a good movie. Assuming, of course, that you're not altogether incapable of looking around such things. Personally, I don't know much about the era, but I did really enjoy the movie.