Hey there guys, just a heads up for those of you who might care (and for the million others who don’t… just skip to the next story :) )
The Movie Blog is actually in an article up on ABC News right now. The story was basically about Die Hard being listed as the top all time action film by Entertainment Weekly… but the broader idea of the article was “What makes a great action film?”. The whole article is actually pretty damn good and I’d recommend reading it.
Here are a couple of the quips with us mentioned:
A Great Hero
“It may sound simple, yet many action films have very forgettable, cookie-cutter and unimaginative heroes,” said John Campea of themovieblog.com. “When we don’t care about or like the hero, all the action in the world can’t save the movie.”
The Value of Villainy
A great hero alone cannot make a great movie without his opposite, however.
“‘Die Hard’ had one of the best villains of all time in Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber,” said Campea. “Darth Vader, the liquid-metal Terminator, Agent Smith, the Predator. Almost every single good action film has a strong villain.”
Like the hero, the audience must also have a connection, albeit negatively, with the villain’s lack of humanity.
And … Action!
Intelligence aside for the moment, an action movie is not an action movie unless it has some big shiny objects in the form of car chases, gunfights and a few good old-fashioned explosions.
“Action doesn’t have to run from start to finish,” said Campea, “but when the action is there, make sure it has the audience on the edge of its seat. It doesn’t have to be extravagant either.”
There is a lot more in the article. It’s a really good one, so check it out if you get the chance.
