the art of action

On a spontaneous impulse, we went to see The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (or LXG for us lazy typers) last night. Despite –or, perhaps, because of- all the flack this movie is taking from the critics, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. LXG is definitely a movie for renting on DVD.

Usually the phrase, “wait for it to come out on video” is proclamation of mediocrity. Usually it means that the movie wasn’t worth $20-plus for a family of three, but it’s worth watching for a meager $6 (that’s $3 for the rental and $3 for the chronic late charges). LXG is different, though. I firmly believe that this movie would be easier to watch at home on a DVD player.

See, I have a confession to make. I kind of… uh… I… I don’t understand action sequences anymore. There, I said it. Movies like Spider-Man, The Matrix: Reloaded, and LXG have made me realize that either action sequences are too fast and too complex or my mind is slowing and deteriorating. I don’t doubt that my mind has lost a step or two thanks so self-inflicted abuse, but my bet is that Hollywood is getting carried away with sensory overload action. This new breed of action requires fight sequences to happen so fast that everything is a chaotic blur on the big screen. Speed can, indeed, heighten the urgency of scene, but there comes a point when speed hinders the coherency. In order to keep the audience abreast of what the hell is going on and who the hell is winning, “bullet time” becomes a necessary break for every state-of-the-art fight sequence.

This is me at the end of every “hip” action sequence: “Whathfuckjushappened?!”

Speed an action sequence does not make (thank you, Yoda). Thinking back on random classic action sequences reveals quality artistic action requires empathy, setup, suspense, and a good music score.

Indiana Jones running from the boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark… Ripley suiting up in a freight-loading exoskeleton to bitchslap the queen at the end of Aliens… Every time Yu Shu Lien squares up against Jen Yu in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon… These are quality action sequences that don’t rely on speed and sensory overload to amaze the audience. I wish these high-tech, in-your-face directors would take a little more time to artfully sculpt their action scenes and stop relying on speed as a gimmick.

Back to LXG: Like I’ve mentioned, the movie was pretty damn good. Wait for the DVD release so that you can slow down, pause, rewind, replay, and dissect each individual action scene.
...and so it was written, shenry at 7/16/2003 11:30:00 AM.
...and so it was appended with .