What Makes an Action Movie Thrilling?
Action movies have been a huge staple of the movie world and it is known worldwide as one of the best movie genres. Action movies are known to involve a lot of explosions, thrill, and multiple fight scenes. They have this special spark which gives excitement and an emotional roller coaster to the audience. With different combinations of stunts, explosions, fight scenes, and more, action has come a long way from what it used to be, to how it is widely known now.
Some well known action movie directors such as Michael Bay (The Rock, Bad Boys, Transformers), Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Tenet, Dunkirk), and Kevin Feige (Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America), all use different techniques and have their own way to project their visions in the story and really bring it to life in one of the most spectacular ways possible.
Dunkirk, Dir. Christopher Nolan, 2017
Content:
A huge factor that goes into action films is stunts. Stunts are always the most seen factor you'll ever see in an action movie. They usually take place during a fight scene, and they involve a lot of movement and training. Films typically use stunt doubles, which are professional people that mostly get hurt for the actor so that they don't get hurt. Stunts can even be performed by the same actors, for example, Tom Cruise did his own stunts while filming Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, such as hanging off the outside of a flying airplane and being underwater for a long time with no oxygen tank.
Another factor of action are the explosions. The explosions in action scenes are what really gives all the thrill in action, they give the audience a sense of excitement and especially when they do the iconic slow walking with an explosion behind the hero. Explosions sometimes symbol an important part of the movie that can affect the characters in the plot or sometimes even a victory in most cases. Some of the best movie explosions come from movies such as The Dark Night, when The Joker (Heath Ledger), makes a hospital explode. Something seen a lot in action movies is that there is always the "good guy" and the "bad guy, and the "good guy" fights the "bad guy", the "good guy" gets either really injured or their mission fails the first time, and the "good guy" wins in the end with a really cool ending or a cliffhanger for a sequel.
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Dir. Christopher McQuarrie, 2015
Production Techniques:
Sound plays a huge role in action movies, and they also give out a lot of mixed emotions to the audience, for instance, if they hear a bomb countdown, the audience starts to feel some sort of anxiety, or if they hear gunshots, they start going crazy over who is shooting who. Sound is what gives out either the highest emotion or the most depressing feeling throughout the plot. Adding sounds of screams and grunts gives the scene a more realistic point of view to a point the audience can feel what the characters are feeling. The purpose of sound gives the feeling that is supposed to project the emotion, for example, in the movie Jurassic World, where the T-Rex seemed like it was about to be defeated by the Indominus Rex, but then a sound is heard, and it's Blue the Velociraptor, who quickly jumped to the T-Rex's aid and together, they defeated the Indominus Rex, who was later eaten by a Mossasaurus. The different mixes of sounds gives a feeling for the audience to be at the edge of their seats over who is going to win, and the whole sound carries out the outcomes during and after the final battle.
Another technique used a lot is the camera angles that can either make the scene more exciting and more mysterious in some cases, or even use either high or low angle shots to either make a character look extremely powerful or small and vulnerable. Some other techniques also include lighting, which is used to add certain mystery to certain characters, whether it's a character with a good intention, or even an unknown villain. For example, they used low lighting on the movie Indiana Jones on the opening scene, when the main character was first introduced, but then the character comes into the light.
Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Arc (1981)
Marketing:
The target audience for action movies is usually around 15 to 40 years old. There is such a huge young audience in action films due to the adrenaline rushes that action films provide and they feel the most excitement and magic from these types of movies. This excitement goes throughout youth and into adulthood, but after 40, that excitement kind of dies down a little and that's when they try to explore different genres. Although, action movies are mostly watched by men (90%) more than women (86%), even though there is a handful of women that enjoy action.
Action movies have the biggest budgets and even bigger ticket sales. Some big budget action films include, Avengers: Endgame, with a $400 million budget and over $2.7 Billion worldwide in ticket sales and The Fate of the Furious with a $250 million budget and over $1.2 Billion worldwide in ticket sales. The trailers used to promote movies involve the most important and exciting scenes of the movie in order to catch the audience's attention, along with some catchy music and even more intriguing plot. When the trailer ends at a cliffhanger, it intrigues the viewer to want to see more and what is coming next.
Samples:
The 1984 action/sci-fi film The Terminator is about a human Cyborg assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger)who is sent from 2029 to 1984 to
kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). But a man named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), who is against the
artificial intelligence company called Skynet who's plan is to take over the world using their artificially advanced cyborg soldiers, was sent to protect her from the
Cyborg assassin. Sarah is targeted by Skynet because her unborn son is supposed
to lead a rebellion against the robots that took over the world.
The Terminator (1984)
The 1982 action/adventure classic Rambo first blood Isabel
of Vietnam veteran call John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) who is looking around a
small Washington town but it's Matt by the brutality of the local Sheriff, Will
Teasle (Brian Dennehy). after catching Rambo, he was beat up really badly and
became a prisoner. Rambo is forced to the mountains where he swore revenge upon
the officers. Rambo then comes back for his revenge and hunts down every single
deputy that had wronged him. But he narrowly escapes the manhunt, but then
seeks the help of an old friend and former commander (Richard Crenna) to get
his revenge.
Rambo: First Blood (1982)
Action Movies to watch:
Black Panther (2018)
007: Casino Royale (2006)
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011)
The Fate of the Furious (2018)
Deadpool (2016)
