3 ms·

My movie buff friend pointed out that a lot of fight scenes are just a plot dice roll. The punching is pointless and has no effect on the characters until the p

by nicbou 3y ago

My movie buff friend pointed out that a lot of fight scenes are just a plot dice roll. The punching is pointless and has no effect on the characters until the plot has to move on. So you just watch people getting kicked through brick walls until the plot dictates that punches now register as damage, dice roll, one guy loses. Yawn.

diggan 3y ago
You basically also describe American Wrestling, which seems to be a huge industry in itself.
majormajor 3y ago
It's dancing for entertainment's sake, not for plot sake. How many people enjoy a given fight scene depends on how well it's done. A thousand movies could have the "hero gets beaten up initially, hero trains, now hero wins" plot series and be wildly different in execution quality and entertainment value. But that's fine. Good, even? If you can turn "John Wick searches for the bad guy in a club in NYC" into ten minutes of entertainment then you deserve to have success. I'm also not as pessimistic about the last couple of decades of moviemaking in that regard either. Some are good, a lot are dreck, but were 80s and 90s action movies all crushing it or do we just have rose-tinted memories since we remember the classics more than the also-weres? Even the article says "it wasn’t really until The Matrix arrived in 1999 that American audiences started wanting the kind of fight scenes you’d see in niche cult classics like Eastern Promises and They Live! or Asian cinema like The Raid and Oldboy" - so what's so unusual about post-2008 compared to pre-1999?
- nicbou 3y ago
  It’s fine if the dancing is good, which it often is. I thoroughly enjoy a good fight scene. But the Avengers? The fighting seems so pointless.
echelon 3y ago
I'm at the point where watching backroom political discourse feels better than watching two dudes fight. Kung Fu, old school Jackie Chan, the Matrix, Marvel Superhero flicks, John Wick... (yawn) Just give me an intriguing plot, great character arcs, and phenomenally talented, good-looking actors. That's all I want. Save the glycerine fight scenes, plot MacGuffins, world-ending stakes, and mystery boxes for the twelve year olds.
- nicbou 3y ago
  I love the fighting in the movies that you listed. They are cleverly choreographed. I just don’t like when the fighting is just this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb-ZR9DMEcY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb-ZR9DMEcY
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
crazygringo 3y ago
I've been watching the western TV series Deadwood (2004) and it's crazy how realistic the fights are. They're often over in an instant -- but if they go on for longer they're mostly awkward flailing on the ground. Characters are left with bruises and cuts on their face for days or longer. If they get shot in the shoulder, their arm is in a sling for several episodes. It's the polar opposite of the "cartoon" choreographed fighting you usually see in films and TV. Nothing glamorous or entertaining about it, but an important part of the story.

by nicbou 3y ago

diggan 3y ago

You basically also describe American Wrestling, which seems to be a huge industry in itself.

majormajor 3y ago

It's dancing for entertainment's sake, not for plot sake. How many people enjoy a given fight scene depends on how well it's done. A thousand movies could have the "hero gets beaten up initially, hero trains, now hero wins" plot series and be wildly different in execution quality and entertainment value. But that's fine. Good, even? If you can turn "John Wick searches for the bad guy in a club in NYC" into ten minutes of entertainment then you deserve to have success. I'm also not as pessimistic about the last couple of decades of moviemaking in that regard either. Some are good, a lot are dreck, but were 80s and 90s action movies all crushing it or do we just have rose-tinted memories since we remember the classics more than the also-weres? Even the article says "it wasn’t really until The Matrix arrived in 1999 that American audiences started wanting the kind of fight scenes you’d see in niche cult classics like Eastern Promises and They Live! or Asian cinema like The Raid and Oldboy" - so what's so unusual about post-2008 compared to pre-1999?

nicbou 3y ago
It’s fine if the dancing is good, which it often is. I thoroughly enjoy a good fight scene. But the Avengers? The fighting seems so pointless.

echelon 3y ago

I'm at the point where watching backroom political discourse feels better than watching two dudes fight. Kung Fu, old school Jackie Chan, the Matrix, Marvel Superhero flicks, John Wick... (yawn) Just give me an intriguing plot, great character arcs, and phenomenally talented, good-looking actors. That's all I want. Save the glycerine fight scenes, plot MacGuffins, world-ending stakes, and mystery boxes for the twelve year olds.

nicbou 3y ago
I love the fighting in the movies that you listed. They are cleverly choreographed. I just don’t like when the fighting is just this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb-ZR9DMEcY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb-ZR9DMEcY

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

crazygringo 3y ago

I've been watching the western TV series Deadwood (2004) and it's crazy how realistic the fights are. They're often over in an instant -- but if they go on for longer they're mostly awkward flailing on the ground. Characters are left with bruises and cuts on their face for days or longer. If they get shot in the shoulder, their arm is in a sling for several episodes. It's the polar opposite of the "cartoon" choreographed fighting you usually see in films and TV. Nothing glamorous or entertaining about it, but an important part of the story.