Just Write Communications
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • News
  • Clients
  • Testimonials
  • Writing Tips
  • Weekly Chuckle
  • Meals We Steal
  • Bad Golf

Smash Things

9/14/2014

0 Comments

 
At a certain point, you grow numb to fight scenes in movies and TV shows.  There are only so many ways to throw or take a punch, crunch a chair on someone’s head or fling a body through a window.

Crash, blam, kathoom.  Even the sound effects, like those used in comic books, get repetitive.

“Guardians of the Galaxy,” a huge box office success this summer, is a case in point for me.  Everyone I know who went to see it sang the praises.  The reviews were also sterling.

I didn’t dislike it.  But I didn’t jump on the bandwagon either.  I chuckled at the dialogue.  There were amusing scenes that made me smile. The music was hip.  They brought in a different brand of super hero, the swash-buckling pirate-type outliers.  All of that shook up the plot enough so it wasn’t another predictable dust pile.

My complaint was with the fight scenes.  Too many.  Too predictable.  Too much smashing and not enough inventiveness.  Certainly, Groot, the tree man played by Vin Diesel, had his moments, regrowing himself, his limbs engulfing opponents.  Kinda cool.

Still…..  There was too much slamming, kathunking and kaboooming for my taste.  Somehow, TV and movie producers need to figure out ways to shake this up and give us some novelty, or give us a lot less of the violence and focus on character development.

The second and third “Transformers” movies, the latest “Star Trek,” all the “Expandables,” have gone over the top and just wham you in the face.  It would be easy to extend that list four- or five-fold without a lot of effort.

If we’re going to smash things (and really, it seems like it isn’t all about people beating each other up, but about “things” getting destroyed that seems to take up so much space in the plot), why not do it with ingenuity?  For example, if you have a space movie, like “Guardians,” think about some way to introduce a different setting for the battle.

Here’s an idea:  Do a weight-less fight scene.  It makes sense for a science fiction movie based in space, doesn’t it?  Have the characters floating in the air, throwing punches that land with less then full impact.  With no gravity, the bodies would float across the room, and they could push off walls of their space ship or vehicle, or wherever the fight scene is being filmed.


The combatants could do acrobatic moves, flips and tucks, spin moves in slow motion, and you could actually believe that could happen.  It would be a nice addition – watching fiction that seems real.

To contrast with that concept, go the exact opposite direction:  Have a fight scene on a planet where the gravity is extra powerful.  In this scene, everyone would move in slow motion. 

Because gravity would impact their movements and ability to swing a punch or lift up a leg for a kick, you could focus on facial expressions or how the muscles and joints extend.  Slow motion would show the sweat flying off after a fist cracks the jaw.  Guys would get off the ground slowly.  Anything knocked down or broke would shoot to the floor like a vacuum cleaner was sucking it down.  Put lead weights on all the actors so they are forced to move in slow motion.  That will make it more realistic.

The best fight scenes are the ones you don’t expect. The lack of predictability is what makes them great.  Producers need to get crafty.   Using a little ingenuity would go a long way towards eliminating the big yawns when fight scenes come on the screen.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013

    Categories

    All

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.