Action!
Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris in Return of the Dragon (aka Way of the Dragon)
With an eye toward the action scenes in The Dark Knight, Dennis Lim offered up an interesting video slideshow in Slate yesterday illustrating the evolution of fight scenes through the ages.
See Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston fighting old school under a big sky in Big Country;
Robert DeNiro taking a beating in Raging Bull (”Once the movie steps inside the ring…it also steps inside La Motta’s battered consciousness”);
Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris in King Hu’s Return of the Dragon (”Lee especially insisted that his fights be filmed expressly to showcase his skills, with minimal cutting and, where possible, in shots that frame him head to toe”);
Bruce Willis in Die Hard (”savage, even animalistic”);
Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers (”One of the most belligerent applications of the premillennial collage style”);
The Wachowski Brothers’ The Matrix;
Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins (”Nolan’s avowed concern is realism, but his slice-and-dice method, in a sense, robs his fights of authenticity”);
Paul Greengrass’ The Bourne Ultimatum (”While this staccato style ups the adrenaline level, the casualty is spatial coherence”);
Park Chanwook’s Oldboy (”to watch this after trying to figure out what’s happening between Batman and the Joker is something like going back to Astaire and Rogers after watching Renee Zellwegger and Richard Gere in Chicago”);
and finally David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises (”what might very well be a Platonic ideal of a fight scene, standing as it does outside all cinematic trends”).
Interestingly, two of the names that come to mind when you think of action are Tony Scott and Michael Bay. Lim doesn’t clip them, but dismisses them and their ilk entirely:
“90s action cinema is a wasteland when it comes to fight scenes. Most of these frat-metal spectaculars, obsessed with scale and volume, were too busy detonating asteroids and dropping fireballs on major metropolitan areas to bother with anything quite as puny as one-on-one combat.
The curious thing about these movies - in particular Bay’s (The Rock, Armageddon) - is that they are constantly moving, always in overdrive, and yet often seem lumbering if not completely inert.”
I agree with Lim about Bay and that lot, but I’m not so quick to dismiss Nolan and Greengrass. The Wachowski Brothers’ Speed Racer suffered similar criticisms (as has Scorsese’s Raging Bull), but I wonder if history will look back with a kinder eye on these newer films once the styles and techniques have been absorbed into the cinematic language.
Via: Hollywood Elsewhere
Filed under: Analysis
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I agree with him about Tony Scott, Michael Bay, etc. Whether it’s The Rock or Armageddon, or Deja Vu, I find the action scenes to be startlingly lifeless.
Nolan and Greengrass have done something different, and it’s had its successes and failings, but I wouldn’t outright dismiss them (especially after seeing The Dark Knight twice). I’m not sure what the consensus is, but The Dark Knight’s action felt like something of a quantum leap from Batman Begins, and even with Begins, a good deal of the time the way in which the action was shot had a certain justification.
Directorially, I think Raging Bull (and Taxi Driver) is Scorsese’s masterpiece, and the fight scenes are the best of the boxing genre, practically to the point of shaming all other efforts.
As Lim points out, boxing experts cried that Scorsese’s fights were unrealistic…which was completely intentional.
At this point, I’m willing to give Nolan a similar benefit of a doubt regarding Dark Knight as I said in my review. After defending Speed Racer, I kind of have to. Plus, I’m really not sure we’ll be able to adequately judge them until time has passed.
Having said that, I love a good old school action scene where spacial orientation is smooth and clear. That Bruce Lee fight is pretty great. The zooms!!
Awesome. I must say, watching Bruce Lee fight is like watching Baryshnikov or Astaire dance. It’s simply awe inspiring.
To this day, the most horrific fight scenes I’ve ever seen are from “Fight Club” (a fantastic film), and I have a high tolerance for screen violence. Most poetic? Hands down “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” And late 70s, early 80s Jackie Chan is pretty sweet.
Astaire! Yes!
The sting of Fight Club has worn off for me a little bit, but the first time the personal brutality of it was way more disconcerting than the violence in any horror film.
Jackie Chan makes me grin. He’s like one of the silent comedians. I even liked Forbidden Kingdom goddamnit! (I dragged out Stranger than Fiction yesterday and Speed Racer this morning so it’s time to haul out the new LiC whipping post)
Anyone else having trouble with the YouTube clip?
Earthquake? Are all you Los Angelenos OK? Doesn’t sound like it was real rocker, but you never know.
It was a good’n. Perliminary 5.8, but about 30 miles from where I am.
Ooh, I really hate listening to the sound of knuckles cracking.
Thanks for that link, Craig. It’s an interesting comparison. I have to say, there is something compelling about the raw, mano-a-mano between Peck and Heston despite the scene’s austerity.
Hope all the L.A.-ers are okay. We’ve already heard from Craig.
A chain of monkeys lowered Craig to safety.
Those LiC monkeys always come through. :-)
Downgraded to a less-macho 5.4 apparently.
I want to go on it again, mom!
I’m with you on the old school Alison. I like the clarity and simplicity. And they don’t hide behind editing tricks to cover up for the lack of skill.
I linked to this on filmtotaal, too. Not strictly news, but if the boss doesn’t object, I might start linking to things like that more often.
My favorite observation? That the violence in Raging Bull is expressionistic, and that in The Bourne Ultimatum is impressionistic.
Yes! I also liked the comparison of action in Oldboy vs. Dark Knight to the dancing of Astaire/Rogers vs. Zellwegger/Gere in Chicago. Not entirely fair, but the point is taken.
That was my favorite observation as well, Hedwig. Quite true.
I actually thought the problem with Oldboy’s action was that it was too well choreographed, to the point of sapping some of the realistic immediacy that I would haved liked for that film. Johnnie To, however, is able to create ballet-like action sequences that are fluid, coherent and usually expressionistic.
Glad you’re okay, Craig.
We can’t have this discussion without mentioning Jet Li.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHi3izaoi_A
Fist of Legend, Li’s remake of the Bruce Lee classic, is one of my favorite Hong Kong action movies. It’s one fight after the next with short breaks for the bare bones plot, each fight building in intensity and insanity from the previous. I know someone who says it’s like a Nintendo platform video game in that respect.
And of course, you also couldn’t forget Jackie Chan, who should be credited with coming up with Parkour long before those French guys sold it to Hollywood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdbc2xJR9N0
Chan at least got a mention in the Lim slideshow, but Jet Li is an oversight. Not surprising since he isn’t exactly a household name in the US.
Did I mention that Forbidden Kingdom was good retarded fun? Don’t rent it though, I feel certain you will hate it.
Forbidden Kingdom was definitely good retarded fun.
Rob Minkoff has shown that The Lion King was no fluke!
I watched the Brucetube but didn’t actually watch the slide show.
MSN Top 10 Martial Arts Movies
Picking the best Jet Li film is almost a parlor game unto itself. You could make a strong argument for Tsui Hark’s epic “Once Upon a Time in China” or my personal favorite, the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink smackdown “The New Legend of Shaolin”. Yet only one movie has given this world-class martial artist a proper showcase: “Fist of Legend.” Any doubts that Li was up to the task of playing the iconic Chinese hero Chen Zhen are assuaged during the film’s first fight scene against a rival dojo, when Li turns into a whirling dervish of furious fists and feet. By the time you get to the final mano-a-mano between Li and a hulking opponent, you know you’ve seen a true legend.
http://entertainment.msn.com/beacon/editorial1.aspx?ptid=1b5f5a03-adf0-ab3-ae58-08e08bcc6bf9
Once upon a time in China 1 & 2 are spectacular martial arts movies. Gotta love the Leone-esque look of that.
Where does Tony Jaa fit into this?
Thanks for that youtube link, Daniel. I have a item about Tony Jaa on AD this morning, and was having trouble picking the best clip. Yours had just what I was looking for.
Pretty awesome, isn’t it? Glad that you highlighted him, Ryan.
To be honest, the hand-to-hand Muay Thai moments didn’t do as much for me as that long chase scene through the alley, but I’m willing to watch paint dry for 2 hours if I get a minute of that action at the end. It’s one of the few moments in a movie that looks even better than the trailer suggests.
I considered adding Tony Jaa into my post up there but two things: Tony Jaa is pretty new to cinema and what he’s doing is physically amazing, but not so astoundingly new that it has become a cult of its own yet. I could be wrong, but I think Jet Li and Jackie Chan both achieved something special in their separate filmographies that puts them head, shoulders, and flying kicks above their peers.
But I really enjoyed Tony Jaa in Ong Bak and I’m looking forward to seeing the sheer insanity he will bring in Ong Bak 2. Gotta love the elephants.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wMNQwF2Wk4&feature=related
The Bourne Ultimatum fight scene inside the room is a second hand copy from Jet Li’s Unleashed bathroom fight, (the latter being one of the best cinematic fight scene involving joints and locks very street fighting-esque yet full of techniques)
does dennis lim knows a fight scene when he sees one? i dont think so.
Thanks for stopping by, Worm. My understanding is that Lim wasn’t impressed with Bourne, but it had more to do with the editing. I haven’t seen Unleased so I can’t comment on how similar they were. Is it an edit-for-edit copy?