What Makes a Good Action Film?

Suddenly there's an explosion! 

Brought to you by Michael Bay.

Wow! Then out of nowhere someone throws a knife at your neck! Luckily you dodge it, but then a train carrying a bomb and a thousand ninjas comes barreling out of nowhere! Thankfully you remembered to pack your trusty bazooka and you blow half of the train up before using some of the shrapnel to eviscerate the rest of the ninja clan single-handedly. Man, WAS THAT AWESOME OR WHAT?!

Recently I finally got around to seeing Sylvester Stallone's film THE EXPENDABLES. I also happened to see the recently released (on Blu-ray and DVD) Indonesian film THE RAID: REDEMPTION by welsh director Gareth Evans. Besides realizing that I must have been short on manliness and in serious need of a shot of adrenaline to cure it, seeing these two films also got me wondering: What is it that makes a good action film? 

My guess would be this if there were also some really big boobs somewhere close. And also if the car was simultaneously knifing a terrorist.

Much like the clips of countless M16's, that question may seem pretty loaded. And while I'm sure there are countless reasons that instantly come to mind for many of you, I'm going to briefly give my thoughts using the two films listed above and attempt to show why I believe one is a truly remarkable film while the other is little more than a flaccid fireworks display.

To begin with, both have pretty simple plots. In THE RAID, a SWAT team is sent to infiltrate a building in the Jakarta slums that has become a safe house for the area's most dangerous gangsters and murderers in order to remove it's owner, a notorious crime lord named Tama, by any means necessary. The SWAT team quickly and quietly makes its way through the first few floors until eventually they are spotted by a young boy who, before being shot to death, sets off the building's alarm and alerts all of the building's inhabitants as to what exactly is going on. Obviously not wanting to be arrested, or more likely killed, Tama declares through the building's PA system that if the residents kill all of the members of the SWAT team, their rent will be considered covered for the rest of their lives. And then all hell breaks loose. 

"SARGE! Your Kevlar is covered in hell! No Tide To-Go in the world can get that out!"

THE EXPENDABLES on the other hand, is about a group of "elite" (and by that, the people who wrote the plot summary probably meant old) mercenaries lead by Barney Ross (Stallone) who are tasked by John McClain to overthrow Batista from DEXTER (otherwise known as a  Latin American dictator) who they soon find out is simply the puppet of a ruthless ex-CIA officer (Eric Roberts). Subsequently fists fly, tons of bullets and knives find their way into chests and necks, stuff blows up, actiony quips are made, and all hell breaks loose.

"Hey, Shadowface, look. I'm totally crushing this fool's head."

So, as should be pretty evident by now, both of these plots are pretty generic. The difference is, THE RAID: REDEMPTION doesn't pretend like its plot is actually the most important part of the film. In fact, that's its strong point. THE RAID knows that the action is why people want to watch it. And does it ever deliver. Now, that's not to say the story and acting aren't okay, they're fine. But because that's all they are, they don't get in the way of the amazing action sequences. While THE EXPENDABLES spends much of its time trying to convince us to care about its lack luster plot, leaving much of the running time to Stallone making lame jokes and googly eyes at his man-crush Jason Statham, nearly 90% of THE RAID's hour and forty minutes is spent in the heat of jaw-dropping action scenes.

Using actors actually trained in different forms of martial arts, Gareth Evans is able to let the entirety of his action scenes play out. With brisk and artistic, yet heart-pounding cinematography (including some really well done long takes), Evans is able to keep you in the action at all times. This alternative to the standard shaky-cam, darkly lit, random quick cuts that THE EXPENDABLES abuses to cover up its copious use of stunt doubles not only makes THE RAID feel very fresh and believable (in that you believe these guys could actually have fights like this), but it also keeps you invested. Instead of constantly struggling to figure out who is who while Stallone fights some random baddie in a darkly lit Latin American compound at night, THE RAID takes place almost completely within a fluorescent-lit apartment building with the action front and center. And it's action that never becomes boring.

Utilizing such a variety of complex and unique fighting styles, Evans is able to keep every action scene engaging and new. Never once do you really feel tired of seeing these guys completely destroy each other, because no two guys ever fight in the same way. And just as they don't fight in the same way, each character also uses their environment in unique (though equally lethal ways). Unfortunately, Stallone's film doesn't master this principle of "keeping it fresh."

"Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!"

THE EXPENDABLES instead chooses to, as stated above, stick with the more cookie-cutter technique of showing the action in quick, disorienting cuts that completely kill any sense of thrill or suspense that could be had from actually letting us see what's going on and making us believe there are actual stakes (something which THE RAID does very well). And while THE EXPENDABLES does try to make up for this with large explosions and a pretty decent final action set piece in which all the stars finally get their moment to shine, it's really too little, too late.

Speaking of stars, one last thing that I'll say is that while casting huge names in your movie may bring in the viewers, it doesn't necessarily make for a good film. In fact, in the case of Stallone's film, it really hinders it. Sure, it's cool to see all these action film icons together on screen, but the film never really pays it off. Apart from the fact that it's mostly only Stallone and Statham throughout most of the film, having so many big names in the film not only makes us expect to see actual development of these characters into something worthwhile, it also takes away any suspense and tension because we all know that every one of them is going to make it to the end (they didn't even have the balls to kill off Dolph Lundgren, not that they could). In THE RAID however, though the actors aren't going to be winning any Oscars anytime soon, they're convincing enough for an action movie. And because we've never heard of them, it allows the audience to really get invested and allows them to see these actors as the characters they're portraying and allows the viewers to feel actual emotion towards them, fearing that any of them could die at any moment.

Mission: Accomplished

So, this might just all be nonsense and you may heartily disagree. But that's fine. For my money, however, to have a good action film you need to have some of these things I've mentioned. For one, you have to know the action is the point of the film. Sure, having a good story is always a plus, but if you can showcase beautifully shot and choreographed  action sequences (as opposed to what looks like poorly performed WWE maneuvers)  with competent and willing actors, you can make something truly amazing to behold. We all know that action films have a certain cheese factor to them. The dialogue isn't the greatest and the actors usually aren't Gary Grant or Humphrey Bogart. But it's not about that. It's about the action. If you can keep an audience invested in what you're showing them and get them to care about the characters just enough so that there's that constant tension when the action really escalates, and all while being a truly entertaining film, then in my opinion, you've probably just made one hell of an action film.