What are the current Hollywood hardcore action movies pursuing?
The answer has never changed: action design.
Good action design can be said to account for half of successful action movies. An action movie can have loopholes in the plot and need to learn more in the performance, but it can't be sloppy in the action design. And a good design is not only to defeat the enemy or reflect the outstanding skill, but also to show the character and thinking of the actor, and then to have the pursuit of art and beauty.
The logic behind this is simple: we tend to remember an action movie through wonderful action scenes, rather than touching plots, superb acting skills, or other things outside the movie.
In order to better achieve this goal, now that hardcore action movies have declined, the most popular action movies in recent years are all designed with this task-not afraid of being too ridiculous, or not being unforgettable. And this is what David Reach, one of the most eye-catching filmmakers in recent years, a film director born as a stand-in actor, worked hard on "Quick Attack" and "Cold City".
As the co-director of "Quick Attack", David Reich designed a set of action styles for Keanu Reeves that are painful to the viewer, with neon color performance, which is quite rare and unruly. And this whole set of patterns is almost repeated on Charlize Theron in "Cold City", which is even more dazzling and full of charm.
The so-called leaders have been leading the way for more than ten years. In this decade when the R-rated classification has re-inspired the creative enthusiasm of filmmakers, we are delighted to see that the unremitting efforts of a new generation of filmmakers have made "The Bourne Duty" and Daniel Craig's hardcore 007, also It seems a bit gentle.
Adapted from the 2012 graphic novel of the same name by Anthony Johnston and Sam Hart, David Reach presents a large amount of information from "Cold City" through visual effects. Lorraine Broughton, played by Charlize Theron, is not only cool on the outside, but David Reach and photographer Jonathan Serra achieve a mixture of ice and fire through the design of light: the ice water at the first appearance Out of the bath, the whole scene is immersed in a slight bright blue production, and in the bar scene, the red neon effect is fully utilized. Blue represents the external image of Lorraine Broughton presented to the world, while red can penetrate the external character of the character, supplemented by close-up shots to highlight her internal character.
As a female action film, the most successful aspect of "Cold City" is that after "Mad Max 4: Fury Road", it once again gave full play to Charlize Theron's talent and action actress as an action star. Potential-This is something that "Fast and Furious 8" did not do, and it is also something that the female version of "The Expendables" and "The Eight Arhats" cannot match. The action scenes in the film are amazing. The long-shot chasing battle scenes in the second half are extremely difficult and amazing, making it the best of the year. Although this is not the first time we have seen female characters flex their muscles (Steven Soderbergh’s "Winning Strike" customized for Gina Carano in 2011 also slapped 6 leading male stars), but reached This level, at the same time the actors have no corresponding background, is extraordinary. Even if he puts aside clean fists, Charlize Theron's powerful female (A) king (T) force field is enough to make any (male) seem extremely weak.
Without Charlize Theron, this spy adventure movie might just be an OK action movie. The actress has given enough emotional depth to such a seemingly simple spy image, avoiding the 007-style stereotyped image, making it unique.
Therefore, even if the opening of the film is too warm, there is no suspense, tension and urgency in narrative and rhythm shaping (this is also a common problem for new directors), but as long as Charlize Theron is online, the "Cold City" Strong stylization is useful.
In addition to the absolute protagonist of Charlize Theron, "Cold City" also has cost-effective casts such as James McAvoy, John Goodman, Toby Jones and Sophia Paotra. We have seen too much of such a master N-matched cast mode in Guoda Statham's movies in the past few years, but it has never had such an outstanding effect.
This is also because Guoda Statham is only consuming Guoda Statham through the Guoda Statham movie. And "Quick Attack" and "Cold City" are exploring and showing more possibilities of action movies through reasonable consumption of coffee positions: textual blueprints, stylized design and lens language, the emphasis on performance, these The content is often a key element that can enhance the temperament and status in addition to the pure action drama.
For us on the other side of the ocean, it is more important to see that even Hollywood, which has been honed for decades, is still continuously contributing to "Wolf Warrior N". This kind of action film is looking for added value besides action.
Compared with the box office, what is more important is always the unremitting pursuit of film art, action art itself, and the way and confidence in practicing creativity.
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