Action movies continue to be some of the most watched movies of all time. Action movies tend to excel, especially the most common knows ones such as all the Marvel movies and James Bond movies. These movies continue to be popular years after their release dates why is that?
This genre's popularity continues to increase due to the specific pattern that these movies tend to follow. They almost always have the clear defined heroes, victims, and villains. The heroes purpose throughout the movies is to stop the "bad guys" and in the end they almost always succeed. However, their are always bumps along the road which is what makes action movies even more engaging for the audience. In a sense directors create real life scenarios that the characters experience so the audience can empathize with tjem and idolize the heroes of the movie. They almost always take place in big cities such as Berlin, New York, and Paris. Additionally, many action movies take place in postapocalyptic worlds, for example, Dawn of the Planet of Apes.
Most action movies rely heavily on the use of production techniques. The use of fast paced editing can be seen in almost every action movie that has been created specifically in the fight scenes. The use of fast paced editing helps keep viewers on their toes because so many things are occurring at once. The use of loud sound effects tied to the fast paced editing creates exciting moments for viewers and makes the fight scenes even more dramatic. The layering of different sounds to create specific sounds is also quite common in this genre. Finding the perfect sound for glass breaking, punches being thrown, and cars swerving everywhere, allows viewers to become more into the movie and feel engaged in it because sound effects are absolutely essential to any film. Lighting is also very important, the use of different lighting throughout the film allows viewers to understand when things are more serious and when comedic relief is occurring. The use of lighting accents can be used to demonstrate the background of the scene. For example, showing how big a place is where a fight is about to take place.
The marketing of action movies is usually directed towards young males ages 16-25. This is because as stated before, action movies have fast paced editing, countless violence scenes, and women characters are often sexualized within the scenes (usually by the outfits that are worn by them). The main characters of the movies, or the heroes, are mostly muscular white men. This is also appeals to the younger target audience of the films. Marketing strategies for these movies can vary, trailers, movies posters, and the actors posting about the upcoming movie are all common ways these movies are marketed. In the trailers, the violent scenes are usually foreshadowed and it includes messages in between every clip. A good example of this is the new commercial for the James Bond movies, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw2FOYjCz38.
A very popular example of a well known action movie is Avengers: Endgame. This movie is a continuation of the Marvel series and is ultimately the last one that will be released since the avengers are able to reverse what Thanos did by snapping his fingers and removing half of the worlds population. This movie was released in 2019 and was marketed in the exact way that was earlier mentioned. The trailers of this movie included fight scenes and words being placed throughout the scenes. Furthermore, the main characters of this movie are mostly white men who save the world. The women in this movie such as Scarlett Johansson, are placed in tight black leather tracksuits. The avengers in this movie have a clear target, Thanos, and at the end are able to defeat him and save the world. This movie also uses different types of lighting throughout, at the beginning the scenes tend to have a dark tint to them and towards the end that tint is removed since they were able to save the world.
Another popular action movie series is Fast and Furious. These movies are mainly centered around illegal street racing and nice cars, they have other aspects to them but personally I would say those are the main two. In this movie series, fast paced editing is used in the racing scenes to create suspense around who is going to win. There are also heroes and villains within every movie and as always, the heroes always win. The characters of these movies also tend to be white men and once again the women are sexualized, for example Magdalene Shaw. This film includes certain aspects of real life but mostly the events that occur are completely unrealistic, this tends to occur in most action movies.
Other popular action films include:
- The Maze Runner (2014)
- X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
- Transformers 1 (2007)
- John Wick (2014)
- Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Indian Jones: Raider Of The Lost Ark (1981)
- Mission Impossible- Fallout (2018)
