10 Movies That Ruined Awesome Cinematic Tricks

Another recent innovation now, then, with FPV drone shots.

While drones have been used for years to capture establishing scenic shots, in the last few years Hollywood has started using FPV drones to capture more intimate, fast-paced footage.

FPV drones are typically used in drone racing, with the operator wearing a head-mounted display to see the drone's position, and a select number of action filmmakers have started using the tech in their movies.

The drones were used sparingly in last year's Red Notice, but given a far more prominent and impressive showing in Michael Bay's Ambulance earlier this year.

Bay drafted in Drone Racing League pilots Jordan Temkin and Alex Vanover to control the drones during the film's sustained chase sequences, providing gorgeously intrusive, breakneck coverage that a conventional camera rig simply couldn't.

The praise for Bay's creative use of FPV drones ensured it wouldn't be long before other directors followed suit in a major way, but the first imitator out of the gate has basically already left audiences tired of the technique.

The Russo brothers' recently released Netflix actioner The Gray Man also used FPV drones extensively throughout its production, yet without Bay's sense of kineticism and understanding of cinematic space, the drone shots ended up looking goofy and excessive.

Many complained that the drone shots weren't integrated into scenes in a coherent way, and so ultimately felt like the Russos playing around with a nifty new filmmaking toy without the discipline to know when not to use it.

While it's likely we're going to see a lot more of FPV drone photography in action films over the coming years, The Gray Man already proves that less is often more, and that the tech doesn't amount to much without a careful plan for how it's used.