5 Golden Rules Every Action Movie Should Follow

by Brendan Agnew

1. No Good Action Sequence is Pointless Final rule, easily the most important in the genre, and most action films (especially American ones) break this all the time. Yes, explosions and slow-mo shootouts and kung fu fights are cool, I love watching them. But they need to be about more than just the fireworks. Action in a film should always serve at least one of three things: - Tell us something about the characters

- Move the narrative forward/ raise the stakes of the story
- Provide catharsis to the audience by resolving a building conflict (Hero/Villain showdown) The very best action films manage to do more than one of these (or even all of them) at the same time. Robin Hood does this continually, and 2005's Mr. and Mrs. Smith is damned good at this as well, especially in the second half of the movie. And I've given a lot of love to Die Hardalready, so I'm going to switch gears and use what may be the best modern American example of this particular rule in action (bad puns, love 'em) to date. 1999's The Matrix. There is not a single superfluous action scene in this movie. From top to bottom. Every time wire-fu or effects-enhanced gun-fighting occurs, the movie is actually telling us something. The audience is learning about the world, first about its different rules and different factions, then about the seemingly-superhuman powers and the personalities of the people who use them, and finally the movie brings it all together: a character accepting a destined mantle, the narrative coming to a head with the highest stakes in the film, and a masterfully constructed confrontation that brings everything together for a perfect crescendo to the film. Smith vs. Neo in the subway is literally everything a final action scene should strive to be. Even the fight itself has all 5 of these rules in play, that's how brilliant it is. Say what you will about the sequels, but the Wachowski's original understood and followed these rules, and it's for that reason - not for the cool-but-tiresomely-copied slow-mo effects or the gorgeous martial arts choreography or nifty philosophical/spiritual bent - that the film was so captivating and game-changing. It simply did everything right. The lesson Hollywood learned from its success? More sunglasses and black trenchcoats. But we know better.

Contributor
Contributor

Brendan Agnew has held jobs as a salesman, a fraud investigator, a credit card supervisor, and a teacher, but writing is always what's kept him sane. He's a life-long film/TV and literature enthusiast, a lover of interactive entertainment (that's a pretentious way of saying video games), and a full-time nerd. The only thing he enjoys more than immersing himself in all things nerdy is the opportunity to drag someone else in to the wide world of geekdom, kicking and screaming if necessary. If you don't think your daily feed is bloated enough already, you can follow him on Twitter: @BLCAgnew