Smash Things
At a certain point, you grow numb to fight scenes in movies and TV shows. There are only so many ways to throw or take a punch, crunch a chair on someone's head or fling a body through a window.
Crash, blam, kathoom. Even the sound effects, like those used in comic books, get repetitive.
"Guardians of the Galaxy," a huge box office success this summer, is a case in point for me. Everyone I know who went to see it sang the praises. The reviews were also sterling.
I didn't dislike it. But I didn't jump on the bandwagon either. I chuckled at the dialogue. There were amusing scenes that made me smile. The music was hip. They brought in a different brand of super hero, the swash-buckling pirate-type outliers. All of that shook up the plot enough so it wasn't another predictable dust pile.
My complaint was with the fight scenes. Too many. Too predictable. Too much smashing and not enough inventiveness. Certainly, Groot, the tree man played by Vin Diesel, had his moments, regrowing himself, his limbs engulfing opponents. Kinda cool.
Still….. There was too much slamming, kathunking and kaboooming for my taste. Somehow, TV and movie producers need to figure out ways to shake this up and give us some novelty, or give us a lot less of the violence and focus on character development.
The second and third "Transformers" movies, the latest "Star Trek," all the "Expandables," have gone over the top and just wham you in the face. It would be easy to extend that list four- or five-fold without a lot of effort.
If we're going to smash things (and really, it seems like it isn't all about people beating each other up, but about "things" getting destroyed that seems to take up so much space in the plot), why not do it with ingenuity? For example, if you have a space movie, like "Guardians," think about some way to introduce a different setting for the battle.
Here's an idea: Do a weight-less fight scene. It makes sense for a science fiction movie based in space, doesn't it? Have the characters floating in the air, throwing punches that land with less then full impact. With no gravity, the bodies would float across the room, and they could push off walls of their space ship or vehicle, or wherever the fight scene is being filmed.
The combatants could do acrobatic moves, flips and tucks, spin moves in slow motion, and you could actually believe that could happen. It would be a nice addition – watching fiction that seems real.
To contrast with that concept, go the exact opposite direction: Have a fight scene on a planet where the gravity is extra powerful. In this scene, everyone would move in slow motion.
Because gravity would impact their movements and ability to swing a punch or lift up a leg for a kick, you could focus on facial expressions or how the muscles and joints extend. Slow motion would show the sweat flying off after a fist cracks the jaw. Guys would get off the ground slowly. Anything knocked down or broke would shoot to the floor like a vacuum cleaner was sucking it down. Put lead weights on all the actors so they are forced to move in slow motion. That will make it more realistic.
The best fight scenes are the ones you don't expect. The lack of predictability is what makes them great. Producers need to get crafty. Using a little ingenuity would go a long way towards eliminating the big yawns when fight scenes come on the screen.