I have developed into being a big fan of action movies. I love seeing well-choreographed fight scenes, intelligent and interesting characters, great timing with comedy, music, drama, and action, and seeing how a genre that has been considered dumb or brainless can elevate above those stereotypes into something great. I will go through a mix of obscure and well-known movies.
Die Hard (1988): Arguably the best action movie ever. This movie is
nearly two and a half hours long, and I will watch it whenever it is on TV. Not only is the story well-paced with great
acting, but I love that almost everyone in the film, no matter the size of
their role, is memorable, and gets a good moment. From the very beginning, with
the man on the plane telling John McClane a method of relaxing after a trip, to
the very end, where a dirtbag reporter who blew Holly’s cover gets righteously
punched out by her, everyone stands out in some way. You have Ellis the
obnoxious yuppie; the two Johnson FBI agents; the black computer whiz; Argyle the
limo driver; Sgt. Al Powell as the only cop on John’s side; the Asian henchman who steals a candy bar; the loudmouth police
chief who can’t make a right move; the German henchmen with long hair and kickboxing
moves; John's wife Holly, who takes charge as leader of the hostages; Mr. Takagi, and
many others. Alan Rickman’s screen career was solidified with his debut film
role as Hans Gruber, and is one of the best villains of all time. He doesn’t
even have a high body count (he only kills two people himself, and his henchmen
kill two others), but he is intelligent, cool under pressure, and is funny in an incidental way.
I love the little moments of comedy sprinkled around. John in the air vent,
mocking his wife “Come out to the coast, we’ll get together, have a few laughs
. . .”; Alan Rickman saying “Ho Ho Ho”; the exchange about Vietnam between the
two Johnson FBI agents; "He could be a fucking bartender for all we know!”; Ellis’annoying laugh; in relation to a body that fell out of the window: “Who knows,
probably some stockbroker, got depressed”; John being denied on his 911 call
and being told the line is only for emergencies: “No fucking shit lady, do I
sound like I’m ordering a pizza?!” “Oh my God, the quarterback is TOAST!”; and
so much more.
The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996): Such an excellent
action film, written by Shane Black of
Lethal Weapon fame and directed by Renny Harlin. Geena Davis starred as Charly Baltimore, an assassin who suffered amnesia, and who previously
thought she was Samantha Caine, all-American housewife and mother. While she
lives her life, she had hired private investigators to find out who she was
before had amnesia, with little success. Enter Samuel L. Jackson, a down on his luck private investigator who helps her uncover her past as she,
due to another accident, finds out she has incredible skills in weaponry and hand-to-hand
combat. From then on, it’s insane action scenes as she squares off against her
former lover, who is plotting with the C.I.A. to stage a bombing and blame it
on Islamic terrorists. While Davis had starred in the bomb Cutthroat Island (also directed by her then-husband Renny Harlin) as a heroic pirate, in this film she showed more depth in playing an action heroine and did some incredible scenes, mainly a pivotal one where she holds her breath underwater during a
water torture scene and remembers more of her past.
Davis played
her dual role convincingly as the sweet housewife and the cold and ruthless
fighter. Jackson did well playing against type as a nervous
sidekick who is way in over his head with all of this. Craig Bierko was also fantastic as the villain. The film has had an
influence in hip-hop, mainly being the name of a song by The Notorious B.I.G.
for his album Life After Death, and
rapper Tiffany Lane uses the moniker Charli Baltimore after the heroine.
Since this film, Geena
Davis hasn’t acted as much, working to promote gender equality in children’s
entertainment and promote positive female characters. I’m happy that she is
acting as a hero for young girls, as she was in The Long Kiss Goodnight.
Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991): Brandon Lee and Dolph Lundgren were martial artists who showed a lot of charisma and intelligence in
their action films. I have already reviewed Brandon Lee’s Rapid Fire and Dolph Lundgren’s I
Come in Peace, so I won’t repeat it. They teamed up together for this buddy
cop/martial arts action movie where they fight to bust the Yakuza
in the Little Tokyo part of Los Angeles. Directed by Mark E. Lester, the cops,
as usual, clash with each other from the beginning. Chris Kenner (Lundgren) was
raised in Japan, where he has a lifelong respect for ancient Japanese culture
and conducts himself as thus, disliking American culture. Johnny Murata
(Brandon Lee) is of Japanese and white ancestry, and was raised in America, and he doesn’t have any interest in Japanese
culture. They are paired to fight the Yakuza due to Kenner being fluent in
Japanese and both being skilled fighters. The Yakuza chapter is
led by Funekei Yoshida (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), who is a ruthless kingpin that
is also very reverent of ancient Japanese culture, using his sword to execute
victims. He rules Little Tokyo, terrorizing other gangs, and forcing control of small Japanese-owned stores. Kenner and Murata, however, are very street-smart, and
often find a way around Yoshida’s plans to attack him and his crew.
The film is clichéd and
predictable, but so much fun to watch. It’s best to watch it for the
charismatic leads, the awesome fight scenes, and the relish in which Tagawa plays
the villain (he has made a career out of playing villains, in Mortal Kombat, Kickboxer 2: The Road Back, Picture
Bride, and many others). Other recognizable actors include Tia Carrere as
the love interest for Kenner, and Toshishiro Obata, who many would recognize as
the leader of the Foot Clan in Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie. I highly recommend this film to watch, if
only for one of the most “what the hell?” moments I’ve ever seen in a movie:
Face/Off (1997): Like Die
Hard, I will watch this movie whenever it is on. For
anyone who doesn’t know the plot, the movie is about FBI agent Sean Archer
(John Travolta) and terrorist Castor Troy (Nicholas Cage), who are sworn enemies
after Troy killed Archer’s son, aiming for him. Archer captures and nearly
kills Troy in a fight, leaving him in a coma. But Troy had planned a bombing
somewhere in a major public space in L.A., and Archer has to find out where the
bomb is. So, due to some scientists’ experiment, Archer undergoes a face
transplant operation with Troy, including changing his voice, to get instated
into the prison where Troy’s brother Pollux is at, in order to learn the
location of the bomb. So now Nicholas Cage is playing Sean Archer, and after
Castor Troy wakes up, has his face replaced with Sean Archer’s, and kills the
scientists. John Travolta is now playing Castor Troy. Both actors give
excellent performances playing dual roles, and being completely convincing in
both.
The film is staged magnificently,
thanks to the talent of John Woo as director. The film features many of his
well-known trademarks: gun fu, doves, Mexican standoffs, long dark trench
coats waving in the wind, and battles in a church. The film shares a resemble to Woo's 1992 action masterpiece Hard Boiled, in
which Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung play cop and criminal who share a love/hate relationship. A memorable scene in the film was the hospital shootout scene, both for storyline,
technical flair (pacing between slow motion and regular speed, all shot in one
take, the room being re-arranged by crew members to appear as a different floor
while the heroes are in an elevator ), and dangerous stunt work. In Face/Off, try to count how many times the full names of Castor Troy or Sean Archer are said. If you try a drinking game, you'll be passed out before the film ends. On another
note, whenever I take a plane and have to walk out to the plane, I always
wanted to enter like this (skip to 1:20)
Unleashed (2005) In 2005, I felt like seeing an action movie, and figured this would be dumb
fun. I was completely wrong. Jet Li was fantastic in this film, not just as a
martial artist, but as a dramatic actor as well. This film surprised me at how
touching it was, and how it used martial arts not just as a
weapon of defense, but as the evolution of a character. Directed by Louis
Leterrier, Unleashed is about a young
man named Danny who is literally treated like an attack dog by a British loan
shark (Bob Hoskins) He was raised by them, and has the mentality of both a
child and an abused dog. He wears a
collar, and only when it is taken off does he uses his violent fighting skills
against men who owe the gangster money. He cannot think far beyond what he is
trained to do. But when the collar is on, Danny is subservient and quiet. Through circumstances, Danny meets a blind piano tuner named Sam
(Morgan Freeman) who treats him with kindness and invites him to live with him
and his stepdaughter Victoria. Danny learns how to socialize and to live as a
human in the regular world, and Jet Li played this role with a lot of
tenderness and sensitivity. The scenes of him confusing words like “sweet” to
describe ice cream or a kiss are nice, and while I had heard of Jet Li casually
from Lethal Weapon 4, this was the
first time I’d ever seen one of his movies. Morgan Freeman is relaxed in his
role, and brings a lot of warmth to Sam. Naturally, the gangsters want Danny
back, and it is a battle between staying with this safe family and avoiding
capture to be turned into an attack dog again. I don’t even watch this film for
the fight scenes, because they aren’t heroic fight scenes, they’re more like
dog fight scenes, more brutal and exploitative, which was the point. I watch it
for the scenes of Danny with his new family, and re-discovering the world in
all of its joys and splendors. I highly recommend this film.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie (1990) I saw this when I
was seven years old in the theater, and I thought it was amazing. I loved how
the film made New York City look so dirty and grimy, how rough around the edges
it was, how obviously low-budget it was (despite having the talents of the
Muppet Workshop for the turtle heads), and how it was a kids’ movie
that wasn’t afraid to put violence and mild cursing into it. I had
a serious crush on Elias Koteas on this film, he was the first movie actor I
ever found sexy/attractive. I won’t go over the plot, almost everyone knows who
the Turtles are. It also had my other future movie crush in it, too, Sam
Rockwell, as a young punk leading kids around the underground playground where
delinquent teens hang out at, with video arcades, billiards, cigarettes, beer,
and ninja training. It was just an excellent movie to see as a kid, and once
every few years, I will still watch it and enjoy my nostalgia.
Blade (1998) Blade has been credited in popularizing the comic-to-movie
boom of the 2000s, and I definitely agree. What is great about it is that Blade
was an obscure character, who looked more like a pimp circa the blaxploitation
era, and the film turned him into an intelligent and stoic fighter. A lot of
credit goes to the writer David S. Goyer, who wanted to make Blade a serious
character, not a spoof like how New Line Cinema wanted. He turned Blade into a
respectable action hero, and brought to the screen one of the few black comic
book superheroes that has been seen in mainstream films. Credit also goes to
Wesley Snipes. Not only for his iconic performance, but because Blade is very
close to his heart, and a lot of the instincts and characterizations of the
role are from him. Snipes is a highly trained martial artist, with black belts
in Shotokan karate and Hapkido, and is skilled in kung fu, weaponry, capoeira, and
Brazilian ju-jitsu. The film itself, while dated in some parts due to special
effects and 1990s techno music, still stands out as a masterpiece. I love Kris
Kristofferson as Whistler. He has a great sense of humor, treats Blade like his son, has
great hair and a killer look, and can hold his own in a fight. Similarly, I
liked N’Bushe Wright as Dr. Karen Jenson, an intelligent woman who
acts as the audience’s POV, and is never turned into a romantic interest for
Blade. And I was surprised by how well Stephen Dorff did in this film. Normally
he looks like a spoiled punk to me, but that worked great for him in this film.
Deacon Frost, in this film, is a annoying little ass who wants to control the
vampires, and has a preposterous plan for doing so (See Daywalkers if you’d like to see how Frost’s plan would have worked
in reality). He has some really funny moments, especially one where he mocks
Blade’s fighting style with his swords and turns and such. Donal Logue was
excellent as Quinn, one of Frost’s minions. He constantly gets maimed in the
movie, and his growing frustration was hilarious.
I also recommend Blade II, and it’s a toss-up as to which
film I think is better. I am a big fan of both films. Blade is a great
introduction, has memorable characters, and awesome fight scenes. Blade II
umps the
ante, with having super-vampires who feed on both humans and vampires,
and
Blade needing to work with a team instead of alone. That film's strong
cast included Leonor Varela, Ron Perlman, and Donnie Yen, and was
directed by
Guillermo del Toro, who has a nerdy passion
for comic books and horror stories. For Blade
Trinity, I like to pretend it never happened, though Ryan Reynolds had some
good comic moments in it. It was just a mess that needed a better director and
a more interesting storyline. I don’t blame Wesley Snipes for refusing to
participate fairly on-set or only appearing for his close-ups, it really didn’t
do the series justice. Hopefully now that he’s released from prison and will be
in the next Expendables movie, the
audience will get to see him return to fine form.
Death Proof (2007): This film was directed by Quentin Tarantino,
and was one half of the film Grindhouse,
Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror
being the other half. A tribute to low-budget grindhouse movies of the 1970s, Death Proof has gorgeous women, fast
cars, shootouts, great music, and is a fun throwback to the old B-movies that
Tarantino obviously loves (and in some cases, rips off of). The plot focuses on
a serial killer named Stuntman Mike (an excellent Kurt Russell), who gets off
on killing women with his stunt car, in which he is protected from damage. He does this to a group of women who had been partying
in a bar for hours, and their deaths are blamed on their alcohol intake, while
Mike, being sober, gets off scot-free. But he meets his match when he tries the
same thing on a group of much stronger women, two of which are
trained stuntwomen who can handle guns, cars, and fights. Tarantino
specifically wrote one role for a stuntwoman he worked with, Zoe Bell, who
doubled for Uma Thurman in Kill Bill
(and for Lucy Lawless in Xena: Warrior
Princess). He had her play herself, and she is incredibly natural and fun
to watch. The car chase scene, which goes on for nearly 20
minutes, is incredible to watch, both in Bell’s fearlessness in riding on top
of the car hood, and the amount of terror the scene generates. The film’s second half is incredibly
satisfying to watch Stuntman Mike get his comeuppance and be out-matched by
these steely women.
Maniac Cop 2 (1990): I caught this
movie on TV last year, and was blown away by how dark and gritty this
low-budget action movie is. Directed by William Lustig and written by Larry
Cohen (who wrote the awesome 80’s horror comedy The Stuff), Maniac Cop 2 continues
on the story of a serial killer who poses as a police officer, and survived his death at the end of the first movie. This film stars Robert
Davi as Det. Sean McKinney, and his partner Susan
Riley, played by Claudia Christian of Babylon
5 fame. They go through the dark and mean streets of New York to catch this
killer, but keep missing him as he strikes again and again. The film, from its
title and premise, would seem like an awful film, but it is very well-written,
genuinely scary in a realistic way (especially given the time when New York was
at its heights of crime) and Davi and Christian are excellent leads in the film. One of the standout scenes in the film is where Susan is handcuffed to the steering wheel of a runaway car, outside of
the car door, and is being dragged alongside the car as it veers out of control
on a highway. She must get herself inside the car to control it, but could
easily be dragged for miles and be
killed. It is one of the most inventive action scenes I’ve ever seen, and kudos
to the stunt coordinator, stuntwoman, and Claudia Christian for pulling this
scene off:
Blood and Bone (2009) This martial arts film, directed by Ben
Ramsey and written by Michael Andrews, is a low-budget direct-to-DVD action
movie starring Michael Jai White as an ex-convict named Bone who does organized
street fights in order to get money for revenge for a fellow inmate’s incarceration
and death. The film has echoes of Hard
Times and Lionheart regarding a
drifter doing organized street fights for cash, and while the plotline isn’t
original, the fight scenes are fantastic. What is great about them is that the
scenes are shown in all their glory, with the camera pulled back, shot in one
take, and no special effects or camera tricks. White is an exceptional martial
artist, and the scenes highlight his talents, especially a set-up for him to fight
several guys in a role as the camera pulls back, finishing in a quadruple kick,
and landing right in front of the camera, at 1:25.
The acting is good from White, who has the talent and looks for a leading man
action star, but I was also pleasantly surprised by Eamonn Walker, who played
the villain James, an eloquent crime boss who is an expert swordsman, and a fearful individual. As the
film progresses, James’ debonair attitude slowly disintegrates as he becomes
more angry and unhinged, and it becomes his downfall. He lets anger get the
best of him, whereas Bone is more calm and composed throughout the fights.
There are some faults with the film. The music can sound very cheap at times,
the audience never finds out why Bone was in prison, and Dante Basco can be a
little annoying as a loud-mouth sidekick of Bone’s. But otherwise, it is a
fantastic martial arts film, one which can easily be found on Youtube or
Netflix.
