billfrat.com - Will 'Dark' Movies Kill the Action Genre?

Will 'Dark' Movies Kill the Action Genre?

Bill Frat
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
Don't get me wrong. I love the Bourne Trilogy. The Dark Knight is one my favorites and I couldn't be more excited for the new Terminator. But I'm worried that 'dark and foreboding' is going to be the default mood for every big budget action flick. I mean, you can't argue with results, but bleaker isn't always better. "Shoot the hostage" Take Max Payne for instance. It was dark just to be dark. Like every other money-making arena in the world, Hollywood is a copy cat industry. Why not try and duplicate what the successful, the popular, and the winners are doing? Look at the NBA – it's not a coincidence that every team is trying to become more defense oriented a year after the Celtics won on this principle alone. When Bourne came out almost six years ago it proved that the masses are not only ok with 'dark' entertainment – they're drawn to it. Action flicks like Speed and Under Siege just aren't green lit anymore. For some reason, we became fed up with cartoonish violence and 2-D ass kickers. Now, our gunfights have to be plausible and our heroes layered. It's tough to find flaws in this trend when the movies it has spawned have been terrific. It's not necessarily a bad thing that every super hero movie is now trying to be like the Dark Knight and every spy movie like Bourne. You knew there was no turning back when the cad of cads – James Bond – grew a scowl and a conscience. You just can't see the Brosnan Bond movies surviving or succeeding in a post Bourne environment. We're too 'smart' for them now. For the most part, we just don't tolerate 'wink wink' action anymore. And I'm not so sure this is a good thing. I'm a firm believer that if 'Shoot em Up' came out in early 2000, it would have been a hit. It was fun. Simple, stupid fun. We used to like that. But Bourne, for better or worse, has turned us into pretentious action fans. And if we're not careful – if we don't go out and see movies like Death Race – we're going to lose them all. So, do me a favor, when Transformers 2 comes out this summer – you know Bay isn't going serious – go out and see it. Frat. Frat it elsewhere Hits: 1481 Comments (0) Write comment Name Comment smaller \| bigger