Martial Arts/Movie Monday: "Are Martial Arts Ruining Action Movies?"

I recently read the editorial below that appeared in the New York Times Magazine. The comments are not really new, and share several points in common with the post I made about "wire-fu" a little while back. Namely, that the explosion of Hong Kong style fight choreography in Hollywood action films has resulted in all fight scenes now looking the same, with the same balletic kung-fu inspired choreography.

I don't agree with everything the writer argues (And the almost complete absence of including anything outside of Hollywood is a serious omission, given the international nature of film today). But as much as I enjoy the Hong Kong style of combat, it does have it's time and place, and perhaps has oversaturated the market in some bad ways. I really didn't care for Brad Pitt's leaping style of swordfighting in Troy (2004) and was very surprised that the ancient Egyptians apparently practiced Chinese style kung-fu in The Mummy Returns (2001). I only recently saw Wanted (2008) and frankly, the less I see of that sort of CGI-enhanced stuntwork the better.

In any case, as a movie watcher, I'm not too concerned about the reliance on overly-choreographed fight sequences. Trends always go in cycles, and there's already been several good movies that incorporate the messier, less stylized work of earlier film makers (Inception (2010) and the recent Bond films come to mind).

Anyway, check out this great chaotic brawl from Martin Scorsese's 1973 breakthrough film Mean Streets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx6fbGBYi84


http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/04/are_martial_arts_ruining_action.html

Are Martial Arts Ruining Action Movies?

• 4/5/11 at 5:45 PM
• 17Comments

Photo: Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Focus Features, Warner Bros. Pictures, Columbia Pictures, iStockphoto

In Joe Wright's stylish action-drama Hanna, the titular character (played by Saoirse Ronan) has been raised by her father to study martial arts and close combat in seclusion before finally entering the real world at age 16, ready to kick some ass. She's never met a person other than her father (Eric Bana), she's never set foot anywhere other than the wintry landscapes of North Finland, and she's never known pop culture or seen a single movie ... and it's a good thing she hasn't, because if Hanna were to duck into a theater to catch the latest action flick, she'd be stunned: Everybody fights like her in movies nowadays. And it's starting to take the fun out of things.

Actors often brag about how much Krav Maga or karate or capoeira they had to learn for their roles, but to judge from the onscreen world of modern action movies, that kind of skill set is hardly rare: A built-in understanding of martial arts is instilled in everyone, be they hero, villain, or mere henchman. (Fortunately, heroes always get to fight off bad guys who somehow know the exact same form of martial arts they do.) Too often, it seems like movies grind to a halt for obligatory hand-to-hand combat with low stakes and little invention, as though the screenwriter typed, "A fight breaks out," and the director left it up to the second unit and fight coordinator to fill three minutes.

It was fun when the trend began — when The Matrix westernized the modern martial arts movie and the Drew Barrymore–led Charlie's Angels traded guns for roundhouse kicks — but it has quickly become rote. In movies like The Green Hornet, Salt, Sucker Punch, and The Last Airbender, the heroes fight off drone after drone after drone, occasionally taking a hit to the face, stomach, or back, yet emerging with little more than a comely cut on the cheek (if that). With little in the way of stakes, a sameness in presentation, and no blood or bruises, martial arts have turned action scenes into dance scenes, and while those can be fun, they're not usually renowned for their suspense. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was occasionally inventive within its fight sequences, but it was really more of a musical, and even Wright himself has admitted that when choreographing Hanna's fights, he figured, "Just treat it like dance and it'll be fine." That's all well and good, but whatever happened to treating action sequences like action sequences?

Gone are the days when a fight might involve a gun, a makeshift weapon, or a hit that actually hurts. Now every movie hero is Jet Li, and every woman is Buffy the Vampire Slayer (though Buffy's martial-arts acumen was a by-product of her mystical Slayer power, the new breed of action heroine can dispatch a 200-pound assailant even if the woman in question is five-foot-two and has a physique better suited for red carpets than battle). Hanna handles its action scenes better than most — and Bana gets a fun all-in-one-take fight that's highly choreographed but is at least dazzling to watch — but even the most stylish spin on these sort of fights can't disguise the feeling that we've seen this all before. It's time for directors to rethink the idea of a movie fight sequence, and if they can't add anything to it — or if watching the hero toss another drone over his shoulder adds nothing to the movie — then it should go. After all, what does it say when an actual dance movie, Black Swan, has ballet sequences and cathartic confrontations that pack more punch than any action movie we've seen over the past year?

Martial Arts/Movie Monday: The Challenge (1982)

Here's a largely forgotten movie from the early 80s that occasionally pops up in the late-night slot on the tube (during that same godforsaken hour reserved for "Bloodsport"): "The Challenge" (1982).

This semi-B-grade American action film boasts a rather impressive pedigree given the final product. The director is John Frankenheimer, who among other things directed the bona fide Cold War classic "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) and decades later did one of the definitive post-Cold War thrillers "Ronin" (1998). The star of the movie is Scott Glenn, who is probably best known for playing astronaut Alan Shepherd in "The Right Stuff" (1983) and Jodie Foster's boss in "Silence of the Lambs" (1991). Supporting Glenn is the legendary Toshiro Mifune, star of countless classic Japanese samurai films including "The Seven Samurai"(1954).

Glenn plays a down-on-his-luck boxer who is hired by some mysterious Japanese visitors to escort an ancient sword to Japan from the U.S. What he doesn't know is that the sword is part of a revered pair known as "The Equals" which belong to the mysterious family the Yoshidas.

The Yoshidas live an almost monastic existence on an opulent family estate, where they maintain the ancient traditions of the samurai and continue to practice the traditional fighting arts. Unfortunately, the family has been divided by a quarrel between the brothers Toru (Mifune) and Hideo (Atsuo Nakamura). Part of that quarrel has been over the Equals, which have been separated since World War II and both brothers are desperate to lay claim upon.

Glenn finds himself drawn into this archaic family intrigue, but also becomes fascinated by the martial traditions upheld by Toru. After being beaten between in an ill-advised match with Yoshida's top student and suffering various others humiliations, Glenn elects to become a student of the family. Quickly he gains mastery of the sword, staff, spear and other ancient techniques. Good thing too, because the family quarrel is about to burst into an all-out war, with brother Hideo (now a powerful CEO of a high-tech company) ready to bring in the guns and thugs.

The plot of "The Challenge" is nothing to shout about. It's a fairly standard revenge and honor plot, common to both Eastern martial arts films and their American counterparts (though surprisingly, there's no slain master or father figure to avenge). It also features the tiresome cliche of the white guy traveling to a foreign land to master exotic fighting arts within a short amount of time, as well as romance one of the local babes (a.k.a. the plot of "Dances with Wolves," "The Last Samurai," "Avatar," etc. etc.). That being said, the film was made before that trope had become so overdone.

What stands out about "The Challenge" though are the hand-to-hand action scenes. Whereas a lot of Hollywood films popularly incorporate Hong Kong kung-fu style action, "The Challenge" is one of the few to feature genuinely Japanese martial arts. There are chambara style sword fights with katana, good use of archery, plus various dirks, daggers and throwing stars. There's also a very impressive use of Aikido-based fighting.

Check out this clip where Scott Glenn gets a harsh lesson (Sorry, only a German dubbed clip was available): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEL08kvdNEY

Guess the fighting scenes shouldn't be that much of a surprise. Scroll through the credits and you will find a familiar-sounding name listed as choreographer: Steven Seagal.

Think Tank Thursday: Reality's Fine Line

How do you determine what is real and what is not?

When you first look at this question you may think it is absurdly simple. Really think, however, about how you decide what is real. Hallucinations can involve the sensations of touch, taste, sound and sight, so those are not as reliable as we would like to believe.

In the end what is real is determined because we eventually say it is so. In order to not go crazy or waste resources, our minds categorize things we see often and trust that similar things will also be real.

Everything we experience is processed in the mind, real or imaginary. The fine line lies in our categorization of the information.

Theatrically we  use this to our advantage, often without knowing it. We are told as actors to root our experiences in a basis of reality. This allows the audience to automatically assume that the performance is realistic. Because the audience knows they are at a performance, and in our current culture all performances of plays are high level pretending, they will have a basic line between reap and fake from the start. Once you root them to your performance with realistic elements, you entrap them and allow for more fantastic elements to be slipped in with less resistance.

Although we base our reality on what we have seen or experienced before, in order to progress our knowledge our minds have to remain open to the idea that new experiences can be just as real as old. Basically, the audience is ready to believe what ever you tell them. Getting their trust in the very beginning is crucial, it will allow for more of the play to be accepted. If you don't get the audience hooked in the beginning it isn't the end, they are watching for enjoyment, they will check in again and again to try and gain a foothold. The audience can't enjoy what it doesn't understand and the mind can't stand uncertainty, it causes anxiety and frustration (plus no one likes to think they wasted money).

Suspension of disbelief is vital and the audience is ready to give it, they just need to trust where they will be taken when they do.

Greg Poljacik