Action in general is what audiences have been conditioned to accept for blockbusters, when language barriers and dubbing and subtitles and regional release dates were more of an issue 20+ years ago action is what international audiences came for. As international box office receipts can far outstrip local revenue, it’s regression to the mean or maybe “lowest common denominator”. Visual spectacle, after all is what movies can do in spades…but since everyone has been trying to make a “matrix” action moment for almost 30 years again it just means scripts and plots get subsumed by “needs more adrenaline for audiences”. Like an impatient teenager.
The best movies will always have balance, and build to action where appropriate, but we’re nearly 3 decades in to “lacking plot, directoral skill, acting, good dialogue?–throw special effects and long action sequences in”. It’s like a highschool story paper that needs to be 5 pages and you wrote 2 so add a bunch of filler. It’s a shame, visual effects, cinematography and a good action sequence are as impactful as anything else, but have been given an outsized role that boils down to “what can a casual, normal moviegoer be impressed by”?
Action in general is what audiences have been conditioned to accept for blockbusters, when language barriers and dubbing and subtitles and regional release dates were more of an issue 20+ years ago action is what international audiences came for. As international box office receipts can far outstrip local revenue, it’s regression to the mean or maybe “lowest common denominator”. Visual spectacle, after all is what movies can do in spades…but since everyone has been trying to make a “matrix” action moment for almost 30 years again it just means scripts and plots get subsumed by “needs more adrenaline for audiences”. Like an impatient teenager.
The best movies will always have balance, and build to action where appropriate, but we’re nearly 3 decades in to “lacking plot, directoral skill, acting, good dialogue?–throw special effects and long action sequences in”. It’s like a highschool story paper that needs to be 5 pages and you wrote 2 so add a bunch of filler. It’s a shame, visual effects, cinematography and a good action sequence are as impactful as anything else, but have been given an outsized role that boils down to “what can a casual, normal moviegoer be impressed by”?
https://www.scmp.com/yp/discover/entertainment/tech-gaming/article/3072548/lights-camera-too-much-action-how-special