Talk:Action film

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I just made a distinction between fighty action movies and explody action movies. Could we start a list of subgenres like the two above and with others like the racy action movie (Ronin), and the dramatic action movie (Way of the Gun), etc? I'd also love to see more trends and conventions listed and detailed.

Also, isn't the list of stars a little out of date? Those guys haven't made a decent flick in a long time. There's a new round of action heroes. -Tubby

-- But those guys define the genre. Nowadays there are no real action heroes, although Vin Diesel may belong on the list.

What are these 'Less famous films but still fun'? Looks like a Steven Seagal shrine to me! Pcb21 10:08 10 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I've removed the section about Seven Samurai. Sorry to whoever wrote this because it's well-written and interesting, but I think there's a problem in including it mainly because this article is really about modern Hollywood action films, and Seven Samurai doesn't seem to have much relation to them at all. If we're going to include it we'd have to start including war films, westerns, adventure films, the lot. This article would really have to be massively expanded and the whole focus changed. But if anyone violently disagrees they can always put it back in:

One of the most influential early films of the genre was The Seven Samurai, directed by Akira Kurosawa. Although the plot is more complex than many action movies today, the premise was very simple: set in Feudal Japan, the basically good, weak villagers are about to be attacked by a large horde of bandits. So, the villagers hire seven samurai to protect their village and train their people for the upcoming onslaught. This movie introduced basic, recurrent action film themes such as good vs. evil, sacrifice, the vigilante spirit of the protagonists, and the use of an action climax (which until then had been restricted to westerns).

Hola

well isnt the first i suppose "modern" action movie goldfinger? no mention of james bond here but it pioneered everything from quick cuts and speed ramping in the editing to the sly one liners when he dispatches the villain and trademark catchphrases. ive seen everyone including arnie, willis, stallone, murphy, diesel etc ALL say at some point in an interview that bond is granddaddy of the action movie (as well as the spy genre). "Explosions, gunfights, car chases, and the hero either killing the main badguy or giving him a severe beating in personal combat" id say that describes a bond film pretty well. lol.

[edit] clear bias

if anyone looks at the Feminist theory part, its clearly totally biased...totally..this is my first wikipedia thingo so sorry in advance for anything and everything i did wrong —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 58.162.236.154 (talk • contribs) 09:39, 27 April 2006.

I'm not sure that I see the bias. Feminist theory is what it is, and while the field of study might be biased, mentioning its focus on action films here seems reasonable. There's one item that I placed a {{fact}} tag on because I'm honestly not sure that it's supportable, and at the very lease needs a citation. -Harmil 16:36, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

If you look at the wording, its obvious(well to me) it was written by a feminist, not really a bad thing, but feminism isnt generally considered NPOV. "female characters in most action films are nothing more than objects, a prize for the winner" The words have a connotation that isnt NPOV, its very hard to explain, im sure theres a word for it but i dont know it.

[edit] Sub-genres

I'm a bit uncomfortable about adding Resident Evil under Action-Horror because it didn't feel like a horror-movie to me (though it definitely classifies as such according to the description). I feel that Doom would almost be better but perhaps I'm not the best judge (I thought The Exorcist was a boring movie). Any comments on this? (HM)

• Giving the sub-genres a second look, if it were me I'd class RE as an Action-Thriller and RE: Apocalypse as SciFi-Action (perhaps Doom as well). But I dunno. If a movie has zombies does that automatically make it a horror film? (HM)

I've re-written the whole section. When speaking about popular topics such as movies, Wikipedia tends to have a short memory. I've tried to correct this by focusing on fewer, and earlier examples of each sub-genre which either started or revitalized the form. -Harmil 16:33, 7 May 2006 (UTC)