MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Is the Action genre essentially dead?

Is the Action genre essentially dead?

posted 6 years ago by StannisTheMannis (143)
25 replies | jump to latest

I'm not talking about the lame ones featuring Taylor Lautner or any other prissy "action heros". I'm talking about the over the top, gratuitous films from the 90's featuring the big action stars like Stallone, Seagal, Van damme, Schwarzenegger and Lundgren. Seems like any movies they make nowadays go straight to DVD. The only person that was supposed to be the future was Jason Statham, but it doesn't seem like he's making many movies lately. So like the topic says: is the action genre dead? And if so, how can we bring it back to its golden days?

[–] TandyMan (11115) 6 years ago

I think the classic "one man army" action film is dead. It's all ensemble casts and larger than life effects spectacles now.

[–] actionkamen (23176) 6 years ago

Martial art movies are basically dead or went straight to dvd fares (Michael Jai White, Scott Adkins.) Or moved to other countries (The Raid.) Most people are just not interested in martial arts anymore.

The big action genre in general, however, is still here. Mission:Impossible 6 is the most recent example. And we will surely have another Fast & Furious, Kingsman, James Bond, Creed sequels and random The Rock silly action movies.

[–] MinaVladimir (4081) 6 years ago

I think I've only seen one Scott Adkins film, but he must be the most bland, disinteresting actions star I've seen. I can't speak to his martial arts abilities.

[–] actionkamen (23176) 6 years ago

He's as good as Steven Seagal maybe. But yeah, who wants to watch martial arts movie today? Everyone and their grandma can karate with a little bit wires and lots of CGI nowadays.

I think the rise of CGI is the demise of "conventional" action movies. No need for a martial arts master like Bruce Lee or even a blackbelt like Chuck Norris or Van Damme to make an actor do fancy roundhouse kicks. Everyone in any superhero movies today are seemingly kungfu masters already.

All those stunts and explosions and car jumps and plane crashes and everything are totally CGI anyway. So they don't evoke the feeling of how dangerous those might be to film. They all look devoid of danger and suspense (because in the end it's just a bunch of computers in an air conditioned room working 24/7.)

[–] MinaVladimir (4081) 6 years ago

It's not just martial arts that are disappearing with CGI. CGI is killing all sorts of craft and skills. (I can go on a rant about practical effects, and how crap, devoid of life the CG ones are)

The fighting in those superhero movies is just the worst. It doesn't look good. I don't watch a lot of martial arts movies, that's just not my prefered genre, but I _do_ enjoy a well choreographed and well performed fight scene. And well shot! Nothing beats people who know what they're doing and doing it well. And I agree, there are no stakes with CGI.

Same as musicals. You can teach an actor a dance, but you need a real dancer to wow the audience IMO.

[–] GlenEllyn (21538) 6 years ago

Same as musicals. You can teach an actor a dance, but you need a real dancer to wow the audience IMO.

I agree completely!

[–] actionkamen (23176) 6 years ago

But it's even harder to teach dancers to act.

[–] db20db (17254) 6 years ago

You make some good points here.

If anyone got me really burned out on the roundhouse kick, it was Chuck Norris. That's why I eventually quit watching Walker: Texas Ranger altogether. Sheesh! Talk about an overused move.

The guy I really miss and last admired was Jet Li.

[–] TandyMan (11115) 6 years ago

I'm not sure how martial arts movies ever had such a huge wave of popularity in the first place. I'm equally baffled by why it's suddenly out of fashion. Cool for decades, suddenly not.

[–] actionkamen (23176) 6 years ago

I think it came with the Japanese wave. In the 60s and 70s, Americans were readily accepting various Japanese products... cars, electronics, etc. And with those came along parts of Japanese culture, such as gung-ho spirit, samurai, ninja and also karate.

This newfound fondness and fascination of anything Japan I believe was the driving factor how martial arts movies starting became popular. And then comes Bruce Lee. He was so phenomenal he changed how audience percieved the martial arts movie genre forever.

[–] TandyMan (11115) 6 years ago

It definitely kicked into the mainstream with Bruce Lee. I think it coasted 20 years on the strength of Enter the Dragon alone.

[–] actionkamen (23176) 6 years ago

Yeah, Bruce Lee is that good.

I think the martial arts in movies (not just the genre itself, but the usage of martial arts in action movies in general) ended with the Jason Bourne franchise.

The first installment, The Bourne Identity, still had some slick moves but heavily toned down to look more realistic (instead of fancy flowerly coreographed martial arts moves popular in the 90s.)

But the sequel, the brainchild of Paul Greengrass, introduced more "uncoreographed" fighting style and turned his signature "shaky-cam" mode to 11. I believe martial arts movies ended there.

Every other subsequent blockbuster movie after that all tries to adopt the hard-hitting and gritty style of Bourne movies' fighting scenes. Still today.

[–] TandyMan (11115) 6 years ago

Interesting observation. The Bourne films (my favorite action thrillers ever) have definitely been aped non stop since they came out. Completely changed the game. lol even Batman fights like Bourne now.

[–] MinaVladimir (4081) 6 years ago

When was the last time you saw a goofy big Hollywood film, in any genre? Seems like things are shifting towards darker films, with more "realism". There isn't much escapism overall, not that I can see anyway.

I also think society is shifting away from the hypermasculinity of those 80's/90's movies. Times have changed since then and being macho isn't in vogue.

But as actionkamen said, there are still action movies. Those John Wick movies are nonstop carnage for no reason.... That sounds as action as it gets lol. But, yeah, it's not the same as the 90's, but it's not just action that's changing.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

Aren't Superhero movies action movies ??

[–] MIchiganJFrogg (-35) 6 years ago

[deleted]

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8719) 6 years ago

Mission: Impossible - Fallout is probably the best action movie I've seen in at least the last few years, so it's an odd time to asking if the action genre is dead.

[–] Frogarama (12942) 6 years ago

No way. Just off the top of my head, Hardcore Henry. The John Wick series (1 is better but 2 has better action).

[–] Padeen (6459) 6 years ago

Ever seen "Men of War"? Early 90's straight to video action movie starring Lundgren.