Since we're talking about action movies, the mention of the Indy shoots the swordsman scene in Raiders made me think of the following scene from the original Assault On Precinct 13:
The infamous scene in which Indy shoots a marauding and flamboyant swordsman was not in the original script. Harrison Ford was supposed to use his whip to get the swords out of his attacker's hands, but the food poisoning he and the rest of the crew had gotten made him too sick to perform the stunt. After several unsuccessful tries, Ford suggested "shooting the sucker." Steven Spielberg immediately took up the idea and the scene was successfully filmed.
I don't agree. I think it evolved from 80's action movies, but transcended them and in the process gave rise to a whole new set of tropes that then dominated 90's action movies along with Terminator 2.
Okay, but what the fuck does any of that theorizing have to do with Avatar being the best action movie ever?
Let's rewind:
"Avatar is the best action movie ever."
"Nah, Die Hard and Raiders of the Lost Ark are better."
"Die Hard is too 90's."
OIC
Everything I've said up there has been a tangent. I didn't realize other people would assume I was making some sort of coherent and connected argument.
I do believe Avatar is better than those two movies as an action movie but I would perhaps rank Die Hard as #3. Not sure about Raiders. I actually have problems with Indiana Jones when I rewatch it nowadays. But Raiders is definitely up there.
I meant Die Hard is too 90's, in the context of what the Expendables should imitate.
Or why Expendables needs to even achieve that level of greatness. If it climbs the mighty, cheesy hill that is Commando-level competence, it's a victory. A tacky, gory victory.
The hardest part to this movie was probably drawing straws to see who gets killed, since none of them ever do in their respective franchises.
I'm sure they probably decided it over high stakes poker, bareknuckle boxing, or a drinking contest.
It would be kind of awesome if most of them get killed in the initial set piece battle, and the rest of them get captured, and then the rest of the movie is them getting tortured and reduced to slobbering animals until one of them gives up the nuclear codes, and the film ends with a shot of earth from space where we can see mushroom clouds sprouting all over the US of A.
The hardest part to this movie was probably drawing straws to see who gets killed, since none of them ever do in their respective franchises.
I'm sure they probably decided it over high stakes poker, bareknuckle boxing, or a drinking contest.
It would be kind of awesome if most of them get killed in the initial set piece battle, and the rest of them get captured, and then the rest of the movie is them getting tortured and reduced to slobbering animals until one of them gives up the nuclear codes, and the film ends with a shot of earth from space where we can see mushroom clouds sprouting all over the US of A.
It's a twist!
This is literally one of the dumbest posts I've ever read, congratulations sir.
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I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
Clint Eastwood couldn't do typical 80's action because it wouldn't be believable. Take Commando for instance. Bennett would never fucking DARE to talk to 80's Clint Eastwood the way he did with Matrix. It would have been all "yes sir", "no sir", "very sorry sir". "I swear I won't ever do anything like this again sir."
sorry someone said AVATAR is one of the best action movies ever. What the heck are they smoking. It is nowhere near even the middle of the pack. I've lost faith in humanity, only otpion left is to take off and nuke it from orbit...
Call to Arms is awesome. Trailer 2 is fucking epic. It gives you all you need to know; The fucking names! One line from each badass, a skull, and a throw back to the Crow since we all know Brandon Lee should have been in this.
It is everything the trailer for The Expendables should be.
sorry someone said AVATAR is one of the best action movies ever. What the heck are they smoking. It is nowhere near even the middle of the pack. I've lost faith in humanity, only otpion left is to take off and nuke it from orbit...
It had the best-directed and most creative action scenes in any movie.
Seriously, the way Cameron sets up the action in his movies is amazing. The pacing, the way he builds up your expectations and gives you a learning curve for what powers the people have. Notice how in Avatar's action, you know exactly where everything is and what is going on. Also, his action scenes actually have weight*. They aren't flying all over the place like in the Matrix, the CGI isn't airy and inconsequential. The last action movie I remember seeing before Avatar that felt as "realistic" was ... Terminator 2. Part of it was also the 3-D. The 3-D was fucking amazing.
*Talking here about the last half of the movie. The first's half's monster fights were pretty lame.
And I was only high the first two times I saw it, I'll have you know.
Edit: I mean, compare the action in Avatar to the last fight in Rambo 4, which I just watched. You see a bunch of shots of Stallone with his big gun firing it and making faces. These are interspersed, somewhat randomly, with shots of people literally being torn apart from the bullets, and also with shots of a woman looking scared and gasping. There are other protagonists running around and killing people, but I don't know where they are, where they're coming from, or how they got to where they're going.
The "draw" of the action here seems to be entirely the fact that the bullets are so big that they rip people apart. That's cool, I guess, but it's not like the action is well-directed or otherwise creative.
cause i would argue that even a not great jackie chan movie has better action than a lot of the action movies we're talking about.
I wouldn't include them, sub genre, normally you don't see guns/hero doesn't use them, and while Action movies do tend to have scenes of the hero going bare knuckles its more of a last resort/proof of manlyhood, then first line of attack.
Loren for me its a movie where the main character uses his gun as much as he talks, villains are cut and dry and you need at least three one liners.
oh god, this is so good. i want to just post a list of one liners now.
there better be some fucking awesome one liners in the expendables.
sorry someone said AVATAR is one of the best action movies ever. What the heck are they smoking. It is nowhere near even the middle of the pack. I've lost faith in humanity, only otpion left is to take off and nuke it from orbit...
It had the best-directed and most creative action scenes in any movie.
Seriously, the way Cameron sets up the action in his movies is amazing. The pacing, the way he builds up your expectations and gives you a learning curve for what powers the people have. Notice how in Avatar's action, you know exactly where everything is and what is going on. Also, his action scenes actually have weight*. They aren't flying all over the place like in the Matrix, the CGI isn't airy and inconsequential. The last action movie I remember seeing before Avatar that felt as "realistic" was ... Terminator 2. Part of it was also the 3-D. The 3-D was fucking amazing.
*Talking here about the last half of the movie. The first's half's monster fights were pretty lame.
And I was only high the first two times I saw it, I'll have you know.
Edit: I mean, compare the action in Avatar to the last fight in Rambo 4, which I just watched. You see a bunch of shots of Stallone with his big gun firing it and making faces. These are interspersed, somewhat randomly, with shots of people literally being torn apart from the bullets, and also with shots of a woman looking scared and gasping. There are other protagonists running around and killing people, but I don't know where they are, where they're coming from, or how they got to where they're going.
The "draw" of the action here seems to be entirely the fact that the bullets are so big that they rip people apart. That's cool, I guess, but it's not like the action is well-directed or otherwise creative.
i think the matrix 2's burly man sequence and the ghost twins parking lot car chase sequence were better than anything in avatar. the cgi doesnt hold up well now when you watch it again (especially the burly man scene) but the first time i saw it, i was stunned.
i think terminator 2 is the best sequel movie ever made, but i dont actually think its action sequences were that great.
Damn it Qingu, put the shovel down! It was a decent sci-flick at best. No one in this thread will ever see it as anything more than that other than you. It was pretty, there you go. The mech knife was cool. Everything else was bloated, dragged out, and over rated.
The reality is that Avatar has no place in this thread. This is about testosterone fueled bad assery; the very thing avatar was preaching against. The only person in that film who would be accepted in this movie was the bad guy. That should be a clue.
Now discuss your love of Predator, Cobra, and Red Scorpion. Anything more is entirely too civilized.
One question: Where the fuck is Keith David, Goddammit!?
Oh well.
I seeing this with my bro. This movie all about the cast and will probably wind-up being underwhelming as a result, but whatever. Stallone delivered a pleasant surprise with Rambo IV, so maybe he'll do it again.
Also: Someone was saying earlier that Avatar is 'the greatest action movie ever'. That person must be a silly goose.
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Johnny ChopsockyScootaloo! We have to cook!Grillin' HaysenburgersRegistered Userregular
edited July 2010
Avatar is not the best action movie. It's barely a good movie, but in no way does it even touch the top 20 of action movies. Avatar has like one actual badass and it's the villain, so no, it's not the best action movie. Telling me that Avatar is somehow better than anything John Woo has ever filmed is the mark of a crazy person. Telling me that stuff written by Shane Black is inferior to Avatar is blasphemy. Etc etc Avatar is decent and only that.
So what am I expecting from The Expendables? At least Bad Boys 2-levels of crazy-awesome.
amateurhourOne day I'll be professionalhourThe woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered Userregular
edited July 2010
Look, I'm all for Keith David, or even David Keith if KD is unavailable, since they're interchangeable and all... : )
However, some people got old, and didn't bother to take roids or keep working out. It's just a sad fact.
Also, I can't watch Keith David anymore without going to a mental image of his character in Mass Effect making Jennifer Connoly blow him for tar heroin and then go ass to ass.
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jefe414"My Other Drill Hole is a Teleporter"Mechagodzilla is Best GodzillaRegistered Userregular
Look, I'm all for Keith David, or even David Keith if KD is unavailable, since they're interchangeable and all... : )
However, some people got old, and didn't bother to take roids or keep working out. It's just a sad fact.
Also, I can't watch Keith David anymore without going to a mental image of his character in Mass Effect making Jennifer Connoly blow him for tar heroin and then go ass to ass.
Right but that is all only after he gets in a fight with Rowdy Roddy Piper while trying to record a Navy commercial in Antarctica.
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How the hell is that like the humorous shoot-the-disciplined-swordsman-from-twenty-paces Raiders scene with something that grim?!
edit: 5:27... I'm not letting you keep the change.
I thought the lore behind that scene was that Ford was really, really sick that day. Actually, imdb confirms it:
https://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/9000/200/sol9254.html?sr=9094309
Don't get me wrong, I love Clint Eastwood, he's just not an action movie guy.
The Rookie was pretty much a buddy action movie, it was also bad.
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Ok now thats a true statement I can stand behind.
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Paint Your Wagon
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Dolph died twice in the first Universal Soldier, three time in the series. :P
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Everything I've said up there has been a tangent. I didn't realize other people would assume I was making some sort of coherent and connected argument.
I do believe Avatar is better than those two movies as an action movie but I would perhaps rank Die Hard as #3. Not sure about Raiders. I actually have problems with Indiana Jones when I rewatch it nowadays. But Raiders is definitely up there.
I meant Die Hard is too 90's, in the context of what the Expendables should imitate.
I agree. I think we are on the same page, friend?
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It's a twist!
This is literally one of the dumbest posts I've ever read, congratulations sir.
pleasepaypreacher.net
It is very 80's. In that it is extremely bloody and involves killing lots of brown people.
However, I'm sorry, but this is not actually a well-directed action sequence.
But then, few 80's action movies were well-directed, so I guess it's at least fitting in that regard.
And then Clint would have shot him anyway.
Edit
Where's Bill Duke and Carl Weathers?
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you are no longer invited onto the helicopter
don't bother rsvping
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VgJtfffrl0
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fchR-7ppaus
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The "Call to Arms" allegedly-fan-made (I suspect it's actually made by a viral marketing firm) video in the OP is the best trailer.
It is everything the trailer for The Expendables should be.
Do you hear me?
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Random Female checking in.
Yes, I will be going to see this movie.
Yes, if I had my SO with me I would be dragging him along.
Yes, I want to see this so bad I can feel the testosterone levels in my body rising.
The more guns that get shot and the more things explode, the happier female I am.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
Great.
XBLGT:Banzeye SC2: Apollo.394
Seriously, the way Cameron sets up the action in his movies is amazing. The pacing, the way he builds up your expectations and gives you a learning curve for what powers the people have. Notice how in Avatar's action, you know exactly where everything is and what is going on. Also, his action scenes actually have weight*. They aren't flying all over the place like in the Matrix, the CGI isn't airy and inconsequential. The last action movie I remember seeing before Avatar that felt as "realistic" was ... Terminator 2. Part of it was also the 3-D. The 3-D was fucking amazing.
*Talking here about the last half of the movie. The first's half's monster fights were pretty lame.
Edit: I mean, compare the action in Avatar to the last fight in Rambo 4, which I just watched. You see a bunch of shots of Stallone with his big gun firing it and making faces. These are interspersed, somewhat randomly, with shots of people literally being torn apart from the bullets, and also with shots of a woman looking scared and gasping. There are other protagonists running around and killing people, but I don't know where they are, where they're coming from, or how they got to where they're going.
The "draw" of the action here seems to be entirely the fact that the bullets are so big that they rip people apart. That's cool, I guess, but it's not like the action is well-directed or otherwise creative.
oh god, this is so good. i want to just post a list of one liners now.
there better be some fucking awesome one liners in the expendables.
i think the matrix 2's burly man sequence and the ghost twins parking lot car chase sequence were better than anything in avatar. the cgi doesnt hold up well now when you watch it again (especially the burly man scene) but the first time i saw it, i was stunned.
i think terminator 2 is the best sequel movie ever made, but i dont actually think its action sequences were that great.
The reality is that Avatar has no place in this thread. This is about testosterone fueled bad assery; the very thing avatar was preaching against. The only person in that film who would be accepted in this movie was the bad guy. That should be a clue.
Now discuss your love of Predator, Cobra, and Red Scorpion. Anything more is entirely too civilized.
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i'm so pumped up
Random female #2 checking in.
I'm seeing this with my dad. This is definitely a dad movie.
I'm pretty sure I'm more pumped than he is.
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
If you thought The Expendables wasn't 80's enough, you have to check this out!
http://www.facebook.com/expendablesmovie?v=app_136379469711900
(You need a facebook account, and "like" The expendables, but by reading this thread, looks like most of you do.)
Huh, this is new; the last time I played you could only play it on facebook, but you can also check this page out: http://www.break.com/games/the-expendables-8-bit-game.html
IT'S A GAME FROM THE MOVIE! INSPIRED IN 8-BIT CONTRA!
.. I can even say it's fun!
Oh well.
I seeing this with my bro. This movie all about the cast and will probably wind-up being underwhelming as a result, but whatever. Stallone delivered a pleasant surprise with Rambo IV, so maybe he'll do it again.
Also: Someone was saying earlier that Avatar is 'the greatest action movie ever'. That person must be a silly goose.
So what am I expecting from The Expendables? At least Bad Boys 2-levels of crazy-awesome.
Steam ID XBL: JohnnyChopsocky PSN:Stud_Beefpile WiiU:JohnnyChopsocky
However, some people got old, and didn't bother to take roids or keep working out. It's just a sad fact.
Also, I can't watch Keith David anymore without going to a mental image of his character in Mass Effect making Jennifer Connoly blow him for tar heroin and then go ass to ass.
Right but that is all only after he gets in a fight with Rowdy Roddy Piper while trying to record a Navy commercial in Antarctica.
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Now all I can think of is Laurence Fishburne as a cowboy.
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A guy I used to play Ultimate Frisbee with could open the top of a beer can with his teeth.
And, I don't mean the pop tab kind of open.
He would bit with his incisors all the way around the top of the can, then would remove the entire top part of the can and chug the beer.
I watched him. I don't know if I am manily enough to be in this thread.