Action films involve one or more heroes thrust into a series of challenges requiring physical feats, extended fights, extensive stunts and frenetic chases. Story and character development are generally secondary to explosions, fist fights, gunplay and car chases. Both historically and currently, action films have wide commercial appeal and enjoy box office success. The action film revolves around a narrative, to be sure, but more importantly than that, a hero; when a moviegoer thinks of an action picture, more often than not they are thinking of a specific actor (Harrison Ford, Errol Flynn, Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Lee, Steve McQueen, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, or Douglas Fairbanks Sr., to name but a few) and the obstacles their character(s) must overcome. Long the most popular of genres among male moviegoers, the action picture has been the dominant film genre of American and many foreign film markets (notably Hong Kong), since action translates across language barriers. It is impossible to think of the cinema without the action adventure film (Raiders Of The Lost Ark), the cop action film (Bullitt), the confined-space action film (Die Hard), the sci-fi action film (Aliens), the martial arts action film (Enter The Dragon, the action comedy (most Jackie Chan films), and the various other action subgenres too numerous to mention. Hollywood has continued to produce more action films than ever before, especially as advents in CG have made it cheaper and easier to create action sequences and other visual effects that once required professional stunt crews, dangerous staging, integrated use of props, and other complex, expensive elements. However, action audiences' expectations have been raised commiserate with the leveling of the movie-making playing field, and films where computer animation is not believable are often met with criticism. Additionally, a subgenre of action films have emerged wherein the filmmakers' efforts to continually strive for more and more absurdist, over-the-top action elements is an openly understood aspect of the cinematic experience, as with films like Crank.
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Director Dante Lam alternates between syrupy family melodrama and exhilarating, edge-of-your-seat chases in The Viral Factor, an intense thriller that makes up for its distinct lack of originality by delivering smartly … More
~ Jason Buchanan
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Holmes and Watson are back on the case in director Guy Ritchie's sequel to the 2009 hit Sherlock Holmes. But while the stakes, humor, and style of that first installment are all ramped-up considerably in Sherlock … More
~ Jason Buchanan
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