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Anyone Else Gone Off Fight Scenes In Films?

koantemplationkoantemplation Posts: 101,293
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I'm not sure what it is but I get tired of fight scenes in films now a days.

There is either too much going on that you can't tell what is happening, especially in Super hero films, or there is little sense of tension and balance in the fights, more true of normal fight scenes.

Most of the time they just feel like filler to fill the movie out and provide 'action'.

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    ASIFZEDASIFZED Posts: 1,388
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    After the LOTR trilogy, I've never wanted to see any film that culminated in a mass ground battle (historical or fictional) like the ones at the end the latter TTT or TROTK.

    Even last seasons Game of Thrones episode, where it was just like the Helms Deep attack, I ffwd'd through. Just too exhausting...
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    koantemplationkoantemplation Posts: 101,293
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    ASIFZED wrote: »
    After the LOTR trilogy, I've never wanted to see any film that culminated in a mass ground battle (historical or fictional) like the ones at the end the latter TTT or TROTK.

    Even last seasons Game of Thrones episode, where it was just like the Helms Deep attack, I ffwd'd through. Just too exhausting...

    Yes the LOTR and Hobbit films are a good example of fight scenes that just seems to mesh into each other, and it is difficult to tell what is happening.

    Perhaps because they are so common place now, I might be taking them for granted, but they just don't have the impact they used to have.
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    SpacedoneSpacedone Posts: 2,546
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    ASIFZED wrote: »
    After the LOTR trilogy, I've never wanted to see any film that culminated in a mass ground battle (historical or fictional) like the ones at the end the latter TTT or TROTK.

    Even last seasons Game of Thrones episode, where it was just like the Helms Deep attack, I ffwd'd through. Just too exhausting...

    It wasn't much like the Helms Deep attack, hardly anyone actually attacked for starters, but I get what you are saying about the large number of people on screen. Once the scale goes over a certain number you lose the human interest because you can't really see what is happening to the characters.

    The GoT episode from last season did have a wonderful tracking shot as part of the battle where the camera just moved through the battle and you'd see the named characters for a few seasons before the camera moved on to the next one.
    There is either too much going on that you can't tell what is happening, especially in Super hero films, or there is little sense of tension and balance in the fights, more true of normal fight scenes.

    CGI has made 'spectacle' too easy to do on screen so now battles are less personal and more about destruction of the scenary. It also helps keep the rating down for that teenager audience. You can kill thousands of people on screen by dropping a skyscraper on them, flooding them, burning them etc but as long as you don't actually see them die then it's ok for the kiddies.
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    EELoverEELover Posts: 1,146
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    I find a lot of them unintelligible because there's so much going on that you can't follow it (Michael Bay/Transformers I'm looking at you). CGI gives the opportunity to do this. If they do this in action flicks it destroys the film since you can't enjoy the "figure pieces" of those types of films.
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    Mrs ChecksMrs Checks Posts: 8,372
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    Yes, I find myself switching off, particularly when they just feel shoehorned in to up the running time.

    I think some directors try to make their fight scenes so impressive that actually, it just becomes a load of stuff happening on the screen that you can't follow, because it completely overwhelms you. The editing usually doesn't help, either.
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    TexAveryWolfTexAveryWolf Posts: 1,027
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    Kingsman,The Secret Service.

    Church scene, anyone?
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    koantemplationkoantemplation Posts: 101,293
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    EELover wrote: »
    I find a lot of them unintelligible because there's so much going on that you can't follow it (Michael Bay/Transformers I'm looking at you). CGI gives the opportunity to do this. If they do this in action flicks it destroys the film since you can't enjoy the "figure pieces" of those types of films.
    Mrs Checks wrote: »
    Yes, I find myself switching off, particularly when they just feel shoehorned in to up the running time.

    I think some directors try to make their fight scenes so impressive that actually, it just becomes a load of stuff happening on the screen that you can't follow, because it completely overwhelms you. The editing usually doesn't help, either.

    Yes these are good examples.

    I want to see who is fighting whom, and what body parts belong to what person or robot.

    Transformer fights are often just a mesh of machinery.
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    koantemplationkoantemplation Posts: 101,293
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    Kingsman,The Secret Service.

    Church scene, anyone?

    I haven't seen that yet.
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    AlrightmateAlrightmate Posts: 73,120
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    I think I agree.
    They've become a bit like sword fights or car chases. You know that they're supposed to be exciting to watch. But I think I've become so desensitized to them that quite often I get bored and zone out while I wait for them to get it over and done with and start talking again.

    The worst example I can think of is in the 3rd Matrix film, where there were long sequences of big robot things fighting. It was just so boring because all it felt like was watching was a load of metal twisting and turning about and filling the screen. Which I suppose it essentially was. But after a short period of time I just got bored and zoned out as it was going on for far too long and I was waiting for something else to happen.

    I think that part of the problem may be because some film directors try to make action like it's a video game. Some directors even come from a video game background. But this is cinema, which is a different medium which often requires different skills, disciplines, and approaches to evoke an emotional response in a viewer.

    The problem with many of these films is that they think they have to do more and more to make something exciting, not considering for a second that sometimes less is more.
    As a poster above perfectly describes, they seem to have lost the ability to depict the personal nature of conflict.
    Suspense, tension, buildup, what it means, what's at stake. Great film directors understand this and the action they use can be quick and brief but more create more impact and punch than watching an extended CGI sequence which plays at only one pace, and for a long time.
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    AsarualimAsarualim Posts: 3,884
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    Like all aspects of movies, it all depends on just how well it is done, and not just in a flashy CGI sense, more how the scene itself is put together, what the focus is, etc. The Kingsman church scene mentioned above is a great example of a fight scene done well, as is most of John Wick.
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    AsarualimAsarualim Posts: 3,884
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    Yes these are good examples.

    I want to see who is fighting whom, and what body parts belong to what person or robot.

    Transformer fights are often just a mesh of machinery.

    Indeed. Transformers has so much going in the fight scenes, but the camera is too close so all you see is whirling bits of metal. It ceases to be impressive and instead you just get lost in it and lose all sense of what is actually hapening and how the actual fight is progressing.
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    Phoenix LazarusPhoenix Lazarus Posts: 17,306
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    Most fight/battle scene are clichéd. There are exceptions, though, like the psychic duel at the end of Scanners.
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    dodradedodrade Posts: 23,852
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    Asarualim wrote: »
    Indeed. Transformers has so much going in the fight scenes, but the camera is too close so all you see is whirling bits of metal. It ceases to be impressive and instead you just get lost in it and lose all sense of what is actually hapening and how the actual fight is progressing.

    True, especially as it is hard to tell the Autobots and Decepticons apart.
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