Some Bang for Your Buck
posted by Kate Good on 08/02/10 at 09:54 AMI love gun battles, hand-to-hand combat, and exploding buildings. I root for the hero and cheer when the villain gets what he deserves. And I always hope for a really good car chase or two.
At movies, of course.
I knew about going to the movies long before I actually saw one in a theater. As a kid, movie theaters seemed like a magical place where my parents went on their weekly date nights and my older cousins ventured with friends.
I saw my first movie in the theater in fifth grade. My best friend that year, Becky Hatzmichael, invited me to go as part of her birthday celebration. I don't remember what we saw, a cartoon maybe. I rocked back in forth in mine until the lights dimmed and the room filled with gigantic sound and the enormous screen flickered with huge images of people and places. My romance with movie theaters had only begun.
My family saw Back to the Future one summer when the air conditioning in our car broke during a family vacation in Louisville, Ky. I gasped and squealed along with the crowd while Michael J. Fox careened around both the past and the future in his DeLorean. By the time the credits rolled, I was hooked. I liked all kinds of films, but I really fell for action movies.
It's easy to classify action movies as a bunch of brainless explosions with a wild car chase or two thrown in for good measure. Some of them are that mindless, though they're often still a lot of fun to watch. There's not much of a plot to Gone in 60 Seconds, but there are plenty of pretty cars and a bunch of great action sequences, which is why I've watched it more times than I can count.
But not all action movies are dumb. Sometimes, they also give you a lot more bang for your buck. Action movies are often about death and the circumstances surrounding its cause, a puzzle that in the best action films can take the viewer deep into the most primary things that we ask ourselves. What is the value of life? What is right and wrong? These are the questions that our heroes ask as they're kicking some butt.
The Bourne trilogy, starring Matt Damon, is a great example of this kind of film. While it has some really imaginative, edge-of-your-seat fight scenes, it also includes fantastic acting by a stellar cast and a captivating story about identity and regret.
This summer's blockbuster, Inception, stars a highly respected cast and is a moving meditation on loss. It also has some of the best special effects that I've ever seen. Similarly, The Dark Knight, the most recent movie in the Batman franchise, features Academy Award winners and amazing car chases.
Not all action movies are brooding heroes with heartbreaking stories. If you like some silliness and slapstick mixed in with your gun battles, watch the Die Hard and Lethal Weapon series again. They're still pretty funny. So is Knight and Day, the Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz flick that came out this summer. In this movie, Tom Cruise returns to his roots and gives a strong performance.
There are plenty of classic action movies to rent, too. Three Days of Condor, with Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway, is one of the best films I've seen in a long time.
So indulge in some heart pounding action and take in an action movie or two. No matter how many car chases and gun battles I've seen, I still check the movie listings each week and avidly read the reviews. Each time, I go to see an action movie, I wonder if the magic will wear off. But as the lights dim and the sound booms around me, a shiver creeps up my spine and I grin in the dark, just as I did during that first movie years ago.
Kate Good lives in Lancaster City, Pa. She is a member of Blossom Hill Mennonite Church, Lancaster. She is assistant publisher at Good Books.
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This is great. I'm a big fan of action movies too, especially in the cool of a mid-summer air-conditioned theater on a slow afternoon. I like any story well-told. The ones that struggle with violence, rather than merely capitulating to it or even relishing it are my favorites. I especially agree with lifting up the Bourne series and Bullitt. I would add the icy smooth Ocean's series.
It sure would be difficult to explain to Mennonite youth the concept of nonviolence and peacemaking with promotions of violence like this...even in movies.
Our family loves action, thrillers, and every special effect imagined. It's called escapism. My teens understand movie violence and real life violence. We'll be a well-rounded movie family forever! Lovely blog.