Three Action Movies

In this blog I am going to write about three ground breaking action movies, and their impact on the genre. So without further a-do:

First Blood (1982)
Unfortunately like Rocky, First Blood has had it's reputation spoiled by the sequels that followed. The original Rambo film is a dark and gritty psychological thriller, and Stallone's performance is believable and excellent. The film is based upon a book of the same title by David Morrell, it follows the plot of the book all the way though except the book ends with Rambo being killed by Troutman. I'm sure you all know the plot of First Blood, John Rambo is an ex-Green Beret (US Special Forces) and Medal of Honor recipient who has come home from the war in Vietnam after being in a P.O.W. camp, to find that his best friend has died of cancer, probably from Agent Orange poisoning. He is arrested for vagrancy by a local sheriff played by Brian Dennehy which sparks off some P.O.W. camp flash backs, and busts of of the small town jail and is chased into the hills where he embarks on a personal war against anyone that comes in after him. Firstly the local police force and eventually the National Guard.

So why is this film so groundbreaking? Well firstly because of it's length. First Blood is only 97 minutes long, this is now the standard length for action movies, but before First Blood it was common for action movies like The Godfather, The Deer Hunter etc to be between 2 and 3 hours long. First Blood was originally longer, but in the editing room it was cut down to a shorter length, which resulted in 90 minutes of straight action. The film is barely 15 minutes in when Rambo makes a thrilling police station escape and then is chased into the woods on a motorbike, after this the action doesn't really stop until the end of the film.

The character of Rambo is also a first for the action genre. Before First Blood the actors that played action movie characters were pretty normal looking physically. Excluding Bruce Lee, most actors in action films looked pretty puny. Stallone in First Blood looks just as mean and muscle bound as the character of John Rambo should look. He was one of the first of the 80's pumped up action stars, that included Arni, Dolph Lundgren, Carl Weathers etc. First Blood spawned a whole decade of parodies, where over muscled guys sort out their personal problems with brute force and ultra violence. Things soon went too far, with films like Commando, and well....nearly everything that Stallone and Schwarzenegger made for the next 15 years! First Blood may have spawned these movies, but it is not one of them. There was a reason for John Rambo's muscles, and fighting ability - he was a soldier, and compared to Schwarzenegger, Stallone doesn't really look that over muscled, not like in the second and third Rambo films where he looks like a condom stuffed with walnuts!

So that's First Blood, a fast paced action movie with amazing stunts, a muscle bound anti-hero who became a movie icon, and spawned a generation of musclebound Hollywood action heroes. Next up:

Die Hard (1988)
In First Blood, the setting is a quiet town where nothing really happens, until John Rambo appears all hell breaks out. John Rambo is a character not necessary looking for trouble, but who trouble will inevitably find. John McClane is the opposite, he is an Everyman character who finds himself in an extraordinary situation. Just as the small American town was peaceful before John Rambo turned up, John McClane was doing fine until the Nakatomi building was taken over by terrorists on Christmas Eve. This being pre 9/11 the terrorists are German.

McClane isn't just an ordinary guy though, he's a cop. Compared to being an elite soldier or secret agent though, a policeman is a pretty average profession. This makes the action scenes particularly exciting, McClane is always overmatched when he comes up against the terrorists, either in number, strength or firepower, unlike Rambo who easily dispenses of the under skilled police who have chased him into the mountains. Like another of Stallone's characters Rocky, Bruce Willis' character survives on sheer determination and providence.

Unlike many action films in which the main character survives unscathed, the character of John McClane spends most of the film battered and bleeding. His bare feet are cut to shreds by broken glass, and he is beaten and bashed around so much that he spends most of the second part of the film covered in blood. Rambo in contrast seems indestructible, sewing his arm up with a needle and thread from his knife after jumping 50 feet from a cliff into the branches of tree. And how many times before Daniel Craig have you seen James Bond with anything worse than a torn shirt?

Die Hard spawned many similar films, like Speed, The Rock, Under Siege etc, where a group of innocent people are held captive and a single man with the odds stacked against him becomes the only one who can save them.

Now the last film on the list:

The Bourne Identity (2002)

After films like The Matrix, and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, films that contained martial arts started to get a bit unbelievable. People flew around suspended on wires and performed leaps and flying moves like they were in NBA Jam. James Bond films had started to feel this way too, the last of the Pierce Brosnan Bond films had an invisible car; nuff said.

The Bourne Identity was a clear change from the wire-fu/ hi-tech action movies that had started to dominate the action genre, and along with films like Ong-Bak, it set a new standard for action films, where the punches are real and the hero has to rely upon his own talent and whatever happens to be in the room at the time, to fight with, rather than fancy gadgets and huge weapons.

Jason Bourne is a new breed of action hero, he is extremely intelligent (unlike John McClane or Rambo) he has little or no resources at his disposal unlike James Bond, and is therefore more believable even when he takes down four highly trained men in less than three seconds! Although The Bourne Identity follows a familiar pattern in the action genre, it is basically a classic cat and mouse chase, it does this with originality. The first action scene is a foot chase through the US embassy, that ends up with Bourne scaling down the building. Before the Bourne films you didn't get many foot chases in films, apart from police chasing criminals, but since Bourne nearly every action movie has a free running style chase, most prominently Casino Royale, a film which wouldn't really exist without Bourne.

In the first fight scene, in Bourne's apartment in Paris, Bourne beats the assassin off not with a 6 inch knife or Uzi 9mm, but a Biro! In the car chase through the streets of Paris, Bourne is not in a BMW or Aston Martin but a beat up old Mini; somehow this makes the chase more intense and exciting. The Bourne Identity mixes the gritty realism of 70's action movies like Bullet and The French Connection, with the post 9/11 world of surveillance and counter-terrorism. The Bourne movies are now the benchmark for the recent action flicks. The Daniel Craig Bond films owe everything to Bourne, as do films like Body of Lies, The International, Taken...... There is a scene from the car chase sequence where the camera is facing the driver (Jason) from the side so we are looking out of his door window, and we see a car come straight towards the camera, and smash into the side of Jason's car, (an often copied scene) and you feel as if you actually in the car with them. In fact throughout most of The Bourne Identity, and more so in the sequels, the camera puts you close to the action, that you find yourself ducking in your seat. Best of all unlike the other two films I have discussed above, The Bourne Identity's sequels were amazing!

Movie Music Videos

I'm in the middle of writing a bit of an epic blog about world war 2, so I thought I'd post a lighter one while I finish of Hitler et al.

This is about two of my favourite things, no not pizza and ice cream, music and film. Sometimes a song is played in a movie, and the combination of the sound and picture is about as good as a music video could get. Here are five of my favourite music videos within films:

Huey Lewis & The News 'The Power of Love' in Back to the Future.

What? Back to the Future again???? Has this guy seen any other movies?? Well yes, and I know my first blog was all about Back to the Future but how can I not mention this scene: Marty McFly dressed all cool in jeans, jean jacket, raybans and walkman realises he is LATE FOR SCHOOL! and jumps on his skateboard and car surfs through the streets of LA waving to whole gymfulls of ladies while 'The Power of Love' blasts out! This was the 80's at its best and soon after seeing it, I acquired a denim jacket, reflector sunglasses (not so easy to get your hands on in Keighley) and a skateboard. Unfortunately I was unable to skate behind cars on it, mainly due to the fact that I couldnt actually stand up on it.

Elton John 'Tiny Dancer' in Almost Famous.

In a film which is pretty much a two hour music video, this scene stands out as, in my opinion the best. The tour bus is traveling through America, filled with the band, hot young groupies and hairy roadies and Elton John comes on the radio. Normally this would be a cue to turn over but luckily we are in 1973, and Candle in The Wind was years from being written. We are treated to the amazing opening piano chords to Tiny Dancer, and when we get to the chorus the whole bus joins in! Whilst watching you feel like you are there on the bus with them, it makes you want to start a band and go on the road (in the early 70's), or at least get on a bus and listen to early Elton John.

Robert Tepper 'No easy way out' in Rocky IV

Who the hell is Robert Tepper? I've never heard of him but Rocky sure has, and when Apollo has just been killed by Dolph Lundgren and he'd fallen out with Adrian because he's only gone and agreed to a rematch in Russia! On Christmas Day! He gets into his car pops Robert Tepper into the cassette player and burns off while we are treated to an awesome montage of the last IV Rocky films. Rocky I feel your pain! And I remember when you and Apollo were running on the beach, yeah you had matching knee high socks and those weird cut off t-shirts that only look good if you are insanely ripped (trust me I tried to make one for myself when I was 13, I looked gay.) There's Mickey he died too in Rocky III, Mr T shouted at him and he had a heart attack. Here comes the amazing guitar solo, time for some press ups!

Burt Bacharach 'Raindrops keep fallin' on my head' in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

You dont expect this kind of song to play in the middle of a western film, but somehow it works and the whole montage with Paul Newman and Katherine Ross is brilliant. After she has been sitting on Paul Newman's crossbar all morning its hard to believe that Katherine Ross gets back into bed with the Sundance Kid, he's boring, and he cant swim. If Paul Newman cycled up to me with that song playing in the background I'd happily jump on the handlebars and giggle stupidly while he peddled me around, then we'd roll around in the hay and Robert Redford would come charging out in his long johns yelling at us to keep the noise down.....

Bob Dylan 'The Times They Are A Changin' in Watchmen.

I think this is the first time I've heard this song in any film, you dont get many early Dylan songs in movies. Blowin in the Wind is a bit over-covered and sounds too cliche almost, but The Times They are a Changin' is perfect for the opening of this film. Whilst you are watching the alternate past of Watchmen unfold the song makes the scenes seem infinitely more believable. Even though he only uses acoustic guitar and harmonica, Dylan with his ancient sounding voice and lyrics is as powerful as Led Zeppelin or The Doors. When The Comedian shoots JFK from the grassy knoll I almost fell out of my cinema seat.

Time travel

If you are a scientist and you send someone back in time to try and alter history, what happens to the people left behind in that present? For my first blog I want to discuss these questions and the philosophy of time travel, using as reference two real instances of time travel, Marty McFly in back to the future part 2, and Arnie in The Terminator.

Ok these are not real instances, but they do pose real questions as to how time travel would work if it were ever created. In Terminator someone gets sent back in time, and in Back to the future 2 someone gets sent forward in time. I'm going to discuss traveling forward in time first.

Firstly let me assure you that I am completely unqualified to speak with any morsel of conviction about time travel, all I bring to the table is 9 GCSE's 3 A levels and a degree in Sport Science (which is more complicated than you might think) (trust me). I have however seen a lot of films like: The Time Machine, 12 Monkeys, Time Cop, the new Star Trek, as well as all the Back To The Future's and Terminator Films, plus Lost and Quantum Leap on tv so I'm not completely ignorant to the complicated process of time travel. Anyway...

In Back to the future 2, Marty McFly is told by Doc Brown that his future self is in trouble, and bad things will happen if they don't intervene. They get into the Delorean and zip to 2015, where there seems to be a late 1980's revival going on, jackets have hair dryers built in, miniature pizzas are 're-hydrated' in seconds to full size ones, and people wear their clothes inside out. Anyway Marty and Doc go to Hilldale where future Marty lives, and Marty from 1985 spies on his future self. Surely this is impossible???

No not the rehydrating pizzas, the traveling forward in time and seeing yourself part! If Marty traveled in time in 1985, then when he got to 2015, if he tried to find himself then anyone who knew him in the past would say, "Yeah I knew Marty McFly, he vanished in 1985 and noone ever saw him again, say you look a lot like him!" Because if Marty sets off time traveling in 1985 to 2015 , then he no longer exists in the 30 years between 1985 and 2015. So he can't get to 2015 and find another Marty McFly wearing a twin tie thing and getting fired by fax, UNLESS he:

A. in 1985 simultaneously time travelled forwards 30 years and left another identical version of himself in the present to carry on living his life, so when he got to 2015 he could see how the other identical Marty McFly had turned out, OR

B. he time traveled to a parallel universe, which is where everything starts getting complicated. Later in the film he goes back to 1985 and its not the original 1985 and everything is different, his mum has huge tits and is married to Biff, AHHH! But in the end everything gets put back to normal (until Doc ends up in 1885!)

If there were such a thing as parallel universes, then I don't think you could jump between them, if you have a problem with the past and you send someone back to try and fix it, (like in Terminator) would you ever see the effect? or would you be stuck in your present, while the time traveler creates a new past (and new future). Here's the scenario:

2029, Cyberdine Systems have lost the war against the humans, and as a last ditch attempt they send Arnold Schwarzenegger back to 1984 to try and kill Sarah Connor before she gives birth to John Connor who eventually grows to lead the humans against the machines (and lighting technicians!). So after Arnie has gone back in time, the other terminators will be standing around, and lets say that Arnie did manage to kill Sarah Connor before Michael Biehn got there (if she was higher up in the phone book) so John Connor never gets born, would the terminators in 2029 seconds after Arnie had stripped down to his naked suit and vanished, suddenly in a flash forget all about John Connor because he never existed, and would they suddenly not even be standing in the time travel area because they never had to go there in the first place because they have won the war against the humans. Would all that just happen in a second, or ..... would nothing happen, and they just go on as normal, loosing to the humans, because John Connor has already existed and done the damage, and what has happened has happened? I think that if Arnie had killed Sarah Connor in 1984, then the time line would split at the exact moment that Sarah Connor is killed, and the future would head in another direction. It would not be a future where Terminators would loose the war against the humans and have to send Arnold back in time. Therefore those terminators would never see the results of Arnie's success and to them, whether Arnie is successful in terminating Sarah Connor or not, their future will continue on its original course.

So if this is true then it is theoretically impossible to change the past, you can only create new time lines. If a person is sent back in time, you cannot send him back to 1955 then look up wikipedia and search "1955 man arrives from future" and suddenly find it there, because that would mean that in the seconds after the person has gone back in time, everyone on the planet and all the records everywhere are suddenly updated in a flash, then everyone remembers the man arriving from the future in 1955....

In closing, I have come to the conclusion that time travel is very complicated and there are many different things that could happen if someone were to go forwards or backwards in time. There is only one film where it shows someone time traveling and I though, yeah that looks possible. The Time Machine (the remake not the original.) Basically Guy Pearce gets into the time machine in the 19th century, and stays static in time while everything ages around him. So he is basically in suspended animation like on Red Dwarf. There is no complicated mechanisms to travel through time, only a mechanism to stop time penetrating the forcefield which Guy Pearce is sitting in, so he doesn't age a second but the world goes on around him and when he feels like he has gone far enough forward he stops the machine and time starts for him again, and its 800,000 years in the future (and Samantha Mumba somehow still has a career!). If we could create a device that stops time affecting a person, like a suspended animation booth, then people could travel forward in time, but not back obviously. This type of machine would be very useful in deep space travel when it takes ages to get anywhere (or in flights to Australia which also take forever.)