action films - dumb?

[siobhan_1990]

it is often said that action films are dumb films for dumb people.

does anyone agree or disagree with this? if so why?

cheers xx

[gerry]

I would disagree.You will usually find that people that find action films dumb is because what usually happens in these action movies let's say James Bond are usually far fetched(The car chases or how Bond beats the baddies by himself).But I personally find that if there is a scene that is far fetched it can be entertaing at the same time.

[Eve]

Depends on the plot I guess, if it's justal out action (Jean Claude Vanne Damme springs to mind) or more complex such as Mission Impossible.

I spose if I just want to kick back and not think to much about a film i'd opt for the less complicated action bit though.

[bernardo]

If it's got Matt Damon in it, it's a hunk film for hunkspotters

[dot.hawkes]

I am a very big film fan and i talk and write about films alot, i have never heard this comment, can you show me one or two examples of this to enable me to understand who these people are that you are quoting and what films they are meaning in particular?

[feebal]

There are plenty of dumb action films (any straight-to-video effort with Steven Seagal or Jean Claude Van Damme) - just as there are dumb romantic comedies and dumb horror films. All genre films are dumb if they don't experiment with the formula and just offer routine cheap thrills. But there are plenty of non-dumb action films (the original Die Hard, for instance, is a work of genius; the Indiana Jones trilogy are bona fide classics; Speed's high concept suspense; the OTT tongue-in-cheek action in Face Off and Con Air; the stylish action of the James Bond franchise). I think anyone who dismisses action movies as dumb completely can't love cinema very much. Films have always been about action. When the first silent films were shown they showed a train pulling into a station. A year later they showed people on horseback robbing the train. That's what people want to see.

[siobhan_1990]

dot.hawkes - i believe it was part of a book by Yvonne Tasker - Spectacular Bodies: Gender, Genre and the Action Cinema.

[dot.hawkes]

Ahhh so you are doing film studies and this is one of your set books. Well there has to be more on the context than just that quote. Does the author agree with the statement? If so how does she back it up. Does she use the phrase and then offer exceptions to it, as feebal was able to do. It is a very generalising and sweeping statement and based on the figures some of the great action films have grossed and continue to yield in pre-recorded media, to say any film that takes millions at the BO is a dumb film for dumb people is at best snobbish and bordering on an ignorance of the expectations of the audience and the demands of the market.