The action in most of todays movies is massively underwhelming from the CGI slugfest’s, the poorly structured scene and the worst offender’s of them all the use of ‘shaky cams’ and overly edited scenes.

1. Cinematography and Editing

For me, this is one of the most essential key aspects of creating an amazing action scene. Scenes with the best camera work and cinematography include:

• The corridor fight scene from ‘OldBoy’.
• The church fight scene from ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’.
• The Stairway fight scene from ‘Atomic Blonde’.
• The POV fight scene from ‘The Villainess’.
• The house invasion from ‘John Wick’
• The prison riot from ‘The Raid 2’

These scenes were all planned to perfection. These are all examples of what an action scene can be if planned thoroughly. Directors such as Chad Stahelski (John Wick) and Gareth Evans (The Raid) plan each and every shot of an action sequence so the audience never miss a thing.

Some may argue that the ‘shaky cams’ in ‘The Bourne Trilogy’ where great, however I argue that ‘The Bourne Trilogy’ is overrated. Whilst not awful I just think that ‘shaky cams’ and overly edited scenes should have never exsisted. But I must admit Paul Greengrass (director) showed us the best use of ‘shaky cams’ ever seen in hollywood. In movies such as ‘Taken’ the action is just sickening.

The action should be shown as a dance with the camera-men and stunt-men working together beat by beat to create a beautiful flawless action scene similar to a dance. By taking the camera off a tri-pod and allowing a cameraman to freely flow around the action. This means that the cameramen have marks to hit on time just as much as the stuntmen, creating an immersive and better action scene. This then creates action scenes that closely resssemble that of a dance. There are varying intensities and styles of this type of action sequence. For example, I would compare the camera work to the ‘John Wick’ films to ballet, its classy camera work follow whats in Wicks field of view, such as the guns he reloads and the enemies he shoots. Similarly the camerawork in ‘The Raid’ films is stylistic and upbeat camera shots and editing and twirls the camera to the rhythm of the scene, I would compare this to swing dancing.

To make a great action scene, you need to plan each shot and each angle. Allowing the camea to freeflow with the stuntman showing each and every action creating a sense of immersion. The cinematography is a key component to constructing a perfect action scene.

For me camera work and editing is a make or break an action scene for me, no matter how well choreographed it is, if i can’t see it whats the point.

2. Stunts

If the actor playing the hero or villain of the movie performs their own action or stunts or even both. The action becomes more believable and gives the audience a sense of immersion. Action stars who perform their own stunts and action include:

• Keanu Reeves: ‘John Wick’ and ‘The Matrix’
• Iko Uwais: All of his movies
• Tom Cruise: All of his movies.
• Jackie Chan: All of his movies.
• Charlize Theron: ‘Atomic Blonde’
• Brendon Fraser: All of his movies.

If the actor performs their own stunts it makes the action more believable no matter how outlandish the stunt really is. Even if the actors only perform their own fight scenes themselves but even leaving the real heavy hitting stunts, like being hit by a car, to the professionals it still creates the same sense of believability. For example, in ‘The Raid’ films Iko Uwais is one of the fastest martial artists in the world it makes sense to put him up against similar opponents and him coming out on top. However, in contrast to this in ‘John Wick Chapter 3’ Keanu Reeves faces of against two of the guys from ‘The Raid’ and it becomes a little unbelievable that Keanu Reeves, whilst an unrelenting badass can beat those guys. But its Keanu Reeves he can whoop anyones ass.

3. CGI

The use of CGI is not always bad in movies but sometimes it is just plain awful it just ends up being a CGI slugfest. The best CGI fights include:

• The fight against Thanos on Titan: ‘Infinity War’.
• The final fight: ‘Endgame’.
• Godzilla vs King Ghidorah: ‘Godzilla: King Of Monsters’.
• Spiderman Vs Mysterio: ‘Spiderman Far From Home’.
• Kong Vs Skullcrawlers: ‘Kong Skull Island’.
• Bumble Bee vs Dropkick: ‘Bumblebee’.

Whilst I don’t hate CGI, I do prefer good practical effects like Christopher Nolan. Some CGI action scenes aren’t that sickening to watch, and those to me are great usually from Marvel or DC movies with a huge buget. But personally for me, I am not a huge fan of CGI in action scenes unless it looks awesome.

4. The Action has purpose in the story and changes the characters.

What I mean by this is that action scene should be used to serve the purpose of the story and changes the characters in the action scene. Such as scenes like:

• The kitchen fight: ‘The Raid 2’.
• The nightclub scene: ‘John Wick’.
• The opening scene: ‘Logan’.
• The house fight: ‘Upgrade’.
• The fight against the prison guard: ‘Brawl in Cell Block 99’.
• The hallway fight scene: ‘The Raid’.

The character should not look or act the same when they emerge, either through exhaustion or perseverance the characters have changed and evolved.

These four tips of what to use and what not to use are to me what make a perfect action scene.