Movie Mondays: Action

Creatively inspirational movies

I’ve come to the end of talking about films that inspire me the most. While there are a lot of films I didn’t talk about, (and perhaps I will some day) I’m pretty satisfied with the list I’ve come up with.

So I'm leaving of with one of the most difficult genres to come up with. While I love action movies I realized that many action films tend to be formulaic, following the same trope of the genre and few have artistic attention, or they actually fall in to the science fiction category. Here are the three exceptions:

Kill Bill vol 1 & 2

In my opinion this film is the best of Quentin Tarantino career so far. The overarching color theme of bright primary colors pops in contrast to the extreme violence. Its modern day styling combines old kung fu films and exploitation films of the 60s. While volume 2 has a slightly more muted color palette, it feels more grounded in reality than its predecessor. There is general vibe of being in Santa Fe/wild west that also differentiates this film from volume 1.

Only God Forgives

This was a mind bender of a movie with a mixed up sense of morality but boy is this movie gorgeous. Many, if not every, scene is utterly saturated with color. Lit with rich neon lights that play beautifully off one another make the actors look painted. The costuming hair and makeup are also extremely well done.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

This is a far departure if terms of color scheme from the previous films in this category but it still feels lavish with textures, with the dense leaves bamboo forest, the rough look of the cotton garments of the characters and the intricate embossed blade of the green destiny sword, to name a few. The colors of this film is under state and cool, except for the scenes between the young lovers. Their palette is warm rich tones, befitting of their heated romance.

Honorable mentions:

Drive

Death proof

While both of these film are exceptional, I decided to leave them off because I didn’t what to do too many films from the same directors. They are still an inspiration to me and I recommend watching them if you haven’t already.