And no, I'm not switching to "chick flicks" . . .

Getting really tired of the trend in filming action scenes lately. It looks like they find a cameraman who is experiencing the DTs, give him a handheld camera with the zoom all the way in, and film the fight. The shots are so close up, and so jerky, that you can neither focus on what you are watching (the screen itself), nor tell what is happening. Makes me long for the old Kung-Fu movies where the fights were choreographed dances (or, for those of you wanting a little more recent example: "The Matrix")!

A couple of movies lately that I've seen where this seems to be the "norm" are "Star Trek" and "Clash of the Titans". In the fight scene in the bar in "Star Trek", for example, you really had no idea who was punching who, or who was winning or losing, at any given point.

The space battles were shown the same; just a lot of explosions, spastic imagery, and hollering. Maybe the studios are so concerned with actors being injured on the set, and the inevitable lawsuits that follow, that they do this to portray action without actually having the action. Probably takes less to film an action scene when you don't have to take the time to teach the actors choreography.

I'm told this is the way of action movies now-a-days. I think it is a cinematic copout.

Let's not be so lazy – and so insulting to us, the audience. I'm sure it is still possible to captivate without causing visual damage. Besides, don't actors have to sign a waiver anyways?

©Emittravel 2010