Fight
Slate has a really good piece on the evolution of the modern cinematic fight scene, with lots of clips over the years.
Editing can really make or break an action scene, or any piece for that matter. If I get into trouble and think that something is getting boring or stale, it becomes really tempting to just start rapid cutting over a small section of music. I think some editors do this to appear un-lazy.
I know at the Cowboys, there were a couple of people who would just over edit when they felt they needed to, but at the expense of pacing and aesthetic. It became nonsensical, with random shots that would only appear for 1 or 2 frames butted up against each other. And the shots weren’t anything special, they were just dumb.
I’m okay with junking something up to make it look cool, but not to the point where the overall edit becomes meaningless.
On the Dark Knight, Slate observes
Despite general enthusiasm for the movie’s pop-Nietzschean gloom, some critics have grumbled about the blink-and-miss-it action, especially the sequences of hand-to-hand combat. “Nolan appears to have no clue how to stage or shoot action,” David Edelstein wrote in New York magazine, complaining that it was impossible to make “spatial sense” of some of the fight scenes. Even in her New York Times rave, Manohla Dargis noted that the finale was “at times visually incoherent.”
I basically agree with that. When I get the urge to see The Dark Knight over and over again, it won’t be for the fights, because they suck.
4 Comments // Comment or Ping
Dustin
That was actually really interesting. I’m surprised there was no Fight Club commentary and such hard knocks against Nolan. Sure, he’s more of an introspective director, but Dark Knight and Batman Begins aren’t particularly bad – not when compared to Chuck Norris’ back hair.
7:00 pm, Jul 29th, 2008
BiscuitKing
Although I have many opinions on the Dark Knight, the bad fights didn’t bother me. I think Nolan knows the fights weren’t the point of Dark Knight. It’s like watching Neo fight in the Matrix sequels. After you see it a few times, you just nod off.
1:14 pm, Jul 30th, 2008
Josh
The bad fights don’t bother me either. But if there were long takes of ass kicking it would make the film that much more enjoyable.
I remember watching the Matrix for the first time when Neo and Morpheus fight for the first time…
* I know kung fu *
4:08 pm, Jul 31st, 2008
#
I don’t think the fights were pointless. I just think they could use some attention. As a Fanboy I read Batman for the fights. In the cartoons i want to see how he handles going against psychos, assassins, and monsters. Nolan doesn’t do that.
Shaky-cam stuff sucks. I’ve always said if you could still the camera and slow the editing it would probably look like a couple lame actors slapping at each other. So they almost have to dress it up.
I think Nolan gets away with the bad cinematography by having a good trick to end the fight (”You know how i got these scars?” “I know how you got these.”) But it would not hurt to just choreograph some of this stuff. Actually film it. I like what Josh calls it: Lazy.
11:48 am, Aug 5th, 2008
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