The Anatomy of an 80’s Action Movie
March 12, 2010 at 9:41 am by Christopher Brown - (31) Comments
Growing up as a male in the 1980s, there was one thing that was definitely a staple of our viewing – the Action Movie. Did they kick ass? HELL YES. Were they formulaic? Totally. As a connoisseur of the 80s action movie, I’ve dissected and performed an autopsy to find out what makes the 80s movie tick. And maybe, just maybe, Hollywood might take notice and remember what started the action genre in the first place – sheer awesomeness!
The Characters
Characters in the 80s action movie tend to be relatively one dimensional and serve primarily to facilitate the action scenes and give us just enough reason to care whether they live or die. The acting is almost never stellar, but we don’t care because of the sheer volume of awesomeness contained therein.
The hero of the 80’s action movie tends to fit in one of two categories: overly muscled military hero or rugged and flawed but likable cop.
Overly Muscled Military Hero: Ruled by Arnold Schwartzenegger, and to a lesser degree, Sylvester Stallone (and even Dolph Lundgren), this character is heavy on muscle flexing, gun-toting, and one-liners. These guys are likable solely for the amount of ass they kick and personifying the “strong silent type”.
Rugged & Flawed But Likable Cop: Bruce Willis’ John McClane and Mel Gibson’s Martin Riggs define this character. They’re clearly devoted to their jobs…so much so that they can’t hold down a decent relationship, resulting in either divorce or death of their significant other. The pain they carry makes them great cops but lousy people until the introduction of…
The Sidekick – typically the partner of the Rugged Cop, he provides the balance – through comic relief, disbelief of the Rugged Cop’s actions, and/or through family interactions that the rugged cop can never have. He also tends to be the one to bail out the rugged cop at the last minute so he can take out the villain of the movie. Speaking of which…
The Villain – Almost without fail, the villain of an 80s action movie will be the antithesis of what the hero of the movie is – yin to his yang. While this is expected, the villain’s appearance and demeanor will impeccably mirror the flaws of the hero: if the hero is a military type, the villain will be his commanding officer or equal in rank officer who went rogue; if the hero is a rugged cop, the villain will almost certainly be a corporate type or insanely rich drug dealer. This, of course, makes the audience love the hero even more for killing him because he represents everything that the hero’s trying to avoid by being a good guy.
The Love Interest – Ah, yes. What action flick wouldn’t be complete without a hot love interest who spurs the hero on to change his ways. If the hero is a military type, then he’ll have a reason to care about life. If he’s the rugged cop, he’ll begin to consider the family life his sidekick/partner has and recognize its merit – thus caring about life again.
The Plot
Typically 80s action movies are either relatively thin on plot, such as a villain who holds everyone in a building hostage, leaving a lone cop trapped inside the building as the hostage’s only hope to escape (Die Hard); to ridiculously overcomplicated, such as a truck driver stumbling upon an ancient Chinese villain’s plot to kidnap a girl with green eyes so he can achieve eternal life (Big Trouble In Little China). Overall, the plots of these movies are so over-the-top that the viewer can’t help but be drawn in, and the action is what holds us bound and gagged until the end.
Sheer Awesomeness
The bottom line of all of these 80s action movies is that copious amounts of awesome have been pumped in like collagen. Over-the-top action sequences, heroes that are virtually invincible, villains who are both sinister and ridiculous at the same time make for the most entertaining movies. Sadly, Hollywood has lost sight of the formula that made these movies huge hits, opting for kinder, gentler heroes. Give me the wise-cracking, ass-kicking, badass heroes of the 80s any day.
Wow, were those 80s amazing or what? I miss the 80s.
JW
http://www.isp-snooping.es.tc
You hit all the key points, but I have to disagree on one. The hero doesn’t always have a love interest, some Kelly LeBrock (“Hard to Kill”) or Brigitte Nielson (“Cobra”).
They do, however, have a person of interest, a reason why the fight is personal. Arnie has cute little Alyssa Milano in “Commando, while Bruce had Bonnie Bedelia in “Die Hard.” And the sidekick wasn’t always comic relief, again with Reginald VelJohnson in “Die Hard,” or the generic minority in the “Rambo” series.
The rest was an amusing little distraction. Thanks!
Terminator
Alien
Alien was in the seventies, and it’s not an over-the-top action movie.
Nice work, but I’d still add a synthetiser score (most good 80s action movies have one) and a couple of mullets. Those are always handy.
Great Read, maybe you know of it, but If you check out Lawson: White Heat, it’s a low budget modern movie that is a complete homage to 80’s action movies. It knows not to take itself seriously, but does a good job with many of the cliches, and it’s really funny. You can find it at http://www.lawsonwhiteheat.com.