Art Films Masquerading as Action Films

I have a theory that art films are starting to masquerade as action films because in a globalized economy, producers can’t pick any contemporary villains, so characters’ conflicts end up being directed internally. Hence, we get a slew of boring action movies, which hire the best talent to pepper the film with 5-10 minutes of amazing action scenes, “delivering on the promise”, but still manage to leave audiences starving for more ass-kicking. Haywire, Drive, Killing Them Softly, and Looper are recent examples.

But demand for good action keeps increasing in the West, especially under hard economic times, and it’s not being delivered in spades here the way the market demands it. That makes my job incredibly easy. Seriously, Hollywood and Europe, keep it up.