Three unrealistic things all action heroes get away with

Enjoying a good action story is all about the suspension of disbelief because, let’s face it, the things action heroes get up to a pretty implausible in real life.

Writers take huge liberties when it comes to penning thrilling action tales and readers and audiences alike indulge because they know that for the story to work, real life complications can’t be allowed to get in the way of the story. And so, this means that there are few tropes which every action hero displays and which would otherwise infuriate a picky reader or viewer if they weren’t only concerned with being royally entertained for the little bit of me-time they’ve carved out for themselves. But, if we’re really keeping score, here are the unrealistic things action stories get away with.

1. A killer punch. Our lone hero is faced with a half-dozen adversaries without a weapon and must rely on hand-to-hand combat. No problem as he knows that one good punch is enough to floor each bad guy and the rest are polite enough to stand around and wait their turn.

2. Impeccable timing. Houdini has nothing on these guys when it comes to getting out of tight spots just in the nick of time. They could be tied up, trapped in an overturned vehicle or dangled over a piranha-infested pit, but they all manage to wait until very last minute to engineer their escape.

3. Incredible healing power. Of course they’re going to pick up a few cuts and bruises, but they soon heal once a torn of piece of their shirt is wrapped around it, with little regard for the risk of infection either.

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Top three action directors

When it comes to action, there are only a few directors who really go above and beyond to bring us the most immense action epics possible. The action genre is so broad that sometimes it takes a brilliant director to help you find your way through the plethora of movies. Here is a rundown of our favourite three action directors.

Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott is a director with the power to move his audience to extreme emotions – even when making television commercials. The action genre is somewhere that Ridley Scott really shines. If you doubt that, then take a look at Gladiator. The opening sequence and the Coliseum fighting are just two moments that instantly spring to mind when thinking about how well Ridley Scott directs action.

John Woo

Face/Off, Broke Arrow and Red Cliff are just a small example of the action movies that John Woo has directed. The Chinese born director’s name is synonymous with action and if his name is on a movie, then you know that you’re in for an action rollercoaster that very few directors can consistently provide.

Steven Spielberg

One of the all-time great directors across multiple genres, when it comes to action he really excels himself. Whether you are a fan of Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park or Saving Private Ryan it doesn’t matter what action you want on the screen, Spielberg is a man that certainly can.

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Action-Packed Movie Adaptations That Got it Right

The Hollywood Machine seems to be running out of ideas as of late, with a seemingly endless slew of reboots and sequels we long for the days of original content and ideas. Much of that original content once came in the form of novel adaptations, but even those were hit and miss sometimes. Still, once in a while Hollywood got it right and produced silver screen adaptations that were every bit as good as the original novels, sometimes even better!

Fight Club. Despite a drastically different ending, Fight Club manages to stay true to the plot, themes, and progression of Chuck Palahniuk’s debut novel. The all-star cast including Brad Pitt and Ed Norton seem perfectly suited to the characters they play, and the movie (much like the novel) is nothing short of a non-stop thrill from start to finish.

American Psycho. Christian Bale’s depiction of psychotic yuppie-businessman Patrick Bateman is nothing short of spot-on in the 2000 adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ extremely graphic American Psycho. Although the book only focuses on key events within the novel, it does a near-perfect job of capturing its essence.

The Shining. Stephen King is no stranger to movie adaptations, as his novels each seem to be perfectly suited for the big screen, almost as if they were written as screenplays. However, it took the magic of Jack Nicholson and the vision of Stanley Kubrick to truly make The Shining one of the greatest movies of all time, this despite its deviation from the novel and King’s very public protests. It goes to show that not all adaptations have to be loyal in order to be great.

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