It is no coincidence that the words "actor" and "action" have the same root. My sister implied (most likely in jest) that the prospect of an action movie containing a good performance by an actor or actress was unheard of. (Read her piece here.) This is a common misconception among women* and film snobs. I hereby submit as evidence a listing of action films which received an Academy Award nomination in one of the four acting categories. (This is by no means a comprehensive list. Most of it is from memory and I have excluded sports films.)
The Right Stuff (Shepard)
Apocalypse Now (Duvall)
Gladiator (Crowe, Phoenix)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Depp)
Platoon (Berenger, Dafoe)
Saving Private Ryan (Hanks)
Glory (Washington)
Apollo 13 (Harris)
Aliens (Weaver)
Pulp Fiction (Jackson)
The Departed (Wahlberg)
Unforgiven (Hackman)
The Deer Hunter (Walken)
The French Connection (Scheider, Hackman)
The Sand Pebbles (McQueen)
The Bridge On the River Kwai (Guinness)
Star Wars (Guinness)
A History of Violence (Hurt)
Collateral (Foxx)
Plus a few more which received no nomination, but probably should have.
The Bourne Supremacy (Damon, Cox)
The Bone Collector (Jolie, Washington)
Enemy at the Gates (Fiennes, Harris, Weisz)
Inside Man (Foster, Owen, Washington)
Silverado (Glenn, Glover, Hunt)
Panic Room (Foster, Whitaker)
Generally speaking, performances in action movies are assumed to be bad. This is because if an action movie contains good performances, the movie critic will simply rename it a "drama" and state that the action sequences were "particularly well done." Thus making bad or mediocre performances the only ones left in the action genre. Thankfully this cop-out of cynical snobbery is a loophole through which so many good films and good performances have received their just rewards from critics as well as from the movie going public. It's a shame comedies don't have a similar back door into award ceremonies. There appears to be an unwritten rule that no actor or actress performing in a comedic role will ever be nominated for a major award. (Johnny Depp being the exception which proves it.) This is of course excluding the Golden Globes, which wisely sets aside an entire category for musical or comedic performance. Naturally this category tends to be dominated by the "musical" half of that equation... hmmm, maybe another list is in order. Rhonda, care to help me out?
*I am fully aware that there are women who enjoy action movies. I am also aware that the number of them is directly proportional to the number of men who enjoy romantic comedies.)
5 comments:
Perhaps we should compile a list of cross-genre movies. Or even cross-genre actors. It's really hard for actors who are most well known for comedic performances to get recognition for dramatic performances, even if they're extremely well done (Jim Carey in The Truman Show, Ashton Kutcher in The Butterfly Effect...). Also, I wasn't saying that action movies CAN'T have good acting, just that, as you pointed out, the movies that are usaully categorized as "action" don't have very strong dramatic performances. If they do, they are labelled "dramas." Maybe the action genre should be completely abolished, along with sci-fi, horror, etc, and all movies just labelled "drama" or "comedy."
Speaking of cross-genre-ing, when is Pride and Predator to make its appearance?
umm... April at the earliest. I've got my hands full with assignments for school as it is. That last thing I need is a personal assignment.
Definitely a project I'm looking forward to though.
My hubbie and I watched the DVD of The Departed yesterday. Kicked a**, that movie did.
I am one of those women who likes action movies. If it has 'splosions, it's all good.
:-)
feel free to use the real swear words lori. ;-)
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