In this essay I will be discussing the typicality of the two Hollywood action movies. These are: ‘Independence day’ and ‘Mission impossible two’ (M: I 2). I will compare the two films and discuss the similarities between them.
In Independence Day the hero is called Captain Stephen Hiller who is played by Will Smith. Stephen Hiller is a tall and well built character. Stephen Hiller has many characteristics of a hero; one of these characteristics is that he has a girlfriend who also plays the part of a heroine during the movie. When the whole of Washington was destroyed by the alien attack Stephens girlfriend Jasmine takes a ruined truck and brings all the survivors together. Among the survivors was the Presidents wife. Later on in the film Stephen gets married to Jasmine. One thing that makes a Hollywood action movie typical is that the hero will go back and rescue the heroine. This typically occurs towards the end of the movie; Stephen Hiller goes back to the city which was blown up so he could rescue his girlfriend. The way the scene is played by Stephen Hiller running to his girlfriend and hugging her; he then kisses her. Another attribute that a hero has is being witty; he may say a phrase before or just after killing an enemy. For example when Stephen Hiller kills an alien he says ‘Welcome to Earth’. Stephen Hiller also brings aspects of comedy value to the movie. For instance when asked what he said after disrupting a meeting with the military he replied ‘I’m a little anxious to whoop E. T’s ass’. However there is one thing which isn’t typical about the hero in the movie is the hero Stephen Hiller is a black character. In Hollywood action movies it’s usually a white actor playing the hero, for example in the movies ‘Die hard’, ‘The terminator’, and ‘Universal soldier’. The three actors that play the hero in these three movies are Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jean Claude Van Damme. The villains in Independence Day are not human, they are aliens. There is a leader of the aliens, but each alien plays as big as part as each other in the film. The aliens have far more advanced technology than the humans. They have space ships which fire laser beam shots. The aliens also have many gigantic space ships and a mother ship which has more highly developed weaponry, which can effortlessly demolish a considerable amount of buildings in an exceedingly sum of time.
In the film Mission Impossible 2 the hero’s name is Ethan Hunt who is played by the actor Tom Cruise. Unlike Will Smith Tom Cruise isn’t as tall and well built as will smith although he has positive characteristics which make him a good Hollywood action hero actor. In the Movie Tom Cruise’s character was played by a laid back character. In complicated situations Ethan’s character did not fluster or illustrate any indication of nervousness. This is apparent when Ethan is in a situation where he is hanging from a helicopter because he must enter a building through the gaps of a vent.
A further point which made Ethan a good hero was that he was involved in vehicle chasing scenes. The villain in the film mission impossible 2 was Dougary Scott who was played by the actor Sean Ambrose. For the duration of the last scene a motorbike chase took place involving Ethan and Dougary. During this scene there were numerous stunts carried out on the motorbike. An additional attribute that makes an accomplished hero is intelligence. Ethan illustrated intelligence during these stunts as he created smoke performing wheel spins on his motorbike to block Dougary’s view of Ethan. An additional aspect that makes Ethan a typical hero is that he has a love interest in the film. Ethan must save a girl called Nyah Nordoff-Hall the heroine in the film, who is played by the actress Thandie Newton. For Ethan to save Nyah from dying from an infection which was infected into her by the Villain Dougary; Ethan must find a cure but he is not left with a lot of time. At the end of the movie Ethan finds a cure and rescues Nyah from death. This is another common ingredient that makes a typical Hollywood action movie.
In action films the last scene is usually a final showdown between the villain and the hero. This was apparent in the last scene of Mission Impossible 2. During the final scene Ethan and Dougary have a fist fight and after ten minutes of combating, Ethan then thought that he had killed Dougary as he lay on the sand. Then taking everyone by surprise, Dougary becomes conscious, again very typical. As soon as Dougary became conscious he was immediately shot dead by Ethan. In the movie Mission Impossible 2 the villain also shares the same qualities as the hero Ethan. Dougary Scott is also intellectual. He is a womaniser plus he also once dated Nyah. Dougary also has the weapons and technology.
Independence Day and Mission Impossible 2 have similarities in the storylines. One similarity is which is shared is that the two hero’s have love interests. Another resemblance is that the two girls in the movies are both endangered by the enemy or villain. In Mission Impossible 2 Ethan ends up with Nyah, and in Independence Day Stephen ends up with Jasmine and they all live happily ever after which is also extremely typical. In the two movies the hero’s are against time. Ethan must find a cure for Nyah’s disease or else she would die and Stephen Hiller must destroy the alien mother ship to severely damage the alien’s defences or else the next alien attack would have destroyed Earth. In both movies the hero’s have an associate who would help them all the way through the movie. Ethan had an assistant who guided him to various places and helped him to evacuate from complex situations. Stephen had assistance from an intelligent character called David who was played by the actor Jeff Goldblum. David assists Stephen when flying the space ship into space to infect the alien mother ship with a virus.
A number of people claim that Hollywood action movies follow a formula because of the certain similarity in the storylines. People believe that the story lines are constantly repetitive and predictable. Other reasons why people think Hollywood action movies have a formula is due to the outcome being the same all the time; the hero ends up with the girl and they live happily ever after. An additional reason to why people think Hollywood action films are typical is because of the final showdown between the hero and the villain appears in the same way. The hero would usually start off by getting brutally injured by the enemy, and then all of a sudden a miracle will take place and the hero regains full strength and kills the enemy.
Other people argue that Hollywood actions movies not carry out follow a formula. Other people believe this because different films have very dissimilar storylines. An example of two Hollywood action movies which are unlike each other is ‘The Matrix’ and ‘The Fast And The Furious’. Also untypical events can occur in Hollywood action movies. In the film ‘The Terminator’ the hero played by the actor Arnold Schwarzenegger was first of all not human but was a machine and secondly died in the end. The characters didn’t all live happily ever after in the film; the hero died and because of this another character called John Connor was crying due to the loss of a friend. Another untypical factor about the movie is that there is no love interest, and yet it was a very successful movie. Despite The Terminator not containing these ingredients; the movie was one of the best movies of it’s time, and was also one of the first films to use the special effects it had throughout the movie.
In my opinion Hollywood action movies follow a formula and for the vast majority of the time they consist of the same ingredients. To argue for my opinion people should take a look at movies such as ‘Last action hero’, ‘Casino Royal’, ’Scary movie’, and ‘Austin Powers’. These movies are aimed at making fun of the typicality of Hollywood action movies.
In the movie Last Action Hero Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the character of an action hero who goes by the name of Jack Slater. Throughout the movie Jack Slater goes all the way through a series of events which would typically occur in an action movie. For instance when Jack has fallen into a huge pond of industrial oil and is completely covered in it. Yet when Jack next appears on screen he has cleaned himself and all his mucky clothes with a single tissue. Other typicality’s presented in the movie consist of the actor playing Jack Slater is a well built character. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a well built person who has come first in nineteen major body building competitions. Five of those competitions he came first in were ‘Mr. Olympia’. This competition is considered to be the best body building competition in the world.
The movie 'Austin Powers’ was aimed to make fun of the series of James Bond movies. The movie puts forward repetitive elements which occur in all James Bond movies such as the gadgets, girls, and it especially aims at all the qualities and imagery used on the villain. The movies that I have mentioned have presented the audience with an illustration of typical events which come about in Hollywood action movies.
Regardless of my opinions I still consider Hollywood action movies to be a highly satisfying source of entertainment. In spite of the movies frequently following a formula it is not necessarily a bad thing as they persistently make millions of money. This means that on the whole people take pleasure in what they see when they go to the cinema to watch a Hollywood action movie.
