By Contemporary action films tend to be a mixed bag. There can be the summer popcorn blockbusters with a whole lot of explosions and kickass scenes, with little to no substance to them. Then there are the films where they just try WAY too hard to invoke some sort of deeper meaning to justify all the crazy stuff going on. As always, however, the genre is pollinated with elements of romance and comedy, essentially watering down that level of badassitude.
This year’s selections include Tom Cruise’s return to the Mission: Impossible franchise, Chris Evans portraying yet another superhero in Captain America: The First Avenger, The Rock and Vin Diesel bro-ing each other down in Fast Five, Chris Hemsworth and his hair in Thor, Rooney Mara and Saoirse Ronan elevating levels of feminine awesomeness in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Hanna, respectively, the highly-anticipated Duncan Jones film, Source Code, Joe Cornish’s directorial debut, Attack the Block, and the curiously-added adaptation, The Adventures of Tintin.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol! Apparently, Cruise’s return to apparent normalcy was enough to edge out the rest of the competition. It’s pretty clear to see why. Very few action films can still blow you away thanks to the over-indulgence of the genre, but M:I pulled it off. Anyone who says that the action explosion in the middle of the film that starts with Cruise scaling the tallest building in the world and ends with him ducking under a rapidly flipping car didn’t blow them away is lying. While some of the other noms may have been better films none of them delivered amazing action on the same level as Ghost Protocol. Action this impressive (and real) is few and far between.
Do you think it was worthy of winning this year’s Flixie for Best Action Film? Or do you feel that our other nominations (or films we might have missed) should be bringing the hardware home? Let us know!
Votes Breakdown
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – 6
Hanna – 1
Source Code – 1
The Adventures of Tintin – 1
Captain America: The First Avenger – 1
Fast Five – 1
Attack the Block – 1
Thor – 1
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – 1