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About Action Movies

Action movies usually involve a straightforward story of good guys versus bad guys, where most disputes are resolved by using force. Action films are largely derived from crime movies and thriller movies, by way of western movies and to some extent war movies. Modern Hollywood examples of the genre are usually "high concept" films where the whole movie can be easily summarized (eg. "a scientist brings dinosaurs back to life only to find them threatening to dominate earth, again" for Jurassic Park). The nature of the good guys varies from movie to movie, but in Hollywood films they usually are patriotic and rather conservative (though not die-hard) Americans, whereas the bad guys are usually either criminals or agents of foreign powers. In the 1950s and 1960s, the bad guys were very often Communists, which almost made some action films seem like propaganda films. Action movies also tend to have a single heroic protagonist and often portray institutions such as the military or police as incompetent, corrupt and limited by rules and regulations which the protagonist has no regard for. This creates the stereotypical conflict between an action hero and the establishment. The action movie genre, although popular since the 1950s, did not become one of the most dominant film style in Hollywood until the 1980s and 1990s, when it was popularized by actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone. The special effects and stars that are characteristic of action movies tend make these films expensive. Action films have become a mostly-American genre, although there have been a significant number of action films from Hong Kong which are primarily modern variations of the martial arts film. Some action movies also constitute very good examples for feminist film theory. Although female characters in most action films are nothing more than objects, a prize for the winner, hostages, loving wives and the like, there has been a move towards stronger female characters. These are maybe best exemplified in works by James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow. Due to their widespread appeal, many action movies have also spawned one or more sequels. - The preceding paragraph was derived from a full article available from Wikipedia and its use is governed by the GNU Free Documentation License 1.2.