Revenge is sweet
Hollywood gets lean and mean with '70s-style action flicks
By Nick Nunziata
CNN Headline News
(CNN) -- Step into a movie theater and there's an overriding scent lingering above the popcorn and cleaning solvent. It's the sweet, sticky aroma of revenge.
Never in recent memory have so many films queued up for box-office dollars with retribution in mind, but Hollywood seems intent on making up for lost time. It makes me wonder. Have we been shamed? Have we been dealt so much soft and compromised material that we need to get a little greasy and grimy in our entertainment?
It's like the old days right now with "Kill Bill -- Vol. 2," "The Punisher," "Man on Fire" and "Walking Tall" bringing back that dormant Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood vibe where people solved problems with their fists and asked questions later. Somehow it feels right.
Peel away the sizzle of the modern action film, and there's often not enough steak to satiate the discerning moviegoer's appetite. Whether or not they're successful, the four revenge flicks hitting theaters now hark back to a time where action was raw and character driven, and where the emotion was plainly apparent on the film's figurative sleeve.
Though far from the most politically correct way of entertaining audiences, the whole boon in revenge flicks does go hand in hand with society's fascination with going retro whenever possible. Take a look at the current fashions and hairstyles if you need any proof.
There's already a conscious return to the 1970s style of action filmmaking happening today. It was a trait that was noticeable in Christopher McQuarrie's "The Way of the Gun," Joe Carnahan's "Narc," F. Gary Gray's "A Man Apart" and even to a lesser extent Gray's remake of "The Italian Job."
Instead of relying on flashy computer-assisted special effects work and the most marketable pop music available, these movies are about grit and working-class street sensibility. They're flawed and dirty like the westerns that made Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah such beloved names.
As the action genre goes through trends that sour after audiences grow wary, there's a sweet simplicity to films such as Quentin Tarantino's chop-socky spaghetti eastern/western. There's something timeless and romantic about revenge flicks. There's no room for pretentious tangents, just lean and mean lowest-common denominator filmmaking.
Perhaps the joy in stories such as these is the chance to see offenders get their comeuppance in a time where we are subjected to daily assaults from telemarketers, bad drivers and long lines that makes these movies almost therapeutic.
Being a civilized culture (well, in theory at least), we play by the rules. The protagonists of these films do not, and as long as it's treated as escapism and not a template for how society should respond, it's a mostly harmless way to kill a couple of hours.
As the blockbuster mentality of summer arrives, it's refreshing to see Hollywood getting a little dirty and low tech. I think ol' Steve McQueen would be proud, and that's all the reassurance I need.
