Genre Research

Action-thriller Research

What is Action Thriller?

    Everyone loves action movies. They have become a common ground for people of all ages, genders, and orientations. Directors like Steven Spielberg, John Woo, and James Cameron are all hot topics for discussion right now known for directing movies like Avatar and Ready Player One.

 

    Action thriller movies are usually consistent with key factors and features. They include a clearly defined hero, victim, and villain. The desire of the hero to stop the villain and save the day is usually the main purpose of the entire film. There is a clear division of power and usually include weapons like guns.

    The sets of action thrillers are known for having layers of details and lots of colors. They are usually very vivid, bright, and exciting to look at. The costumes are fun and excite the viewers. These really help to appeal to the target audience due to their assumed interest in video games and exciting, fast-paced movies. They include special effects like the explosions in Indiana Jones. 

    The marketing for action thrillers like Ready Player One relies heavily on bright colors and fascinating posters. This is in order to attract the target audience of teen/young adult males ages 15-25. Below you can see an example of a poster for the movie Ready Player One:

                                                      

This poster has neon purple and blue highlights with cool fonts and a preview of the movie. This poster draws in the audience and was very successful in drawing a crowd. Ready Player One grossed $582.9 million worldwide and allowed for a sequel to be made as well. Ready Player One was directed by Steven Spielberg, a well-known and successful action thriller director.

    The first example of these factors all mixed together is the Hunger Games movie. The target audience is teenagers to young adults which is the same for the action thriller category. There is a long list of weapons used but primarily they use bows and arrows. The hero is Katniss Everdeen, the villain is President Snow, and there are many victims. Depending on how one views it, they could argue Katniss Everdeen, Rue, any of the other people in the districts, or any of the competitors in the games. There are numerous explosions and a variety of other special effects to keep the interest of the audience. The separation of power is between the capitol residents and district residents are shown with their wardrobe. The rich have excessive and over-the-top costumes while the poor dress simple with slim to no color or expression in their outfits as shown below:

    Another example is Jurrasic Park, directed by Steven Spielberg. The target audience is teenagers to young adults which is the same for the action thriller category. The weapons used are mainly shotguns and rifles. The villain is Lewis Dodgson, the hero is Alan Grant, and the victims are all the lives lost throughout the film and the other tourists visiting the park in the car. The special effects make the whole movie - there are literal dinosaurs!! Not to mention the many explosions and other cool effects used in the entire movie. The divide of power is shown through each individual character, there are children, a rich guy, a worker, and many other different levels of power in each character. At the end of the movie, the day is saved when the T-Rex appears and saves the remaining people. Although the efforts of the protagonist allowed for their lives to be saved, the plot twists when the humans end up getting saved by the thing they were trying to escape from. 

Some other thriller action movies you may know of: