Invincible Villains = Compelling❗ Invincible Heroes = An Evil Mistake ❓☢

Whether it's due to super powers or IDIOCY, fight choreographers & filmmakers need know these problems inherent in making the hero invincible.
The hero becomes a murderous villain;
The suspense & drama gets sucked out of the fight scene;
The story gets sacrificed for ONE insecure actor to look cool & tough;
The audience is bored to death until the "kryptonite" shows up.

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THE VIDEOS I MENTION AT THE END CAN BE FOUND HERE:
Everything Must Be Black In Our Fight Scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApKrJ8ORFnM

The Nightwing Fight Scene that Outsmarted Daredevil:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEpr1qDlA9A
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When I watch Kickboxer Retaliation I feel like the source of invincibility is insecurity - a misplaced desire to "look tough" strips the fight scene of drama & suspense.
When it comes to a DC superhero fight like Batman V Superman, drama & suspense can be inserted into the fight scene in the form of kryptonite. None of the obstacles Superman faces are true obstacles because they cannot harm him. The result is the audience being indifferent until the true, green obstacle is introduced. While there IS drama once this happens, it's merely temporary; once the kyptonite wears off, we're back to the original problem of an invincible protagonist who cannot be harmed.
DC's Batman vs Superman tries to circumvent the invincibility problem by uses the ticking time bomb method. A third character like Lois Lane or Martha can be put in danger, & the action between Batman & Superman, unknown to them, has the potential to DELAY them enough that neither will be able to save Lois Lane or Martha.
The best superhero fight scenes have an excuse for the invincibility though - Tony Jaa's Ong Bak character magically becomes invincible partway through the final fight scene of the Muay Thai action film. Just like Kickboxer Retaliation, it results in a complete lack of drama and suspense due to the proof that there's no danger to the protagonist.
In Jackie Chan's First Strike (Police Story IV), the hero fights an invincible tough guy enemy. Jackie Chan vs Nathan Jones happened long before Nathan Jones did fight scenes with Jet Li and Tony Jaa. In these cases Jones is an obstacle that Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Tony Jaa must overcome. Fantastic! It works!
Everyone wants to look cool like Keanu Reeves as Neo in The Matrix. But looking like a tough guy who can't be touched basically results in there being no movie. If Bruce Willis beat that yellow guy into a pulp in Sin City, only for the yellow dude to get back up like nothing happened, well, just watch the video essay. There's no need for me to write a paper essay on Sin City and stage combat. This martial arts video essay involves less reading.

#jackiechan #batman #actionmovies #fightscenes #PieceoftheAction #superman #jetli #donnieyen #fightchoreo