Baryshnikov and Jason Bourne

There's this great scene in the first John Wick movie that I often rewatch, and that always gets me thinking about how we think about "action" movies. They're generally considered a pretty low-brow form of entertainment, and they are, so I wouldn't dispute that point. But that said, every once in a while an action movie comes along that makes me think we need to rethink the genre.

In the John Wick movie, it's not even the whole movie, but this one bathhouse/disco scene, that to me really establishes the film. But there are other films too; Casino Royale comes to mind as does The Bourne Identity (although the former might be derivative of the latter). And we should probably add The Matrix in there too, even though it also goes above and beyond the genre. What these all have in common is that they each offered a new way to film bodies in motion. Outside of any narrative arc (which is sometimes lacking), what really establishes films like these is the choreography and cinematography (but again, I think The Matrix also holds up as a non-genre film).

So I wasn't blown away by the story in John Wick, I was impressed by the way they filmed movement. And it's long seemed to me that as low-brow as action films are, their closest corollary in the world of fine art isn't actually cinema at all, despite being a form of cinema itself. Instead, I think it's dance. And just as there are many derivative dancers who know the moves but whose work is just repetition, the real artists are the ones who show us the body in a new way. I think John Wick did this, but every once in a while a new film comes along that manages to take our expectations about the body in movement and upends it, showing us something new.

Anyways, maybe this is all dumb or derivative, and it's either obvious or someone has already written about this, but it's been a nagging idea I've been wanting to share. Or maybe it's just a rationalization for my love of cinematic ass-kicking. Or maybe, I just have a crush on Keanu (I definitely have a crush on Keanu).