By Brian Laughran – Sr. Viewpoints Editor
Last week I saw the Arnold Schwarzenegger’s latest crime movie vehicle Sabotage. I enjoyed the movie based on the fact that it’s a good-old-fashioned shoot-em-up movie with the king of shoot-em-up movies.
However, I saw this film with a good friend who loves a good action romp as much as I do and hates when movies play with kid gloves; he did not enjoy the film. He found it far too violent.
This surprised me. Normally, in our friend group, I’m the one who objects to excessive violence.
He told me on the car ride home that he felt the violence was too real. I insisted that that is what made the film actually very good.
The film centers around a group of DEA agents who find themselves going up against drug cartels as well as internal drama. It was directed by David Ayer – who made the brilliant crime drama End of Watch two years ago – and Ayer’s portrayal of violence is brutal.
I insist that Ayer’s portrayal of violence is actually more responsible than the sort of violence than most moviegoers are used to. Take a film like The Expendables. Nameless henchmen are mowed down with glee. There isn’t much focus to the violence because the violence is supposed to be fun.
Ayer, however, wants you to see the bloodshed that happens when you hold a gun to someone’s head and pull the trigger. He wants you to see the real carnage that happens when someone is shot. That, to me, is more responsible than leading viewers to believe that violence is something that is supposed to be fun or careless.
Perhaps what threw my friend is that this very realistic violence was wrapped in what is essentially an action movie. I understand his confusion and disliking of the film. He thought he was getting The Expendables and what he got was a gorier version of a wire similar to The Wire or The Shield (not the show about Marvel superheroes, the one with Michael Chiklis. NERD ALERT: Michael Chiklis also played a Marvel superhero named The Thing.).
Where do you stand on movie violence? Would you rather more practical violence, no violence at all, or do you find violence fun in movies and prefer a detachment? Write to us at thexavierite@yahoo.com.
About Post Author
