Action Thriller
Yipee Ki-Yay
Featuring guns, cool explosions, and amazing set pieces, this movie type first developed in the 1970s in such films as Dirty Harry and The French Connection, and became the exemplar of the Hollywood mega-blockbuster in the 1980s in such works as Die Hard and Lethal Weapon. These films often feature a race against the clock, lots of violence, and a clear—often flamboyantly evil—antagonist. Though they may involve elements of crime or mystery films, those aspects take a back seat to the action. Other significant works include Hard Boiled, True Romance, Point Break, The Warriors, Bullitt, The Seven-Ups, Cobra and Rambo: First Blood Part II, Taken. The story takes place in limited location; a single building, plane, or vessel – which is seized or under threat by enemy agents, but are opposed by a single hero who fights an extended battle within the location using stealth and cunning to attempt to defeat them. The Die Hard subgenre has become popular in Hollywood because of its crowd appeal and the relative simplicity of building sets for such a constrained piece. Examples include Under Siege (terrorists take over a ship), Broken Arrow (terrorists hijack a nuclear weapon from a B-2 bomber), Snakes on a Plane (poisonous snakes take over a passenger plane), Speed, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory and Derailed (hostages are trapped on trains and buses), Sudden Death (terrorists take over an Ice Hockey stadium), Passenger 57, Executive Decision and Air Force One (hostages are trapped on a plane), Con Air (criminals take over a transport plane), and Half Past Dead and The Rock (criminals or terrorists take over a prison). Paul Blart: Mall Cop is a recent spoof of this trend (as Die Hard in a mall).
