PART 1

Heath Ledger: Just a little anarchy. Upset the established order and everything
becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos.

[cut to frenetic Batman scenes]

[titles: Chaos Cinema: Part I]
[Bullit (1968)]
[The WIld Bunch (1969)]

In the first decade of the 21st century, film style changed profoundly. Throughout
the initial century of moviemaking, the default style of commercial cinema was
classical; it was meticulous and patient, in theory at least. Every composition and
camera move had a meaning, a purpose. Movies did not cut without good reason, as it
was considered sloppy, even amateurish. Mainstream films once prided themselves on
keeping you the viewer well-oriented because they wanted to make sure you always
knew where you were and what was happening.

Action was always intelligible, no matter how frenetic the scenario. A prime
example: John Woo�s classic Hong Kong action film Hard Boiled.

[Hard Boiled (1992)]

Its action is wild and extravagant, but it is nevertheless coherent and

comprehensible at all times. ***Viewers feel and experience the exaggerated
shootout fantasy without ever losing their bearings.*** In terms of camerawork,
editing and staging, precision is key. Woo�s film is in fact strongly influenced by
the work of American directors such as Sam Peckinpah and Martin Scorsese. A
similarly great American action film is John McTiernan�s Die Hard.

[Die Hard (1988)]

Notice the economy of cuts and camera moves in the scene where hero John McClane
fights the bad guy�s chief henchman, Karl. ***The fight itself is frantic yet
clearly understandable, both riveting and stabilizing�the M.O. of classical
cinema.*** But in the past decade, that bit of received wisdom went right out the
window.

[Bourne scene, window]

[Transformers (2007) Michael Bay]

Commercial films became faster. Overstuffed. Hyperactive. Rapid editing, close

framings, bipolar lens lengths and ***promiscuous camera movement*** now define
commercial filmmaking. Film scholar David Bordwell gave this type of filmmaking a
name: intensified continuity.

[Deja Vu (2006) Tony Scott]

[The Bourne Supremacy (2007) Paul Greengrass]
[Battle Los Angeles (2011) Jonathan Liebesman]

But Bordwell�s phrase may not go far enough. In many post-millennial releases,
we�re not just seeing an intensification of classical technique, but a
***perversion.*** Contemporary blockbusters, particularly action movies, ***trade
visual intelligibility for sensory overload,*** and the result is a film style
marked by ***excess, exaggeration and overindulgence:*** chaos cinema.

[Inception (2010) Christopher Nolan]

[The Expendables (2010) Sylvester Stalone]
Chaos cinema apes the ***illiteracy*** of the modern movie trailer.

Shoot 'Em Up (2007) Michael Davis]

It consists of a barrage of high-voltage scenes. Every single frame runs on

adrenaline. Every shot feels like the hysterical climax of a scene which an earlier
movie might have spent several minutes building toward.

From Paris with Love (2010) Pierre Morel]

Chaos cinema is a never-ending crescendo of flair and spectacle.

[The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) Paul Greengrass]

It�s a ***shotgun aesthetic,*** firing a wide swath of sensationalistic technique

that tears the old classical filmmaking style to bits.

[Gamer (2009) Neveldine/Taylor]

Directors who work in this mode ***aren�t interested in spatial clarity.*** It

doesn�t matter where you are, and it barely matters if you know what�s happening
onscreen. The new action films are fast, florid, volatile audiovisual war zones.

Black Hawk Down (2001) Ridley Scott]

Even attentive spectators may have ***trouble finding their bearings*** in a film
like this. Trying to orient yourself in the work of chaos cinema is like trying to
find your way out of a maze, only to discover that your map has been replaced by a
reproduction of a Jackson Pollock painting, except the only art here is the ***art
of confusion.***

[Bad Boys 2 (2003) Michael Bay]

Consider Michael Bay�s Bad Boys 2, an explosive mixture of out-of-control editing,

intrusive snatch-and-grab shots and a hyperactive camera. Bay�s cacophony stifles
the viewer�s ability to ***really process the film�s CGI-assisted skirmishes.***
The action is cool to look at, but it�s hard to discern in detail, and there�s
***no elegance*** to it. The shots are often wobbly. Sometimes this is due to the
use of deliberately shaky handheld cameras. Other times, the filmmakers have made
relatively stable shots seem much wilder and blurrier in post-production through
the use of AfterEffects software. (This is not film grammar, it is film dyslexia.)

[This is some sick shit. Yeah, it's about to get sicker.]

[Oh, they're not about to do that. Oh yes, they are.]

Considering all the deliberate insanity occurring onscreen, these movies should be
totally unintelligible. Yet we still have a faint sense of what�s going on.

Why? Because of the soundtrack.

]The Bourne Supremacy (2004) Paul Greengrass]

Chaos films may not offer concrete visual information, but they insist that we hear
what is happening onscreen. Ironically, as the visuals in action films have become
***sloppier, shallower and blurrier,*** ***the sound design has become more
creative, dense and exact.*** This is what happens when you lose your eyesight:
your other senses try to compensate.

[Quantum of Solace (2008) Marc Forster]

Consider how relentless machine-gun fire, roaring engines and bursting metal
dominate the opening of Marc Forster�s James Bond entry, Quantum of Solace. The
scene�s dense sound effects track fills in the gaps left by its vague and
hyperactive visuals.

But the image-sound relationship is still off-kilter. What we hear is definitely a

car chase�period. But what we see is a �car chase.�

French auteur Robert Bresson rightfully stressed the importance of sound in the
formation of atmospheric depth in movies. He even argued for its primacy, saying
that in some ways sound might be even more important than picture. But in lavishly
funded action films that wish to create an immersive experience, ***sound and image
should be complementary, and they should be communicative.*** In Quantum of Solace
and in other works of chaos cinema � image and sound ultimately do not enter into a
dialogue, they just try to out-shout each other.

[Ronin (1998) John Frankenheimer]

In contrast to Bay�s and Forster�s haphazard execution of action, consider the

meticulously staged and photographed car chase in Ronin. In contemporary action
cinema, such a sequence is, unfortunately, hard to find.

PART 2

[Heath Ledger: You see, I'm a guy of simple tastes. I enjoy dynamite. Gunpowder.
And gasoline! And you know the thing the have in common? They're cheap.]

[Green Zone: We cannot just hand over to an exile no one's ever heard of and a
bunch of interns from Washington! You're a Middle East expert, Marty. You've got a
better idea? Why don't you just throw it out on the table. ... We need to use the
Iraqi army to help us.]

[Green Zone (2010) Paul Greengrass]

Chaos cinema technique is not limited to action sequences. We see it used in

dialogue sequences as well. We hear important plot information being communicated,
but the camerawork and cutting ***deny us other pleasures*** ...

[UNstoppable (2010) Tony Scott]

such as seeing a subtle change in facial expression or a revealing bit of body

language.

[Moulin ROuge (2001) Baz Luhrmann]

This deficiency is especially discernible in the musical film, a genre that

ordinarily relies heavily on clear-cut choreography and expressive gestures. But
the woozy camera and A.D.D. editing pattern of contemporary releases clearly
***destroy any sense of spatial integrity.***

[Glee S02E05: The Rocky Horror Glee Show. Adam Shankman]

No matter how closely we look, ***the onscreen space remains a chaotic mess.***

[Chicago (2002) Rob Marshall]

For comparison, consider a scene from the classic Singin� in the Rain.
[Singing in the Rain (1952)]

Long, uninterrupted takes allow us to ***see the extraordinary performances of the

actors***. No false manipulation necessary.

[The Hurt Locker (2009) Kathryn Bigelow]

To be fair, the techniques of chaos cinema can be used intelligently and with a
sense of purpose. Case in point: Kathryn Bigelow�s The Hurt Locker. The film uses
chaotic style pointedly and sparingly, ***to suggest the hyper-intensity of the
characters� combat experience*** and the professional warrior�s live-wire awareness
of the lethal world that surrounds him***. Bigelow immerses viewers in the
protagonists� perspectives, yet equally grants them a detached point of view. The
film achieves a perfect harmony of story, action and viewer involvement.***

But such exceptions do not disprove the rule.

[Domino (2005) Tony Scott]

Most chaos cinema is indeed ***lazy, inexact and largely devoid of beauty or
judgment***. It�s an aesthetic configuration that ***refuses to engage viewers
mentally and emotionally,*** instead aspiring to overwhelm, to overpower, to
hypnotize viewers and plunge them into a ***passive state.*** ***The film does not
seduce you into suspending disbelief. It bludgeons you until you give up.***

[Domino: Mayday! Mayday! This is My Bravo. We're going down. Repeat. I'm going
down.]

[Cloverfield (2008) Matt Reeves]

Some film buffs have already grown tired of chaos cinema � especially the so-called
�shaky cam,� which has been ridiculed even by South Park.

[South Park S02E11 Pandemic 2: The Startling. Trey Parker]

[28 Weeks Later (2007) Juan Carlos Fresnadillo]

Despite stirrings of viewer discontent, however, chaos is still the default

filmmaking mode for certain kinds of entertainment, and ***it�s an easy way for
Hollywood movies to denote hysteria, panic and disorder.***

[The Great Train Robbery (1903)]

Ultimately, chaos cinema marks a return to ***the medium�s primitive origins,***

highlighting film�s potential for ***novelty and sheer spectacle*** � the allure of
such formative early works as The Great Train Robbery. You can trace the roots of
chaos cinema to several possible factors: the influence of music video aesthetics,
the commercial success of TV, increasingly short viewer attention spans, the
limitless possibilities of CGI, and a growing belief in more rather than less.

[The Simpsons. S11E01. Beyond Blunderdome. Steven Dean Moore]

[Homer: It was fine in the 1930s. The country was doing great back then. Everyone
was into talking. But now, in whatever year this is, the audience wants action and
seats with beverage holders but mainly action.]

[L'arrive d'un train en gare de La Ciotat (1895)]

The burning question for those who look closer, though, is when cinema will
recapture its early visceral appeal: the train arriving into the station at La
Ciotat: powerful in its ostensible cinematic simplicity. Truly a symbolic relic.

[Unstoppable (2010) Tony Scott]

But in the end, Chaos cinema hijacks the Lumi�re brothers� iconic train, fills it
with dynamite, sets the entire vehicle on fire and blows it up while crashing it
through the screen and into the rumbling movie theater � then replays it over and
over. And audiences are front and center, nailed to their seats, ***sensing the
action but not truly experiencing it.*** All is chaos.

[from Unstoppable soundtrack: "HOly shit!"]