Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:heat-large-tm 1505.jpg|link=Heat|frame|A few scenes later, they're shooting at each other with assault rifles. (And a few movies later, they are trying to frame each other. And so on...!)]]

 

What can make a great action film truly great? You might remember some exciting fight, spectacular pyrotechnics or awesome special effects, but they are not enough. Ironically, what really makes the difference is how well the film is at its quietest drama.

 

Compare [[Stage Whisper]], which is when a ''comedy'' film tries to do this, usually without success. [[Super-Trope]] of [[After-Action Patchup]].

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* For all the crap ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny|Gundam SEED Destiny]]'' has leveled at it, there's a rather effective scene of this sort during episode 17 where [[Older and Wiser|Athrun Zala]] talks with Shinn about how those with power needs to know how to use it properly, otherwise they'll just be causing more of the grief that they themselves have suffered already.

* One of the main reasons ''[[Speed Racer (film)|Speed Racer]]'' avoided the acting problems of other films with chroma-keyed backgrounds is that there are a great deal of scenes where the actors are just talking to each other. These are some pretty damn good scenes, only slightly overshadowed because of the action ones.

** The talking scenes in ''Speed Racer'' almost end up being action scenes though because of the bizarre way they overlapped scenes constantly.

* The 2008 ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]'' film had several of these, mostly with Tony and Pepper. One strong example is after she helps him replace his chest piece, nearly killing him in the process:

{{quote|'''Pepper:''' Don't you...ever...ask me do do something like that, ever again.

* Lots of it in ''[[Quantum of Solace]]''. [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] and Mathis, the two at the bar, Camille talking about her past, and Bond getting his eponymous quantum of solace at the end of the movie are all arguably more significant than the action that goes in between them.

* Every ''[[Star Trek]]'' movie has one of these—usually some pondering on the nature of humanity. One example is the conversation between Picard and Shinzon in ''[[Star Trek: Nemesis|Nemesis]]'' before he shows his true colours as an [[Evil Counterpart]]—but which also shows Shinzon's yearning for a different life, represented by the man he was cloned from.

* ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' has the nighttime stairs argument between Po and Shifu. In that moving [[Tear Jerker]] scene, we learn that whatever disdain his heroes have for Po, it is positively kind compared to how much the panda feels he is a fat failure. Thus, Shifu realizes that he must somehow have his new student not only learn martial arts, but also gain some self esteem.

** ''[[Kung Fu Panda 2]]'' has two major such scenes: the nighttime boat scene that shows how close as friends Po and Tigress have become and Po and the Soothsayer {{spoiler|in Po's home village where he remembers his horrific past and comes to terms with it.}}

* The end of ''[[First Blood]]'' where Rambo breaks down at the end and remembers his friends in Vietnam who are now all gone. In Rambo: First Blood Part II, the scene with Rambo and Co on the boat where he tells her he's "expendable". There are several in Rambo IV between Rambo and Sarah, most notably her pointing out "Maybe you're right, maybe we won't change anything. But trying to save a life isn't wasting your life." Unfortunately, many of these were cut.

* ''[[Battle: Los Angeles]]'' has several really well-done scenes, such as the scene in the police station after {{spoiler|the alien air support shoots down the casevac chopper}} and Nantz's speech while the Marines are at the FOB where he lays out how he feels about the deaths of his men on his last deployment.

 

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': Several moments spring to mind, especially those directed personally by [[Joss Whedon]] himself. The most obvious example would be at the end of the episode "Hush", in which Buffy and Riley tell each other "We have to talk.", and it is immediately followed by a long uncomfortable silence. When you remember that earlier in the same episode, the two of them had no problems in expressing their feelings to each other ''or'' fighting side by side, both with their ''voices muted by magic'', the final scene packs quite a punch since they've gotten their voices back, but neither of them can think of anything to say.

*** Whedon admits that the action scene in "The Body" was out of place, but he wanted to provide the audience with some action because he knew that particular arc of stories would be fairly lacking in that department.

* ''[[Deadwood]]'' practically ''lived'' on this trope. Granted, it was a western drama series and not an action show, but still. It was the quiet scenes that were the best in the the series' entire run. Noteworthy examples include the last scene of the season one finale, which ends with the [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] where Doc is dancing with Jewel; Alma's walk to the bank after getting shot at definitely counts as this, and there were several episodes that started off with extremely quiet but memorable scenes, the best of which was arguably in the penultimate episode of season three, "The Catbird Seat", in which there is a ''ten-minute-long'', almost completely quiet sequence that takes place in the dark hours of morning, which captures the eerie silence of that hour with remarkable precision.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' had quite a few of these back in the day. One that comes to mind is in "Tomb of the Cybermen", when the Doctor is discussing grief and how life goes on with Victoria.

** The new series has its share as well, though the format change from multi-part serials to fifty-minute one (occasionally two)-episode stories leaves less room for them. Still, a few episodes that use these very well and spring to mind quickly include "Father's Day", "Waters of Mars", "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood", and "Vincent and the Doctor".

 

 

== Literature ==

* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Chronicles of Chaos]]'', a bunch of people sitting around a table talking both reveals the players and sets the stakes for the series' action.

 

== Theater ==

== Webcomics ==

* After all the butt-kicking in the "Dangerous Days" arc of ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', it ends with one of the more [http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=020803 understated dramatic moments in the series].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Red Fish Blue Fish]]

[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]

[[Category:Scenes]]