| 1 | ''Blowing Up The Movies'' is a collection of essays by game designer Creator/RobinLaws, examining various action movies from both east and west, and how to apply the tropes therein to tabletop gaming. It was written as part of the ''TabletopGame/FengShui 2'' Website/{{Kickstarter}} and, while it contains some discussion specific to that game, the overall examinations of action movie tropes can often be applied to tabletop gaming in general, and in many cases even to the action genre outside of gaming. Each of the essays focuses primarily on one aspect of the movie, as opposed to a more general overview. |
| 2 | |
| 3 | See also ''Literature/HamletsHitPoints''. |
| 4 | ---- |
| 5 | !Films Examined, and essay themes |
| 6 | |
| 7 | * ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina'': Pastiching the unfamiliar |
| 8 | * ''Film/AChineseGhostStory'' 1 & 2: Love amid the monster fights |
| 9 | * ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon'': Endless sorrow |
| 10 | * ''Film/DetectiveDee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame'': Investigating your next fight |
| 11 | * ''Film/DieHard'': Upping the Hero |
| 12 | * ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'': Power of the One Cool Schtick |
| 13 | * ''Film/HardBoiled'': The Running Battle |
| 14 | * ''Film/Hero2002'': Path of the Unreliable Narrator |
| 15 | * ''Film/HotFuzz'': Setup, Callback, Payoff |
| 16 | * ''Film/KamenRiderTheFirst'' and ''Film/KamenRiderTheNext'': Cyborg Cycle Fu |
| 17 | * ''Film/TheKiller1989'': Hyper-Romanticism |
| 18 | * ''Film/KungFuHustle'': The Cycle of Escalation |
| 19 | * ''Film/TheMatrix'': Take the Exposition Pill |
| 20 | * ''Film/TheMission1999'': Gestures of Comradeship |
| 21 | * ''Film/MrVampire'': Supernatural lore and slapstick fu |
| 22 | * ''Film/OnceUponATimeInChina'': Fury of the Past |
| 23 | * ''Film/TheRaid'': Going Brutal |
| 24 | * ''Film/MadMax2TheRoadWarrior'': Chase Scene Masterclass |
| 25 | * ''Film/RumbleInTheBronx'': Prop Handling |
| 26 | * ''Film/SaviourOfTheSoul'': Crazypants Mixmaster |
| 27 | * ''Film/SevenSamurai'': Power of the Throughline |
| 28 | * ''Film/ShaPoLang'': Death is not the Worst Thing |
| 29 | * ''Film/StarWarsANewHope'': March of the Archetypes |
| 30 | * ''Film/YoungAndDangerous 2'': Gangland Streets |
| 31 | ---- |
| 32 | !''Blowing Up The Movies'' contains examples of the following tropes: |
| 33 | |
| 34 | * ChaseScene: Covered in the ''Mad Max'' essay |
| 35 | * TheChosenOne: The ''Star Wars'' essay focuses on this. |
| 36 | * CycleOfRevenge: The ''Kung Fu Hustle'' essay talks about the common "feuding martial arts schools" trope. |
| 37 | * DieHardOnAnX: Covered in... take a wild guess. |
| 38 | * FridgeLogic (invoked): In the ''Equilibrium'' essay, Laws points out that sending armed mooks against a GunKata expert is doing your enemy a favor, and it would have been interesting to show Preston going up against bare-handed opponents. |
| 39 | * InsistentTerminology: "If, in 1977, when I am 13, you show me a movie called ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'', it's still called ''Star Wars'' now." |
| 40 | * {{MST}}: ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'' was one of the movies that gained inclusion via a poll of Kickstarter backers (the other was ''Film/TheRaid''), but Laws himself doesn't care for it, and the essay contains quite a bit of snark at its expense. |
| 41 | * OlderThanTheyThink (invoked): Laws points out that ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina'' actually predates many of the titles audiences might think it's referencing: |
| 42 | --> Creator/TsuiHark's {{Wuxia}} [[GenreTurningPoint game-changer]] ''Film/ZuWarriorsFromTheMagicMountain'' (1982) exists as a reference at this point, along with such early kung fu ghost comedies as ''Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind'' (1980, Creator/SammoHung) and ''The Dead and the Deadly'' (1982, Wu Ma). But as the film is being written (...) most of the HK supernatural fu classics have yet to be made. No ''Film/MrVampire'' (q.v.), no ''Film/AChineseGhostStory'' (q.v.), no ''Film/{{Swordsman}}'' (1990, credited to King Hu). The western fandom for HK films extant in 1986 revolves around Creator/BruceLee, Creator/ShawBrothers [[ChopSockey Chop Socky]], and real-world martial arts practice. It sure isn't ready for lightning-throwing warriors or ghostly sorcerors. Accordingly, ''Big Trouble'' flops on its theatrical release, joining the roster of [[CultClassic fan favourites that slowly grows its popularity on home video.]] |
| 43 | * RunningGag: One aspect of the "setup and callback" that forms the ''Film/HotFuzz'' essay. |
| 44 | * TrueCompanions: Covered in the ''Film/TheMission1999'' essay |
| 45 | * UnreliableNarrator: Covered in the ''Film/Hero2002'' essay |
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