The following essay is one I wrote for college project. Its a comparative essay on filmmaking in movies:
Action movies have been popular for decade and are one of Americas most loved movies genres. While most action film have similar storylines, styles and actors, when one looks closely many differences can become evident. A perfect example of two different action films is Shooter and Traitor.
In Shooter, Bob Lee Swagger is one of the world’s great marksmen. He left the military after having been abandoned while on a secret Ethiopian mission three years before. After hearing that the president of the U.S. might be assassinated in one of three cities in the next two weeks, he volunteers to help look for clues as to who the shooter is and how to stop him. While he is helping out, he is shot and framed as the killer. Wounded and being hunted by his own country he swore to protect, Bob Lee begins to uncover the corrupt individuals who are hunting him. Upon failing to bring them to justice by law, Swagger hunts and slaughters them and thus gets his revenge.
Traitor is a film in which Samir Horn, a devout American Muslim, has been showing up on the FBI’s radar for being in the vicinity of terrorist bombings. FBI agent Roy Clayton begins to investigate the links between Samir and the bombings. The FBI is able to question Horn after he is arrested in Yemen for attempting to sell explosives to an Islamic terrorist group. The terrorists break out of prison and take Samir with them. The FBI begins to link Samir to a bombing of an American consulate. In the end, after Samir stops fifty buses from being bombed, the FBI finally finds out that Samir has actually been undercover working to find and stop a master terrorist plan to attack Americans.
Great cinematography plays an important role in creating a quality film. Great cinematography is the way a film is shot that compliments dialogue, acting and ultimately the story. While the cinematography in Shooter looked nice, it failed to enhance the story. This can be seen in the scene where Swagger is talking with the widow of his fellow marine that died while they fought together in Africa. The quick camera cuts only distract the viewer, and the speed of the scene takes away from the dialogue. Another example of the poor cinematography was the lack of close up shots evident in multiple scenes throughout the movie. The camera shots never gave enough time to savor the emotions or traits of the characters in the movie. The result is a rush feeling that is only complementary to action, but was used in all parts of the film where other techniques would have been more appropriate.
Unlike Shooter, the movie Traitor uses great cinematography to enhance the story. One example of great cinematography in Traitor is the camera always being at ground level. The only time the camera is used with a helicopter was when the scene changed from one country to another. This allowed for more eye level contact allowing the viewer to become more engaged in the story. Another example of Traitor’s great cinematography can be observed in the camera movement itself. The film was shot entirely handheld. This creates a very organic feel bringing the viewing experience as close to reality as possible.
Cinematography is an important aspect in telling stories, but even more crucial is the quality of acting portrayed in the film. Without the assistance of great acting, any above average story can fall to the wayside. Great acting is accurately expressed emotions and depth of the character in the story line. Often action movies suffer from a lack of great acting due to the focus on the action. The acting in Shooter fully portrays this lack of quality acting.
The major fault with the acting in Shooter is the lack of depth in the characters. This can be seen in the main character, Bob Lee Swagger, played by Mark Wahlberg. Seemingly deep on paper, Swagger is portrayed in a very shallow light on the screen. Throughout the film Swagger has a monotone voice and attitude. An example of this can be observed in a scene where Swagger has an encounter with the senator running corrupt operations that is trying to have Swagger killed. The senator tries to ask Swagger to work for him. Seemingly angry with this evil man Swagger replies, “What exactly does working with you entail senator? Huh? Raping and murdering innocent woman and children you sick ****!” Reading this line one would think Swagger to be sounding infuriated, but in the scene Swagger uses the same tone and facial expression as he does earlier in the film when he is talking to his dog. This lack of expression or emotion takes a toll on the quality of the film. The viewer is left without a clear understanding of what it is he or she should be feeling, and becomes disservice to the film.
Unlike the acting in Shooter, Traitor contains several aspects of great acting. Again, looking at the protagonist, one can see a stark contrast from Shooter. Samir Horn, played by Don Cheadle, is an incredibly complicated character. As a double agent in Traitor, Samir is appointed to be one man to his terrorist associates and another to his inside man in Washington, while still staying true to himself and his Muslim faith. Don Cheadle masters this complicated character while not letting the viewer on to make any premature conclusions about him at the same time. An example of this incredible acting is in a scene where Samir has just returned from bombing an American consulate. Upon his arrival the terrorists he has been working with congratulate him on his success. They tune to the news to see that eight people were killed in the bombing. The camera cuts to Samir and, in what is only an instant, you see a look of incredible pain and sorrow in his eye before he quickly recovers before the terrorists see. In that split second the viewer felt the numerous emotions the character was feeling. It was portrayed just enough to get the story across, but was not overly exaggerated.
Another example of the great acting in Traitor is in a later scene where Samir has been getting closer with one of the terrorists named Omar. In one of their conversations, Omar states, “War is the lesser jihad. To overcome temptation and live rightly, that is the great Jihad.” To this Samir responds, “And is that what we have been doing? Do you ever ask yourself that?” In that instant the way Samir asks the question, how he uses his eyes and voice to show his concern and sorrow for Omar’s radical faith takes the viewer deeper into his character’s struggle. Both of these examples show that with just the use of the actor’s eyes the viewer can get a glimpse of his inner struggle to hide his beliefs so that he can protect his identity, while at the same time feel remorse for the misguided men he is working against. The acting in Traitor is a stark difference from that of Shooter, and clearly portrays great acting.
The most important aspect behind the greatness of a film is in neither cinematography nor acting, but the story itself. This is where Shooter really falls short. Like its acting, Shooter’s story is quite shallow and unfulfilling. This is evident in the last segment of the film where Swagger tries and fails to bring about justice against the evil men who have been hunting him. So rather than continue on the legal route, or trying to fix the problem, Swagger slaughters all the individuals involved in the corrupt operations and the film ends there leaving the viewer without a satisfactory conclusion along with gaping holes in the story. What happens now? What will keep this from happening again? None of these questions are answered. Like many other action films Shooter allows action to trump story; the result is nothing more than a lot of numbing action, gore and adrenaline.
On the other hand Traitor has a very involved storyline. While Shooter and Traitor share the same genre of action, there is a sharp difference between the two. Shooter focused only the ideas of hate and revenge, while Traitor dealt with faith, values, betrayal, and selflessness, to name a few. Throughout the story Samir is faced with the question, how far should one go to stop evil? An example of Traitor’s great story can been observed in the scene were his cover agent in the U.S. is trying to convince him to keep working with the terrorists and by doing so get closer to stopping their plan. Samir confronts him by asking, “How far are you willing to take this? We have blood on our hands, we’ve killed innocent people.” To this his cover agent exclaims. “Hey remember who you answer to!” Samir replies with, “I answer to God, we all do.” This gives the viewer a glimpse into Samir’s struggle with right and wrong. A truly great story is a message that causes the viewer to think or act. The goal of a great story is to point to something greater than itself. Unlike Shooter, Traitor did just that.
