SBU

Why do we love to watch Shit Blowing Up?

I know I do!

Where did that come from? If you think about it, it seems decidedly counter-survival to be drawn to big, loud, fiery blasts. I mean, for millions of years of evolutions, that pretty much meant lightning strikes, forest fires, and erupting volcanoes. How could we possibly have evolved to run toward those things? Ooh – meet Mr. Lava! And … it’s out of the gene pool for you.

But many if not most humans really love seeing shit blow up. Admit it. The first known use for gunpowder wasn’t killing people. It was fireworks.

The problem comes when filmmakers mistake Big Explosions – and special effects in general – for story. Why bother with a plot, or characters people care about, when you can strap some dynamite to some cans of gasoline and produce enormous orange blasts?

And then the movie critics get to sneer at action movies as mindless series of explosions. Because that’s what lazy “action” moviemakers do.

Good action entertainment requires context. Something has to be at stake. Which means: people we care about, with something to lose.

Otherwise, why not skip the extraneous stuff and just go to a fireworks show? Or just search for “explosions” on YouTube?

Entirely by coincidence, check out the usually reliable James Berardinelli’s review of 2012.

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