Atomic Blonde

"...For all its many structural problems, Atomic Blonde does succeed in its extraordinary fight sequences for the same reason that Iron Man succeeds: because the writer knows that guns are no fun.

If Iron Man is going to work, you’ve got to get him out of the all-powerful suit. And if Atomic Blonde is going to work, you’ve got to get the guns out of the hands of both the good guys and the bad guys. Because the guns are just too darn easy to use-- too darn easy to kill with-- if they’re used properly.

Exciting action sequences don’t come from having the all-powerful weapon-- but from having the challenging weapon; having the knife, having the high heel, having the hand to hand combat, having the object that isn't meant to be fought with.

So if you want to write a great action sequence you’ve got to make the most of every location and every object inside that location.

Look at the location of your scene and ask yourself; what are all the objects that are available to you? What are all the objects that have never before been used in a fight sequence? And how can you use those objects in the wrong way? How can you surprise the expectations of the characters?

How can you force the character to show who they are, to show their own ingenuity, to show their own badass-ness?

You almost need to think of each of these challenging locations like a video game set--where each location comes with its own unique challenges, own unique pitfalls, many, many exciting ways to die-- and where everything is either an aid or an obstacle to the character getting what they want. Where every object gets used in the wrong way in order to create the most exciting action sequences possible..."

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