Action Basics 3

Fast Five (Justin Lin, 2011)

The simple ability to create visual tension between antagonists is, by and large, a dying art these days (see: Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises). We are supposed to infer, through dialogue and plot, that they are nemeses, but their relationship is devoid of tension, simply because they don't exist in the same physical space. Even when sharing a shot, they aren't actually defined and affected by each others' presence, because it doesn't flow from anything, it's just another haphazard fragment lacking the cohesion of editing and space. 

The above is an exception, something truly basic, but in the formally limp wheelhouse of big budget contemporary action cinema, it floors with its elegant simplicity. Justin Lin, up to this point, understood only the motion of cars with his camera. This is the first time people truly felt ingrained in his formal approach. What's even better, and what makes this brief moment so strong, is its relation to establishing the tension and intensity between Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson's characters (pungently homoerotic). 

The real star shot of the piece is, of course, when the camera, following Diesel's jump, captures Johnson crashing through the window. It is, much like in the sequence from Isaac Florentine's Ninja previously written on, a strong example of complimentary motion. It would be nothing without proper punctuation, which Lin provides with a neatly timed long shot that allows for clear detailing of Diesel and Johnson's proximity to each other. The concluding medium shot glares give us explicitly the personal undercurrent of the relationship.

Sadly, their actual showdown later in the film does not cary the same charge. However, Lin appears to be improving film-by-film in this franchise, each more punchy and exciting than the last, and if the trailer for Fast & Furious 6 is any indication, he's beginning to nail down kinetics outside of cars.