Number 1 Rule of Block-Buster Action Thrillers
Writing the block-buster movie usually means writing an action thriller. And the formula there is pretty set, and it really works.
Start with a truly monstrous VILLAIN, and not with the hero. Period. Without a villain-on-steroids, there is no catastrophe at hand that our hero needs to conquer.
That’s why the original DIE HARD (1988) was such a success. Not only because Bruce Willis played the HERO like a dream, but also because the villain HANS GRUBER (Alan Rickman) was a world-class psychopath with Einstein’s IQ. The chilling scene where Gruber meets McClane face to face and pretends he is one of the hostages is one of those classic moments that I’ll remember as long as I live.
This is the same reason DIE HARD 2 (1990) did not work that well in my judgment because its villain, COL. STUART (William Sadler) was a half-developed psycho.
That opening scene where we see Col. Stuart practice his kung-fu moves stark naked in a hotel room while watching the news on TV, is just perfect! We know we are faced with a force of nature that McClane will have one heck of a time subduing. We fasten our seatbelts. We are ready for the ride.
But later on, Col. Stuart devolves into just another mean spirited terrorist mastermind. He turns into a cartoon of himself and the soda pop fizzles out.
I’ll maintain that it is much harder to create an ORIGINAL VILLAIN than an original hero and that’s the key to most block-buster box office hits.
Consider Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991).
Lecter keeps us guessing and scaring us down to the depth of our souls until the very last second of the movie.
We know we’ll never outsmart or outrun this monster and that’s what it makes the efforts of the FBI Agent Clarice Starling so fascinating. She is trying to achieve the impossible by setting her wits and heart against those of Lecter. Without Lecter’s cosmological evil, Starling’s character arc would not be as powerful.
Remember the “horse’s head” scene in GODFATHER? Without that kind of stark cruelty setting the background, would we feel as fascinated with this family saga?
As in the case of the top-rated HBO show the SOPRANOS, we are both attracted towards the characters in GODFATHER while feeling guilty for doing so, mostly because we are aware of the monumental cruelty and violence that this family is capable of.
Our own conflicted feelings are at the heart of the “dramatic conflict” and without a good villain our emotional experience would not be as substantial. And emotional experience is what sells tickets and buys that Malibu home for the writer who can create a monstrous villain out of the depth of her basically clean soul.
That’s the HARDEST aspect of writing a block-buster action thriller. There is a clear need to create an evil-incarnate maniac yet we writers on the whole are the good guys. We basically mean well towards all creation and most of the time hanker after sublime aesthetic experiences.
This is a problem that most inexperienced writer think they’ll circumvent by writing a GOOD HERO. Think again.
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Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a Creative Copywriter, Editor, an experienced and award-winning Technical Communicator specializing in fundraising packages, direct sales copy, web content, press releases and hi-tech documentation.
He has worked as a Technical Writer for Fortune 100 companies for the last 7 years.
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