Hollywood loves to play follow the leader. All it takes is one creator with a solid idea earning unexpected and overwhelming success to see countless copycats hit the big screen. In other words, if someone cracks the next great film in this once-great genre, the rest of the world will happily grab the rope and swing after them.
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The modern action blockbuster scene is overwhelmingly dominated by two titans of the industry; the Marvel Cinematic Universe and John Wick. From the former, we got the world’s obsession with continuity-driven crossover projects and massively interconnected franchises. From the latter, we got fast-paced balletic gunplay, martial arts, and efficient world-building. Not a single one of these concepts was new when these two media empires hit the big screen for the first time. They were just popularized by their biggest proponents, leading countless others to take inspiration and attempt to recapture their success. It seems like every big action movie is either a superhero movie or a John Wick knock-off with a different celebrity in Keanu Reeves’ spot. It’s time for a new standard to enter the conversation and shake things up. The perfect contestant for that role is a subgenre that’s actually pretty old.
The old-school swashbuckler is a broad category containing everything from pirate movies to the many iterations of Robin Hood. Its main markers are swordplay, simple good guy versus bad guy stories, and dashing heroes to lead the way. The term comes from 16th-century literature, which combined the term “swash” which referred to gesturing ostentatiously with a drawn sword, and “buckler,” a small shield. It originated as an insult, insinuating that the recipient was all mouth and no sword skills. Subsequently, fencing was the primary method of combat in these films. Heroes and villains would clash with long blades with a healthy amount of acrobatic footwork and light-hearted banter thrown in for kicks. Action choreographers of the era turned the simple literary concept into the biggest fad in 20th-century cinema. Those elements, combined with the near-century in filmmaking experience since then, could lead the swashbuckler to be the next big thing.
Believe it or not, the swashbuckler combines some of the most beloved elements of modern action fads. Like Marvel movies, the heroes of most swashbucklers are broad lovable archetypes. Robert Downey Jr. would’ve been a fantastic dashing hero if he hadn’t found his way into the metal suit. Once the world was introduced to a few blades, their favorites could lead long franchises with unique adventures and massive supporting casts. So many superheroes already borrow elements from old swashbuckling fiction, most notably Batman’s love affair with Zorro. Swashbucklers are just as cocky and engaging as superheroes while being more relatably human.
On the other hand, one of the things that people love most about the John Wick franchise is its approach to fight scenes. Keanu Reeves is lauded for his skill in on-screen martial arts and realistic gunplay. Though he and his stunt team didn’t invent the “gun-fu” techniques he’s known for, they did make them more famous than they’d ever been. Guns have a complicated place in modern cinema. Enough filmgoers feel a distant unpleasantness while watching gun-centric media that big franchises may want to start moving away from them. The swashbuckler is the perfect alternative. All the visually impressive skills without any of the negative implications. Action films with limited CGI are at a premium in today’s market. Imagine a world in which kids see the latest action movie and leave the theater inspired to take up the blade.
The lone representative of the swashbuckler genre within the last fifteen years was the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Unfortunately, it seems as if that ship has sailed. The franchise seemed to drag pirate movies back into the mainstream in a single fell swoop, but few seemed to follow in its footsteps. After the release of the fifth movie, the series is a shell of its former self, and its return seems to become less likely by the moment. It’s time for a new swashbuckler to take up the mantle.
Maybe Zorro can finally rejoin us after years of silence. Maybe one of the up-and-coming stars has a secret longing to don a feathered cap and cross swords. However it happens, the return of the dashing hero, the dastardly villain, and their duels to the death can’t come fast enough.
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