When they’re done properly, just about nobody is immune to the pleasures of a (cinematic) gunfight. The more-or-less-universal appeal might be explained by the extent to which they’re dependent upon the most basic tenets of film language. While I don’t want to be so bold as to claim “they are cinema” or some such thing, the finest use cinema’s tools in precisely the right way.
So it’s claimed in a new video essay The Art of the Gunfight, which uses clips from numerous films and a handy voiceover to walk through the critical steps of assembling shoot-outs. This is a fine primer, yes, and can double as a good list of action cinema to catch up on — but if you only want more than eight minutes of people killing their enemies in fantastically destructive fashion, it’ll have great replay value.
Have a look below: