Which thrillers have influenced or inspired your own? - The Transporter

The Transporter has really influenced and inspired my choice for my own 2 minute thriller. It has pretty much everything I would like in my movie, a car driver, action, gun fights etc.



The Transporter - 2002

 

The start of The Transporter also has influenced my idea, the use of slowly moving the camera around the garage creates a useful time to grab the audience’s attention, give away the theme of cars and also run the first credits, the camera’s then focus onto the car, revolving around the outside showing off the shape and curves of the car. Then close ups of various car activities before driving. We hear some classical music playing this is ironic due to the nature of his job yet it gives us a sense that the transporter is actually quite an upper class character.

 

I would like to use the Transporters characters attitude throughout my film. He is a quite relaxed yet cool hit man of sorts and I would like to use that type of attitude possibly for one of my antagonist’s characters. A lot of the other characters also turn out quite weak in this film being chased by him and I would like to use the smaller weaker character being chased in my movie as well.

My personal favourite thrillers - The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is one of my favourite thriller films. It is a War/drama thriller made in 2008. The film is the portrayal of the drama involved in having the most dangerous job in the world, bomb disposal. A new sergeant, takes over a highly trained bomb disposal team. He surprises the rest of the team due to his reckless attitude to fighting. James the sergeant believes he is inevitable but as the city he’s fighting in turns to chaos the real James is released and this changes each member of the team forever.

The Hurt Locker - 2008 - Director: Kathryn Bigelow

 

The movie is 131 minutes long and a certificate 15. The budget for the movie was $15,000,000 and its gross profit turned out to be only $700,000 more. Despite this disappointing return it has received a lot of critical acclaim and praise especially for its raw drama and emotional display by the actors which I particularly admire. Although the film has received some criticism from the military for inaccuracies. Again despite this the movie has won 6 Oscars! 6 Academy Awards, 5 BAFTA’s and another 78 various wins.

 

 

I believe this movie was so popular and successful because it not only touches the hearts of many people with family members fighting in the army who are worried about them but it also presents the raw truth about serving your country, and although the technology has improved since WW2 the misery, danger and emotions definitely have not, and this movie seems to perfectly present this in a way which emotionally affects us. The director Kathryn Bigelow also uses a great technique of camera to create a huge amount of suspense perfectly shown in the scene when James pulls the bombs out of the ground through the wires. The camera gives a bird eye’s view not only to show us how much danger he is in and to create a huge amount of suspense but it creates the feeling of the viewer’s being god watching down on him and letting him live or die.

The famous scene from Hurt Locker.

My personal favourite thrillers - Captain Phillips

My personal favourite thriller movie is Captain Phillips. The movie was made in 2013 and tells the true story of a cargo ship captain (Tom Hanks) who believes he is going on an ordinary trip around Africa passing on the way, Somalia. It goes terribly wrong however when a group of four Somalian pirates are able to board the ship and take control of it. The captain must keep the pirates happy by helping them while also concealing the location of his crew. The pirates look for the crew but they end up taking the leader pirate hostage. They do a swap but the pirates end up taking a lifeboat £30,000 and the Captain with them. They quickly start to sail back to Somalia but the left over crew call the Navy to pursue the pirates. After long negotiations and fighting the leader pirate decides to board the Navy ship. Once done snipers get ready to eliminate the rest of the pirates on the lifeboat they do so and the captain is freed. 

Captain Phillips movie poster - 2013

 

One of the reason’s I like the movie so much is because of the great true story it has behind it, and the way that the director Paul Greengrass is able to portray this to the viewers. He is able to make it seem as if you are part of the “crew” on the boat, especially with the use of the camera to move around the boat. However even though you side with the captain (Tom Hanks) you still relate to the Somalian pirates as at the beginning you see the conditions they live in. Even the acting is completely flawless which is especially amazing since the four Somalian pirates had never even acted before. A great tactic that Greengrass used was to not let the pirates see any of the crew before filming the scene when they meet, this creates real tension in the expressions of the crew. So in my opinion this is the best thriller there is due to the great amount of suspense and tension techniques in the filming which are very similar techniques to Hitchcock that is created out of a true story.

 

Best thrillers of all time? - Number 1 - Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs is a crime thriller made in 1992. The director is Quentin Tarantino who wrote and also stared in the film himself as Mr. Brown. The film tells a story of six criminals who have never met, they are brought together by crime boss, Joe Cabot. They are given fake names so as to not get to close to each other and are then commanded to concentrate on a simple jewellery heist. The heist goes terribly wrong after the police show up exactly at the time of the heist, a shootout follows where police, civilians and one of their own is killed. After the heist paranoia kicks in as the group of criminals believe one of their own is a police informant.

Reservoir Dogs - 1992 - Quentin Tarantino

 

The film lasted for 99 minutes and was rated an 18 due to its violence (Something Tarantino is famously known for see post below). This movie was really the first time Tarantino brought out a blockbuster movie and consequently made him famous for it. The estimated budget for this film was $1,200,000 yet it made nearly $3,000,000 even though it is independent. Tarantino is especially surprised by the fact that this movie featured on the top ten heist movies although you never actually see the heist. The film is considered a great thriller due to its use of high tension and suspense especially in the warehouse where they must figure out who the rat is. The use of certain camera angles also help especially in the scene where

Best thrillers of all time? - Number 2 - Rear Window

Rear Window is also considered one of the best thriller films ever made, it was made in 1954 by Alfred Hitchcock (Also one of the best thriller directors of all time) and is a Mystery thriller. The film is about a professional photographer L.B. Jeffries who beaks his leg after trying to take pictures of an auto race. He is then confined to his apartment where he spends time watching the neighbours through his window. He thinks he has witnessed the neighbour kill his wife and enlists his girlfriend (Grace Kelly) and a visiting nurse to investigate.

Rear Window - 1954 - Alfred Hitchcock

 

The movie is produced by Paramount Pictures and they gave Hitchcock a budget of $1,000,000 to make the 112 minute movie. It resulted in a gross profit of just under $1,560,000. The movie was awarded a number of awards and even nominated for four Oscars. The reason the movie is so popular is that Hitchcock effectively made us sympathise so well with the wheelchair bound man who was clearly innocent and obviously spying at the wrong time. We also feel a lot of tension and suspense wanting to know more since we do not actually see the murder clearly so he could be innocent. Lastly Hitchcock creates a great sense of fear since this could happen to pretty much anybody and we want to see the consequences of this.

One of the rear windows that the movie showed.

Best thrillers of all time? - Number 3 - The Silence of the Lambs

The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 American crime thriller that is directed by Jonathan Demme, it is also considered a very good thriller movie. A young F.B.I agent called Clarice is given the task of locating a missing woman who is in danger of being attacked by a dangerous serial killer who skins his victims. To gain a better insight into this psychopathic criminal she tries to acquire help from an already imprisoned serial killer known as Hannibal Lecter. She believes this man is extremely clever, powerful and helpful in finding this other criminal so she tries to gain his trust, in order for Hannibal to give away the information that she needs.

The Silence of the Lambs - 1991

 

The budget for the movie was $19,000,000 and they obviously used this well because the movie grossed an amazing total of $130,742,922. The reason this movie proved to be so successful is possibly the great portrayal of Hannibal by Anthony Hopkins. Or it might be the story which can really grab our attention due to its realism and realisation that this is possible, and the serial killer could reach us. So we want to see the detective actually find this criminal, bring him to justice and possibly reward Lecter. The unnatural bond that the F.B.I agent has with Lecter also intrigues us resulting in us (the viewers) wanting to see more and what might happen due to Lecter’s shady and dark past, he is clever and could be leading the detective on.

 

Best thriller actors of all time? - Number 1 - Tom Hanks

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born on the 9^th of July 1956 in California, USA. He is possibly the most famous actor of all time, let alone the most famous thriller actor. This is definitely proven by the amount of money all his films have grossed worldwide - $8.5 billion, and by how many awards he has been awarded and nominated for. He has won 2 Oscars, 2 Academy Awards, 4 Golden Globes, 5 Emmy’s and over 50 more various wins.

Tom Hanks in 2012

Hanks childhood was what he called “fractured” after his family divorced and he ended up living in many different places, and with different step-families. Had no previous acting experience until after college, he now has four children from two wives. He has gained a reputation for mostly playing very likeable, regular yet conflicted guys who end up being dragged into extraordinary situations.

The following is a list of just a few thrillers Tom Hanks has been in:

• Captain Phillips (2013) - Hanks, plays a cargo ship captain who is taken hostage by a group of Somali Pirates.
• Angels & Demons (2008) - Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Hanks) works to solve a murder and prevent a terrorist act against the Vatican.
• The Da Vinci Code (2006) - Clues in Da Vinci paintings bring on a mystery adventure for Robert Langdon (Hanks) to find the Holy Grail.
• The Ladykillers (2004) - A charming Southern professor (Hanks) and his crew pretend to be a band in order to rob a casino.
• Road to Perdition (2002) - Bonds of loyalty are put to the test when a hitman's son witnesses what his father does for a living.
• The Man with One Red Shoe (1985) - A man (Hanks) picked randomly out of a crowd is made the target of CIA surveillance and pursuit.
• He knows you’re Alone (1980) - A young bride-to-be is being stalked upon by a serial killer. She gets help from a former lover, but will they manage to escape? Hanks plays Elliot.

The Man with One Red Shoe - 1985