If there is one film to thank for expanding the Best Picture category, it’s The Dark Knight. Praise for the film was nearly universal, from technical wizardry to tremendous performances. Yet, with only five slots, the Academy voters of the time chose more standard fare. For the 2009 Oscars, the race for Best Picture was between the literary adaptation The Reader, the expansive short story adaptation The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the historical sparring match Frost/Nixon, the empowering biopic Milk, and the romantic drama Slumdog Millionaire.
While there is diversity in the filmmaking style and subject matter, these films all firmly fall within the broad “drama” category. They’re all made to evoke the human struggle in some way or expose a universal truth. Even though it had the trappings of a superhero film, The Dark Knight also tackled some larger themes of our society at the time. It posed questions about the surveillance state and how to combat an enemy who has no compunction toward endangering civilians as a means to their end. The film is a philosophical conundrum about what lengths the “good guys” should go to in order to maintain order in the world. Above all, though, it’s an action movie, which has historically been undervalued by the Academy, especially in the Best Picture field.
The Best Picture category has recognized action films throughout its history, but typically, the action is within the guise of a war drama. You’re allowed to have tough guys with one-liners as long as they’re spouting those one-liners at Nazis. It wasn’t until Best Picture’s expansion in 2010 that many genre films were listed amongst the nominees. However, gaining recognition for pure action films is still extremely rare. Most of the action films nominated are also sci-fi or fantasy, with those elements overtaking the action trappings.
Since the expansion of Best Picture, three action-oriented films have been nominated for the top prize. First, Captain Phillips (2013) follows a container ship captain (played by Tom Hanks) who keeps calm during a hostage situation with pirates. Although you could argue it’s more of a dramatic thriller than an action film. Next is Ford v. Ferrari (2019), which is about the Ford Motor Company designing a car to beat Ferrari at the 1966 race at Le Mans. Despite the car racing sequences, it’s more of a weeper made for your dad than an out-and-out action flick. Lastly, Top Gun: Maverick (2022), in which a reckless, brilliant, over-the-hill pilot trains a new generation in air combat techniques. Director Joseph Kosinski has said he doesn’t consider his sequel an action film but rather a drama with action scenes.
The stage is ripe for an unapologetic action film to amass Oscar glory. Whether it’s a punch, shoot, and kick revenge saga (John Wick), an everyman burdened with being the only one to stop an extraordinary plot (Die Hard), or a sexy spy affair, this glass ceiling the Academy has imposed must be broken with bullets, bats or bodies.
The strongest contender to break this barrier is Monkey Man. It’s an action film released earlier this year to waves of acclaim from critics and moviegoers alike. Monkey Man is a tremendous combination of elements that the Academy seeks out. It’s also got an Oscars pedigree with Dev Patel making his directorial debut, a Best Supporting Actor nominee for Lion (2016), and producer Jordan Peele who has a clutch of nominations and a win from his directorial debut, Get Out (2017).
Monkey Man is about an underdog hero avenging the death of his mother and the people of his village. It’s a timely film steeped in Indian mythology and politics, even if the players look slightly different from their real-life counterparts. It’s got juicy supporting performances from Vipin Sharma as an unlikely mentor and a devilishly evil turn from Makrand Deshpande as the cruel power behind the throne. It also has awards-worthy technical elements. The costuming, makeup and hairstyling, editing, cinematography, sound, and production design are all fabulous. There’s a great script paired with Dev Patel’s superb and grueling lead performance. Monkey Man deserves to be listed amongst the nine other Best Picture nominees and should break the barriers that have held back many of the best action films of the last century.
As we are officially halfway through the movie year 2024, it’s a good time to debut a feature that will appear in my future Chasing the Gold columns. This will be a curated list of possible nominees amongst the films that have been theatrically released. It’s fun to speculate on what may be coming later in the year, but I’ll focus only on what has had its widest possible release at the time of publication. The list will evolve as the year progresses and we get closer to show time. At this stage, my list contains the 10 strongest contenders for Best Picture. The list will grow and change as more Oscar hopefuls are released. be split into three categories.
The first category will be called “Safe Bet.” These films are the most likely to carry through the season and into the list of Oscar nominees. The next category will be called “Strong Potential.” These films have something going for them but may not have enough momentum to last the season. The final category will be called “Hopeful.” These are films that I want to highlight as worthy contenders that are likely to be ignored.
Safe Bet
- Challengers
- Dune: Part Two
- Civil War
Strong Potential
- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
- Babes
- Monkey Man
- Hit Man
Hopeful
- I Saw the TV Glow
- Love Lies Bleeding
- The Fall Guy
