Source: Marvel Studios: Blu-ray, 2018.
Year: 2018
Director: Ryan Coogler
Action Stars:
Genre: Superhero film
Country: United States
Story Duration: 02:02:02
Act Duration:
1st Act: 00:32:34
2nd Act: 00:34:34
3rd Act: 00:30:29
4th Act: 00:24:25
Plot Turns:
1st: T’Challa’s regains powers
2nd: T’Challa discovers the truth
3rd: T’Challa’s awakens from a coma
ASD Ratio: 32%
AAD Ratios:
1st Act: 36%
2nd Act: 36%
3rd Act: 11%
4th Act: 56%
Action Structure: 3124
Action Scenarios:
Capture
Escape
Fall
Fight
Heist
Rescue
Pursuit
Speed
Total Action Moments: 18
Notable Action Sequence: Casino Battle and Pursuit
Duration: 00:06:55
Act: 2nd
Action Scenarios:
Capture
Fight
Pursuit
Description: The second-longest action sequence of the film commences in a casino in Busan, South Korea, in which T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Okoye (Danai Gurira) seek to capture Ulysses Klaue, a black-market arms dealer, who is due to meet up with Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman) a CIA operative. The fight sequence contains an embedded long take that is one minute and four seconds in duration that connects Nakia, [Figure 1], Okoye [Figure 2], and T’ Challa [Figure 3], in different spaces in the casino. The long take has been noted as a trademark associated with Ryan Coogler’s cinematic style (Sharf, 2018), but it is a recurrent feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films and also appears in The Avengers (2012) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) as a device that eschews cross-cutting and underscores team unity. The fight sequence then seamlessly segues into an automotive chase sequence [Figure 4], underscoring how the capture action form is a component of the pursuit scenario.
References: Sharf, Zack. 2018. “Ryan Coogler’s One-Take Action Scenes Are Becoming His Stunning Technical Trademark“, IndieWire. 19th February.