I wanted to dedicate one more blog post to action writing, especially because action is such a defining trait of my debut novel, EYE IN THE BLUE BOX, which will be available for purchase starting this Saturday, 8/30/2025! (Boy, I feel so nervous and excited just saying it. Around a decade of work is about to be put on full public display at last!)
In my last post, I gave overarching instructions on where you must place yourself mentally in order to write a visceral experience. Now, let’s go into more of the nitty-gritty details.
One of the most crucial building blocks that will determine whether an action sequence will stand or wobble is efficiency. Each action, each movement or attack, even the type of weapon chosen or the direction in which the blood will spray, every single detail must, at the bare minimum, serve a clear purpose and contain some kind of smaller story that will add to the overall story. Action should never be movement only, no matter how fast-paced or explosive. Action is not the same as spectacle. Action must be a purposeful story. And great action will always ask itself, “How can I use every detail not only to establish the plot/characters/world but also build upon and refine what’s already been established?”
The film, Logan, is a masterclass in using action to tell and enhance a story. As I emphasized in my last post, you cannot expect to write a good action sequence if you simply report what you’re seeing in your head as if you were watching a movie. You should not confuse the medium of writing with the medium of film. However, there are many storytelling techniques you can still learn from film and use in your writing. After all, a good story is a good story, no matter the medium, and if you find a film that’s telling a good story, you should dissect it and pluck out all the strategies you can. Let’s use the opening scene from Logan as an example. (Spoiler alert!)
The very beginning of the opening scene is simple and stark, using only darkness and muffled sounds, yet it effectively tells a story and sets the tone that will persist for the rest of the movie. The darkness and muffled noises make us feel like we are Logan, experiencing his drunken and exhausted stupor, unwilling or, perhaps, unable to wake up and confront whatever danger that’s now encircling him. Ultimately, the jolting of the car forces him awake, and he drops the first word in the movie: the F-bomb. Such a strong curse immediately tips off the audience that this is not a Saturday morning, family-friendly X-Men cartoon. You are being introduced to a rated-R, gritty, no filter X-Men movie.
The superb physical acting of Hugh Jackman is immediately on display as Logan gets out of the car on buckling ankles. Clearly, he’s physically incapacitated, which Wolverine fans will immediately wonder about given his healing abilities. Indeed, his health turns out to be a major plot device for the movie.
He limps over to the thugs trying to steal parts off his car. However, instead of attacking the people whom he’s caught in the act, he tries to talk to them. He even warns them that their attempts are a waste of their time because the parts are chrome. In response, he’s shot mid-sentence, cursed at, and spat upon.
The camera pans in on Logan as he’s lying on the ground. His infamous healing abilities kick in to save him from his bullet wounds, causing him to cough and curse instead of die. But he doesn’t jump to his feet with a snarl, completely whole as we’d expect the Wolverine to be. He remains on the ground, still bleeding. It’s at this moment, when he’s half-alive but unable to die, beaten, bloodied, and exhausted, that we see the title of the movie, Logan.
This moment perfectly encapsulates the mental and physical state Logan’s life has run him into and the parts of himself, again both mental and physical, that he’ll need to fight for the rest of our time with him. This is the Logan that the movie, Logan, is about, the Logan who tried his best to be nice but was unjustly met with anger, violence, and ostracization. And the rest of the action sequence shows Logan’s response, how he dealt with and survived such harsh realities, and who he, as a result, has become.
He forces himself to get back up but, again, doesn’t immediately attack. He shows patience by verbally warning the thugs once again. He also tries to intimidate them with his signature claws. There’s a pause, though, as he notices that one of his claws won’t fully push out, signaling once more that there’s something seriously wrong with his body. The malfunctioning of his claws also heightens the danger of the situation, in which Logan is clearly exhausted and outnumbered, and therefore builds the tension that every good action sequence needs. The malfunction also distracts him, preventing him from making the first move in that crucial split second needed to take the upper hand of a fight. Indeed, the thugs surround him within his brief pause and launch a savage attack.
This is where the more squeamish members of the audience will probably start curling back in their seats because the thugs’ attack really is quite brutal. They use everything from a glass bottle to a gun to try and take down Logan, who takes quite a few hits. But even during the initial moments of this attack, Logan only swipes at his enemies, making them back away. He also tosses a man aside instead of stabbing him. Again, he demonstrates that he really doesn’t want to hurt anyone and is willing to endanger himself rather than resort to fatal violence as his answer. He’s not innately someone who wants to rage and fight and kill.
The first time he pierces a man with his claws isn’t because he’s angry or even because he’s trying to defend himself. It’s to prevent the man from breaking a window on his limo. When another gun is pulled out, Logan doesn’t attack the man but instead, worries about the car again and dives in front of the vehicle to save it. The audience can now clearly tell that this car is of supreme importance to Logan, and we later learn why: he’s trying to support Professor X, himself, and Caliban through what he earns as a limo driver. He’s caring and loyal toward his friends.
It’s only after his precious limo is shot up, he, himself, has been shot multiple times, all his calls for peace have been ignored, and he’s been knocked to the ground and is getting kicked and cursed at from all sides yet again but this time, with a shotgun pressed against his back, it’s only then that the other part of Logan, the fierce, ruthless, and wrathful Wolverine, finally emerges.
The level of graphic violence shoots through the roof but not just for spectacle. The violence matches his rage, which is no longer held in check by his want for peace. After roaring with a rage that literally makes him shake, he leaps to his feet, too enraged now to be exhausted, and slices off the arm that was holding the shotgun against his back. And not a moment too soon. The sliced arm instinctively pulls the trigger, firing the bullet that would have otherwise gone into Logan’s heart had he acted just a second later. Logan’s rage is his fuel. It incinerates any exhaustion that was preventing him from fighting and surviving. But it also kills his humanity.
This becomes clear as soon as Logan sees that the bullets meant for him has ended up in his car instead. Swearing vehemently, he takes out his frustration and anger on the thug by slicing him apart savagely. He shoves his claws into more of the thugs, not caring about how ruthless he is (he literally pushes his claws up through a man’s chin and into his brain even after he’s already cut open his throat) then goes on to pump his blades in and out of man multiple times, almost like he’s pummeling a punching bag in anger, before slashing the man’s face and stabbing his claws clean through another man’s forehead. All the unnecessary attacks that were made not for the purpose of defense but for vengeance is a physical manifestation of how Logan has lost himself to his anger and spite.
Logan’s savagery does the trick, though. He not only successfully defends himself but frightens the gang so badly that they flee. In his anger, he throws one of the crowbars they had used to beat him to break the windshield of their car as they run away, almost as if to avenge his bullet-ridden limo. Lights of a nearby ad wash him in red as he glares at the fleeing gangsters, symbolizing the wrath that overcame him and the blood on his hands.
This action sequence, my friends, is a symbolic work of art that not only tells the story of Logan within in that single scene but also represents who he’s become over the course of his entire life. His whole life, he’s wanted to get along and have some peace and quiet. He doesn’t want to hurt people, never mind murder them. But the world hunted and cursed him for being a mutant, for being different. And each time he was wronged or cornered, he turned to anger as a tool to survive both out of necessity and choice. But just like the adamantium that helped him win every fight over the years but is now slowly and surely poisoning him from the inside, his anger has worn away at him and is killing who he really is.
The end of the movie is so beautiful precisely because of action sequences like the opening scene. In the end, Logan chooses to save his daughter and her friends, ensuring that hope will live on with them even if his days are done. His sacrifice ensures their safety and a future in which they “won’t have to fight anymore.” He breaks the curse of his vengeful, uncontrolled anger, and instead, he uses every ounce of strength he has left to protect the ones he loves. His anger, aggression, and desperation in those moments aren’t born from hatred or vengefulness or even a desire to preserve himself. He chases and kills because he’s hunting down evil men who want to harm the innocent. There’s no overdoing it or out-of-control attacks like in the opening sequence. There’s nothing that’s focused on himself. His actions show that he’s fighting only for those whom he loves. His last words carry his love for Laura too and the hope that she won’t have to become what he became: “Don’t be what they made you.”
It’s entertainment. It’s metaphor. It’s genius.
Now, let us go back to how we should write action. When you are about to write an action sequence, you must, as discussed in the previous blog post, place yourself in the shoes of that character and live his or her actions yourself in order to create a visceral experience rather than simply showing a sequence of events you see with your mind’s eye. But I hope the analysis of Logan’s opening scene shows how important the blow-by-blow content of the experience you are creating is too.
No matter how visceral you manage to make an action sequence, it will remain merely spectacle if there is no real substance beneath all the movement and chaos. How do you want your characters to grow or decline? What kind of message are you trying to send with your plot? What kind of world have you built and why? You must continue to refine your answers to all these questions and use your action sequences to show your readers those answers.
Is your character losing himself to anger and becoming a villain? Then make his attacks uncontrolled and more graphic. Do you want the audience to pity a villain? Then make his attackers unleash inhumane and cruel attacks while forcing the villain into a state of utter helplessness. Do you want to have a character grow from a coward to a hero? Have his attacks be feeble and useless in initial fights then show his attacks growing stronger and more effective over time. Have him show mercy to his enemies when he, at last, earns the strength to overcome them.
You are a storyteller, and you must remember that action sequences are simply another opportunity to tell a story in a different way. Be efficient and creative, and you will surely make your action speak volumes.
And that's it for action (for now, at least)! The next time you see more of what I consider to be worthy action will be, hopefully, when you open the pages of EYE IN THE BLUE BOX, which, again, releases this Saturday!!
