Sacrifice

Rummaging my own memories, it seems like all heroes (and even villains) sacrifice. Sacrifice their hopes, their dreams, people, relationships, money, whatever is of value to them. I suspect it's because the act of sacrificing something important carries tremendous emotional weight. Doing so gives the audience reason to care, and that's the point.

The supreme sacrifice of death makes heroes/villains far more dynamic. When they are willing to do so, they step into the realm of absolutes. Of course, if that happens all the time even that becomes boring. Anything done too much does that. But, to see the hero go into a building, knowing there is a bomb inside, then seeing the building explode... well, it causes a lot of tension. Part of it comes from hoping the hero comes back out, but what if they don't? Both tensions are good, and create interest. If the motivations are believable, then the audience is hooked until the tension is resolved.

I'm a sucker for a good sacrificial story. Daylight with Sylvester Stallone is an example that springs to mind. He's a firefighter captain, a New York tunnel collapses (naturally an underwater stretch), and he makes his way inside. His heroics are "manly" of course, but he constantly puts himself in jeapardy to save others. It's a good movie, maybe not great, but very watchable and I highly recommend it.

- M