Conventions: Action Thriller

We made a list of the conventions present in action thriller films such as The Recruit (2003) and Taken (2008). One of the conventions present in the action thriller genre is gore, this is quite un-conventional other Thriller genres such as psychological thriller and political thriller were gore is not seen at all or is kept to a minimum. One of the character conventions of action thrillers is that they both contain Antagonists who is usually the villain or the hostile force towards the protagonist) and the Protagonist, who is the leading character in the narrative, who has to fight against the antagonist. An example of a protagonist and antagonist is The Batman and the Joker in The Dark Night (2008). Another character convention seen in action thrillers is that the leading character is never fully understood by the other characters or the audience (The audience will often understand the character's motives by the end of the film). While other thriller films are located in one area, action thrillers are often shot in multiple countries such as the USA and Countries across Europe. The Bourne trilogy is an example of films that were shot in multiple countries across Europe and America, locations include, New York, Paris, London and Moscow.

The Batman and Joker.
The Protagonist & Antagonist

Example of a film shot in multiple countries
and locations