Indecipherable Movie Fight Scenes

Hey all, strangers and friends (thanks for the invite, Chris). I look forward to discussing movies and sports and life. For my rookie post I have decided to discuss the Bourne Supremacy, a movie I saw last night, and a greater issue regarding film that the movie brought to my attention.

Indecipherable Movie Fight Scenes are killing movie fight scenes. And this is what I mean: About a third of the way through The Bourne Supremacy, the title character encounters another of his kind (trained assassin killers, machine-like operatives of the U.S. Government). If you've seen the first movie then you remember the apartment fight scene where Bourne shoves an ink pen into his opponent's hand. Well this Supremacy scene is the token apartment fight I guess we can expect from any and all future Bourne movies. Only this time, the camera jumps about wildly throughout the fight, often zooming in on a leg or waist or arm of one of the fighters. The lighting is bad, and both characters are wearing all black. It's like a meth-head got a DP gig. There are more cuts in this fight scene than in the rest of the movie combined. No shot lingers for longer than a tenth of a second, and there are almost no shots of the two combatants from a distance. We spend about 5 minutes watching this jumbled, MTV-generation-inspired, mess of a fight, without really ever knowing or seeing what's going on. It's as though the director was trying to keep us from following the action. They may as well have just put up a black title card for five minutes that reads, in white lettering, "Bourne and his enemy engage in fisticuffs." I know Bourne won the fight. And I know they both almost won the fight. And there was some strangling. Other than that, I have no idea who did what to whom. Are they kicking? Was that a punch or a crunch? A stab? Who's who here, because they're both wearing black? Infuriating, I tell you. It all started to become an issue for me with the movie Daredevil, remember that one? He's in the pool hall early in the film and it's so dark that you know he's just doing cool superhero butt-kicking, but you have no way of telling what. Well The Bourne Supremacy continues this disturbing trend. I'd seriously rather have no fight scene than one this confusing. If they're bada**es, like we're told, then let us see what they do,like the first movie. Is it an artistic statement to blur the actual action and only give the appearance of action? If so, that's bad art, bottom line. Maybe he's trying to let us feel how Bourne must have felt or something silly like that, but that's a cop out. I think either Damon couldn't do the stunts or else the director let his 12-year-old kid edit this scene of the movie as a Bring Your Son To Work Day exercise. Does anyone else know what I mean? I mean, I didn't hate the movie, I really liked it--one of the coolest car chases since Ronin--but this scene pulled me right out. I want to find the director, put sunglasses on him, put him in a giant hamster ball, and roll him down a mountain and say, "See, a**hole, this is what it felt like to watch that scene!" Maybe I'm alone, but it's a disturbing trend. Someone somewhere in Hollywood thinks the audience doesn't actually like seeing each punch and kick and bite, but we do! We really do! Especailly when the main character is either a superhero or a robotic assassin. We want to see their cool moves from far enough out that we don't have to guess what he does. So, Mr. Fight Scene Director, avoid the following before filming and/or editing your next fight: sugar, caffeine, MTV, crack, palsy, alcohol, 'roids, rage, speed (AKA uppers), and the advice of blind children. It'll make us all a little happier.