Battle Formations in Film

As you all know, I got to see Infinity War on Imax screenings, and was thoroughly beaten up and left for dead by that ending.  It left me shaken and wound up, my adrenaline pumping. The Battle of Wakanda at the end at first looked as though they would finally be employing some clever and intelligent battle formations and we'd get something akin to the Battle on Helm's Deep or even The Battle of Gondor in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

And then the Zerg Rush comes in. AKA, "Rush towards and meet up at the Center of the battlefield" cliché. That one battle formation that looks rather spectacular when opposing forces rush towards each other before inevitably ramming right into each other in the center for an epic clash. And yet the main players are the ones leading the charge and get out relatively unscathed. Maybe one or two casualties among them (usually the villain(s)).

Now, there are moments in which the Zerg Rush can be effective. Either attempting to overwhelm the opposing army with overwhelming numbers in order to win quickly, or as in the case of Infinity War, trying to contain an opposing force in a choke point so they do not quickly spread. So while I'll give props that Infinity War at least acknowledged that they would need to switch to a Zerg Rush in order to keep their adversaries away from Vision, they still inevitably fell into this cliché. Especially since the vast majority of formation battles in the modern era is suicidal--specifically because of a specific invention known as a gun! Specifically machine guns! Which the Iron Man suits and Iron Patriot all possess, btw. And that's before you take into consideration the fact that there are a couple magic users like Scarlett Witch or Thor among their ranks.

So while I cannot fault Infinity War entirely for shortcutting a climatic action set piece with yet another Zerg Rush so much as found an excuse--dah, I mean reason--for it, it reminds me in just how many films in my lifetime rely on the Zerg Rush no matter what.

No defeat in detail. Very few fake retreats. And if anything, we might expect an ambush or two.  But as far as the big battle goes, it's always a Zerg Rush.  And keep in mind that in medieval times, Archers and spike/spearmen were all far more common and were generally kept in the front ranks. Zerg Rushes are extremely vulnerable to being picked off, and the front lines are all but certainly going to die.

So I beg the question--why can't we have more invention in our climatic setpieces? Why must we all have Zerg Rushes from both sides? It renders the outcome of each final battle as largely arbitrary since there's literally no strategy to it. In real life, Zerg Rushes were used to overwhelm the opposition with greater numbers, or to overwhelm a choke point like a bridge or a canal. The only time such a formation would be used by both sides is if one of the sides is desperate and have nowhere else to go.

In other words, to win or lose quickly--and in the latter case, to go down in a blaze of glory. We would not see it if both sides are relatively even in numbers--and we'd especially wouldn't see it with the leaders of said armies in the front lines unless they know they're going to get wiped out and they're merely motivating their troops to do the same thing.

Why can't we have some trickery? Some deception? Some clever battle tactics? Sure, we enjoy our spectacle. But the whole point behind battle formations is to try to outsmart your adversaries, or to catch them off guard. If one force is overwhelmingly powerful, I would like the good guys to find some way to outsmart them. Employ some dirty tactics! Lie to them. Plant false information. Incorporate spy tactics. Mind games.

It feels much more rewarding when the good guys can use the prowess of their own minds and their ingenuity to defeat their opponents. And use their environment to their advantage.

So, here's a forum to discuss battle formations in film, and how we would like to see in order to freshen up some of the epic scale battles in film. We can also potentially use this to discuss battle formations in real life or in literature. Video games? Well, that's a completely different beast altogether and is largely irrelevant. Heck, many video games based on WWII or modern warfare have the "hide behind shelter and regenerate" tactics for crying out loud.