WHOA, I KNOW KUNG FU.

Something is missing from today's movies. Remember back in the day when heroes would gain useful knowledge, skills, and abilities with a rockin' soundtrack playing in the background? That's right, it's the training montage. The training montage is essential if the hero hopes to have any chance to conquer the villain and his evil henchmen. 30 minutes before the hero begins his kick ass beat down, he enters an empty warehouse, turns on some White Snake, then trains for a full 3 minutes and 45 seconds. During these precious moments, the hero gains the powers, both mental and physical, to get the job done. Dolph Lungren had a training montage in Showdown in Little Tokyo. Sylvester Stallone had them in Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, and Rocky Balboa. Jean Claude Van Damme learned to turn his splits into a deadly weapon while filming his montage for Kickboxer. Even Daniel Laruso had one when he was learning from the great Mr. Miyagi, building custodian and general rocker of the fake Japanese accent (yes, it was fake).

In movies now, I don't see the montage being utilized anymore, at least not in the way it was back when guys were kicking butt shirtless, oiled up, and with the inability to live according to the laws of being shot at by gun fire. Keanu Reeves rocked the montage in The Matrix, but that montage consisted of him being strapped to the dungeon master's iron maiden and having thoughts of kicking butt put into his head as he grimaced and squirmed like he was trying to fart without letting anyone notice.

The montage needs to make a come back. Not only does it serve as a prologue to ass kicking, but it genuinely gets the audience pumped up. It let's them know that everything up to that point was just guys messing around but past this point, the shit gets real. I highly encourage montaging in real life, too. Just play "Eye of the Tiger" of "You're the Best" and let the confidence just overcome you. You'll feel pretty amazing afterwards.