Enough with the Shaky Camera Work

It's time for a rant.  Today's target for my ire is movies and TV shows with intentionally shaky camera work.  At best, it is annoying and at worst it makes a movie unwatchable (think the Bourne Supremacy and the Bourne Ultimatum)

I take my movie watching seriously.  I want to be immersed in the film and have little patience for interruptions and distractions.  Much like in a movie theater, a BIG screen and powerful surround sound system play a key role in achieving this effect in my home theater.  The downside of a big screen is a movie with excessive camera shake (and I'll lump fast cuts in with this) ends up being physically uncomfortable to watch.  

I've seen some excuses from directors for this technique.  Some say it is to create a sense of speed and action.  Or chaos.  Some say it is to make a scene more realistic.  If that's what they are going for, they are failing badly.  Very few shaky cam scenes have ever achieved this effect for me.  The only one I can think of that was tolerable and produced that effect was the beach landing in Saving Private Ryan.  Real life action doesn't look shaky to me.  I don't see it in half second scenes that then jump to a different angle.  

I believe most bad implementations of this technique are used to cover up poor choreography, unrealistic stunts, and otherwise boring action.  Instead of going to the trouble of choreographing a real car chase scene done at high speeds, a director can cobble together a bunch of shaky, half second clips that no one can focus on and nobody will be able to tell the cars are only going 10 mph and aren't really doing anything exciting or dangerous.  They might as well just use all CGI instead and end up with a better end result.

This fad has been going on for too long.  It should've run its course already.  I don't know why it has such staying power.  I occasionally see someone rave about the shaky camera work in the second two Bourne movies.  What is wrong with these people?!  They must have been watching it on a tiny screen where the effect is more tolerable.  I keep bringing up the Bourne movies because they are a sore spot for me.  I liked the books. I loved the first movie, The Bourne Identity.  I am upset that I can't enjoy the second and third ones due to the camera work.  It ruined what would otherwise have been great movies.  Inexcusable.