In order for us to care, use your action scenes to challenge your hero’s fatal flaw.

The fatal flaw is the cornerstone of character depth, so you definitely want to include one if possible!

pretend you’re a third party standing near your characters while they talk. Is what they’re saying interesting enough that you’d want to keep eavesdropping?

give your dark protagonist some personality. Rocky makes jokes to Adrian. He talks to his turtles. He gives advice to a wayward girl on the way home. He plays with a racketball wherever he goes. Your movie may cover heavy subject matter, but it doesn’t mean your main character has to be a bore.

if there’s any scene in an action movie where your characters are sitting down and talking, there’s probably something wrong with your script.

Look for dialogue scenes that conflict with your characters’ surroundings

make sure all of the relationships in your hero’s life are interesting and unresolved!

There’s something about splitting backstory up that makes it feel more realistic.

One of the easiest ways to improve your scenes is to ask the question, “How can I make things worse for my characters?”