Weird Strobing Effect in Ridley Scott's Recent Work

[Mike 03]

Ridley Scott, lately, has been using some sort of effect during some of his action sequences--particularly in BODY OF LIES and AMERICAN GANGSTER--and I'm trying to figure out what he is doing.

Maybe somebody here knows what I'm talking about; it's sort of a strobing effect where the crispness of the image sharpens and intensifies but it seems like every other frame is missing or something. The action is accented, visually, and sped up. It's very strange. I wish I could describe it better. But when it happens, the viewer knows something has changed.

I've seen this sort of technique in films before, including some of Hitchcock's works (REAR WINDOW), but it has not been as disconcerting as it is in Scott's work.

I'm curious if anyone else has noticed this and what, if any, term or name this technique has.

Does anyone know how it is achieved? Is it "in camera" or a processed effect?

P.S. EDIT: He uses it in GLADIATOR as well, if I recall, during the scenes involving the tiger. He probably used in in BLACKHAWK DOWN, but I can't pinpoint some specific scene.