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Movie Fight Scenes
During the 80's and 90's I tried to watch a lot of action movies. It was pretty much a ritual in my house to rent a couple of movies over the weekend. Obviously I would always go for the action or martial arts genre, despite how good or bad the movie was I've always appreciated a good fight scene. It didn't matter if it was well choreographed, brutal, or just plain crazy.
I use to watch a lot of the B martial arts movie a lot in the 80's and 90's. I can't remember how many movies I've watched that had guys like Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Cynthia Rothrock, Gary Daniels, Billy Blanks, Mark Dacascos and guys like that. I feel a little ashamed that despite all the martial arts movies I've watched I've only ever seen a few Bruce Lee movies. I just want to make a thread as a dedication to some of your favorite fight scenes from all the movies you've ever watched. Here are some of my favorites. I'll be completely honest I've probably missed watching some quality fight scenes. I don't watch as many movies as what I use to, so feel free to show me some awesome movie fight scenes. I'll pick 5 of my personal favorites. Best of the Best (Tommy Lee Vs. Dae Han Park)
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Michelle Yeoh Vs. Ziyi Zhang)
The Protector (Temple Fight Scene)
Gorgeous (Warehouse Fight Scene)
Fearless (Fight Scene)
So guys, I know I'm probably neglecting quite a few fight scenes, so to those of you that appreciate watching a good fight in film. What are some of the best martial art fights to ever grace the movie screen. |
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Pretty much every fight scene with Gordon Liu in ever. He's criminally overlooked as a martial artist and for my money was much better than Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan ever were. All the old Shaw Brothers films he was in have some decent fight scenes but I guess Shaolin vs Wu-Tang is the best (As well as providing every single sample used in the album Enter the Wu-Tang). In this scene, Gordon's proving he's good enough to face the Wu-Tang clan:
Here he is more recently at the end of Tiger on the Beat, having a fight with chainsaws, it's awesome:
The film also features Chow Yun Fat killing people round a corner using a shotgun on a piece of string which is pretty mental. Another badly overlooked film is The Barefoot Kid (Called Barefooted Kid in the US I think) which is pretty much one, long awesome fight scene. It's got Ti Lung and Aaron Kwok in who are both exceptional martial artists and the final scene in particular is ridiculous. I can't find any long fight scene clips but here's a montage:
If you're talking gun fights, Hong Kong cinema generally pisses on western films there too. Pretty much everyone will have seen Hard Boiled and The Killer but not too many people have seen Better Tomorrow 2, the last scene of which is one of my all time favourite gun fights:
Hollywood does occasionally chuck out a decent gunfight though and few can match the end of Commando when Arnie goes on a murder rampage:
Other great fight scenes are pretyy much all of Ong Bak, Warrior King and Blood & Bone and if you liked Crouching Tiger, House of Flying Daggers and Hero are both much better. |
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The hallway fight from Oldboy has been one of my favorites ever since I saw it for the first time.
Kung Fu Hustle has some really cool fights, too. In fact, the first one in the movie is one of the best ones.
Overrated as Jackie Chan is, he does have some damn good fight scenes. The last fight in Who Am I? is one of the better ones I've seen.
Drunken Master 2 has another good one. It starts out pretty awesome and gets even better when he gets drunk (apparently in a matter of seconds) and freaks the fuck out.
Say what you will about Mortal Kombat, but that shit was awesome when I was a kid. Imo, it's still one of the better video game movies ever made. Even if they did give Scorpion too many lines.
As silly as the Matrix trilogy became in the second and third movies, the first one had a pretty good fight. Here's Neo's first fight with Smith, and the last fight in which he shows even a fraction of humanity. After this he apparently becomes a machine himself and has the same blank face in every other fight.
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You know what I love about action movies? Everyone pretty much likes the same stuff.
I think we can pretty much fill this thread with jackie chan movies but I'll post only one and since Gorgeous and Drunken Master 2 are already out there I'll mention the original Drunken Master. It's a real oldie, the fights are long, and the choreography looks more like a dance but I always liked the style used since it literally shows physical comedy. Not to mention the movie has a training montage that rocky would die for.
I also enjoyed Jet li's movies when I was younger. I think Once upon a time in China had 3 sequels? He had other movies that were similar but either way they some some ridiculous fights that was also pretty cool.
Also Tony Jaa kinda makes the same movies over and over again but theres this scene in the protector which is filmed in one fucking shot which is pretty damn impressive.
Fuck it, another Jackie chan scene. The first fight introducing the Drunken style is actually my favorite in the movie.
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You guys covered most of my favorites. Here's a couple of other memorable ones.
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People who think Jackie Chan is overrated suck cock by choice.
That said, how is it we got this deep into the thread and no one has mentioned this gem?
The whole movie is fucking batshit insane choreography. And also - the greatest movie opening ever - as Sarah Silverman gets what she deserves...
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Not saying he isn't good. It's just unfortunate to me that when the subject of martial arts movies comes up, the first thing most people think of is either Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee. They're both great, and so is Jet Li, but it'd be nice if some other martial artists could get some exposure in the states. Tony Jaa was popular for a bit, but he hasn't been in many movies.
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Unfortunately martial art stars don't get well known to a general public unless their films get a worldwide screening.
A most recent name in fighting movies is Jeeja Yannin. I forget to include this before, but she kicked ass in the movie Chocolate. It's from the same people who made Ong Bak but fortunately its not about saving a statue or an elephant. My friend argued that she's not so great but I feel she's underrated and we definitely need more females kicking ass who actually KNOW how to kick ass. She does her own stunts btw.
Her most recent movie, Raging Phoenix, also has some crazy stuff but the movie itself falls apart especially at the end.
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Jackie Chan isn't overrated, he's just an obvious choice.
Another film the Wu-Tang Clan heavily sampled was Shaolin vs Lama. It's great and everyone should watch it.
I fucking love old Kung Fu films. Sammo Hung was an incredible martial artist before he got fat and started making weak-ass US comedy shows. Jackie Chan's older Shaw Brothers films are all pretty mental and there are a shit load of really good films that have had only a limited Western release. |
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The thing about Jackie Chan is that he's, like, a complete package. He may not be the most impressive martial artist, but he does choreography, directing, and editing, and works with an amazing stunt team to create awesome action.
Anyway, most of my classic picks have been mentioned, but here's another old-school one from Gordon Liu, this time in Invincible Pole Fighter (aka Eight Diagram Pole Fighter). The best fight scenes always have a little bit of psychology or something going on outside of the fighting itself.
This one isn't that crazy, really, but I saw Grosse Point Blank when I was pretty young and it's stuck with me ever since. The tone shift is ice cold.
I haven't even seen this Zorro movie, but I found this on youtube one day and thought it was great. Skip to 2:00 for the action.
For something recent, here's one from Undisputed III: Redemption, which just came out a few months ago. Undisputed 2 and 3 put most Hollywood fights to shame with long takes, clear angles, believable hits, and no wirework. Scott Adkins is like the English Tony Jaa.
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Ip man is the fucking gold standard of fucking AWESOME.
Also? This one - awesome 80s synclaiver music, badass martial arts, bad clothing and stupid couch fighting action...
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Most everything good has been posted or referenced but this thread reminded me of a movie I saw on HBO, well based on the year of release probably about 14 years ago. Superfights. By all rights a horrible movie but I remember the fight choreography standing out to me at the time as being pretty damn impressive for an American no budget film.
Ignore the music overlay, it was the only version I could find on youtube not split up into two parts. Always been a big fan of that Drunken Master 2 style kicking.
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