Top 7- Best Fight Scenes in Movies
After last weeks little rant on people assuming that violence in the media makes people violent, I wanted to celebrate by looking at some of the coolest and most exciting ways people have inflicted violence on each other. Of course, this is all fiction and being a functioning member of society, I can enjoy them for the sill little things that they are, even if they're well executed silliness. And they are very well executed. Warning: there are spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.
7. Fight Club- The Narrator VS Angel Face
Fight Club was always going to be on a list of best fights in movies and so here it is. The fight I've chosen is the one between The Narrator and Angel Face, of which there isn't a video of on YouTube. At this point, The Narrator has had a lot of anger building up inside him and this is all released on poor Angel Face. We don't actually see much of the fight. Instead, what makes this fight so powerful is what we don't see and what we hear. The soundtrack to this scene is the wet slapping of fist on face and Ed Norton telling us how he stopped feeling his hands halfway through. The flashes we do see of Angel face's face are shocking and make this scene one of many great scenes from this film.
6. Kingsman- Church scene
So, a very recent entry to this list. I loved Kingsman and I don't really want to ruin this scene. If you haven't seen this film, maybe skip ahead. This scene is best as a surprise. So, let me set the scene. Colin Firth has been asked to investigate a church full of radical Christians. What he doesn't realize is that this is the test site for Valentine's new sim cards that have a habit of making people ever so slightly homicidal. What this leads to is a fight scene that starts with a sense of wonder and ends with one person left standing. It's a glorious scene that I believe will go down in history.
5. Hot Fuzz- The siege of Sandford
Edgar Wright is considered to be one of the most original directors around at the moment and I consider this to be his crowning work. While it wasn't easy to narrow it down to one scene from this film, I've settled on basically the last half hour. It becomes a pastiche of the action films it mocked for the previous two thirds and is all the better for it. We have gunfights, fist fights, car chases. People shoot off bullets as often as they do their one liners. It's silly but it's also a really good example of how to do an action scene. Hell, it's a good example of how to do an action film.
4. The Matrix- Lobby gun fight
Imagine a world where you can imagine as many guns as you can and then shoot up a lobby full of guards, all in slow motion while wearing leather. Film fans call this world the Matrix and that dream is as beautiful as it sounds. What's most incredible is how well this scene has aged. I saw it two years ago: fantastic scene. I watched it again for this: still a fantastic scene. This scene will prove to you that Keanu Reeves is a badass and that leather is still cool. Well, leather is still cool if you're in the middle of a slo-mo fight scene.
3. Django Unchained- Candyland massacre
I can't say enough about how great Quentin Tarantino is at making fight scenes. His earlier films were more about the dialogue and intelligence but as he's ascended film director ranks, his budgets have increased. What this has meant is that his newer films have become full of exciting and tense action scenes that are dripping in blood. Perfect example, this scene from Django Unchained. I've mentioned before my love for this scene and it only makes sense that it appears on here. It's one of Tarantino's best scenes and one of the best action scenes ever
2. Kill Bill Vol 1- Crazy 88
So, remember when I said that the Candyland scene in Django was one of Tarantino's best? Well, this is that one that's better. You can argue the merits of the Kill Bill films but this scene is one of the highlights of Tarantino's whole career. It's so cool, well executed and incredibly gory. In fact, it's so gory that it had to go into black and white halfway through to avoid censoring. Like I said, the level of gore is monumental and it's a very cool looking scene. It drips style. Also blood. Actually, it spurts blood. Like, hardcore spurts of blood.
1. The Raid 2- The fights against the assassins
So, I've been a western pig for most of this list and totally ignored all martial arts films from Asia. Well, I want to apologise by celebrating this film. The Raid 2 may well be one of the greatest action films ever made. It's full of scenes that many films would beg for as their final scene. I could put pretty much the whole film here because there is not a single bad one. From the prison fights, to the street beat-downs, to the mind blowing car chase (seriously, this gif shows you how they achieved just a few seconds of that scene and it's amazing http://i.imgur.com/5O8D9ik.gif), it's all great. In the end though, I had to choose the climactic fights in the hallway and the kitchen. These two scenes are both equally mind blowing and brutal. You know what, I'm saying nothing else about this film. You have to see it. It's on Netflix, no excuses. Go watch some people get hit in the face, chest and knob hard. And a lot.
7. Fight Club- The Narrator VS Angel Face
Fight Club was always going to be on a list of best fights in movies and so here it is. The fight I've chosen is the one between The Narrator and Angel Face, of which there isn't a video of on YouTube. At this point, The Narrator has had a lot of anger building up inside him and this is all released on poor Angel Face. We don't actually see much of the fight. Instead, what makes this fight so powerful is what we don't see and what we hear. The soundtrack to this scene is the wet slapping of fist on face and Ed Norton telling us how he stopped feeling his hands halfway through. The flashes we do see of Angel face's face are shocking and make this scene one of many great scenes from this film.
6. Kingsman- Church scene
So, a very recent entry to this list. I loved Kingsman and I don't really want to ruin this scene. If you haven't seen this film, maybe skip ahead. This scene is best as a surprise. So, let me set the scene. Colin Firth has been asked to investigate a church full of radical Christians. What he doesn't realize is that this is the test site for Valentine's new sim cards that have a habit of making people ever so slightly homicidal. What this leads to is a fight scene that starts with a sense of wonder and ends with one person left standing. It's a glorious scene that I believe will go down in history.
5. Hot Fuzz- The siege of Sandford
Edgar Wright is considered to be one of the most original directors around at the moment and I consider this to be his crowning work. While it wasn't easy to narrow it down to one scene from this film, I've settled on basically the last half hour. It becomes a pastiche of the action films it mocked for the previous two thirds and is all the better for it. We have gunfights, fist fights, car chases. People shoot off bullets as often as they do their one liners. It's silly but it's also a really good example of how to do an action scene. Hell, it's a good example of how to do an action film.
4. The Matrix- Lobby gun fight
Imagine a world where you can imagine as many guns as you can and then shoot up a lobby full of guards, all in slow motion while wearing leather. Film fans call this world the Matrix and that dream is as beautiful as it sounds. What's most incredible is how well this scene has aged. I saw it two years ago: fantastic scene. I watched it again for this: still a fantastic scene. This scene will prove to you that Keanu Reeves is a badass and that leather is still cool. Well, leather is still cool if you're in the middle of a slo-mo fight scene.
3. Django Unchained- Candyland massacre
I can't say enough about how great Quentin Tarantino is at making fight scenes. His earlier films were more about the dialogue and intelligence but as he's ascended film director ranks, his budgets have increased. What this has meant is that his newer films have become full of exciting and tense action scenes that are dripping in blood. Perfect example, this scene from Django Unchained. I've mentioned before my love for this scene and it only makes sense that it appears on here. It's one of Tarantino's best scenes and one of the best action scenes ever
2. Kill Bill Vol 1- Crazy 88
So, remember when I said that the Candyland scene in Django was one of Tarantino's best? Well, this is that one that's better. You can argue the merits of the Kill Bill films but this scene is one of the highlights of Tarantino's whole career. It's so cool, well executed and incredibly gory. In fact, it's so gory that it had to go into black and white halfway through to avoid censoring. Like I said, the level of gore is monumental and it's a very cool looking scene. It drips style. Also blood. Actually, it spurts blood. Like, hardcore spurts of blood.
1. The Raid 2- The fights against the assassins
So, I've been a western pig for most of this list and totally ignored all martial arts films from Asia. Well, I want to apologise by celebrating this film. The Raid 2 may well be one of the greatest action films ever made. It's full of scenes that many films would beg for as their final scene. I could put pretty much the whole film here because there is not a single bad one. From the prison fights, to the street beat-downs, to the mind blowing car chase (seriously, this gif shows you how they achieved just a few seconds of that scene and it's amazing http://i.imgur.com/5O8D9ik.gif), it's all great. In the end though, I had to choose the climactic fights in the hallway and the kitchen. These two scenes are both equally mind blowing and brutal. You know what, I'm saying nothing else about this film. You have to see it. It's on Netflix, no excuses. Go watch some people get hit in the face, chest and knob hard. And a lot.
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