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Sunday Matinee - August 11th, 2013

Greetings.

Today is all about the brawl for all. When you have to settle someone's hash. When the King of England comes into your house and starts pushing you around;

Best fight scene.

I have 3 that juggle around the number 1 spot. The multi-floor, one-take fight scene from Tony Jaa's The Protector. It's incredible for a fight scene, and even more amazing due to the fact the entire thing was done in one take. No breaks. No cuts. It took them 7 tries to get it right. Great stuff. Another is the final fight from Drunken Master II. Ebert said it may not be possible to film a better fight scene. It needs to be seen to be believed. And the final one is the showdown between Braden & Cho from Revenge of the Ninja, arguably the greatest ninja film of all time. It's a hell of a fight, and easily the greatest ninja go-at-it in history. Even more so than the golf-hating ninja taking on multiple cops in Ninja III. I loved Revenge of the Ninja as a kid and probably saw it 70+ times. Usually things from your childhood don't carry over, but Revenge of the Ninja, and the final fight scene, have only gotten better.

How say you?

Comments

  1. They Live. Piper and Keith David beating the shit out of each other just so Piper could put sunglasses on him. The Booker T/Edge shampoo feud wouldn't look so silly in hindsight if they'd have had the intensity of that fight scene.

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  2. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 11, 2013 at 11:46 AM

    The last fifteen minutes of Drunken Master II/Legend of Drunken Master. I think that is the pinnacle of Jackie Chan.

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  3. The resteraunt scene in The Protector is awesome, and the only good thing about the movie.

    Jackie Chan's Drunken movies are just an embarassment of amazing fight scenes. The second Ong Bak is also chock full. I really don't think I can pick a favorite. I really liked the mental battle in Hero between Jet Li and Donnie Yen.

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  4. I had 3 I couldn't pick from...

    - two from the Kill Bills: the ending fight scene of the first one, where Uma is fighting off Lucy Lius army in the club, and the opening scene between Uma and Vivica in the second one. Love the interaction between the two women and Vivicas daughter.

    - the fight scene between Denzel and Ethan Hawke at the end if Training Day. It's a simple straightforward scene, but its the climax of the movie...a simple fight between two men who are literally fighting for their lives. Loved how they're surrounded by street guys who let them settle their differences like men.

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  5. Not saying it's the best of all time, but that rotating room fight scene in Inception is pretty dope.

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  6. I assume we are talking a straight "put up your dukes" fight and not a gun battle or meta-human type smack down.


    It is almost easy to forget how mind blowing and badass it was at the time- but when Neo spars with Morpheus in the Matrix I remember being just floored by how cool it was.


    I personally find the final fight in Sherlock Holmes 2 very enjoyable as it is stopped to give the thinking and counter-thinking of each man.


    But for a good old school straight up asskicking fight- Indiana Jones Vs the Really Big Nazi next to the airplane in Raiders of the Lost Ark is just the best... Indy takes such a beating but will not stay down- until it is how he wins- and such a great death for the time.

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  7. That fight is like one of the Family Guys gags where it is great, then it goes on too long and starts to become uncomfortable, then goes all the way over the top back to being great again.

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  8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIzHZdzk4fY



    Not the longest or best, but it shows how good the Long brothers were at Kung fu.


    5 Fighters of Shaolin 1982

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  9. Caliber_Winfield_The_3rdAugust 11, 2013 at 12:53 PM

    You didn't like The Protector? I loved it. There's no martial arts film in history that has as many fights as that film. It's ridiculous. Plus they do great things like Ja fighting the three different styles in the Buddhist temple, or using the pieces of the elephant to disable all those massive guys in the end.

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  10. my bad for the double post but after thinking about it... its still one of the Long brothers.

    But Shaolin vs Lama

    For the classic Wu-tang clan heads theres a couple of lines sprinkled in there as well.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAZVv6e9TTM

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  11. I love the scene in DM2 where Jackie finally busts out the Drunken style. Silly, weird, and fun. But then, every scene in that movie is great.

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  12. The Uma/Vivica fight is at the beginning of the first movie.

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  13. The best is probably either The Protector or the fight at the end of Enter The Dragon, but my personal favorite is The Avengers vs. Chitari. Tons of stuff(Hawkeye and Black Widow arguing over Budapest while killing aliens, Captain America and Iron Man teaming up for the classic shield/repulsor ray combo, Bruce Banner's secret, Tony vs Loki in the penthouse) make this great, but the payoff of Loki running and hiding and escaping by the skin of his teeth for two movies, and finally standing up to Hulk and promptly getting demolished is just greatness.

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  14. They Live was taken, so I'll go with: Patricia Arquette and James Gandolfini in the bathroom in True Romance. Utterly brutal, well acted, and harshly realistic. If ever you could believe that tiny woman could actually manage to fight off and kill that giant dude, its there

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  15. Is it? It's been awhile since I saw them.

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  16. Oldboy. The hallway scene. If you've seen it, then you know.

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  17. The whole Protector movie was bad ass.


    I loved Fist of Legend with Jet Li. The whole movie is awesome, but my favorite fight scene is the blind folded one.


    Another one that came to mind right away was Ip Man. Ip Man vs the dojo was fucking fantastic; the punches looked painful! (On a side note, Donnie Yen vs Sammo Hung in SPL was classic as well!)


    The most recent one I can think of is the 2 brothers vs Mad Dog in The Raid: Redemption! I loved how it showcased a different kind of fighting style.

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  18. The fighting was awesome. But the story, or the way it was edited? Holy shit. The extended cut makes a little more sense, but it just jumps around so damn much. But i do like being able to describe the movie in three sentences.

    *Establishing shot*
    Tony Jaa:
    "Where's my Elephant?!"

    *Fighting*

    Still better than Ong Bak 3, of course.

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  19. Just re-watched the Matrix trilogy, the first ones fight scenes are still incredible.

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  21. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 11, 2013 at 9:17 PM

    Plus, the fucking money shot: The swooping shot of all six heroes standing back to back, ready to kickass. No matter how many times the trailer used it, I still lost my fucking mind seeing that geek dream come true.

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  22. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 11, 2013 at 9:18 PM

    Speaking of Matrix and Holmes, it probably doesn't qualify as a fight sequence so much as a chase, but the forest scene was worth the price of admission alone for me. That had to set some sort of record for a scene going in and out of Bullet Time.

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  23. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 11, 2013 at 9:20 PM

    Yeah, I have to agree with Slaughterama, it's got some great setpieces but the American cut is just a fucking clusterfuck and I lost my interest about 2/3rds through.

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  24. When I ask you who's the Master, you say... Sho'Nuff!

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  25. How has no one mentioned the Bruce Lee vs Chuck Norris fight? Very well done, and the shots Norris takes to his leg at the end are cringe-worthy.

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  26. You stay in the basement next time, mmmkay? I missed your mom's face and got her meth pipe all gooey when you knocked on the door looking for your fleshlight.

    See? Anyone can do it. Now go home and get your fuckin shinebox.

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  27. I also dig the scene from Reloaded in the Merovingian's armory (of sorts) where they're just pulling weapons off the wall as they go.

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  28. For one that hasn't yet been mentioned, the scene in The Bourne Ultimatum that ends up in the bathroom with the straight razor versus the towel. Awesome, claustrophobic stuff.

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  29. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF72A5_XpKg


    /thread

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  30. I'd say that's the last good fight scene of the trilogy.

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