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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Favorite Movie Fight Scenes

J

Joel Kaye

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What are your favorite movie fights and why? (or are horrible and why? Gymkata comes to mind)

What makes a great fight sequence?

Here's something Ruairi Robinson wrote in another thread.
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5665&page=12

Ruairi Robinson said:
Hmm... a few notes on action scenes, if you'll permit me...

1) goals and obstacles. We have to be clear at all times about what each character is trying to achieve in the fight. (if it's just to beat up the other guy, then there is zero emotional connection for the audience - they aren't characters, they are props) This works on multiple scales from the top down "rescue the president and escape the city" to the macro level "get the gun off bad guy"

2) anticipation and follow through are just as important as the blows themselves...

3) space relationships and geography need to be clearly established. Long lens shakeycam means you can cut anything to anything else, and you don't have to worry about continuity, but it also means nobody knows what the fuck is going on because nobody knows how anything relates in space. Since you haven't shot it this way, this means the geography is ultra important.

4) words like edgy, slick, visceral impact, "working the edit" are all meaningless buzzwords. Coverage is irrevant in shooting action - PLANNING is everything. Coverage is when you have no idea what you want, and you dump footage on an editors lap in the hope they can pull a story out somehow. Hence the widespread use of long lens shakeycam in fights these days. Beats planning!

Anyway, that's off the top of my head... best of luck with your film!

R.
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Red#862
Click to expand...
 
first matrix, hands down.

give me a sec and I'll try to think of something "dirtier"...
 
My favorite sword fight scenes is easily '300' because they actually showed me the fights. They were fantastically planned and executed. 'Gladiator' pissed me off with the shaky-cam couldnt-tell-which-way-was-up style of shooting. '300' showed you every ounce of what was happening, it was beautiful.
 
Oh, and as much as I hate the new Star Wars trilogy, the fight between Darth Maul, Qui Gon Jinn and Obi Wan in The Phantom Menace is really bad ass. I can still watch that.

I remember watching the BTS and the choreographer described what he did as "a Chess game played a hundred miles an hour where every move is check"
 
Kill Bill v2, travel trailer fight scene, love it.
 
Well I really liked the fight scene in The Wizard of Oz when Dorthy was trying to take back Totto, it really touched me hahahaha. But seriously, I like the fight scenes in StarWars, lightsabers are just cool and when you can move things with your mind, you got my vote.
 
OK, what about RAGING BULL.

EQUILIBRIUM has some impressive, dare I say innovative fight scenes. I liked the way they mixed gunplay into the fist fights, or vice versa. The rest of the film was not that great, so it got hammered by the critics.
 
Kill Bill vol 1, Uma vs. the crazy 88
The Matrix, Neo vs. Smith at the train station
Star Wars ESB, Vader vs. Luke in cloud city
 
Friends of mine (different guys/groups) choreographed Bourne, 300, Equilibrium and Undisputed 2. Brings a smile to my face when I see people appreciate their work.

Loved all these... Bourne Identity, Kill Bill V2, Drunken Master 2, Big Trouble in Little China, Shaolin vs. Lama, Great Hero from China, Old Boy, quite a few more.

It's gotta serve the story, most important. Fun thread btw.
 
There was this great Jet Li fight scene in "Legend of Fong Sai Yuk" that took place on this scaffolding that then collapsed, and continued on top of the heads of the crowd watching the fight (whoever hit the ground first, lost).

There's a pretty wild rooftop foot chase, not really a fight, at the climax of "Peking Opera Blues" that was fun, with one of the best villian death scenes.

The recent naked knife fight in "Eastern Promises" was memorable.
 
There's an amazing little dirty, gritty fight in the tv show "The Shield" featuring Shane vs. Tavon.
I believe that was in the fourth season.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1luhj_shane

And funnily enough here's a commentary addressing the points that Ruairi talked about.
 
Ong Bak

Stylized, yes. But real people performing, no computers. Haven't seen Tom Yam Gung though.
 
OMG I was just working my way through this thread to see if anyone would throw out oldboy.

OLDBOY -- the movie that did it first, sorry 300 and all those who will bite in the future.

-- Dean


Sidenote: Not the best "fight scene" exactly, but the whole end showdown between Harmonica and Fonda in once upon a time in the west. Other fight scenes worth checking out that many may not have seen: The samuari stuff in "Sanjuro" (especially the very end) The opening scene in "Fudoh", oh, and lets not forget the classic 'The Quiet Man" with John Wayne! Shonen Anime has more fight scenes than you can shake a stick at...
 
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