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The stunt man who played Bucky in _Winter Soldier_ said the reason Chris Evans is so good at fight scenes is because he's a trained dancer who is used to memorizing complex choreography. So while most actors might be able to remember only half a dozen moves, Evans can remember an entire sequence, and he can learn it quickly.
Something similar happened with Conor McGregor on Roadhouse. He was able to memorize entire choreographies by seeing them once. (Watch the latest Stuntmen react by Corridor Crew)
Ryan Reynolds said the same thing about Huge Jackman in Deadpool & Wolverine; that his back ground in dance made him exceptional at timing and position for fights and stunts.
The director said the same thing about Christian Bale in Equilibrium. He said Bale’s dance background allowed him to run through some really complicated choreography really quick, and it saved their @$$es on a shoot that was running low on time.
It's why Jackie Chan fights are so good. Most of the people in his production company have a background in Chinese theater. People that have worked together a long time, are used to complex timed choreography, and willing to do the same take hundreds of times to pull it off correctly.
Exactly. There are key signs when a director and his or her team doesn't know how to both shoot and edit action. Jackie Chan, btw, literally created THE best series of videos demonstrating how to properly shoot action, set up shots, edit them together (sometimes NON-contiguously), and how actors needed to sell or portray hits.
A fight is a story within the story, it should either progress the plot, show character or hopefully do both. One of the best examples is the subway fight in the Matrix, it gives you so much information about each character and their motivations. Smith becomes increasingly frustrated and angry as he can simply beat Neo and has the pull out more and more tricks to get the upper hand and Neo shows his self belief and his resilience. Willing to stand and fight instead of running. And moves the plot forward of Neo becoming the “one”
Wow! Brilliant example! I was reluctant to use any scenes from the Matrix as its sci-fi/gravity defying - but it's a fantastic example of storytelling fighting.
the “you’re a big fat panda what’re you gonna do? sit on me” and having that one guy i forgot the name of literally eat his words in that slow motion scene of po sitting on him is what all of cinema strives to be
The Zoe Saldana scene.. the classic move of de-powering one character to empower another. I cant talk for the edits etc but none of his fight moves had any follow through, none of his physical actions had any strength. No hits sent in her direction, no hits received. Pure, unbelievable, overpowering
One of my personal favorite fight scenes is the 10 minute one take Atomic Blonde Apartment fight scene, where it's all in one take, showcasing not only how tiresome it is to fight hand to hand (or all fighting really) but how you need to fight dirty in order to win. Since as you mentioned in this video, the characters are fighting to the death trying to kill one another. So while it is cool to see honorable fights, in real life/at some point you'd be so exhausted, injured, angry, and or in a hurry (depending on the context) that you just stop caring about fighting fairly and just want to get it over with as soon as possible. A awful fight scene to me was in Taken 3, specifically the store fight scene where there are cuts every 2 seconds. The whole fight is nothing but jump cuts and close ups in which you can't understand whats happening and can't see the action well. Honestly its throughout the whole movie, and it's also a terrible sequel.
Great spots! Atomic Blonde is a pretty average movie with great moments like the one you mentioned. And Taken 3 is so poorly edited from top to bottom. And the cheesy ending is laughable! Thanks for the comment! Stick around!
Keanu Reeves makes a point of emphasizing that he doesn't do "stunts," and giving full credit to the professionals that get hit by cars in his place. ua-cam.com/video/UYZy228sgBU/v-deo.html
And then@@hez8719i would rather have more cuts and editing then slow sloppy fights or worse something like John Wick 4 Rome and no cuts fire shotgun scene both of which are 90% CGI
Seagal was a huge phony. Then again, on a completely different note, Frank Dux was an even *bigger* sham, and he somehow convinced Lettich & JCVD to base "Bloodsport" around his false claims. 😂 Incredible.
Unclear fights have their purpose. In Batman Begins I believe it helps portray how quickly and unexpectedly Batman strikes. As if the camera sees the fight how the person being attacked experiences it.
Yeah, shaky cam makes fights chaotic. It shows how the person being in the fights perceive it. Just blurs of things coming their way as they scramble to get the right answers. I prefer a proper wide shot with details but shaky cam can work and it kinda fits Jason Bourne etc.
Could not agree more. At this point in the film, we are seeing one of Batman's very first outings against criminals. He has been developing this entire persona and style based on his phobia of bats, and his experience with the league of shadows (essentially ninjas). The idea is 1000% to payoff that effort by portraying this fight from the criminals perspective, wherein they can't figure out what is happening to them, who is attacking them, or where he's coming from. They're shaking in their boots, and we FEEL that due to the direction and editing choices. If it was just "bad shaky cam filmmaking" then I ask why we get plenty of clear, steady shots of the villains, but none of the protagonist? Why do we see the protagonist almost not at all? In The Dark Knight, we DO see Batman well lit and clearly visible much more often, both in action scenes and otherwise, but this serves the story and his relationship with the antagonist. The same tactics that worked on petty criminals and gangsters don't work with The Joker. This is made pretty explicit during the interrogation scene, where Joker laughs at Bats (under bright fluorescent lights, mind you) and informs him that all his strength and intimidation tactics are meaningless. Wouldn't make much sense to continue to portray those tactics for the rest of the movie. It also serves the theme of "escalation," wherein the presence of a masked vigilante is sort of normalized, inspiring copycats (as seen in the opening scene) and of course more extreme villains, like The Joker. Hell, they even redesigned the suit at least partially because they knew they were going to be including a lot more clear visuals of batman in action, and needed more mobility and natural movement to support that.
@@danielshults5243 great post. Batman's weapons are fear and intimidation. He is perceived as more than just a man and like a monster of the night. We all sawt his during his training where he was taught to be invisible (stealth). He basically jumps out of nowhere and they have zero clue what is happening to them as they get demolished. It shows the fear and terror he inflicts. And later this is confirmed with Dr'. Crane's goons who immediately panic the moment the lights turn off. The last Batman movie was way different as the Vampire Batman marches out of the darkness like an army, his boots stomping the floor. He is clearly visible, introduces himself and gives the clown gang all the time to look at him, identify him as a human in a suit, even organize themselves against him before he finally starts to fight them. I felt it did not fit the earlier introductions of vandals etc running in terror and looking at the dark as soon as they saw the Bat signal. Batfleck also used more terror and fear to the point that people thought he was a urban Myth and criminals were terrified of him. I feel Batman as this nightmarish creature works best.
@@danielshults5243 great post. In the movie he is taught to use fear and intimidation as his main weapons. They taught him to be invisbile (stealth). We see this in his fight scenes where he hits them out of nowhere and they get bludgeoned without knowing what hit them. He is appearing as more than just a man. A symbol, terror etc. In the scene with Dr. Crane's goons we see how much his tactics work. The moment the lights go out the goons panic and lose their composure. Similar with Batfleck. Most people think he is an Urban legend and criminals are terrified of him. One of the women from the human traffickers called him a demon and they did not dared to escape their cell as Batman was still out there. The Batman with the vampire guy was a bit weird. Criminals were terrified once his bat signal hit the sky and were scared of the dark. Yet when he confronts the clown gang he marches out of the shadows with pounding boots, making more sound than an army, he clearly introduces himself, gives them time to see he is clearly a human in a suit and not a monster, they are able to even talk to him, get over their initial suprise and even organize their attack against him before he finally starts fighting them. It seems a stark contrast to Batfleck and Nolan Batman who appeared like monsters to criminals.
I love the Bourne movies, but "disorientating" is the perfect description of its fight scenes. I also heard that the making of those movies was a whole story in and of itself, to the point where the first one barely even got finished, and they had to redo the entire final bit a couple months after wrapping up the shoot.
Yes, the first one! Because the director Doug Liman is a bit strange...apparently! They replaced him. The other two films were directed by Paul Greengrass who is a great director. (In fairness, Liman has made some solid films too)
Agree with this - audiences were absolutely tired of choregraphed fight scenes - even the very best fight scenes are appreciated for the fact that its a well choreographed set piece! If you've ever been in a fight you'll acknowledge that the fighting style AND editing in the Bourne movies are the most accurate depiction of a fight, messy, violent, visceral with a subdued and often remorseful ending
@@relicreturnsI like the Bourne films and their action just fine, but they were way too influential on action movies for the next two decades. Quick cuts and shaky cam worked well for the tense thriller feel of Bourne but got really annoying and disorienting when replicated elsewhere.
@Kokong Exactly. When Bourne came out it's style of filming its fights were new, fresh and dare I say revolutionary. 20 years later, not so much with it being a trend setting film when it came on screen fighting.
@@MarcusFlemmings I don't think they ever replaced Liman. He, Damon and Tony Gilroy (writer) just had a running battle with the producers escalating throughout the entire project. Liman's personality, inexperience and lack of industry clout were the most cited culprits, if memory serves. All three are stellar action films, up there with the best of them, but Liman's _Identity_ will always be my favourite. Tone, pacing, plot and characterization up there with the likes of Die Hard and T2.
The audio completely cuts out around 17 mins in. That Raid 2 fight really is the only reason I ever rewatch that movie, whereas the first one I watch because it’s just a good movie xD
5:18 agree with this comment 100%. if the protagonist doesn't seem particularly in danger or worried about it, that's the surest pathway to viewer boredom.
@@MarcusFlemmings i think part of the reason why The Raid succeeds is because Rama is reasonably afraid of the situation he's in. Sure, he's capable and skilled, but Gareth Evans directed it to show that Rama knows he's in a lot of danger and can't make a single critical error if he wants to get back home to his family. really enjoying the video essays, keep up the good work!
I disagree with his statement of “The audience needs to be worried about the character.”, but I think you nailed it on how at least “the character needs to seem worried”. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I was not at all worried about Cap when he was fighting Bucky. I obviously knew he’d be okay and probably even unharmed, but I still thought the fight scene was great. But, I think what really sells it is that Cap actually seems worried, even if I (the audience) might not be. He makes me actually immersed in the fight, even though I know he’ll win. I just don’t agree with the audience always needing to be worried. Just my opinion
I was having a conversation about this awhile back with a friend, on why I could not get into Birds of Prey (which he did like). Literally every fight started with "fun", "badass" music - and that already cued me to know the protagonists were gonna win them... I was really bored with that film (also, all those constant flashbacks kinda let me know Harley was already safe in the story's present time). Never felt like there were any stakes. Tonally, it was similar to his favorite movie, Kick-Ass - but that movie did have high stakes in its fights that kept me engaged -- and the protagonists didn't always win them either. And yeah, we don't always have to worry about the protagonist's life, we often know they are going to survive them, esp. superheroes and such ... but even for the most badass characters, we shouldn't always know if they are going to achieve their goal for the fight (for example, saving other peoples lives in time, or such).
The fights in the Captain America trilogy are still the best to me in the MCU The raid movies, especially part 2 are phenomenal. Also check gangs of london from Gareth Evans. The action is tight
My personal favorite fight scenes are "Oldboy" movie corridor fight scene for showing every bit of the fight and action with a single take and "The Killer" movie fight scene by David Fincher with his perfect camera movement and technically sound cinematography and camera shaking with every fist punch and heavy steps. Would love to know your opinion on theses scenes.
Yes, that was a great fight! (The Killer) - very clinical with some economical filmmaking by Fincher. Brutal af. Oldboy's fight is incredible and so much so that Daredevil copied it.
Charlize Theron "Stairwell sequence" in Atomic Blonde is often overlooked when people compare film fights. Shares a strong DNA with John Wick, which of course is all inspired by Gareth Evan's work. She could have had her own franchise similar to Keanu off the back of this film
Thank you for mentioning that here! The movie was amazing, as were the fight sequences. And she DID her stunts in that film! Took the bruises and beatings and accidents. I gained huge respect for her after seeing AB. 🍻 Good comparison to Keanu in JW (they did the work, and it came out amazing).
@@TheTexican05 What!? Holy shit! I didn't know that. I love the film even more now. I always thought the film was underrated. There were rumors of a sequel for years. Sadly, guess the movie didn't get enough traction money or popularity wise to get a green light.
So I guess the first thing is to say why the Bourne Supremacy style of fighting became so popular for Hollywood directors. Though I'm not sure if it was the original intention, but it was a way for directors to make their films PG-13 and give the illusion of a fight (even if done badly). The worst example I can think of in this category is taken 3, which has a ridiculous amount of cuts for the fights, but i dont think you ever see anyone get directly punched in the face or stabbed. However yes, this style of filming is extremely jarring and hard to watch. Also, in terms of great and interestingly shot fight scenes, I'd like to mention old boy, it's not a very smooth or skilled fight, but it's all in one shot looking at a corridor fight from a tracking side perspective. Also, the protagonist (if you can call him that) takes an absolute beating and every punch has to be earned. I think it partly inspired the Netflix Daredevil fights, which became very popular because of its gritty fighting style, and he also took a fair beating in his first few fights. The original matrix as well, became popular for two specific scenes, first is obviously the gunfight scene in the government building, but I'd argue the fight scene in the subway was quite revolutionary for the time it was made because of how clear and well choreographed it was. Glad you mentioned IP man, and for Tony Ja I was going to say Ong Bak, but yeah the protector was a good choice. There'll also always be a special place in my heart for Kung Fu hustle and it's exaggerated style of fighting, and the Non Diegetic music used for it is perfect, almost as much dancing as it is fighting.
I think that Bourne Identity scene is pretty bad to be honest, the constant cuts drive me nuts. Bravo for the Raid mention tho, best hands ever in a movie. The first one is amazing too
Those shaky fights were the absolute worst. Just terrible. It has made me resent the movie so much I have no desire to watch it ever again, despite really liking the story. Shame.
For me, the James Bond film; "You Only Live Twice", the fight scene with Sean Connery fighting the big dude. He picks up sofas like it was weightless, slamming into the opponent. For me as a young person, then was awesome! I like your list! Nothing but really well, chorographic fights. Thank you.
I was gonna say that. One of the best in modern cinema? Wtf, it's the single best fight I have ever seen, and I have seen them all. The second best is probably somewhere in the same movie and/ or in Raid 1. The mission impossible one was pretty great as well as the first matrix. Some HK movies in the last 20 years by Donnie Yuen was pretty rad too (Ip Man, some other movies when he played cops or the ones with Jet Li in The Legend of China and others). I am missing some things but yeah The Raid 2 fight was the absolute peak
The worst movie fight ever put on film would have to be that red throne room scene in The Last Jedi. Jet Li in Kiss of the Dragon when he walks into the police station at the end of the movie is absolute gold standard stuff! Another one that springs to mind as mind blowingly brutal is the fight between Mellish and the ww2 bad guy in the apartment at the end of Saving Private Ryan
The Last Jedi looks fantastic on a first watch and then you slow it down and it's absolutely pathetic. It's deffo top 20 worst ever! The Saving Private Ryan scene you mentioned is fantastic! Such an underrated scene. And so well acted. Thanks for the comment!
I don't think people talk enough about the fight sequences in "the night comes for us" starring joe taslim and iko uwais, the choreography is actually insane and keeps you on the edge of your seat
I love the hotel fight scene in Inception, such a creative use of the circumstances of the dream being used to create incredible shots. With the characters fighting the environment as well as eachother.
The bus fight in Nobody I think is the best fight scene I’ve ever seen in a movie. Also the gym fight in the season 2 of The Punisher is one of my favourites in a show.
I’ve always argued the choppy and shaky filming of the first Batman Begins fight made sense due to it being the first time Batman has appeared and causes confusion among the criminals he’s fighting, otherwise I hate seeing it in other fight scenes as there tends to be no sense to it Honestly, came across your second part and decided to watch this one first and knew you were gonna make legit points as soon as I saw The Raid. Seriously great (in my opinion, objective) breakdowns and understanding of good and bad (seriously, keeping the action and impacts in camera with minimal or purposeful cuts will always be superior)
Precisely. The Batman Begins fight is a classic of the Mook Horror Show genre of fight scene. Rather than focusing on hero, like we would in most fight scenes, we are instead focusing on the goons as they get taken out. They can't keep up with what's going on, so *we* can't keep up with it either.
The greatest fight ever shown on camera is Jackie Chan vs Benny Urkides in Meals on Wheels. The candle getting blown out was real. That's all that needs to be said.
I recently watched Dune 2 (put it off after not being much of a fan of the first one) but the fight between Paul and Fayd I thought was done beautifully, especially with how there was just silence. Only the sounds of their blades and them as they dueled
Winter Soldier is arguably the best MCU movie because up until that point, Steve hadn’t really met his match in any adversary…AND THEN THE WINTER SOLDIER SHOWS UP. The action sequences alone were superb
I’d say that fight scene in Bourne Supremacy finished that way was because it was a way to censor it. Showing the antagonist’s face as it was getting choked violently and dying would’ve been too much for the movie to be rated PG-13 in the USA, hence would’ve made less money at the box office (especially at the time Hollywood executives wanted to be safe on that as much as possible)
I always like to point out that "Does anyone wanna get out" is pure psychological warfare by Cap. Not only shows to them that they do not have the moment of surprise that they hoped for, but he shows everyone that he knows what is going to happen and that he is not afraid about it. He does not consider them as a threat. If i were one of the thugs, i would have crapped my pants at that moment.
To add a recent film, "The Beekeeper" last fight scene was absolutely brilliant, it's quite a short fight, but my god, for a second you actually think Jason's character might have met his match, no music, not too many cuts, really good
All of the Matrix fight/action scenes are top tier. Just rewatched all three of them, and the fights scene have a touch to them that don't make them feel overly choreographed and pre-vizzed (which, to me, is what makes every fight scene nowadays look exactly the same). While the fight scenes are obviously choreographed, there isn't a single movement in them that feels _telegraphed._ In all of these hyper-martial arts movies, with all the crazy choreographed fights, the choreography is almost too apparent, as if you can see where the performers are expecting the next move. Nothing takes me out of a sequence quicker than seeing a performer anticipating the next punch, throw, or kick because they've practiced that sequence over and over again. You don't see any of that in The Matrix films. The choreography comes off as intuitive, as if they trained each performer individually and then had them go at it with each other when the cameras rolled.
@@MarcusFlemmings Bone Tomahawk is by far the best of Kurt Russell's informal Mustache Trilogy started with Tombstone and finished with Hateful Eight. For once Kurt dusted off his lived in badass acting style and delivered realistic rough and rugged character
Sir let me just say that your ability to explain in detail all this has changed my perception of action movies. I see now how much of an art they can be and thanks to you I will be able to understand and appreciate the scenes much more. I landed here because I just finished watching “Warrior” series on Netflix and went down a rabbit hole looking for fight scenes on UA-cam. I would like to know your thoughts on Warrior if possible. I’m a diehard horror fan and I believe there is a connection between horror and action when you enjoy blood splatter and gore. Thank you so much for your content.
Spot on regarding the Bourne films, which overall were outstanding entertainment because of the strong narrative and superior cast. But the fight scenes were difficult to watch because of the frenetic seizure-inducing jump cuts. In the clip you break down, you can see the actors moving in slow motion while the editing is used to suggest rapid movement. It doesn't work. Off the top of my head, I would have to say my favorite fight scene is the night fight between Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Zhiyi in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" for all of the reasons you list. The editing and cinematography never interferes with the action and the choreography was beautifully balletic. The brief overhead shot of their contrasting fighting styles was unforgettable. If we did a deep dive into the Hong Kong and Japanese cinema we could come up with several dozen more examples pretty quickly. "Come Drink With Me," with its magnificent tea shop fight -- which Crouching Tiger pays homage too -- deserves recognition.
@@MarcusFlemmings Ah OK, I misunderstood. My mind goes right to that scene on any discussion about movie fights. Love your videos and the discussions they generate. I'm in for the long haul!
Holy smokes... you call the Bourne movies fight scenes bad and praise Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? You get the same quality fight scenes if not better from the American Ninja franchise than you do in CTHD.
The reason I don't fault the Bourne fight scenes as much as I probably should is because it matches the character and story. We get a shaky cam view because that's how Jason sees it himself. His body moves on its own, he beats people despite the lack of conscious thought behind it. That being said, it would have been infinitely better if the fight editing improved as his memory did. Instead we got a decade of rather poor fight choreography in every mainstream movie. If you do a part two one of my favorite fight scenes is in the movie Upgrade, I'd love to see you break it down. The apartment scene in particular may be my favorite fight scene in cinema. I also thought there were a number of fight scenes in Tenet that were improvements compared to Nolans past work (the kitchen scene with the cheese grater or the wacky fight between the protagonist and himself come to mind). It might be interesting to cover those and see how Nolan has improved as a fight director.
The Raid 1's hallways scenes always have me on the edge of my seat no matter how many times I've seen them. It may not be my absolute favorite action movie, but it sure is a hard movie to beat.
Yep. Old Boy, original version of course. Your spot on with these choices but I prefer the real fights over fast, brutal and tiring. Films never realise that noses and cheeks collapse, eyes close and swell, enough with the perfect jaw spattered with jam. In the Old Boy hallway everyone is knackered, broken and scared.
About the jason bourne scene, like you said its debatable, there i see an intent behind it, a messy camera in a messy fight, to make the spectator as confuse, lost and shaken as the protagonist, and maybe im wrong, and maybe it was poorly directed and had this effect as a coincidence, but here the way its filmed and what we can take from the scene is coherent with the film Edit: we can argue for the nolan batmans sequence there is an intent too, batman fight with the darkness he uses the confusion of the fight to win against scared multiple opponents, cause his weapon is fear... and the way its directed tend to amplifies that What i meant here, that a fight scene we shouldnt only take it as a choregraphy and how the sequence is filmed, but as a tool to tell something make the spectator feel or experience something
@@MarcusFlemmings i meant your voice laid over muted movie scenes would have been ok. In any case, your content is quite interesting and the narration is good engaging. Sometimes it's hard to hear you with the audio from the bg scene being too loud.
@@motogee3796 maybe watch the others in the series :) Volume 1 - ua-cam.com/video/L9_tXwsc6sk/v-deo.html Volume 2- ua-cam.com/video/bcqaG44ppLI/v-deo.html Volume 3 - ua-cam.com/video/RMvZNoG5Moo/v-deo.html
Really? You didn't put Ong Bak? It started the whole ultra violent, realistic, no holds barred fight scene of today which films like The Raid, Ip Man have copied.
Love the analysis here, thanks for making a great video! I'd love to hear more detail on the goals of fight scenes and how they can diverge. For example, is a fight scene meant to be more about the stunts and showing off, or is it meant to be more realistic and gritty? How can you achieve those results and what kind of tension is there between the those two poles (or others)?
Agree about the Bourne Supremacy fight. The fight in the Bourne Ultimatum was better. As for Nolan’s Batman; those films are more art films than superhero films, so the fighting is understated and less comic-booky. That was the point. In a lot of the Nolan Batman fights, he purposefully made Batman look more like a real dude in armour fighting. The suit has a lack of manoeuvrability and moves very awkwardly. I quite like the fight scenes in Serenity. It’s really interesting that you have these two amazingly trained fighters in one film, but they never fight each other.
Ugh, that IP-Man scene is jarring. The guy is breaking limbs left-and-right, but does moves which take 5+ seconds. I don't believe it for a second. Too bad you did not include the recent Neil Breen movie. I'm not great remembering action-scenes, but I like Vin Diesel as Riddick, especialy in Pitch Black.
I think you have to suspend your belief a little bit, from what I've seen of martial arts experts on UA-cam (and yes there's a few legitimate ones) Wing Chun isn't supposed to be a great martial art for street fighting. However, it's very stylistic and aesthetic with lots of short sharp punches. So yeah, in terms of the movie, this guy is the best of the best who has mastered the art better then anyone else, just like how Jean Reno is the best assassin in the professional. So he's able to use the martial art in a way that nobody else could and even do superhuman feats because of it.
@@The_Greedy_Orphan if you want me to believe that fight, where a guy is literaly murdering his opponents, please don't stop the fight for several seconds to do some BS. Or just change the fight, so it's no everyone mobbing on the dude, but they are going in one-by-one. Otherwise, it's just a bad fight. I don't mind traditional bullshido in the coreography, but stopping the fight trying to do some Fist o the North Star in the middle of a crowd is nonsense. That guy is only "the best", because all the opponents stand around doing nothing.
i'm curious, have you seen kingsman? because in that movie there's technically a "one vs many" fight that's just about as unbelievable as the ip man fight with it's only saving grace of being believable is that the "many" in that fight scene are also fighting each other. if you haven't watched it and only want to see the fight, you could just look up "kingsman church fight"
@@Dan-neil Seen neither Kingsmand-movie (3rd is under production). That thing aside that IP-man is supposed to be Bruce Lee's mentor, I have no problem with 1 vs many, but when your moves take 5 seconds, and you are not standing 10 meters away in a hong-kong wire-martial-arts flick, I have a problem. --- I looked up the afformentioned scene, and it's fine. I'd like more if the dude would not be invulnerable, like hitting you with a "baseball bat" SHOULD hurt, but its a many vs many fight, and the dude even changes clip. I counted the bulletts too, and it's better than the Liam Neeson flick. It is fast, the guy knows what he is doing, and aside not reacting physicaly to being hit by a pole (happens more than once), it's a perfectly working action-scene. Or there was that asian movie, Raid. Again: no problem, because the protagonist doesn't do impossible things (considering the frame of the genre). IP-man does.
In my opinion, a good fight scene has to be both entertaining and tell a story at the same time. For example, Jackie Chan has perfected this formula for almost all his films. First, his opponents always are someone who knows how sell a fight whether its trained martial artists or his stunt team. Secondly, he always sets up the location so we have an idea of where the action is and see the props he'll use. Then he always starts at a disadvantage whether he's outnumbered, outclassed, handcuffed, or naked so the payoff is bigger when he eventually wins. Finally, he always shoots everything very clearly- the camera is still, both fighters are always in center, and he cuts to a close up setup of a significant hit so the impact is highlighted.
You've just released part 8 - so maybe you cover this later - but Batfleck rescuing Martha is one of my favourite fights scenes - it has the best mix of gadgets and and Batman just being brutal in a fight
We're on part 10 - part 11 this Sunday! Batman was in this video but got cut out due to copyright...however it's in Vol. 1-5 a mammoth video on the channel :)
1. There are some audio cut outs starting around 17:13 until the end. 2. Fun fact: Columbiana was originally meant to be a sequel to Leon: The Professional. 3. I try to write my fight scenes in a very cinematic way. This should help me a bit. Thank you! ❤
The point of the bourne fights wasn't to be awesome, it was to be awful. 'Look at what they make you give' was the recurring theme. The fight in the house ends with bourne committing a murder (in self-defence) that he had no desire to commit. That's why it's a damp squib.
Great analysis of the Raid 2 scene. That movie's plot blows but you're so right about the story in that fight. In fact, I would say there's even more narrative layered in there. The two characters barely know one another coming into it, but there's this growing exchange as the villain tests the hero and essentially comes to respect him. It's really well done!
I love your videos. As a film aficionado, I'm learning so much about the techniques and the simple things that make a difference between a good scene/filmmaking and bad.
Julie Estelle versus the two female assassins "The Night Comes For Us" Is byfar one of my favorite fight scenes in recent movies. It's not drawn out too long, unlike some in this list, but allows a bit of "pause for effect". It has a perfect combination of emotions, perspective, frame size, colors, shadows, and gritty sets that adds up to beautifully atmospheric sequences.
Great video, very much enjoyed! I agree that a lot of movies nowadays ruin fight scenes with a lot of unnecessary cuts, which can be disappointing, though I do understand that you can't exactly expect the actors to actually hit each other, however, constantly cutting away shouldn't be the solution, rather mainly good choreography and also smart camera angles is what should be the way to go I think, also I think a nice example of at least good choreography (though involving weapons) is the lightsaber fight in Phantom Menace of Maul vs Obi-Wan and Qui Gon, can't remember where I heard this but apparently the choreography was so well practiced that they had to slow the footage down?
I remember watching Winter Soldier in the theater in Disney World with my 2 best pals and knowing I was watching Mount Rushmore-worthy fight scenes unfold before my eyes. It's the only time I can consider "watching a movie" as one of the best moments of my life.
The reason the shaky cam works with fight scenes is that is brings a sense of confusion about what's happening. Which they use to create the confusion you would get in a meelee. Can work when outnumbered and things are crazy, but in on-on-one it tends to give the impression that your hero is not in control.
The most unrealistic thing in Mission Impossible is the thought that anybody could take two standing body shots from a tank like Cavill’s character and still have breath left in their lungs to go “hoo” and “hah”
I enjoyed the Raid, Raid 2, and many other martial arts movies. But part of the problem, despite good camera work and direction, is that many times they still look like choreography or even dances. It also challenges disbelief because they often take on so many people or the fight goes on for so long. Oldboy gets a pass because they're in a narrow corridor and you see it taking a toll on everybody involved. It does make a little bit more sense if you have an excuse like super powers or you throw a flashbang into the room full of guys before you walked in there and took them on.
Jet Li's old movie Black Mask is also a good showcase of character through action. He's basically Batman in this movie and he literally doesnt feel pain, but he never feels overpowered - he actually wins fights with his lateral thinking and theres a lot of feeling out in his fights simply to read an opponent and break his patterns.
@@MarcusFlemmings it's Tsui Hatk production with Yuen Woo Ping doing action sequences. The plot is basically a riff on Universal Soldier but with more Roadhouse Kicks and the villain is Chinese Ozzy Osbourne.
Gr8 vid my man sound got choppy on da batman bit but hey tech right. Ah yo, new to da channel so 4gv if i missed it. plz do sum action reaction to kill bill vol 1, action music and story telling 4rm quintin too epic. Def need a zoom in on onk bak 2. a slide into da beautiful anime fight scene game and how it can be incorperated into live movies. plus da under rated fight cinematography of cut scenes in games (MGS, Mk, etc) keep up da good work ✊
Accident Man (2018) has a very good fight scene where the main character fights two mercenaries (who are coworkers of mc) when they were trainging judo. Also, Kingsman Origin has one of the best melee fights for me when they are fighting in the trench during the war, it's incredible, that touch that gives marv to his movies making them unique are something very special for me, seeing a nazi soldier using a metal fist with a spike its fucking awesome haha, but the atmosphere that is created in total silence is great, the fact they all agree not to use their firearms and fight to the death up close because if they do they will be riddled with bullets by both allies and enemies is simply great.
The Bourn fight scene reminded me of how George Miller approached the action in Fury Road, where he always made sure the key events were always in the centre of the shot. So no matter how hectic the action, you didn't have to search for the most important details, your eyes were already looking at what you needed to see. As opposed to the Bourn fight, where you were constantly searching for the details, and struggling to keep track of who was where.
I think the 'not being very clear' almost works for Batman Begins though, since that's supposed to be almost how Batman operates. His whole MO. The thugs he takes down aren't very clear what happened. Some dude in a scary suit showed up out of nowhere, and dunked on them, and they're not even sure what happened, because of the fear tactics he was using. That said, I totally get what you're saying.
This video's AUDIO has been re-recorded and put in a collection with the first 5 from the series - ua-cam.com/video/lps7E4XoASY/v-deo.html
Watch the original edits of these videos, Copyright free - for the original music, fights, etc on www.patreon.com/CinemaisDying
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Volume 2- ua-cam.com/video/bcqaG44ppLI/v-deo.html
Volume 3 - ua-cam.com/video/RMvZNoG5Moo/v-deo.html
Volume 4 - ua-cam.com/video/NtjI0NGvdp8/v-deo.html
Volume 5 - ua-cam.com/video/wjSk-DTg8R0/v-deo.html
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That "Snyder Cut" at 17:15... 😉
When I saw the kitchen fight scene from The Raid 2, I knew I would watch this to the end.
You should 100% check out the final fight scene in Donnie Yen's Flashpoint. Even better IMO.
YES! Always gets the blood pumping! Stick around!
I need to get on that!
Hey man, watch Ong Bak 2003@@MarcusFlemmings
All of the raid and raid 2 is some of the best action ever put to film. Period.
The stunt man who played Bucky in _Winter Soldier_ said the reason Chris Evans is so good at fight scenes is because he's a trained dancer who is used to memorizing complex choreography. So while most actors might be able to remember only half a dozen moves, Evans can remember an entire sequence, and he can learn it quickly.
Something similar happened with Conor McGregor on Roadhouse. He was able to memorize entire choreographies by seeing them once. (Watch the latest Stuntmen react by Corridor Crew)
Ryan Reynolds said the same thing about Huge Jackman in Deadpool & Wolverine; that his back ground in dance made him exceptional at timing and position for fights and stunts.
The director said the same thing about Christian Bale in Equilibrium. He said Bale’s dance background allowed him to run through some really complicated choreography really quick, and it saved their @$$es on a shoot that was running low on time.
he can also remember THAT line from his latest MCU appearance off the top of his head
It's why Jackie Chan fights are so good. Most of the people in his production company have a background in Chinese theater. People that have worked together a long time, are used to complex timed choreography, and willing to do the same take hundreds of times to pull it off correctly.
I just love when you can see everything that’s happening. Nothing worse than a horrendous amount of jump cuts.
Exactly. There are key signs when a director and his or her team doesn't know how to both shoot and edit action.
Jackie Chan, btw, literally created THE best series of videos demonstrating how to properly shoot action, set up shots, edit them together (sometimes NON-contiguously), and how actors needed to sell or portray hits.
@@Novastar.SaberCombat Jackie Chan is the legend that other legends try to copy.
Oldboy has one of the best action sequences in a hallway scene ever!
Yeah so good it's still emulated til this day! Was playing a videogame the other day that was pretty much that exact scene
@@mgiebus1869 Yeah, discovered that in Sifu.
YES! I play that game literally everyday! Sifu!!!
YES! Sifu is so underrated!
@@MarcusFlemmings yep sifu is a pretty good game. Hard but good
A fight is a story within the story, it should either progress the plot, show character or hopefully do both. One of the best examples is the subway fight in the Matrix, it gives you so much information about each character and their motivations. Smith becomes increasingly frustrated and angry as he can simply beat Neo and has the pull out more and more tricks to get the upper hand and Neo shows his self belief and his resilience. Willing to stand and fight instead of running. And moves the plot forward of Neo becoming the “one”
Wow! Brilliant example! I was reluctant to use any scenes from the Matrix as its sci-fi/gravity defying - but it's a fantastic example of storytelling fighting.
@@MarcusFlemmings agreed the choreography hasn’t aged well, but it’s pure storytelling.
@@davidkhan1626 Storytelling is 10/10!
Well said.
Can I add another? Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Michelle Yeoh V Zhang ZiYi
@@GhilenPeek great choice, that’s one of the best fights ever.
Almost every Kung Fu Panda and Kung Fu Panda 2 fight scene is perfection.
Not seen them :(
Wait, you make a video about movie fights and HAVENT seen Kung Fu Panda?? Credibility is now being questioned
@@MitchSchulte1776 😂😂
What do you mean almost?
the “you’re a big fat panda what’re you gonna do? sit on me” and having that one guy i forgot the name of literally eat his words in that slow motion scene of po sitting on him is what all of cinema strives to be
I like how chuck norris stopped sawing machine using his bare hand 😂
He's a LEGEND!
He wasn't acting. He actually did that
@@hank1556 ik the memes lmao
I mean, the guy plays hacky sack using a bowling ball
@@hank1556 nah, its fake, CGI'd, if it was really Chuck, the sawing machine would not have stopped, it would have blown up.
The Zoe Saldana scene.. the classic move of de-powering one character to empower another. I cant talk for the edits etc but none of his fight moves had any follow through, none of his physical actions had any strength. No hits sent in her direction, no hits received. Pure, unbelievable, overpowering
YES! Purely overpowered! Completely unrealistic!
Absolutely right. There is just no way she can overpower a man who weighs more than 20kg than her
One of my personal favorite fight scenes is the 10 minute one take Atomic Blonde Apartment fight scene, where it's all in one take, showcasing not only how tiresome it is to fight hand to hand (or all fighting really) but how you need to fight dirty in order to win. Since as you mentioned in this video, the characters are fighting to the death trying to kill one another. So while it is cool to see honorable fights, in real life/at some point you'd be so exhausted, injured, angry, and or in a hurry (depending on the context) that you just stop caring about fighting fairly and just want to get it over with as soon as possible.
A awful fight scene to me was in Taken 3, specifically the store fight scene where there are cuts every 2 seconds. The whole fight is nothing but jump cuts and close ups in which you can't understand whats happening and can't see the action well. Honestly its throughout the whole movie, and it's also a terrible sequel.
Great spots! Atomic Blonde is a pretty average movie with great moments like the one you mentioned. And Taken 3 is so poorly edited from top to bottom. And the cheesy ending is laughable! Thanks for the comment! Stick around!
What Keanu did Right with John Wick, that he did he's Own Stunt!
Keanu is a legend!
Keanu Reeves makes a point of emphasizing that he doesn't do "stunts," and giving full credit to the professionals that get hit by cars in his place.
ua-cam.com/video/UYZy228sgBU/v-deo.html
What like, besides the marketing, why is it so much better that the actor is doing his stunts instead of a another professional stuntsman?
@@sneikiusas Less cuts, less editing
And then@@hez8719i would rather have more cuts and editing then slow sloppy fights or worse something like John Wick 4 Rome and no cuts fire shotgun scene both of which are 90% CGI
I mean, sure, Steven Segal could stand up whenever someone attacks him with a sword, but why bother if he wins either way...
Only a master can fight using the way of the chair.
A true master!
Steven is king!
Countless of body double
Seagal was a huge phony. Then again, on a completely different note, Frank Dux was an even *bigger* sham, and he somehow convinced Lettich & JCVD to base "Bloodsport" around his false claims. 😂 Incredible.
Unclear fights have their purpose. In Batman Begins I believe it helps portray how quickly and unexpectedly Batman strikes. As if the camera sees the fight how the person being attacked experiences it.
I don't agree too much with this ...as evidenced by the way they improve the action and that type of action in the sequels :) Thanks for the comment!
Yeah, shaky cam makes fights chaotic. It shows how the person being in the fights perceive it. Just blurs of things coming their way as they scramble to get the right answers.
I prefer a proper wide shot with details but shaky cam can work and it kinda fits Jason Bourne etc.
Could not agree more. At this point in the film, we are seeing one of Batman's very first outings against criminals. He has been developing this entire persona and style based on his phobia of bats, and his experience with the league of shadows (essentially ninjas). The idea is 1000% to payoff that effort by portraying this fight from the criminals perspective, wherein they can't figure out what is happening to them, who is attacking them, or where he's coming from. They're shaking in their boots, and we FEEL that due to the direction and editing choices. If it was just "bad shaky cam filmmaking" then I ask why we get plenty of clear, steady shots of the villains, but none of the protagonist? Why do we see the protagonist almost not at all?
In The Dark Knight, we DO see Batman well lit and clearly visible much more often, both in action scenes and otherwise, but this serves the story and his relationship with the antagonist. The same tactics that worked on petty criminals and gangsters don't work with The Joker. This is made pretty explicit during the interrogation scene, where Joker laughs at Bats (under bright fluorescent lights, mind you) and informs him that all his strength and intimidation tactics are meaningless. Wouldn't make much sense to continue to portray those tactics for the rest of the movie. It also serves the theme of "escalation," wherein the presence of a masked vigilante is sort of normalized, inspiring copycats (as seen in the opening scene) and of course more extreme villains, like The Joker.
Hell, they even redesigned the suit at least partially because they knew they were going to be including a lot more clear visuals of batman in action, and needed more mobility and natural movement to support that.
@@danielshults5243 great post. Batman's weapons are fear and intimidation. He is perceived as more than just a man and like a monster of the night.
We all sawt his during his training where he was taught to be invisible (stealth).
He basically jumps out of nowhere and they have zero clue what is happening to them as they get demolished. It shows the fear and terror he inflicts. And later this is confirmed with Dr'. Crane's goons who immediately panic the moment the lights turn off.
The last Batman movie was way different as the Vampire Batman marches out of the darkness like an army, his boots stomping the floor. He is clearly visible, introduces himself and gives the clown gang all the time to look at him, identify him as a human in a suit, even organize themselves against him before he finally starts to fight them. I felt it did not fit the earlier introductions of vandals etc running in terror and looking at the dark as soon as they saw the Bat signal.
Batfleck also used more terror and fear to the point that people thought he was a urban Myth and criminals were terrified of him.
I feel Batman as this nightmarish creature works best.
@@danielshults5243 great post. In the movie he is taught to use fear and intimidation as his main weapons. They taught him to be invisbile (stealth).
We see this in his fight scenes where he hits them out of nowhere and they get bludgeoned without knowing what hit them.
He is appearing as more than just a man. A symbol, terror etc.
In the scene with Dr. Crane's goons we see how much his tactics work. The moment the lights go out the goons panic and lose their composure.
Similar with Batfleck. Most people think he is an Urban legend and criminals are terrified of him. One of the women from the human traffickers called him a demon and they did not dared to escape their cell as Batman was still out there.
The Batman with the vampire guy was a bit weird. Criminals were terrified once his bat signal hit the sky and were scared of the dark.
Yet when he confronts the clown gang he marches out of the shadows with pounding boots, making more sound than an army, he clearly introduces himself, gives them time to see he is clearly a human in a suit and not a monster, they are able to even talk to him, get over their initial suprise and even organize their attack against him before he finally starts fighting them.
It seems a stark contrast to Batfleck and Nolan Batman who appeared like monsters to criminals.
I love the Bourne movies, but "disorientating" is the perfect description of its fight scenes. I also heard that the making of those movies was a whole story in and of itself, to the point where the first one barely even got finished, and they had to redo the entire final bit a couple months after wrapping up the shoot.
Yes, the first one! Because the director Doug Liman is a bit strange...apparently! They replaced him. The other two films were directed by Paul Greengrass who is a great director. (In fairness, Liman has made some solid films too)
Agree with this - audiences were absolutely tired of choregraphed fight scenes - even the very best fight scenes are appreciated for the fact that its a well choreographed set piece! If you've ever been in a fight you'll acknowledge that the fighting style AND editing in the Bourne movies are the most accurate depiction of a fight, messy, violent, visceral with a subdued and often remorseful ending
@@relicreturnsI like the Bourne films and their action just fine, but they were way too influential on action movies for the next two decades. Quick cuts and shaky cam worked well for the tense thriller feel of Bourne but got really annoying and disorienting when replicated elsewhere.
@Kokong Exactly. When Bourne came out it's style of filming its fights were new, fresh and dare I say revolutionary. 20 years later, not so much with it being a trend setting film when it came on screen fighting.
@@MarcusFlemmings I don't think they ever replaced Liman. He, Damon and Tony Gilroy (writer) just had a running battle with the producers escalating throughout the entire project. Liman's personality, inexperience and lack of industry clout were the most cited culprits, if memory serves.
All three are stellar action films, up there with the best of them, but Liman's _Identity_ will always be my favourite. Tone, pacing, plot and characterization up there with the likes of Die Hard and T2.
The audio completely cuts out around 17 mins in.
That Raid 2 fight really is the only reason I ever rewatch that movie, whereas the first one I watch because it’s just a good movie xD
I liked baseball bat guy as well
5:18 agree with this comment 100%. if the protagonist doesn't seem particularly in danger or worried about it, that's the surest pathway to viewer boredom.
Always!! Honestly, it's so silly that they make the protagonist so strong sometimes!
@@MarcusFlemmings i think part of the reason why The Raid succeeds is because Rama is reasonably afraid of the situation he's in. Sure, he's capable and skilled, but Gareth Evans directed it to show that Rama knows he's in a lot of danger and can't make a single critical error if he wants to get back home to his family.
really enjoying the video essays, keep up the good work!
I disagree with his statement of “The audience needs to be worried about the character.”, but I think you nailed it on how at least “the character needs to seem worried”.
In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I was not at all worried about Cap when he was fighting Bucky. I obviously knew he’d be okay and probably even unharmed, but I still thought the fight scene was great. But, I think what really sells it is that Cap actually seems worried, even if I (the audience) might not be. He makes me actually immersed in the fight, even though I know he’ll win.
I just don’t agree with the audience always needing to be worried. Just my opinion
@@-freshsans One Punch Man is the only show to not have the main character be worried or try at all and still have a good fight and story lol
I was having a conversation about this awhile back with a friend, on why I could not get into Birds of Prey (which he did like). Literally every fight started with "fun", "badass" music - and that already cued me to know the protagonists were gonna win them... I was really bored with that film (also, all those constant flashbacks kinda let me know Harley was already safe in the story's present time). Never felt like there were any stakes.
Tonally, it was similar to his favorite movie, Kick-Ass - but that movie did have high stakes in its fights that kept me engaged -- and the protagonists didn't always win them either.
And yeah, we don't always have to worry about the protagonist's life, we often know they are going to survive them, esp. superheroes and such ... but even for the most badass characters, we shouldn't always know if they are going to achieve their goal for the fight (for example, saving other peoples lives in time, or such).
Wait...oh man you telling me the Raid 2 is already 10 years old?!
Crazy right?! Thanks for the comment! Stick around!
The fights in the Captain America trilogy are still the best to me in the MCU
The raid movies, especially part 2 are phenomenal.
Also check gangs of london from Gareth Evans. The action is tight
My personal favorite fight scenes are "Oldboy" movie corridor fight scene for showing every bit of the fight and action with a single take and "The Killer" movie fight scene by David Fincher with his perfect camera movement and technically sound cinematography and camera shaking with every fist punch and heavy steps. Would love to know your opinion on theses scenes.
Yes, that was a great fight! (The Killer) - very clinical with some economical filmmaking by Fincher. Brutal af. Oldboy's fight is incredible and so much so that Daredevil copied it.
Charlize Theron "Stairwell sequence" in Atomic Blonde is often overlooked when people compare film fights.
Shares a strong DNA with John Wick, which of course is all inspired by Gareth Evan's work.
She could have had her own franchise similar to Keanu off the back of this film
Only reason I click on this video. I thought for sure it'd be in there. Nope.
Thank you for mentioning that here! The movie was amazing, as were the fight sequences. And she DID her stunts in that film! Took the bruises and beatings and accidents. I gained huge respect for her after seeing AB. 🍻 Good comparison to Keanu in JW (they did the work, and it came out amazing).
@@TheTexican05 What!? Holy shit! I didn't know that. I love the film even more now.
I always thought the film was underrated. There were rumors of a sequel for years. Sadly, guess the movie didn't get enough traction money or popularity wise to get a green light.
@@MyZ001 She's the bomb! One of her many interviews on the painful process here: ua-cam.com/video/G3b6XGrvlEo/v-deo.html
Charlize has always been a powerhouse. Even her work in "Aeon Flux" stood alongside Milla's from "Ultraviolet". 💪😎✌️
So I guess the first thing is to say why the Bourne Supremacy style of fighting became so popular for Hollywood directors. Though I'm not sure if it was the original intention, but it was a way for directors to make their films PG-13 and give the illusion of a fight (even if done badly). The worst example I can think of in this category is taken 3, which has a ridiculous amount of cuts for the fights, but i dont think you ever see anyone get directly punched in the face or stabbed. However yes, this style of filming is extremely jarring and hard to watch.
Also, in terms of great and interestingly shot fight scenes, I'd like to mention old boy, it's not a very smooth or skilled fight, but it's all in one shot looking at a corridor fight from a tracking side perspective. Also, the protagonist (if you can call him that) takes an absolute beating and every punch has to be earned.
I think it partly inspired the Netflix Daredevil fights, which became very popular because of its gritty fighting style, and he also took a fair beating in his first few fights.
The original matrix as well, became popular for two specific scenes, first is obviously the gunfight scene in the government building, but I'd argue the fight scene in the subway was quite revolutionary for the time it was made because of how clear and well choreographed it was.
Glad you mentioned IP man, and for Tony Ja I was going to say Ong Bak, but yeah the protector was a good choice.
There'll also always be a special place in my heart for Kung Fu hustle and it's exaggerated style of fighting, and the Non Diegetic music used for it is perfect, almost as much dancing as it is fighting.
Top comment!
Of course the Oldboy is the protagonist, he's just an anti-hero.
LOVE this comment! Oldboy is great, and Daredevil copied it but just changed the direction of it.
I think that Bourne Identity scene is pretty bad to be honest, the constant cuts drive me nuts. Bravo for the Raid mention tho, best hands ever in a movie. The first one is amazing too
The first is better than the 2nd in my opinion :) big love for the comment!
@@MarcusFlemmings I think the first is more rewatchable, but I really prefer the ending of the 2nd. Love your content btw
@@Ez.bake_evan huge love!!
Those shaky fights were the absolute worst. Just terrible. It has made me resent the movie so much I have no desire to watch it ever again, despite really liking the story. Shame.
The Bourne scene was going for the disorientation and confusion that ensues in a real fight. The idea is good, it just doesn’t make for good viewing
For me, the James Bond film; "You Only Live Twice", the fight scene with Sean Connery fighting the big dude. He picks up sofas like it was weightless, slamming into the opponent. For me as a young person, then was awesome! I like your list! Nothing but really well, chorographic fights. Thank you.
Big love for this!
The "big dude" was Dwayne Johnson's grandfather, Peter Maivia, himself a pro wrestler.
@@jonathancampbell5231 Cool!
Raid 2 is the greatest fight scene ever filmed. It’s flawless. The angles, cuts, stunts, speed, and intensity is second to none.
I was gonna say that. One of the best in modern cinema? Wtf, it's the single best fight I have ever seen, and I have seen them all. The second best is probably somewhere in the same movie and/ or in Raid 1. The mission impossible one was pretty great as well as the first matrix. Some HK movies in the last 20 years by Donnie Yuen was pretty rad too (Ip Man, some other movies when he played cops or the ones with Jet Li in The Legend of China and others). I am missing some things but yeah The Raid 2 fight was the absolute peak
Raid 1 is better.
I like the bits where the camera tilts with the action. It's very clever camera work, but it's subtle enough to not feel busy.
"The Night Comes from Us" with the fucking Slaughter house scene is so fucking BAD ASS
@@CavemanSynthesizer that scene front the raid one where they blow the hole in the floor and the camera follows them down through. Awesome
The worst movie fight ever put on film would have to be that red throne room scene in The Last Jedi.
Jet Li in Kiss of the Dragon when he walks into the police station at the end of the movie is absolute gold standard stuff!
Another one that springs to mind as mind blowingly brutal is the fight between Mellish and the ww2 bad guy in the apartment at the end of Saving Private Ryan
The Last Jedi looks fantastic on a first watch and then you slow it down and it's absolutely pathetic. It's deffo top 20 worst ever!
The Saving Private Ryan scene you mentioned is fantastic! Such an underrated scene. And so well acted.
Thanks for the comment!
Great call on "Saving Private Ryan." That was a nightmarish scene, perfect in its conception and execution
I loved Black Widow in Iron Man 2. Scarlett did an amazing job in that scene. For the longest time I had no idea she preformed all of it.
Great shout here! Stick around!
I don't think people talk enough about the fight sequences in "the night comes for us" starring joe taslim and iko uwais, the choreography is actually insane and keeps you on the edge of your seat
Meant to put that movie on my comment lol every fight is perfection 👌
Especially the last fight scene in the workshop. That was brutal!
I think The Night comes for us is better than the Raid 2
The Raid 2 final fight is my all time favorite!
The Raid 2 is brilliant and the mud fight too!
I love the hotel fight scene in Inception, such a creative use of the circumstances of the dream being used to create incredible shots. With the characters fighting the environment as well as eachother.
This man managed to get all of my favorite fight scenes in one video. The raid, protector, ip man. This makes me happy.
Huge love :) stick around!
The bus fight in Nobody I think is the best fight scene I’ve ever seen in a movie. Also the gym fight in the season 2 of The Punisher is one of my favourites in a show.
Yes! NOBODY Is great!
I’ve always argued the choppy and shaky filming of the first Batman Begins fight made sense due to it being the first time Batman has appeared and causes confusion among the criminals he’s fighting, otherwise I hate seeing it in other fight scenes as there tends to be no sense to it
Honestly, came across your second part and decided to watch this one first and knew you were gonna make legit points as soon as I saw The Raid. Seriously great (in my opinion, objective) breakdowns and understanding of good and bad (seriously, keeping the action and impacts in camera with minimal or purposeful cuts will always be superior)
Precisely. The Batman Begins fight is a classic of the Mook Horror Show genre of fight scene. Rather than focusing on hero, like we would in most fight scenes, we are instead focusing on the goons as they get taken out. They can't keep up with what's going on, so *we* can't keep up with it either.
Corridor fight scene from "Daredevil" is truly brilliant! Unpaused fight with good choreography.
There is like 3 of them.
The greatest fight ever shown on camera is Jackie Chan vs Benny Urkides in Meals on Wheels.
The candle getting blown out was real. That's all that needs to be said.
The Raid movies and any movie with Tony Jaa has some of the best fighting I've seen in movies
I recently watched Dune 2 (put it off after not being much of a fan of the first one) but the fight between Paul and Fayd I thought was done beautifully, especially with how there was just silence. Only the sounds of their blades and them as they dueled
That IP Man scene is still one of the most insane fight sequences ever.
I love it! Although some people dont! Thanks for the comment - stick around!
That scene from the the Bourne Supremacy, "she's standing right next to you", always gives me chills.
Great video dude.
+1sub
HUGE love my friend!
Winter Soldier is arguably the best MCU movie because up until that point, Steve hadn’t really met his match in any adversary…AND THEN THE WINTER SOLDIER SHOWS UP. The action sequences alone were superb
I’m so glad you put Tony Jaa’s Protector fight scene in here!
My favorite fight scene of all time!
Subscribed!
I’d say that fight scene in Bourne Supremacy finished that way was because it was a way to censor it. Showing the antagonist’s face as it was getting choked violently and dying would’ve been too much for the movie to be rated PG-13 in the USA, hence would’ve made less money at the box office (especially at the time Hollywood executives wanted to be safe on that as much as possible)
Love the reasoning! Might be the case indeed! Still a very jarring edit :)
I always like to point out that "Does anyone wanna get out" is pure psychological warfare by Cap. Not only shows to them that they do not have the moment of surprise that they hoped for, but he shows everyone that he knows what is going to happen and that he is not afraid about it. He does not consider them as a threat. If i were one of the thugs, i would have crapped my pants at that moment.
To add a recent film, "The Beekeeper" last fight scene was absolutely brilliant, it's quite a short fight, but my god, for a second you actually think Jason's character might have met his match, no music, not too many cuts, really good
Matrix Reloaded’s fight scene in the castle is top tier choreography and cinematography
Yeah, love that scene! Watching it again, it's a bit TOO choreographed, but is still way better than a lot of fights nowadays!
@@MarcusFlemmingsI think it fits within the matrix universe. It’s not really REAL
All of the Matrix fight/action scenes are top tier. Just rewatched all three of them, and the fights scene have a touch to them that don't make them feel overly choreographed and pre-vizzed (which, to me, is what makes every fight scene nowadays look exactly the same). While the fight scenes are obviously choreographed, there isn't a single movement in them that feels _telegraphed._ In all of these hyper-martial arts movies, with all the crazy choreographed fights, the choreography is almost too apparent, as if you can see where the performers are expecting the next move. Nothing takes me out of a sequence quicker than seeing a performer anticipating the next punch, throw, or kick because they've practiced that sequence over and over again. You don't see any of that in The Matrix films. The choreography comes off as intuitive, as if they trained each performer individually and then had them go at it with each other when the cameras rolled.
They do a great job at showing how fake it is. Because its in a simulation there is no limit to what they can do.
My favorite fight scene is from the Daredevil series, episode 2. It's commonly referred to as 'the hallway fight scene'.
I love this channel! There’s so much to explore here. Thank you.
Huge love!! Do stick around!
you should have included Vince Vaughn's fights in Brawl in Cell Block 99.
Oh yes! Wow! All of them are great!!!!
Craig Zahler is such a good director he actually made a good use of Mel Gibson's piece of shit aura. Now that's an Oscar worthy job.
@@volodymyrbilyk555 He is a brilliant director - so far, I've loved all his films!
@@MarcusFlemmings Bone Tomahawk is by far the best of Kurt Russell's informal Mustache Trilogy started with Tombstone and finished with Hateful Eight. For once Kurt dusted off his lived in badass acting style and delivered realistic rough and rugged character
@@volodymyrbilyk555 video on this time, coming in the next couple of days!
Great analysis. Love your work.
The choreographers for the Raid also did the choreography for Captain America Winter Soldier.
Really?!? That's epic, if so!
My favorite MCU movie. Definitely wanting to check out the Raid movies after watching this video
Sir let me just say that your ability to explain in detail all this has changed my perception of action movies. I see now how much of an art they can be and thanks to you I will be able to understand and appreciate the scenes much more. I landed here because I just finished watching “Warrior” series on Netflix and went down a rabbit hole looking for fight scenes on UA-cam. I would like to know your thoughts on Warrior if possible. I’m a diehard horror fan and I believe there is a connection between horror and action when you enjoy blood splatter and gore. Thank you so much for your content.
I know it's maybe not the best, but i kinda like Colombiana. It's fun enough for me.
You might be the only person who says that, but love the boldness! Thanks for the comment!
There's nothing wrong with appreciating a film that most consider inferior.
Spot on regarding the Bourne films, which overall were outstanding entertainment because of the strong narrative and superior cast. But the fight scenes were difficult to watch because of the frenetic seizure-inducing jump cuts. In the clip you break down, you can see the actors moving in slow motion while the editing is used to suggest rapid movement. It doesn't work. Off the top of my head, I would have to say my favorite fight scene is the night fight between Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Zhiyi in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" for all of the reasons you list. The editing and cinematography never interferes with the action and the choreography was beautifully balletic. The brief overhead shot of their contrasting fighting styles was unforgettable. If we did a deep dive into the Hong Kong and Japanese cinema we could come up with several dozen more examples pretty quickly. "Come Drink With Me," with its magnificent tea shop fight -- which Crouching Tiger pays homage too -- deserves recognition.
Love your reference here - I didn't include Crouching Tiger because it has weapons. But what an incredible film. Do stick around!
@@MarcusFlemmings Ah OK, I misunderstood. My mind goes right to that scene on any discussion about movie fights. Love your videos and the discussions they generate. I'm in for the long haul!
@@steele41 BIG love!
Holy smokes... you call the Bourne movies fight scenes bad and praise Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?
You get the same quality fight scenes if not better from the American Ninja franchise than you do in CTHD.
My personal favourite fight scene is the one in Mad Max Fury Road.
Where Max was carrying warboy and fights with furiosa.
That was well done
Really enjoyed this, thanks for making it 🙂
HUGE love for this! Thanks for the comment, stick around!
a recent action sequence i really loved was in finchers "the killer", the house fight scene was really brutal and the sound effects were amazing.
Agreed! It's a great fight sequence in a film that's not Fincher's best. Thanks for the comment :) stick around!
The reason I don't fault the Bourne fight scenes as much as I probably should is because it matches the character and story. We get a shaky cam view because that's how Jason sees it himself. His body moves on its own, he beats people despite the lack of conscious thought behind it. That being said, it would have been infinitely better if the fight editing improved as his memory did. Instead we got a decade of rather poor fight choreography in every mainstream movie.
If you do a part two one of my favorite fight scenes is in the movie Upgrade, I'd love to see you break it down. The apartment scene in particular may be my favorite fight scene in cinema.
I also thought there were a number of fight scenes in Tenet that were improvements compared to Nolans past work (the kitchen scene with the cheese grater or the wacky fight between the protagonist and himself come to mind). It might be interesting to cover those and see how Nolan has improved as a fight director.
The Raid 1's hallways scenes always have me on the edge of my seat no matter how many times I've seen them. It may not be my absolute favorite action movie, but it sure is a hard movie to beat.
Agreed, it's a special special scene - all the scenes are! Thanks for the comment!
Yep.
Old Boy, original version of course.
Your spot on with these choices but I prefer the real fights over fast, brutal and tiring.
Films never realise that noses and cheeks collapse, eyes close and swell, enough with the perfect jaw spattered with jam.
In the Old Boy hallway everyone is knackered, broken and scared.
The alley fight in They Live certainly deserves its place in great fight history!
Idk, it's memorable sure but it's just so silly
Loved your video though the sound cut out during the Batman warehouse scene. Amazing analysis, all the way.
AMAZING comment!!
@MarcusFlemmings going to be shooting some action films in the near future so will def be applying the wisdoms you've shared.
1:47 _The Raid 2_ movie have a great fight scene.
Agreed! Thanks for the comment - stick around!
About the jason bourne scene, like you said its debatable, there i see an intent behind it, a messy camera in a messy fight, to make the spectator as confuse, lost and shaken as the protagonist, and maybe im wrong, and maybe it was poorly directed and had this effect as a coincidence, but here the way its filmed and what we can take from the scene is coherent with the film
Edit: we can argue for the nolan batmans sequence there is an intent too, batman fight with the darkness he uses the confusion of the fight to win against scared multiple opponents, cause his weapon is fear... and the way its directed tend to amplifies that
What i meant here, that a fight scene we shouldnt only take it as a choregraphy and how the sequence is filmed, but as a tool to tell something make the spectator feel or experience something
17:21 why no Audio?
Reason is in the description of the video :)
@@MarcusFlemmingsyea but you didn't need to mute your voice explaining the scene
@@motogee3796 i did, but it had the copyrighted music in the ground and UA-cam removed both - if you want the full video its on my Patreon :)
@@MarcusFlemmings i meant your voice laid over muted movie scenes would have been ok. In any case, your content is quite interesting and the narration is good engaging. Sometimes it's hard to hear you with the audio from the bg scene being too loud.
@@motogee3796 maybe watch the others in the series :) Volume 1 - ua-cam.com/video/L9_tXwsc6sk/v-deo.html
Volume 2- ua-cam.com/video/bcqaG44ppLI/v-deo.html
Volume 3 - ua-cam.com/video/RMvZNoG5Moo/v-deo.html
The final factory fight scene in "Legend of Drunken Master" is probably my all-time favorite.
Really? You didn't put Ong Bak? It started the whole ultra violent, realistic, no holds barred fight scene of today which films like The Raid, Ip Man have copied.
Love the analysis here, thanks for making a great video! I'd love to hear more detail on the goals of fight scenes and how they can diverge. For example, is a fight scene meant to be more about the stunts and showing off, or is it meant to be more realistic and gritty? How can you achieve those results and what kind of tension is there between the those two poles (or others)?
Zac Snyder's flair for action really took a nose dive in Rebel Moon. Terrible fight scenes.
HAHAHHAA! Savage - but totally agree. Slow mo doesn't help!
I think the unrated version might redeem it with more violence but ya very disappointed with both films
Agree about the Bourne Supremacy fight. The fight in the Bourne Ultimatum was better. As for Nolan’s Batman; those films are more art films than superhero films, so the fighting is understated and less comic-booky. That was the point. In a lot of the Nolan Batman fights, he purposefully made Batman look more like a real dude in armour fighting. The suit has a lack of manoeuvrability and moves very awkwardly.
I quite like the fight scenes in Serenity.
It’s really interesting that you have these two amazingly trained fighters in one film, but they never fight each other.
Ugh, that IP-Man scene is jarring. The guy is breaking limbs left-and-right, but does moves which take 5+ seconds. I don't believe it for a second.
Too bad you did not include the recent Neil Breen movie.
I'm not great remembering action-scenes, but I like Vin Diesel as Riddick, especialy in Pitch Black.
I think you have to suspend your belief a little bit, from what I've seen of martial arts experts on UA-cam (and yes there's a few legitimate ones) Wing Chun isn't supposed to be a great martial art for street fighting. However, it's very stylistic and aesthetic with lots of short sharp punches. So yeah, in terms of the movie, this guy is the best of the best who has mastered the art better then anyone else, just like how Jean Reno is the best assassin in the professional. So he's able to use the martial art in a way that nobody else could and even do superhuman feats because of it.
@@The_Greedy_Orphan if you want me to believe that fight, where a guy is literaly murdering his opponents, please don't stop the fight for several seconds to do some BS. Or just change the fight, so it's no everyone mobbing on the dude, but they are going in one-by-one.
Otherwise, it's just a bad fight.
I don't mind traditional bullshido in the coreography, but stopping the fight trying to do some Fist o the North Star in the middle of a crowd is nonsense.
That guy is only "the best", because all the opponents stand around doing nothing.
Neil Breen for the win!
i'm curious, have you seen kingsman? because in that movie there's technically a "one vs many" fight that's just about as unbelievable as the ip man fight with it's only saving grace of being believable is that the "many" in that fight scene are also fighting each other. if you haven't watched it and only want to see the fight, you could just look up "kingsman church fight"
@@Dan-neil Seen neither Kingsmand-movie (3rd is under production).
That thing aside that IP-man is supposed to be Bruce Lee's mentor, I have no problem with 1 vs many, but when your moves take 5 seconds, and you are not standing 10 meters away in a hong-kong wire-martial-arts flick, I have a problem.
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I looked up the afformentioned scene, and it's fine. I'd like more if the dude would not be invulnerable, like hitting you with a "baseball bat" SHOULD hurt, but its a many vs many fight, and the dude even changes clip. I counted the bulletts too, and it's better than the Liam Neeson flick.
It is fast, the guy knows what he is doing, and aside not reacting physicaly to being hit by a pole (happens more than once), it's a perfectly working action-scene.
Or there was that asian movie, Raid. Again: no problem, because the protagonist doesn't do impossible things (considering the frame of the genre). IP-man does.
In my opinion, a good fight scene has to be both entertaining and tell a story at the same time. For example, Jackie Chan has perfected this formula for almost all his films. First, his opponents always are someone who knows how sell a fight whether its trained martial artists or his stunt team. Secondly, he always sets up the location so we have an idea of where the action is and see the props he'll use. Then he always starts at a disadvantage whether he's outnumbered, outclassed, handcuffed, or naked so the payoff is bigger when he eventually wins. Finally, he always shoots everything very clearly- the camera is still, both fighters are always in center, and he cuts to a close up setup of a significant hit so the impact is highlighted.
8:35 hard to watch, sorry😁
makes me want to throw up tbh, the camera work is disgusting
makes me want to throw up tbh, the camera work is disgusting
Im glad that you showed Avengement, since that movie is so, so underrated.
Incredible film! Thanks for the comment and do stick around :)
You've just released part 8 - so maybe you cover this later - but Batfleck rescuing Martha is one of my favourite fights scenes - it has the best mix of gadgets and and Batman just being brutal in a fight
We're on part 10 - part 11 this Sunday!
Batman was in this video but got cut out due to copyright...however it's in Vol. 1-5 a mammoth video on the channel :)
1. There are some audio cut outs starting around 17:13 until the end.
2. Fun fact: Columbiana was originally meant to be a sequel to Leon: The Professional.
3. I try to write my fight scenes in a very cinematic way. This should help me a bit. Thank you! ❤
The point of the bourne fights wasn't to be awesome, it was to be awful. 'Look at what they make you give' was the recurring theme. The fight in the house ends with bourne committing a murder (in self-defence) that he had no desire to commit. That's why it's a damp squib.
One dude in cinema back then actually said "FATALITY" when the raid 2 protag combo'd the dude with the kerambit😂
Great analysis of the Raid 2 scene. That movie's plot blows but you're so right about the story in that fight. In fact, I would say there's even more narrative layered in there. The two characters barely know one another coming into it, but there's this growing exchange as the villain tests the hero and essentially comes to respect him. It's really well done!
Great scene! Thanks for the comment as well :) stick around!
I love your videos. As a film aficionado, I'm learning so much about the techniques and the simple things that make a difference between a good scene/filmmaking and bad.
Chuck holding chainsaw and staring the dude kindest way possible 😂😂
Legendary moment in film history!
I always find it funny when random people become masters of techniques the second a fight starts in movies
I love Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the musics, the fighting sequences, the storytelling & the action is just top notch imo
Julie Estelle versus the two female assassins "The Night Comes For Us" Is byfar one of my favorite fight scenes in recent movies. It's not drawn out too long, unlike some in this list, but allows a bit of "pause for effect". It has a perfect combination of emotions, perspective, frame size, colors, shadows, and gritty sets that adds up to beautifully atmospheric sequences.
Volume 4 is out in 2 hours, maybe this scene is in it ;-)
Great video, very much enjoyed! I agree that a lot of movies nowadays ruin fight scenes with a lot of unnecessary cuts, which can be disappointing, though I do understand that you can't exactly expect the actors to actually hit each other, however, constantly cutting away shouldn't be the solution, rather mainly good choreography and also smart camera angles is what should be the way to go I think, also I think a nice example of at least good choreography (though involving weapons) is the lightsaber fight in Phantom Menace of Maul vs Obi-Wan and Qui Gon, can't remember where I heard this but apparently the choreography was so well practiced that they had to slow the footage down?
Thank you for your work on the YT channel. I've been looking for a channel like yours many years
My pleasure! Thanks for the comment! Do stick around!
man, that ip man scene is epic because he's so fking pissed off and takes on 10 of them like a bad ass
I remember watching Winter Soldier in the theater in Disney World with my 2 best pals and knowing I was watching Mount Rushmore-worthy fight scenes unfold before my eyes. It's the only time I can consider "watching a movie" as one of the best moments of my life.
No way I didn't think you would mention Ipman, glad you did.
Absolutely, amazing fight scenes!
The hallway scene from Old Boy (2003) is one of my favorite fight scenes ever.
Great video by the way! Subscribed!
The reason the shaky cam works with fight scenes is that is brings a sense of confusion about what's happening. Which they use to create the confusion you would get in a meelee. Can work when outnumbered and things are crazy, but in on-on-one it tends to give the impression that your hero is not in control.
The most unrealistic thing in Mission Impossible is the thought that anybody could take two standing body shots from a tank like Cavill’s character and still have breath left in their lungs to go “hoo” and “hah”
I enjoyed the Raid, Raid 2, and many other martial arts movies. But part of the problem, despite good camera work and direction, is that many times they still look like choreography or even dances. It also challenges disbelief because they often take on so many people or the fight goes on for so long. Oldboy gets a pass because they're in a narrow corridor and you see it taking a toll on everybody involved. It does make a little bit more sense if you have an excuse like super powers or you throw a flashbang into the room full of guys before you walked in there and took them on.
A great fight scene makes you involuntarily tense up for the duration.
I absolutely HATED the shaky camera from the Bourne movies. Thank you for not saying they were good. lol
Yeah, it's awful!
Jet Li's old movie Black Mask is also a good showcase of character through action. He's basically Batman in this movie and he literally doesnt feel pain, but he never feels overpowered - he actually wins fights with his lateral thinking and theres a lot of feeling out in his fights simply to read an opponent and break his patterns.
Not seen this one! I'll have to give it a try! Big love for the comment!
@@MarcusFlemmings it's Tsui Hatk production with Yuen Woo Ping doing action sequences. The plot is basically a riff on Universal Soldier but with more Roadhouse Kicks and the villain is Chinese Ozzy Osbourne.
@@volodymyrbilyk555 oooo might be one to view for me!
@@MarcusFlemmings there's also a sequel that goes off the deep end into full on camp mayhem
Gr8 vid my man sound got choppy on da batman bit but hey tech right. Ah yo, new to da channel so 4gv if i missed it. plz do sum action reaction to kill bill vol 1, action music and story telling 4rm quintin too epic. Def need a zoom in on onk bak 2. a slide into da beautiful anime fight scene game and how it can be incorperated into live movies. plus da under rated fight cinematography of cut scenes in games (MGS, Mk, etc) keep up da good work ✊
The bus fight from Nobody has no business being as fun and well-executed as it is
Accident Man (2018) has a very good fight scene where the main character fights two mercenaries (who are coworkers of mc) when they were trainging judo. Also, Kingsman Origin has one of the best melee fights for me when they are fighting in the trench during the war, it's incredible, that touch that gives marv to his movies making them unique are something very special for me, seeing a nazi soldier using a metal fist with a spike its fucking awesome haha, but the atmosphere that is created in total silence is great, the fact they all agree not to use their firearms and fight to the death up close because if they do they will be riddled with bullets by both allies and enemies is simply great.
Hi there I liked your video thank you. There seems to be a problem with audio when you start to talk about Batflek, or is that just me?
Copyright
The Bourn fight scene reminded me of how George Miller approached the action in Fury Road, where he always made sure the key events were always in the centre of the shot.
So no matter how hectic the action, you didn't have to search for the most important details, your eyes were already looking at what you needed to see.
As opposed to the Bourn fight, where you were constantly searching for the details, and struggling to keep track of who was where.
Great comment! I mention this on my Bad Filmmaking vs Good Filmmaking, vol 3 video!
I think the 'not being very clear' almost works for Batman Begins though, since that's supposed to be almost how Batman operates. His whole MO. The thugs he takes down aren't very clear what happened. Some dude in a scary suit showed up out of nowhere, and dunked on them, and they're not even sure what happened, because of the fear tactics he was using. That said, I totally get what you're saying.