What are Your Favorite Fight Scenes?

[Wraith]

Note: It can be from anything. Games. Movies. Anime. Cartoons. Whatever. As long as guys and gals beating the crap outta eachother.

Everything is filled with fight scenes nowadays, but at the same time it's rare that one sticks out in your head as memorable, or even the highlight of an entire work. Even in action movies a lot of the action can wind up being considered forgettable. Makes me appreciate the ones that stick out much more.

 

 

I have a lot of favorites. Here's one of them: 

 

 

Daredevil is really different from most of Marvel's output. Instead of the fast paced, breezy feel of their movies, Daredevil is a slow burn. A very raw and real show in contrast. I like how Daredevil just barely manages to take out the five thugs, stopping and resting every chance he gets. It's really creatively shot too. I also love how the thugs don't go down in one hit and keep standing back up. Daredevil's powers give him an advantage, but barely.

This is only one of my favorites though. There was a lot to like just looking at the past few years alone. What are some of your favorites?

 

 

Edited December 14, 2015 by Wraith

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

I like this fight scene

i dont know but its just so badass. and the accodian player never stops playing  lol

[ThePrinceOfSaiyans]

My favorite fight scenes are the original Goku vs Vegeta and Goku vs Freeza. As for fight scenes outside Dragon Ball, hmm, Wan vs Vaatu was pretty cool. I also really dug Korra vs Zaheer and Aang vs Ozai. I also can't go without mentioning Vader vs Luke in Empire Strikes Back. 

[Gregzilla]

There are three things I look for in a good fight scene:

1.  Characters we care about.  You can have all the special effects and kickass choreography in the world, but if I don't care about WHO is punching each other or WHY they're punching each other, then I don't care HOW they're punching each other. 

2.  Visuals.  If you've got #1 down, now it's time to make the fight look cool, or at least fitting of the story.  If it's a fun action movie, make it fast-paced and exciting.  Show what the characters are feeling through their movement and facial expressions.  Have a good backdrop with an appropriate color scheme to fit the level of intensity.

3. Music.  I almost started this section with "not as important as the other two" but to me, music is very important.  Great music can propel a fight scene to new heights, and bad music can ruin one.  And sometimes no music at all is just what a fight needs.  It all depends on what the story has been leading up to, and what tone they want to set.

And the fight that I think embodies these three attributes best is (AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER SPOILERS)

Zuko Vs. Azula, the Last Agni Kai

 

Whenever I talk about why TLA is my favorite show, this is the first scene that comes to mind.  This fight isn't just incredible to look at, but it is a perfect end to a great villain and it's completely backed by emotion.  The firebending itself looks amazing, but that's not why it's a great fight.  Just look at the little facial expressions going on.  Zuko does his best to maintain his composure, but Azula is clearly losing it.  This is the most volatile she's ever been, and the animators did a sublime job of visually showing how much of a wreck she's become.  Her fighting is sloppy, her hair is a mess, her eyes are both terrifying and pitiful, and she's practically lost control of her body, as shown when she jerks around while laughing, which is my favorite piece of animation of all time.

And then there's the absolutely beautiful music.  For a fight involving explosions and fire flying everywhere, they easily could have gone for a generic action theme, but instead we get a soft string piece with a very slow rhythm and a melancholy tone.  It keeps the fight from being just a fight, and instead turns it into an emotional highlight.

I could go on all day about why this fight is good, but really, it's why this entire show is good.  They use every asset they have - writing, animation, sound, and music - and turn it into something unforgettable.  

[Polkadi~☆]

I don't have many favourite fight scenes, but one of my favourites of all time is maybe Saitama vs Genos. The level of detail and intensity is just awesome.

[Soniman]

Captain America Winter Soldier.

u-umm a-all of them?

Edited December 14, 2015 by Soniman

[Wraith]

Welp. Someone mentioned The Winter Soldier. Time to talk about that scene.

Captain America always hit that sweetspot for me. Strong, but not invincible. It's why his fight scenes are always the best. The Winter Soldier can go one to one with him, though. The result is a fight scene that's short but INSANELY good. The choreography. The cinematography. The music. The sounds. It's SO GOOD. All the action in this movie is, but watching Cap face off against an equal is as satisfying as you'd expect. 

 

[Blusolyn]

The hallway fight scene from Inception. It just blew my mind. Tried putting the video in my post but had some trouble. : /

 

Edited December 14, 2015 by ebongrey23

[Forte-Metallix]

This is a no-brainer: The final battle of Kung Fu Panda 2:

 

The first half is climactic and shows how much Po has grown as a character. He defeats Lord Shen by doing the impossible, whilst maintaing his simultaneously goofy and badass demeanor!

The second half starts when Shen refuses to let go of the past, making him a perfect foil. He ultimately fulfills his own prophecy of defeat, proving Oogway's words in the first film: "One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it."

The reason I love this fight so much is because it perfectly ties all the movie's themes together: finding peace, determining one's own fate, and the "yin-yang" symbol announcing the finishing blow. Most of all: DAT. MUSIC!

[Shasonsil]

Every single fight scene from the live action Rurouni Kenshin movies (known to most people as Samurai X).

 

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2015 by Shasonsil

[FriendBot]

AW YEAH! A topic I can so get down with. You see, as a regular viewer of Tamil cinema. You can expect a bunch of fight scenes, you got your ridiculously over-the-top fight scenes, where people fly all over the place with one punch (yes, Tamil cinema is the original One Punch Man) but as the times went on, they've became a lot more stylized. Some fight scenes are great for many things, some because of solid cinematography, how it compliments the movie and many other reasons. 

I could've chose a better fight scene to properly represent Tamil cinema's fight scenes but that would probably spoil movie a bit. 

So we I've chose is from one from my top favorite movie of 2014, Kaththi (Knife in Tamil).

What I liked about this fight is how fast-paced it was because the fight began without knowing what the heck is going to happen. First it starts off as some stupid interview but then dunking on gets real. Also I liked how the main hero was so shocked to see all this happen at first and acts pretty quirky in the fight as well, got me some Sonic vibes from it so a plus for me.

But yeah, this is only just the beginning. Expect to post a lot more fight scenes from my fav Tamil movies!

 

[Kaze no Klonoa]

If we're talking about video games, we gotta talk about one of the stupidest, most longest, and best fighting scene in gaming history ever. Well, not exactly the best, but it's still insanely stupid. And fun.

(MGR spoilers I guess)

yes, we are talking about this.

To start, you begin fighting a large Metal Gear (again), complete with moments where you fucking take its arm apart and finish off the entire thing with it. Out comes Senator Armstrong, who's revealed to helm the Metal Gear and is responsible for a lot of the events in the story all in the name of gaining capital and votes for his election to become US president. You'll hear both his and Raiden's cringey monologues and watch as Armstrong and Raiden beat the living shit out of each other all while basically fighting in a political debate.

The boss battles with Armstrong are decent fights as well, although they aren't "toppling" Metal Gears, they are intense fights that are a satisfying challenge. This is if you're playing it on anything past Hard mode.

It is enjoyably silly, completely unexpected, stupid as hell, and a great bash. Each beatdown from the two in the cutscenes had a satisfying punch to it, the boss fight sequences were intense, and this is all while they are talking about political agendas and presidential elections. Satisfying and stupid. It's also filled with a lot of memes.

 

 

[Sean]

I don't know if it's my favorite, but the highlight of FMA 2003 for me was actually its final battle: Edward vs Envy.

 

Everything about this fight is perfect. It's not as flashy as some of the other choices I could have picked, but it's one of those scenes I'm always on the edge of my seat for no matter how many times I watch it with the appropriate build-up. Envy is a pretty powerful fighter in 2003, but he successfully targets all of Ed's emotional weakpoints by mimicking Mustang, Hughes, and others in an attempt to break his morale piece by piece. Ed doesn't let up though, but the huge shock comes from Envy revealing his true face and Ed learning about the relation they share. It's the perfect reveal right before Envy delivers the killing blow, and the somber music that accompanies it is harrowing; it haunts me whenever I think about it.

It's by far one of, if not the most emotionally heavy moment of the entire first anime for me. That's what I loved about 2003. It had much less focus on the fight sequences than Brotherhood, and they were a lot less flashy too. But what was there was still damn impressive and each fight felt like it had a huge amount of meaning to it.

[Drunk Michael Myers]

Captain America always hit that sweetspot for me. Strong, but not invincible. It's why his fight scenes are always the best. The Winter Soldier can go one to one with him, though. The result is a fight scene that's short but INSANELY good. The choreography. The cinematography. The music. The sounds. It's SO GOOD. All the action in this movie is, but watching Cap face off against an equal is as satisfying as you'd expect. 

 

Was gonna mention that one. 

Also:

[Phos]

I always found the "oil scene" from the first transporter to be really memorable:

 I also dug "Hero":

And one that I basically can't link to, because it takes place over the course of a half hour OVA episode, the Fight between Kakyoin & Polnareff vs Hol Horse and The Hanged Man.  It's both a challenge of their wits and includes a lot of important character moments.  A real highlight of the serise.  I recommend the OVA for not burying the action in a merciless torrent of words like the new anime.  

Oh, and this is a fight scene you need to know about:

Man star trek fight scenes are the "best".  Did you know that in the only hand to hand engagement Picard ever won, he used a saddle as a weapon?

And I can't find a clip of my last pick, from the Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe, the scene is a shot for shot remake of the normandy landing scene from saving private ryan, but 1. It's happening on the shore of England, 2. The French are the ones doing it and are the bad guys, and 3. I saw this movie in the theater and could not stop loudly laughing during this scene.  You can get an idea from this scene though, and keep in mind that this is about the second time robin hood uses his bow:

And if there are any people who follow me creepily close enough to recall how much I like "Conan the Barbarian", that's really not what that movie was about.   

[Danj86]

I'm not much of a fight scene enthusiast, I don't really find them very memorable. Unless it's from a Jackie Chan film. Being able to balance a serious fight with comedy must be a pretty challenging thing.

Another pretty good example of this is from a show I can no longer tolerate, but did like years back.

They are fights that I enjoy that don't need to be comical or feature Jackie Chan. Those really bizarre, totally crazy, what the hell kind of fights. Games like Metal Gear Rising, Bayonetta and Devil May Cry have these in spades. One that I found most memorable comes from Devil May Cry 3.

 

[RustyRick]

Fight scenes I really enjoyed in media? There are very few ones since I don't usually watch movies or series for the combat, unless there are creative ways to spruce up the fighting and it won't drag on for too long. The stakes at hand or otherwise just the sheer badness of the scene intended to come off as intense but coming across as awful amuses me too. To give a example of the last one:

- Well, first off, Phos, while I don't really watch Star Trek at all, to counter your awesome Kirk Vs. Spock fight, here's a scene I stumbled across a couple of years ago that still looks rather...amusing in it's own right, and shows us Kirk's early martial arts capabilities in a fight to the death with a horrifying monster straight out of Power Rangers.

Star Rangers: Kirk vs. Godzilla

The Shrek 1 Robin Hood fight was pretty memorable to me as well because of the funny spoof it did of the Matrix, and the sudden martial arts combat showcase of Fiona as well, plus that accordeon player not stopping cracked me up too.

And the only one that comes up to my mind in terms of a fight scene that's most memorable but also done in a serious manner, was in Beast Wars with Dinobot taking on the entire Predacon force assaulting the valley of the proto-humans to buy time for the Maximals to arrive there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SepcT0KtUM

Most Transformer fans might not like Beast Wars much due to the polarizing setup of animal forms rather than vehicles, but this part from the series really stuck out for me, as while most previous encounters between the Maximals and Predacons were usually just played straight for the action, this one has Dinobot trying to outsmart and deal with almost the entire enemy force by himself, and curbstomps his former boss with a clever surprise attack and rights his wrongdoing by destroying the disc he gave to Megatron.

(Scenes are edited, but this is the only one of good quality and to the point I could find on YouTube)

Edit: How do I make the video's pop up alongside the post? If someone can explain me briefly, much appreciated.

Edited December 15, 2015 by RustyRick

[FriendBot]

Holy crap dood, it's been a LONG ASS TIME since this someone posted in this topic. Obviously, a lot of people are immediately going to say the Airport Fight Scene in Civil War now (and for good reasons, that was fucking amazing man!). But as the guy that doesn't always stick to the norm, I decide to keep my promise on showcasing some more fight scenes from Tamil movies.

And I can't say with the utmost assurance that I can really show off a whole lot of them. But there is ONE fight that I always remember when I recall what makes a really cool fight scene. And yep, it's from Kaththi once again (I promise I will use another movie, give me a break here man)

This fight man, it's so good! So situation, the hero has to deal with like 50 goons on his own while he has to make sure the elders living in the home are safe (Just watch the movie guys, you'll get it). And what does he do to get the upper edge? Coins, fucking coins. The hero asks his friend to lock the rooms to the elders to make sure they're safe of course, second he tells him that to switch the main power of the house. Whenever he flips a coin and hears a sound, he should turn on the power for a second and quickly turn off soon after. He needs to do this whenever he hears a coin flip, when the hero drops a lot of coins, keep the power on. Got it memorized? Cool! Now let's talk about why this scene is so memorable to me!

First, the small but pretty effective buildup to the fight. You guys obviously do not speak Tamil one bit but the setup (hopefully) tells you exactly what you need to know and how the hero is going to deal with it. And also that really sweet and short quiet moment where he locks the gate, it's so deliciously spine-chilling! Also THAT BGM MAN, I can't believe I forgot to mention that in my previous post! Kaththi is one of the few Tamil movies that I love to listen to its BGM to and so can you, Anirudh nailed the music when it comes to this scene. It starts off pretty slow but has a sick beat too and it kicks it up to match the badassery you're witnessing right now. 

I mean, what else can I say? It's a damn good fight scene, now let's see if I can find another fight scene that's really good that's not from Kaththi then. XD

 

 

[caseykz]

This is the first thing i thought of. Very smash bros. i like. 

Characters i care about? Check. Emotional bits? Check. Visuals? Old school and fitting.

Actually don't really know how the creator is going to top this though. 

[Hyp3hat]

I could pick any Bruce Lee fight tbh. Give him a pair of Nunchaku and he's off.

[MetalSkulkBane]

From cartoons:

1 Pretty much every episode of Spectacular Spider-man. Movement is beautiful and this show had great ideas how to keep fights interesting

2 Samurai Jack had many great fights thanks to it unique art style, but one that stood with me is "Samurai Vs Ninja", the battle of lights and shadows.

 

3 Steven Universe, Garnet Vs Jasper. I wouldn't recommend it for not-fans though, it would lack the emotional weight.

4 Everything with General Grevious in Tartakovsky's Star Wars: Clone Wars. Screw his movie version.

 

[Ratcicle King]

The fight against the killer in Persona 4 Golden Animation

Spoilers for Persona 4 :

Spoiler

Adachi lied this entire time, pretended to be your friend, and commited horrible attrocities, here we see his true side, facing Yu in a long and brutal battle, we also learn that Adachi is a lot similar to Yu, the key difference being that Yu managed to make friends in the end, while Adachi was left to rot, feeling like Yu took from him the only bonds he had, making both characters clashing right there, right now a powerful scene, Adachi trying to show Yu his ideals about reality, and Yu trying to prove him wrong, all while their personas go at it, Yu having to use almost one persona of each arcana to counter Adachi's powerful Magatsu Izanagi, ending with both just going at it on a fist fight in the end, where there's nothing but raw emotion and hate until one of them is declared winner.

The theme playing, Yin Yang, while narmy, does help with the feel of the fight, just like the battle is also an argument, the intense battle theme is an argument too, between two sides trying to win a discussion, trying to prove the other wrong.

 

[E-122-Psi]

Optimus Prime vs Megatron in Transformers The Movie. Need more be said?

Well actually more can be said. Come to think about it, count the whole damn battle on Autobot City. Opinions of the movie and it's rotation of the cast are infamous, but if they didn't make this battle as intense as possible (it's helps it's one of those shows that makes both sides rather likeable). And while the 80s synth sounds aged now, it complements the whole battle so very much:

 

 

[Jack / Joker]

Who didn't love the airport battle scene from Captain America: Civil War. Hoho, that Ant-Man, so quirky and et cetera, WELL GUESS WHAT I AIN'T HERE TO TALK ABOUT THAT MOVIE

Yes, this is a post about nobody's favourite superhero movie of 2016, Batman v. Superman: Legend of the Crystal Coconut.

So Batman finds out Superman's dear old Ma Kent is being held hostage by Anatoly Kynazev/KGBeast, and the Darkknight Detective rushes to her rescue in his Batwing. Handing control over to his dear old butler Alfred, he dives into the building through the window and makes his move.

There's about ten Russian mooks there, armed and pinned to the door. The KGBeast is threatening poor old Ma Kent with a flamethrower. The only music playing is the sound of a pained scream. It's a tense moment, but none of the above is exactly why. It's tense because you know what's about to happen to them all.

Batman explodes through the floor, disarming all of their weapons with his gadgets, and proceeds to lay some hate. The speed and ferocity of our vigilante antihero are enough to make average viewers and comics-lovin' nerds wet their pants (for two very different reasons) as Batman tears the entire room apart and everyone in it.

While he may just be a man punching stuff, he comes across as a supernatural monster as he flies across the room, ending the helpless heavily armed and dangerous mercenaries one by one with increasing brutality. One tries a grenade, and Bats bats it aside. Said mook leaps on the explosion, as it's probably a much nicer fate than the alternative. Guns are pointless, as Batsy is shot repeatedly and it only seems to make him angrier. They have a bit more effect when he uses their guns against them though.

They pile up and finally floor him, tearing at his cape for dear life and even stabbing him in the shoulder. Batman gets up, somehow, and vengefully impales that mook with his own knife. He finishes the job by hurling the last one into the wall. Yes. He beats people so hard the walls and floor shatter.

The KGBeast and his sole bodyguard tremble at the noise. Batman bursts through the wall and uses the guard's weapon on the flamethrower, fearless of the results (Kynazev on the other hand appeared too afraid to use it at first), and leaps out of the window with Ma Kent. The building is destroyed. Everyone inside is dead, dying or crippled.

The reason this scene hits me is that it communicates the essential traits of the character in a FIGHT. We see this ferocious, damaged, vengeful blood knight, determined to the point of being unstoppable, and I don't care how many of those idiots were, realistically, killed in the process (Batman doesn't kill people in the comics so he claims, but brutality to the point of obvious murder is pretty normal to him. You kind of just have to nod politely when he talks about his One Rule), this fucking magnificent beatdown embodies Batman in the way these terrible movies have never come close to with Superman.

Bats, you scary.

[MetalSkulkBane]

Update on my part. I start watching RWBY recently. It's great show and worth watching for fights alone.

If you're not sure if it is for you just watch this.