Fight Scenes And Movie Reviews

[Uke]

The idea for this topic came about when Mike Brewer so graciously gave the forum a review of the latest installment of the Rocky movies: Rocky Balboa. I thought it might be fun for forum members to list and discuss movies with fight scenes that they appreciated.

Let's keep it fun. Discuss as many movies as you like, but it would be great if you used a separate post for each movie you discuss. Kind of like dedicating a post to the movie and fight scene(s) you liked in it.

The movies don't have to even necessarily have to be "fight" movies. They just need to have a memorable scene that's worth talking and reminiscing about. We're not talking about gunfights though. We're talking about hand to hand combat. Knife fights. Sword fights. Any weapon except projectiles.

What I think is fun about this is that people might discuss movies that some haven't seen, and it will give them a chance to go view some movies and scenes that they haven't checked out yet.

[Uke]

First off, I'd like to say that Bruce Lee movies weren't my favorites. They were great, but I was a Shaw Brothers fan. They were the BEST IMO!!!

Wu-Tang gets all the love these days because of the rap group, but they were low budget. The Shaw Bros. movies are all classics. Here are some just to name a few:

Return to The 36th Chamber
The Spearman
Unbeatable Dragon
Fist of the White Lotus
The Kid with the Golden Arms
Ninja challenges Shaolin
The Master Killer
Crippled Avengers
The Five Deadly Venoms
Ten Tigers of Kwangtung

In their own way, I think that this genre is just as responsible for the spread of MA as Bruce Lee was. Many people grew up with the idea of learning so "special" style or technique like the Eagle claw or the Snake fist. I know that in NY back in the 70's and 80's, you couldn't find a kid on the street on Saturdays between 3:00-5:00pm. That was the kung fu hour on channel 5.

If you've never seen this genre before and can stand the cheesy acting a bad special effects, I'd suggest checking it out. For most people its about nostalgia, but all in all these films are all classics. Try and get the films I listed as these are a few of the best and most popular. If you're interested in anymore after that just ask.

Good Luck and enjoy!

[Uke]

The first film I'd like to mention is the Presidio. Its not a fight film, although its a decent story and how bad could it be with Sean Connery?

Well I'm sure that anyone who's seen it knows where I'm going with this. And those who haven't may have heard about it.

There's a scene in the Presidio where Sean Connery and Mark Harmon are sitting in a bar when all of a sudden a couple of guys appear, of course acting loud and drunk. One of the guys comes over and starts antagonizing Connery. He begins touching him and threatening him. To get to the point, Connery tells the man that he can beat him up using just his thumb. Connery proceeds to beat the shit out of this guy with just thumb jabs. If you haven't seen it, its amazingly effective. The poor guy just gets hammered all over the place by Connery's thumb.

As far as fight scenes go, this is a classic, and that's why I wanted to do this first. There are no special effects. No wires. No complicated choreography. Just Connery using a single thumb on soft tissue and decimating the guy. Check it out if you can.

Even though the fight sequence isn't very long, its still impressive and shows how effective simple methods can be, even when an older man is using it. I'd rate the scene a 4 out of 5 for its impressive simplicity and the fact that Connery sold the scene completely.

[DickHardman]

heres the best fight scene in movie ever, its from They Live.

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

enjoy

[Uke]

heres the best fight scene in movie ever, its from They Live.

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

enjoy

Great scene, DickHardman! I just wish you wrote about it in your own words a bit more. Great stuff nontheless.

[Tom Yum]

Uke, I am extremely pleased at your selection of Master Killer. That's got to be one of the best kung-fu flicks ever.

I'll add to that The Perfect Weapon with Jeff Speakman.

[Garland]

Wu-Tang gets all the love these days because of the rap group, but they were low budget. The Shaw Bros. movies are all classics. Here are some just to name a few:

Return to The 36th Chamber
The Spearman
Unbeatable Dragon
Fist of the White Lotus
The Kid with the Golden Arms
Ninja challenges Shaolin
The Master Killer
Crippled Avengers
The Five Deadly Venoms
Ten Tigers of Kwangtung

WU TANG CLAN KICKS ASS...they re-dubbed all that shit...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY4g-avcqLc

[Uke]

Uke, I am extremely pleased at your selection of Master Killer. That's got to be one of the best kung-fu flicks ever.

I'll add to that The Perfect Weapon with Jeff Speakman.

Loved that movie. To my knowledge, its the first action movie that really highlighted American kempo as the style of the leading actor. But why not talk about a specific sequence in the moviem, Tom? I'd love to not only read about which action sequence you choose, but your take on it. I have a ton of other movies I'd love to add, but I'm holding off to give others a chance to name and discuss them.

But great pick in The Perfect Weapon, Tom.

[Uke]

WU TANG CLAN KICKS ASS...they re-dubbed all that shit...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY4g-avcqLc

Never been a big fan of Wu Tang. They were like knock-offs of Shaw Bros IMO. But which movie of the Wu Tang variety is your favorite, Garland?

[DickHardman]

Great scene, DickHardman! I just wish you wrote about it in your own words a bit more. Great stuff nontheless.

well, this fight scene was from a cheesy sci fi movie called They Live. it may be cheesy with bad special effects, but its actually a pretty entertaining movie with a cool plot. its about roddy piper, the white guy, who finds a pair of sunglasses that once worn, shows the true world for what it really is. so when the guy puts on the glasses, he can see that some of his fellow human beings are really aliens, and billboard signs that look like regular ads say things like "consume, buy, conform" etc. so by discovering these glasses, he realizes that the earth has been invaded by aliens who work to keep us in our places, and so he embarks on an adventure to save the world from aliens. this movie was a mojor influence on duke nukem the video game, as well as the simpsons video game from nintendo were bart used sunglasses to spot the aliens.

in the fight scene roddy piper is trying to get his friend to believe him that aliens have taken over by trying to get him to wear the glasses.

the fight scene has been parodied by many other shows since its release, including the cripple fight on southpark.,

[DickHardman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eLV630w4yI

more they live clips

best one liner of all time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp_K8prLfso

[Uke]

well, this fight scene was from a cheesy sci fi movie called They Live. it may be cheesy with bad special effects, but its actually a pretty entertaining movie with a cool plot. its about roddy piper, the white guy, who finds a pair of sunglasses that once worn, shows the true world for what it really is. so when the guy puts on the glasses, he can see that some of his fellow human beings are really aliens, and billboard signs that look like regular ads say things like "consume, buy, conform" etc. so by discovering these glasses, he realizes that the earth has been invaded by aliens who work to keep us in our places, and so he embarks on an adventure to save the world from aliens. this movie was a mojor influence on duke nukem the video game, as well as the simpsons video game from nintendo were bart used sunglasses to spot the aliens.

in the fight scene roddy piper is trying to get his friend to believe him that aliens have taken over by trying to get him to wear the glasses.

the fight scene has been parodied by many other shows since its release, including the cripple fight on southpark.,

Excellent review, DickHardman. Cheesy or not, I love that movie and think that the concept was great considering special effects back then weren't what they are now. That fight was boxing meets the WWF. My favorite part was when Piper executes the suplex. Both times Classic.

[Uke]

Okay. This one's not a martial arts film, but it's one of my favorites, and I like the fight scenes a great deal because of their visceral and realistic nature. I'm talking about Mel Gibson's "The Patriot." That was one of the best movies for putting together fight scenes that told the story as well as the dialogue did. When Mel Gibson's character loses his son and the Dragoons burn his farm and house, he takes his youngest boys and ambushes the British. He sets up rifles along a hillside and moves under cover of his sons' fire to various positions to confuse and disorient his opponent. I liked that because it showed the nature of early America against a far superior Army. He then closed with them and fought with a knife and a tomohawk. His technique was obviously not some product of martial arts training, but a solid interpretation of his character by Gibson. Whether or not he learned some martial arts to play the role, he moved and acted like a seasoned soldier with a vendetta, and his attacks on the soldiers mirrored his shooting from the hillside. And when he finally pinned the soldier down in the stream and let loose, you could really see the rage of a father who just had to hold his dying son in front of his murderer. I liked that the psychology of the man was incorporated into the fight, and I think that's often the missing link in martial arts or straight action films. The action is for action's sake, and not as a part of the character or story.

Another Mel Gibson movie I liked for the same reason was the first Lethal Weapon movie. The camera work in that movie has become the standard in Hollywood now, with the unsteady camera and close-ups of the action, but it was really one of the first to do it that way, and I think it helped bring you into the fight a little. I also liked that you could see Mel's martial arts consultant's work, but that he made the techniques look realistically "fight ugly." Most people are well aware that Lethal Weapon was one of the first Hollywood pictures to include Gracie Jiujitsu (Rorion was consultant), so it would have been easy for fights to look like commercials for Rorion's school. Still, they added the weapons and striking aspect, and again, Mel played the character and the fights consistent with one another.

Both great films and great fights!

Awesome review, Mike. I've never seen the Patriot, but by the way you reviewed it, I've just set my Tivo to record it the next time it comes on. This topic has already paid off for me!

I knew about Rorion choreographing the final fight scene when Mel slapped on the triangle choke. That scene is classic and at the same time gritty because the cops were standing by watching while the water from the hydrant made it seem like it was raining. My favorite scene from that movie was when Mel busted in to save Rog and his daughter. He snapped that guys neck and kept moving. He was like the Tasmanian Devil!

Great review Mike.

Do another real soon.

[Tom Yum]

Loved that movie. To my knowledge, its the first action movie that really highlighted American kempo as the style of the leading actor. But why not talk about a specific sequence in the moviem, Tom? I'd love to not only read about which action sequence you choose, but your take on it. I have a ton of other movies I'd love to add, but I'm holding off to give others a chance to name and discuss them.

But great pick in The Perfect Weapon, Tom.

One of my favorite scenes is when Speakman goes into that Korean TKD gym and takes on that TKD guy, gets inside of his kicks and starts using his hands in the way a kenpo stylist does.

[Uke]

The Hunted

I'd like to do another review. This next movie is fairly recent, but the fighting choreography was top notch. If you intend on watching this movie, this review may contain spoilers.

The movie I'm doing a review of is "The Hunted", starring Benicio Del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones. The movie is about a "unofficial" rogue operative who loses control and begins killing civilians after completing several black op missions for the government.

The powers that be then make a call to get Jones, a master tracker, combatives instructor and survival expert, to go find and apprehend Del Toro, who is equally trained in the same methods that Jones is.

The movie is a cat and mouse game, with Jones always in hot pursuit of Del Toro. "The Hunted" is excellent in that so many different aspects of combat and survival are in it. You get to see awareness at its best. There's unarmed combat. There's improvised weapons. There's tons of CQC.

The choreography is very, very impressive because its done by a man who is the head of his family style, Chris Sayoc of Sayoc Kali. The fighting sequences are basically Sayoc transition drills, but with all the Hollywood acting which makes it very dramatic.

Tom Brown was also a consultant on this movie. If anyone here is unfamiliar with Tom Brown, he's the owner of The Tracker School in NJ and an expert on tracking and survival methods.

IMO, the creators of this film went the whole nine yards to give "The Hunted" a strong feeling of authenticity. They hired a tracking expert to make sure that the tracking and survival methods that both Del Toro and Jones used were real. Then, they hired a Sayoc Kali expert to create free flowing choreography using empty hands and weapons. If you haven't seen the Sayoc two man transition drills, you're in for a treat as two men are constantly attacking and checking for angles to attack.

**Spoiler**
My favorite fight scene in this flick would have to be the fight at the end. Jones has finally tracked and caught up with Del Toro, and both are wielding improvised knives. They show you Del Toro and Jones each making their knives for the inevitable showdown. When they finally get it on, Del Toro executes Sayoc Kali's projectile attack by throwing a makeshift wooden dagger at Jones, making him fall off a cliff and into a river. When Jones recovers and gets back to shore, Del Toro lets Jones catch up to him, and tries the projectile attack again. Jones blocks and one of the most impressive CQ knife fights begins. Its a thing of beauty. The fight scenes in this movie are superior to some other movies IMO because the fight sequences are smooth, and not sped up to the point where things become blurry and difficult to make out.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys FMA or tracking and survival sciences. Hell, if you just love kick ass movies, this one's for you. There's another movie I already have in mind to review, but I want to give somebody else a chance before I give it a go.