Action films generally get a bad rep but I love me some action films. Sure, every time a film like 'The Expendables' comes along, the medium of film is perhaps sullied. However, action movies can be high concept, high calibre, well executed films. Maybe we can't quite say for every 'Transformers 2', there's an 'Inception' or 'The Matrix' but "action" (if used as a genre label) needn't be looked down upon.
In what I hope well be a fairly regular feature, I'll be showcasing some of my favourite fight scenes.
The Matrix
Where else could we start but with this ground breaking action film? This scene pits Agent Smith against Neo for the first time. "He's beginning to believe". And so were we. The choreography here is brilliant, showcasing styles which many audiences were unfamiliar with and leaving us gasping for more.
X2
Not only is Bryan Singer's sequel to the first 'X-Men' film is arguably the pinnacle of superhero movies but it also contains one of the most brilliant opening scenes ever filmed. The way Singer manages to film Nightcrawler's attempt to assassin the US President is magnificent, with the audience never lost amongst the frenzy.
Monty Python & The Holy Grail
I'm sure you're all familiar with 'Monty Python' and I'd hope you would have seen this wonderful film, perhaps my favourite comedy ever. If you haven't then "you make me sad". But anyway, this is a handy introduction to the humour of the film and actually contains two fight scenes - the first contextualising the Black Knight as a "fearsome warrior" and the second being somewhat ridiculous but completely hilarious.
Kill Bill Volume I
Speaking of ridiculous, The Bride's mauling of the Crazy 88's is off-the-scale (in terms of blood-spray, especially). In fact, the blood was so bad that they had to greyscale the colour of the scene in America so it wouldn't receive a NC-17 rating. The version I'm linking to is in glorious colour and all the more ridiculous for it. Quentin Tarantino, from the sublime to the....
Blade
Before we only had vampire films suitable for teenage virgins, we had 'Blade'. Blade is half human/half vampire (half amazing?), and dedicates his life to killing vampires. This intro scene demonstrates his unerring ability for his life's work. The effects hold up well enough too, which is a bonus.
Let me know about some of your favourite fight scenes in the comments below!
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