Top 10 Film Fist Fights
This week we count down the top 10 fistfight scenes in film.
They pack a mean punch!
10. Die Hard 2
The Scuffle: After landing on the
wing of a plane filled with terrorists, John McClane is attacked by Grant. The
punch-up ends in a grizzly way for Grant as he is sucked into the planes
propeller and, well…you know…splat.
The Scuffle: Baying for revenge over the destruction of his
traveller community, Mickey O’Neil (Brad Pitt) takes part in a bare knuckle
boxing match. It’s not a Guy Ritchie film without a slow motion fight, and in
this scene we feel every single punch, with a brutal Oasis soundtrack thrown in
for good measure.
8. Sherlock Holmes
The Scuffle: Another mention to Guy Ritchie, this time in his take
on the famous sleuth. The scene is yet another bare knuckle boxing fight, this
time however Holmes (Robert Downey Jnr) uses his intellect to predict his
opponents moves before they happen, allowing him them to unload a furore of
strategic blows before smashing him through a fence. Elementary.
7. Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Scuffle: Dr Jones’ attempts to hijack a Nazi airplane are
interrupted by a burly henchman, insisting on a one on one fistfight whilst
underneath the slowly rotating airplane. After beating Indy to the ground the
henchman stands over him victorious only to turn around and find the propeller
blades hurtling towards him. Nazi jam.
6. Fast 5
The Scuffle: Two of Hollywood’s heavyweights (literally) go toe to
toe in the form of Vin Diesel and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. This fight has
everything you expect, however the standout moment is when the two giants send
each other smashing through a concrete wall.
5. The Matrix
The Scuffle: Neo and Agent Smith prepare for a showdown in a subway
station. The pair them embark in a gravity defying, bullet-time fight that
revolutionised what could be done with a video camera. Regardless of it being
made 15 years ago, it still looks awesome today!
4. Fight Club
The Scuffle: Another regular night at Fight Club, that is until a gradually
unbalanced Edward Norton pummels Angel Face (Jared Leto) to within an inch of
his life leaving him a bloody mess. It’s not the most impressively
choreographed fight scenes, (but isn’t that the point of Fight Club?) but the
brutality of it is almost unbearable.
3. Oldboy
The Scuffle: Whilst on a mission to track down who had been keeping
him imprisoned in a hotel room for 15 years, Oh Dae-su is greeted by a small
army of henchmen in a long corridor. Oh Dae-su proceeds to clumsily bludgeon his
way through the guards with a hammer and his fists, taking a knife in the back
in the proceedings. All done in one long, glorious tracking shot.
2. Inception
The Scuffle: Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is battling with the
projections from the subconscious mind of Fischer (Cillian Murphy) in what is
essentially a giant hamster wheel. The frenzied series of events happening in
the upper levels of the subconscious mind results in hectic, frequent gravity
shifts (still with us?) The end product is one of the most visually stunning
and ambitious fight scenes in recent years. We recommend checking out how this scene was
filmed in the Blu-ray special features.
1. The Raid: Redemption
The Scuffle: A furious two on one tussle involving SWAT cops Rama
and Andi against the twisted Mad Dog. The stunningly choreographed (yes, this
was all planned!) fight lasts an incredible 5 minutes, yet it never lets your attention
waver for an instant, occasionally allowing for the odd wince and cringe. The
result was a masterpiece and pushed the boundaries of what was possible in
martial arts cinema. The genre itself may have had its golden era, however The
Raid, and particularly this scene, shows there’s life in the old dog yet.
Here is the scene in all its
brutality.
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