The thorough ass kicking of the redneck by Vin Diesel in Knockaround Guys.
Bruce Willis beating the hell out of the pimp with the telephone in 12 Monkeys
The fighting from the Cop Dojo scene all of the way up to fighting the twins in Kiss of the Dragon. The scene in the shop with that big, wheaties eating black dude was pretty good too.
Just about any fight scene from Hamburger Hill.
And for the chuckles…
The underwater bar brawl in Top Secret. I especially enjoy the part where Val Kilmer nipples twists his enemy and lifts him. I know it’s underwater but still, that’s gotta hurt
A few years ago on WWF (groan, yes I know), when Shane McMahon was the heel owner and had assembled about 10 other heels as his syndicate, and had them all in the ring as he was doing his megalomaniac I-am-God speech…Mick Foley (as Mankind) comes out with Ken Shamrock, Test and Big Show, and they’re all carrying 2x4s and have “I wanna fuck somebody up” expressions on their faces.
Foley gets out the mike and talks about how Shane cut his paycheck as well as the other guys behind him. They decided to form a union so that they wouldn’t be subject to unfair wage laws anymore.
“We don’t have a fancy name,” continues Foley. “We don’t have any initials that form words like SAG or MADD or anything like that. We’re just a Union of People You Oughtta Respect. Oh wait a second, that does make a word, it stands for UP YOURS!!!”
Then they charge the ring with their 2x4s, get into a big brawl, and clear everybody out. It was the funniest thing I ever seen in rasslin’.
The opening battle scene of Gladiator between the Roman Legions and the Germanic Tribes. Especially gratifying as the depection of the effects of the archery barrages and the catapults. Nasty.
Martial Arts wise- the Drucken Master series of movies really had the right balance of action, humor and amazing moves.
Also, the Band of Brother’s depiction of the D-Day drops, and attack of the artillery position were very good indeed.
I have to agree with the opening scenes in Gladiator. One of the best army-sized “medieval” battles I’ve ever seen. The use of all three major elements of an army, tied together seamlessly.
I lost my suspension of disbelief in LOTR: Two Towers at the Battle of Helm’s Deep. Rohan, the home of the mounted warrior, and there is no use of cavalry.
The orcs are using archers, catapults and ballistae (artillery), but the heroes don’t have many archers until the elves show up. And no ballistae or catapults.
Other excellent battle scenes are the 2 sea battles at the beginning of Master and Commander. Skillful seamanship and plain luck of the draw puts the Acheron in the upwind position of the Surprise, giving the first 2 encounters to the French.
The deceptions in the final battle leave a bit to be desired, but it’s cool to see the fight.
The factory fighting in Joseph Vilsmaier’s Stalingrad (1993) is grim and draining. The skirmish between penal battalion soldiers and Russian tanks on the snow-covered steppes is also pretty realistic.
The warehouse motorcycle raid and hospital finale in John Woo’s Hard Boiled (1992) is more “satisfying” in that it’s a lot more unrealistic, paced for drama and with near-superhuman feats of accuracy by The Good Guys.
Not satisfying to me, specifically, but to WWII-era Russian audiences:
The battle on the ice scene from Sergei Eisenstein’s Aleksandr Nevsky (1938). It’s no Braveheart, and by today’s standards it’s almost comical. However, it’s a good example of both 30s-era filmmaking and what a disorganized battle of 13th-century Russian peasants would look like.
MOO?
I have a wierd image of Space Cows with blasters. Grim visaged bulls in a bovine-frenzy dodging beams glittering in the dark by the Tannhauser Gate.
You do realise that other than the head hits, Roddy Piper and Keith David were doing it for real in that scene?
Eliphalet: the big bitch about Helm’s Deep isn’t that the Rohirrim don’t use cavary; they’re under siege, at the place where they go when facing an army too big to fight in the traditional manner. No, the big bitch is that not only did Gandalf and Eomer’s force charge down an incredibly steep scree slope - which would have led to a broken leg for every horse - but they did so into the face of levelled pike. Pikes are specifically designed to stop horsemen.
I’d also appreciate it if people would stop fucking mentioning Gladiator’s opening battle, which is one of the most unrealistic ever committed to (or on) celluloid. Any Roman commander who led his legion into the forest and had them fight out of formation would have been crucified along the Appian Way as the shit incompetent bastard he was. This goes for Gladiator On A Boat as well - he would have been lynched by his own crew if he tried that shit on.
After that little rant, I suppose I should pick a favourite battle of my own. Tough choice, and I reserve the right to remember a different battle later, but the back half of the Crow wiping out Top Dollar’s henchmen is pretty damned good. And the lobby fight in The Matrix, of course.
Watch again. Just before the calvary reaches the line of pikes, Galdalf casts a spell that blinds the orcs. Most of the pikes are dropped or lifted out of position right as the armies meet. At least that’s how I remember it.
Gotta say that I’m kinda torn between my favourites.
The Matrix and Equilibrium both tie in the One vs. Many category. Both did an excellent job of making the fights seem beautiful and almost like the combatant was dancing.
Though The Matrix had good one on one combat, I think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Equilibrium beat it out. CT,HD for the dojo combat scene mentioned above by a few of you. My girlfriend at the time was watching it with me. When Yeoh turned around with that huge, almost unadorned, two-handed sword and stood perfectly still staring at Ziyi we both leaned forward and said, “Yes!” almost in unison. Equilibrium for near the end where two people fight in hand-to-hand combat trying to center their pistol on the other’s head. Fight probably only lasted a minute or so at most, but it was one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in a movie.
Saving Private Ryan gets points for doing a great job at portraying the battles as so desperate-feeling and absolutely chaotic, and also for making me cringe at the scene where the soldier is slooooooooooowly stabbed to death.
Yeah, I noticed the TTT thing too. Annoying. “Oh, look, cavalry to the rescue. Oh shit - the pikemen are in exactly the right position, right where they want to be, and they’ll slaughter that cavalry. Oh, wait, guess not.”
I will add that the mano-a-mano swordfight between Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone in 1939’s The Adventures of Robin Hood Gets my blood up every time.
Back to battles…
Since it is appropriate for the season that tis soon upon us, the final “battle” in Laurel and Hardy’s March of the Wooden Soldiers is well done. Exciting and funny. And let’s face it, how many Christmas movies can you think of off the top of your head that feature orc-like creatures raiding a town and carrying off the women?
