Your top 5 favorite end/climatic fight scenes in film history?

[WangYu]

I’m curious about this, I’m not interested in the technically most impressively choreographed fight scenes but the ones you enjoy the most, the ones with the biggest most pleasant pay offs. The road to the end fight, namely the build up plays a very important part in how much you will like it. I chose 5 fights because I have 5 absolute favorites out of the hundreds of action films I have seen.

1. Lone Wolf McQuade - Norris vs Carradine

- the build up to this fight was insanely satisfying for me. Every scene they shared together perfectly emphasize how much these characters hate each other. Norris was never better and looked never better in his his dirty jeans and cowboy hat and Carradine plays his part so nasty and confident it makes me giddy. When they eventually square off and the soundtrack organ starts pumping and they exchange looks slowly getting ready for the fight I am reduced to 100% goosebumps. 
The fight itself does not disappoint, it is a very even fight, both characters are exchanging blows which is very cool considering most movies have the bad guy initially beating the shit out of the hero. Then his daughter gets hit and all hell breaks loose with a brilliant slow mo jump kick by Chuck in combination with the music makes my goosebumps pop out and splatter all across the living room 😉

Not unimportant, each blow that lands makes such a satisfying sound, love it!

2. Commando - Schwarzenegger vs Wells

- Like my nr 1 this was a childhood favorite and each time I revisit these films I just get emotional reminiscing old times. The build up here is insane too, Arnold’s character is played up as if he is the boogeyman a la John Wick. The main baddy is clearly afraid of this confrontation. When the finale finally kicks in Wells clearly wants to end it with his gun but Arnold cleverly pulls him into a fist fight. Wells completely desperate, scared and mentally hurt by Arnold’s mind games goes nuts and goes full attack. 
The fight is surprisingly even, the sound effects are fantastic and the sweaty bodies wrestling and kicking the shit out of each other is just pure bliss. This is pure brawling, the likes we had ‘t seen yet in cinema, this was not a refined fight these were 2 giants battling it out with all they got. Wells eventually gets a little too confident which annoys Arnold so much to which he replies “bullshit” and comes up with a fantastically edited combination of punches which pretty much ended the bad guys aspirations for a win.

3. Master of the Flying Guillotine - Wang Yu vs Kam Kong

-  This fight scene is insane because the bad guy has this really scary music playing whenever he is on screen, he looks menacing, unbeatable, scary and just freaking cool. this fight scene is pure genius. Step one for Wang Yu is to try to disarm him to make the fight more even, to do this he lays out a whole bunch of traps, it is all pretty elaborate and long winded but totally worth it. I also love how it is filmed with some shots from above, close ups, chaos with the flying pigeons, silence, suspense. You wonder how will he beat this devil like fighter. I’d personally get a priest and try exorcism lol. Eventually unarmed the fight finally evens up but it is still not easy for our hero. The ending punch resulting to the master falling into a coffin is sublime. The overall creativity of this fight is unparalleled (using sound and props as a distraction) and a great way to cap off this greatly anticipated showdown.

4. The Victim - Leung Kar Yan vs Wilson Tong and a bunch of other cool dudes

I know I said it doesn’t matter about technicality or speed and it really doesn’t for me but this fight scene is so beautifully executed and choreographed that it is an all time favorite no matter what. Firstly it is a very ferocious fight, devoid of comedy, it uses some very cool slow mo shots emphasizing angry, hurt faces and very hard hits. The fighters all seem equal, blocking and evading kicks and punches so that when a punch or kick lands it feels very deserved, something they had to work for very hard and it feels satisfying as hell for me. The fight scene is also quite long without being too long and it doesn’t let up. It starts with a 1 vs 1 moves to  1 vs 4 and then again 1 vs 1 and each sequence is brilliant, it really feels like I’m watching masters at work here. The camera work and editing is also fantastic, we never get disoriented, each move is easy to follow, tue moves are big and full of expression and anger. Awesome work by master choreographer Sammo Hung!

5. Avengement - Scott Adkins vs a bunch of dudes

This end fight starts right at the beginning of the film, the confrontation is there all it needs is some sparks to make it erupt. This happens through flashbacks which sounds boring but it isn’t, it is actually genius to set up the greatest bar fight in movie history. The fight is just awesome bone crushing and furniture breaking with some humor sprinkled in. Those guys had it coming, brilliant set up!

Long post, I hope you guys survived this onslaught of kicks and punches!

 

Edited July 25, 2023 by WangYu