Top 10 Best Movie Fight Scenes!

If nothing else, this fight is a perfect example of what two pure, cold, calculating killers can do when they go at each other with no reservations. It is amazing to me to watch a man who has amnesia, is afraid of the world and of himself and his strange skills and abilities, desperate to understand what is happening to him and what sort of an existance he has, suddenly turn into a machine who understands it's primary purpose, to kill, perfectly.

The fight is fast and intense, with both men being masters at what they are doing, but Jason quickly gaining the upper hand. There is no talk or banter of any kind, there doesn't need to be, there is just two men totally ready and willing to kill each other through whatever means necessary. You begin to think that Jason is in trouble when the Assassin (Who's name is Castel) pulls out a small and wicked looking knife, but Jason simply methodically weaves around the blade with no real problems. Then Jason picks up a pen and begins using it to puncture his enemies' body arm, and even his attacking hand, but the assassin does not seem to allow this to faze him either. Even when Jason sticks the pen horozontally into the guy's hand, Castel simply pulls it out and goes back on the attack.

What I love about this fight is how it seems to be a perfect blend of a methodical and calculating breakdown and an absolutely brutal and savage brawl. I could easily describe it as both barbaric and sophisticated, precise and chaotic. Essentially it was poetic savagery. When Jason finally defeats Castel, and everything seems in the clear, rather then allow himself to be captured and interrogated, the assassin jumps out a window to his death, and even then Jason seems unfazed. It was a brilliently done fight scene.

The reason that this fight is so low on the list, in spite of all this praise, is the nature of the fight itself. It came early in the movie and Castel, though clearly very skilled, was just a nobody whos name was likely not even remembered from the one brief time it is mentioned. He was a nobody. A tough nobody, but a nobody nonetheless.

Now let's all be honest, everybody loved Rocky right? I don't think that there is a single person out there who could disagree that it is the ultimate underdog story. It is one of the most memorable, the most touching, and the most inspiring movies out there. Rocky Balboa, The Italian Stallion, a nobody boxer and loan collector from Philidelphia challenged by the champion Apollo Creed, decides that he doesn't want to just end up as another nobody and pushes himself harder then anyone could ever have expected all so that he could go the distance with Apollo.

A seemingly endless and unbelieveable training program with Mickey Goldmill and romance with Adrian all leads up to the climactic fight at the end of the movie, in which Rocky doesn't want to win, but merely last through all 15 rounds, somthing which no one has ever done with Apollo. After an intense and brutal beating on the part of both boxers, where Rocky fights with more heart and soul then I think anyone has ever seen in any movie, Rocky succeeds in lasting all 15 rounds and fighst Apollo to what is essentially a draw. Although the fight is ultimately given to Apollo, Rocky managed to do what no one ever expected him to be able to do, last the whole fight.

This fight sceen was intense, inspiring, and above all, showed that nothing is impossible, no matter who you are. Rocky may have been declared the looser, but he won what he needed to win. If we were talking about which was the best movie, Rocky would have been much higher on the list. The only reason it gets number 9 is that this fight was essentially a match, and not a death fight, and thus the stakes were arguably nowhere near as high as they were in any of the other battles on this list.

Lets all forget about bad sequels and spin-offs for a minute and remember the good ol' days when you had a small group of military tough guys deep in the jungles of Val Verde, thinking that they are on a normal mission to rescue some big shot political guy or somthing like that...and then along comes The Predator.

One by one, every single one of the military tough guys is killed, effortlessly and quite greusomely, by the alien, until only Dutch, the team leader and ex-Green Beret, Played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and his prisoner Anna (from an attack on a rebel bad guy camp) are left. Dutch realizes that the Predator only attacks those who are carrying weapons (it supposedly considers itself to be a noble hunter, with pride a whatnot) and goes alone. The alien seems totally unstoppable until Dutch makes an unusual descovery. The creature's vision is based on heat, and he becomes effectively invisible if he covers himself in mud.

What ensues is one of the best, most wild and almost tribal battles in movie history. Dutch crafts for himself weapons made from the jungle, spears, traps, bows, and more. No longer willing to fear this demonous creature, Dutch takes the fight to it. Setting an elaborate trap in which he triggers a large explosion, destroys the creatures own cloaking device, and comes very close to success, Dutch still cannot win, and in the end he is on the ground with the Predator's arm blades inches from his head. However Dutch has by this point earned the Predator's respect as a fellow hunter and instead of killing him, the creature removes it's helmet and it's alien weapons, allows Dutch to get to his feet, and they brawl it out as nature intended. Dutch is of course hopelessly outmatched, but manages to maneuver the battle so that the Predator gets in line with one of his primitive traps and crushes it's head with a giant boulder. Coughing up green blood and clearly about to die, the alien springs one final trap, a suicidal explosive device placed into it's arm device, thus assuring that both warriors die and the Predator's hunt was a success, even if he died in the proccess. Amazingly (and perhaps rather rediculously), Dutch manages to barely get out alive.

The reason that this fight is so great is because in many ways it is much more then a simple fight. It is a hunt, complete with traps, camouflage, stealth and intelligence. Dutch knows that in a straight fight there is no way that he can win, so he competes with the alien in the only way that he has a chance, in it's own game of cat and mouse. It is a battle of super advanced technology, versus primitave tools and techniques that Dutch is able to create out of the jungle around him. And yet somehow they are nearly equal hunters, once Dutch descovers his adversary's one major weakness. The title of the movie is Predator, after the alien, but it can just as easily apply to Dutch, who manages to match the creature on nearly every level. This was a truly memorable battle in a movie that, admittadly, sometimes seemed to have nothing but.

Ah, Boromir...your finest hour. Everyone knows and remembers the excellent Lord of the Ring movies, directed by Peter Jackson. The movies had many high points, Gandalf confronting the Balrog and falling into the pit of Moria, The Ents going to war with the urge of Merry and Pippin, Aragorn taking command of the Army of the Dead (although one could certainly argue that they were little more then a Deus Ex Machina in the end), The Battle of Helms deep and Gandalf subsequently coming in at the end to save them, Shelob's cave, the list goes on and on. However the one thing is has a shortage of, are battles that have a more personal, character level importance. Most of the combat in LoTR, though very impressive and well done, are large scale wars, with little or no specific purpose on a character level.

I can only name three such battle in the movies altogether from memory (though I am sure there are more), Gandalf versus Saruman in the middle of the first movie, Sam's attack on the giant spider Shelob in the third, and Boromir's last stand at the very final end of Fellowship of the RIng (one could argue for Gandalf against the Balrog, but that could hardly be classified as a fight, and the actual fight later your only see a glimpse of in a flashback). Out of these, Boromir's truly shines above the others. The Wizard fight could have been cool but ended up being rather underwhelming, and as awesome as Sam's fight with the spider was, it lacked certain elements which place the Boromir fight above it I think.

To understand the impact of this battle, you must first understand the lead-up. The nine members of the Fellowship, chosen at Rivendell, and reduced to eight after Gandalf fell at Moria, sent on an epic quest to destroy the One Ring. All members had their strengths and weaknesses, but it was Boromir who perhaps had the biggest failing. Boromir was a good, kind man who, perhaps more then anyone, was willing to courageously take any steps that it took to stop the evil king Sauron and save his people. But he was also ambitious and didn't see as clearly as the others just how dangerous the One Ring could be. He agreed to go on the quest, but truly he wanted the ring used against the enemies and he wanted to be the one to use it. In spite of his good heart the evil, corrupting power of the One Ring took hold of him stronger then it did any of the other members of the Fellowship.

All this came to a head on the banks of a river near the end of the first movie. He had finally snapped and jumped on Frodo, trying to forcably take the Ring from him, claiming that he only wanted the strength to protect his people. Frodo escaped, kicking Boromir to the ground so that he hit his head, essentially waking him up. Boromir realized what he had done and, horrified and litterally weeping, cried out to the forest, begging Frodo for forgiveness, but it was not to be heard. Frodo was already gone.

It was at this moment when the Uruk-Hai attacked, large numbers of oversized and elite goblins, led by a an even larger, stronger, and more hideously elite commander named Lurtz. Their only purpose being to find the Hobbits and take them back to their master, killing anyone who got in their way.

The battle itself was all in all impressive, with Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli all showing how increadibly skilled they were and taking out large numbers of the Uruk-Hai unscathed. It was Boromir however that was the center of this battle. When the enemies finally do catch up to Merry and Pippin, charging after them in order to take them prisoner, it is Boromir alone who finds them, draws his sword and risks absolutely everything to protect them. It is the ultimate redemption as he singlehandedly slays Orc after Orc, apparently an unstoppable juggernaut in his desperation to protect his friends (friends whom he had cared so much for earlier, and for whom he had taken it upon himself to teach swordplay to in the early parts of their journy).

Then it all goes bad. The commander Uruk-Hai, Lurtz, with a huge and heavy longbow, places a black arrow into Boromir's chest from afar. The scene is done so masterfully that one cannot help but feel their heart stop for just a moment as the scene slows down and the arrow impales itself into his chest. The arrow might down an ordinary man. It might even down a man as strong as Boromir in a normal situation, but at this moment his need to protect the Fellowship are too great, and he acts as though the arrow is not even there, continuing to slay the Orcs that try to come for the little Hobbits. Boromir kills Uruk-Hai by the dozen, all the while continuing to be hit over and over again by Lurtz' arrows. only a few moments in you realize the terrible truth.

This will be Boromir's final battle.

Finally, Merry and Pippin try to rush in to help, but are whisked away by the Uruk-Hai before they can do anything. The monsters retreat, all except Lurtz, who walks up to Boromir, now on his knees, at least a half-dozen arrows impaled in his chest, finally stopped by enough force that he should have been killed many times over. Lurtz pulls back one more arrow and aims it directly at Boromir's forehead from only a few feet away, far too close for Boromir to dodge or deflect the shot, even if he did retain the strength to move. At the very last moment, Aragorn finally shows up and bowls Lurtz over, resulting in a short but brutal and very fast paced fight that ends in Aragorn decapitating the Uruk-Hai commander.

In the end Boromir, dying, tells Aragorn what he has done and asks for forgivness again. Aragorn tells him that Frodo has escaped safely and Boromir dies, entrusting Aragorn, whom he finally calls his brother and king to protect the people of Gondor.

Although Aragorn ends the fight and there are plenty of fine action moments for all the other combatants here, it is really Boromir's battle. His final sacrifice as he tries to reedeem himself and fix the terrible mistake that he made. It is this battle and this scene which cements Boromir in our minds as one of the most inspiring and beloved characters in the story, in spite of him only appearing in the first movie. He was flawed certainly, but he was courageous, heroic, good-natured, willing to give his life to protect his companions and make up for what he did wrong, and able to stare death straight in the eyes and not blink. Boromir was a great character and his death was one of the most moving parts of the entire story.

As much as I have always enjoyed the X-Men series (even their weaker movies I found fun, if no where near as good as the true gems of the series, X-Men and X2), they do have a somewhat tendency to be weak on the action front with most all of their main characters. Except for one that is.

When Wolverine comes around, sit up and pay attention because it is ALWAYS a joy ride. Every single movie, save X3, has him going up at least once, one-on-one, in an all around awesome, totally kick-ass brawl (X3 had some, but none that really amazed). Wolverine vs. Mistique, Wolverine vs. Sapertooth (X1) Wolverine vs. Lady Deathstrike, Wolverine vs. Sabertooth (Origins), Wolverine vs. Deadpool. There isn't a single battle here that is anything other then astounding.

Wolverine alone makes these fights intense due to his rough, gruff, and generally bad-ass nature. No matter who he fights, or how powerful they are, no one truly beats the Wolverine. One thing that makes Wolverine's battles so intense, in a way that cannot really be replicated, has to do with his specific powers, specifically his healing factor. Since most of his enemies also carry this power (and those that don't compensate with highly advanced speed and agility so as to avoid taking damage), both parties can land multiple blows that would be fatal to anyone else, without so much as slowing down the flow of the fight. This also allows them to focus totally on offence, without really worrying about blocking or dodging, making for some very insense and bloody brawls.

Astoundingly, what I would consider to be Wolverine's best fight in the whole series was not against one single enemy. He doesn't need to fight one-on-one for the full effect of his feral style of fighting to be appreciated. One of the most memorable moments in the entire movie series was when he protected the X-men mutant school from Stryker's paramilitary S.W.A.T.-like team like a one man army, taking tranquilizer darts by the dozen and cutting the soldiers up like lunchmeat.

This is Wolverine's best combat moment because it is the best showcase of his berzerker fury and how unstoppable it can make him. Charging with a battle roar, jumping from the balconies, impaling people and cutting them open, getting hit with enough tranquilizer darts to down an elephant without even slowing him down, Wolverine alone turns Professer Xavier's school for mutants into a war zone. He is royally pissed off in a way that you have never seen him before, and for good reason. How dare these thugs come into HIS school, HIS home, attacking and kidnapping the kids whom HE has been placed in charge of. These guy's obviously don't know who the heck their dealing with. There are three ways to commit suicide in the Marvel world, get the Hulk angry, go to a planet that Galactus is going to devour, or threaten Wolverine's "pups".

There are other fights which probably could have made the cut too. His fights with Lady Deathstrike, Mistique, Sabertooth in the first movie, Deadpool, but none of them quite equal how kick-ass this one battle is. Neither Mistique, nor Sabertooth have the same level of intensity, the fight with Deathstrike is annoying because she overpowers Wolverine for most of the fight (and let's face it, that isn't what one wants in a Wolverine fight), and the fight with Deadpool, as cool as it was at some points, commited comic-book heresy by sewing up the Merc with the Mouth's...mouth.

All in all, Wolverine is a berserker, totally fuled by rage in combat, with a total disregard for pain or his own safety. And this is okay, because nothing in this world seems to be able to kill him. Watching Wolverine fight is nothing but sheer fun. He is a one-man apocolypse, with claws of carnage. Nobody stands in his way.

Nobody.

Let's all be honest here. If anyone knows how to make great one-on-one, kung-fu action scenes, it's the Chinese. While I personally don't often care for foreign language films where the english words must be dubbed in, no one can deny that their fight scenes are usually (so long as they don't go overboard on insanely impossible feats) somthing to behold. Perhaps the best of these fights to behold was the battle between Shu Lien and the young Jen in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Not truly a "fung-fu" or martial arts fight, this battle is a showcase of various Chinese weapons and has just as much to do with the weapons as the combatants. Jen is a young, ambitious, and maybe somewhat selfish young girl, who has a great deal of talent, but truthfully does not have nearly the same level of skill or expirience as Shu Lien. And yet she dominates most of this battle, do almost entirely to her very special sword, the Green Destiny. The sword was a large driving element of the movie, and this battle's purpose was almost entirely to show just how increadible the sword is. As Jen uses this sword, Shu Lien is forced to grab various other deadly weapons from the walls of the dojo that they are fighting in, only to have them cut in half, one after another, by the unstoppable Green Destiny.

The fight is fast-paced, intense, and looks so real that you can't help but feel that this cannot be movie tricks. The skills of both combatants are astounding, but more then that, the emotions that they covey feel so real that the language block is essentially dissolved. You don't need to know what they are saying to understand what they are trying to get across. Shu Lien wants to put this little brat of an upstart in her place, Jen wants to prove herself and show that she isn't just some kid and that she deserves respect.

This is an excpetionally choreographed fight scene, and both actresses show that they are masters at their craft. To say that Jen dominates the fight is wrong. In truth it is the Green Destiny which dominates the fight. Staffs, swords, and blades of all kind (and even what appears to be a solid metal kanabo, though I admit I might be exposing my limited knowledge of chisese weaponry here) are all cut cleanly through by this legendary blade.

In the end, Shu Lien proves why she is the master and uses an increadibly skillful trick to pull out on top, but in my mind Jen did prove that she can handle herself. This was one of the few fight scenes which I have ever seen which has truly left me standing in excitement at the end.

It's pretty much undeniable for anyone who truly understands him, Bruce Lee is the greatest martial artist of all time. He also was famous for being one of the first people to incorporate true realism into his combat scenes. It therefore stands to reason that one of his fight scenes would have to make it into the top 10 list. It would be practically blasphemous not to.

I admit I had a hard time choosing which Bruce Lee fight to include. There is his legendary showdown in the colleseum with Chuck Norris, there is his unique scuffle with Kareem-Abdul Jabbar in the uncompleted movie "Game of Death" (which could have been awesome if Bruce Lee had finished it before his untimely death and it hadn't been horribly butchered by the people who tried to complete it, with this fight being one of the only scene's even worth watching), his increadibly demolition of an entire school of japanese martial artists, or any number of other fights.

But in the end, I had to go with his fight against O'Hara in his most legendary and memorable movie, Enter the Dragon. I will admit, that this fight is not quite so epic as some of his others. One could argue that it isn't even a fight. Just Bruce totally humiliating and meticulously beating the arrogant snot out of someone who isn't even in the same leauge.

And yet still, this is the fight which I most think of when I think of Bruce, and the one that I remember as his crowning achievment in his movies. This entire fight is essentially Bruce Lee's revenge. The driving force behind all of his actions in the first place in the movie. He came to the island for this moment and this moment alone. Why? Because O'Hara is one of the most hateful bastards in movie history. Because O'Hara did somthing to Bruce's family which is so disgusting as to be unforgivable.

Because O'Hara caused Bruce Lee's sister to commit suicide.

Indeed, it is O'Hara, as well as a group of his nameless slimeball lackey men who cornered Lee's sister in the steets and chased her down for reasons which are never specified but extremely obvious. And rather then submit herself to the most horrible fate imaginable, she takes a large shard of broken glass, and plunges it into her chest.

Bruce Lee must avenge his sister.

In what is easily the most one-sided match up in my entire list, Lee beats O'Hara down so badly and with such emotion that you can truly feel his pain in your own heart. In the beginning, Bruce shows off his increadible speed by slamming his fist into O'Hara's face so quickly that the larger man doesn't even know what happened. O'Hara just keeps getting angrier and angrier as Lee tears him apart, his rage causing him to fight more and more violently, all for nothing as he fails to so much as land a single hit on Lee through the whole thing. At one point O'Hara even tries a jumping kick, which Lee counters by rolling underneath him and kicking O'Hara in the balls during the apex of his jump. When he is so disoriented from his increadible beating that he can barely react to defend himself anymore, Lee attempts to finish the matter by delivering a kick to his chest which sends him flying back into a cround of onlookers (if memory serves, one of these extra's sufferend a broken rib from the actor who plays O'Hara knocking into him).

This could and should be the end of it. Although O'Hara is not dead, he is beaten and humiliated, and reduced to nothing. Bruce Lee begens to walk away, giving his hated enemy the chance to at least leave with his life. However O'Hara's rage seals his fate as he tries one more dirty tactic, grabbing a pair of bottles and breaking them against each other.

As he tries to attack again, Lee, in no more danger then he ever was, kicks the bottles out of O'Hara's hands, then knocks him to the ground. The camera does not show O'Hara again after this point, but you see Bruce jumping up and slamming his feet down, accompanied by the sound of a neck snapping. Somehow, the pain on Lee's face is worse then this sound however.

O'Hara is dead, the fight is over.

Although I am loath to include two fight scenes from the same actor, I feel that cannot disclude this epic battle from my list. In what is perhaps Arnold's finest movie to-date (and one of the only sequals in history which are clearly superior to the original), Terminator 2 can actually be described as one long battle between the reprogrammed (and thus "good") T-800 and the far more deadly and advanced T-1000. From the very beginning they are combating each other in some way.

The T-1000 is clearly more powerful in every way then the T-800, far stronger with more advanced abilities of stealth and also far more indestructible with it's liquid metal body, Arnold is clearly outmatched on every level. The amount of sheer damage that they inflict on the more advanced Terminator with it walking away unharmed makes one wonder if it is even possible to destroy it. Even a huge car explosion does little more then temporarily slow it down. Arnold, as the world-reknowned "metal skeleton" Terminator, is poweful, but in truth there is little that even he can do to stop the T-1000 and succeed in his mission to protect young John Connor.

That is one of the more interesting aspects of this battle. Although they would certainly not pass up the opportunity, neither of their goals is to destroy the other. The T-1000's goal is to kill John Connor in order to prevent him from stopping the super-computor Skynet in the future, and the T-800's purpose is to protect him for the exact opposite reasons.

This fight is number three on my list for a multiple of reasons. The first being the grand scale of the fight itself, lasting literraly throughout the entire movie, from beginning to end, although broken down into three main rounds. Also the nature of the two Terminators one being the feared enemy from the first movie but now a good guy, yet hoplessly outmatched by the newer, even more emotionless and calculating machine, his one advantage being that he does somehow appear to begin to understand the lessons which young John is trying to teach him, the value of life and of the heart.

But perhaps the most impressive aspect of this fight is how intimidating they were able to make the T-1000, leaving you with the wonder as to how on earth they could ever possibly overcome it. It's liquid body not only appears indestructible, but his ability to morph into the appearance of any other person, as well as change it's body into any shape imaginable, turning it's arms into blades, shifting through cracks or flattening his body out onto the floor, thus making him indetectable, truly makes him increadibly dangerous. Even though Robert Patrick, the actor who plays the T-1000's most used form is certainly not a large or intimidating man, and next to Arnold Schwarzenegger looks like a toothpick, there is still no disbelief in how he appears to easily and effortlessly throw the T-800 around. He's that scary.

The Terminator in the first movie appeared to be almost unstoppable, but he was nothing compared to the new and improved model. I'm not going to tell you how they do finally end up defeating it, though I can say that I don't think that anything less would have worked. Terminator 2 was one badass movie and one, long, badass fight.

Ah, Star Wars. Perhaps the greatest pop culture phenomenon the world has ever known (if not then certainly in the top 5). Excellent not only for it's classic characters and story, it's increadibly complex and intelligent mythos, and for setting a new higher standard for science-fiction nerds the world over, but also for what is perhaps the single most iconic weapon in the fictional world.

The lightsaber. This is the weapon of the Jedi-knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An Elegant weapon, for a more civilized age...yes I am one of those nerds. Anyways, the interesting thing about the lightsaber is that it is a sword, but it is totally different then any sword that we have here on earth. Like some combination of a cutlass, rapier, and katana, it uses an entirely different style of swordplay then any modern blade. Combine this with the Jedi's superhuman encanced agility, reflexes, and jumping ability, and you have a swordfight which would not be concievable through almost any other medium.

The question then, is which of the numerous lightsaber battles can qualify as the highest amongst them? After a lot of thought, I narrowed it down to to different battles for two different reasons.

Perhaps the most memorable moment in all of the Star Wars legacy was the moment when Luke Skywalker, the hero of the world of Star Wars, first went toe-to-toe with his nemesis Darth Vader at the end of the second movie in the original series, The Empire Strikes Back. After Han Solo is frozen in carbonite, the young Jedi-in-training and the worlds most recognizable and sinister villian meet in Cloud City.

Two things make this fight so memorable. Firstly, the intensity of the battle, for though it is slower pased then most of what we see in the newer movies, Darth Vader's power can not be overstated. The Sith Lord does things which are not replicated even in the newer movies with their superior special effects. He creates a litteral maelstrom of flying machinery, matches a young and spry Luke blow for blow without even trying, even with his damaged body and slowed down limbs, and of course, at the end he slices off Luke's arm, a moment so shocking that there is perhaps only one thing which can possibly astound the audience more.

And then there is the true ending, which has produced probably the single most famous line in movie history.

"No Luke...I AM your father."

A cliche now perhaps, but back then it was the most shocking and increadible revelation that anyone could ever remember seeing in a movie. For Luke, the hero, the pure and incorruptable, to be the son of this demonic figure is world shattering. Luke plays it masterfully as well, hanging onto a metal rod over a bottomless pit as his face distorts in horror and dispair as he takes in this fact, trying to deny it but also instantly knowing that it has to be the truth.

This single moment, more then any other, cements The Empire Strikes Back as the most universally acclaimed of all of the Star Wars films, new or old. The climactic fight leading up to it which is done well enough that even by today's standards it is not at all bad. This fight is impossible to deny as one of the best in movie history.

And yet...I cannot help but feel that from a technical, combative point of view, it is nothing compared to many of the fights on my list. The acting and emotion in this scene, as well as the depth and intelligence behind it are increadible, but the swordplay is slow and clunky, Vader in that suit HAS to rely on his force powers because it is difficult to believe that Luke could not beat him in a straight sword fight, and you could tell that Mark Hamill (the actor who plays Luke) had to move slower then he otherwise would be able to in order to accomodate the man who is inhibited by the Vader suit. In short, it is the best fight in Star Wars on one level, but on another, it is almost a joke.

If you ask me which is the best fight is the series from a purely and intensely combative view, I would have to go with the battle between Yoda and Count Dooku at the end of Attack of the Clones. Many loyal fans did not like the newer trilogy, for a good reason, Jar-Jar Binks, Medi-chlorians, Jar-Jar Binks, The Anakin - Padme romance, and Jar-Jar Binks were all rather bad parts of the stories, amongst other things. But at the same time, the series also had it's share of good notes, particularly in the excellent characters of Mace Windu and Qui-Gon Jinn, not to mention perhaps the best aspects of the new movies...

The Combat.



Lightsaber combat is brought to a whole new level in the prequal trilogy. True Jedi combat as we have never seen it before even from the Phantom Menace with the evil Darth Maul. But in my eyes, the best of the battles in the prequal trilogy coms from the worst of the three movies. Let's be honest, Attack of the Clones was slow, boring, and for the most part an embarassment to the franchise, with only a few redeeming points, the major one being it's general lack of Jar-Jar Binks.

But it's one other great point is a single scene near the end which makes this movie worth watching to a Star-Wars fan, even sitting through the rest of the movie. After Count Dooku goes to make his escape when his plan on the insectoid planet goes awry, Anakin and Obi-Wan go after him. The resulting fight is little more then an embarassment to the two Jedi, with Anakin loosing an arm (nowhere near as impacting as it was in ESB now that you know that a robotic one can replace it) and Obi-Wan being generally beaten to a pulp with Dooku essentially unscathed.

Then, enter Yoda. The greatest Jedi master of the order. Dooku seems to totally forget about the two younger Jedi Knights and focuses all his energy on Yoda. After a brief display of power with the force, where Dooku realizes that he cannot win (he tries to claim that they are equal though this is obviously not so), he draws his red lightsaber. Then, in what is perhaps the most geek giddy moment of any of the six movies, Yoda pulls back his robes and draws his own lightsaber. I don't mind admitting that I nearly squealed at this the first time I saw the movie.

The ensuing fight is so intense and fast that it is somewhat difficult to follow. Yoda's jumping, flipping, and twisting moves are jaw-droppingly cool. It is also clear that Dooku is having just as hard a time as the viewers in keeping up with the little green dude. As powerful as Dooku is, to take out Obi-Wan and Anakin like they are nothing, he is barely holding on by the skin of teeth against Master Yoda.

The fight doesn't last very long. Dooku eventually turns tail and runs, giving himself a moment to escape by flingling some debris at the downed figures of the two younger Jedi, thus forcing Yoda to save them. Still, this is by far the most intense and increadible battle scene in the entire trilogy series. Unfortunately, Yoda's later fight against the Emperor is not quite so increadible, mostly due to their overuse of flinging things around and the fact that they seem to be more intent on overpowering each other then being the more skilled fighter.

Either of these two battles can be seen as astounding in very different ways. Luke vs. Vader for it's emotional impact, shocking twists, and legendary time-tested status. Yoda vs. Dooku for the most intense and fast pased lightsaber fight between two Masters ever in the films as well as Yoda's best combat-oriented moment. Both could easily make second on this list and that is why I placed them together here as a tie for the second greatest movie fight of all time.

This is it I believe. The tip of the top, cream of the crop. The Matrix alone is one of the more famous (and also one of the more bizzare) sci-fi movies out there. It is certainly an intelligent movie series, even if it did go down hill quite a bit for it's last installment. There are some of the most original plot devices I know of, a very well done cast of characters, and a villian which makes your spine tingle both because of how powerful, smart, and souless he is, but also because when he starts talking about his nihlistic philosophy on life, it is very hard to come up with an argument against what he says (you can agree or disagree, but to actually create a logical argument to show why he is wrong is far more difficult).

However, the one thing which cements these movies, which moves them into the proverbial hall of fame is the simple fact that they did more to redefine and revolutionize the way that we view and understand action scenes then any other movie before or since. Many movies are instantly recognizable through quotes ("Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.", "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get", "No Mr. Bond. I expect you to DIE!", "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.", ect.). The Matrix however is not recognized by quotes or lines, although it has more then it's fair share of them. Any time you see someone make a punch or kick in slow motion, bend back as though dodging bullets, or stand on one foot in that bird-like kung-fu pose, they are in effect "quoting" the Matrix.



And out of all the numerous ultra-high intensity combat scenes that saturate these movies, none are quite so masterfully done in my mind as Neo's first fight with Smith. Not Agent Smith, as he was in the original Matrix. Simply Smith, the rogue agent turned computer virus with the ability to replicate himself onto any other program in the Matrix.

I admit that after seeing the first Matrix, an excellent movie, it was with some skepticism that I watched the second one. With the powers that Neo had unlocked at the end of the first movie, I was afraid that the sequals would suffer from the superman syndrome, meaning that he would be so powerful that either he would never be in any sort of danger or they would need to bring in a new enemy even more powerful, which usually gets rediculous very quickly. I was curious to see if they could actually avoid either of these two cenarios and still make it seem realistic (within the pre-established rules of that world).

They did not disappoint. Smith's recontruction into some sort of computer virus, now "unplugged" from the machines, was a genius move. Even before this fight, you see Smith moderately flexing his new ability, to copy himself onto other programs, thus making a potentially limitless copies of himself, as well as assimilating the skills and abilities of those that he copies. In a very different way, this makes him very similar to Neo, in that his power within the Matrix is potentially limitless. Still, you really don't see this previous to their first encounter. All that you do see is two or three Smiths walking around, mysterious certainly, but seeing as how easily Neo vanquished him in the last movie, not somthing which one seriously worries about.

When they finally meet in the middle of an abandoned park, partway into the movie, Neo is of course stunned, but obviously not very worried considering how easily beaten he was in their last encounter.

A foolish mistake.



For most of the beginning you don't really believe that the Smith Horde can really harm Neo either. There are quite a few of them sure, but Neo still tosses them around easily enough. It is not until around halfway through the battle when you realize that as hard and as fast as Neo fights, he is not making any progress. And worse yet, more Smiths just keep on coming. What starts off as 5 or 6 Smiths soon becomes 10, then 20, 50, and on and on until Neo is swamped by hundreds of them. Eventually Neo, desperate to regain the advantage, rips a metal rod out of the concrete and begins using it like an uber bo-staff, easily the most fun and exciting part of the fight. There are times when Neo hits one of the Smiths so hard that they go flying back, crashing into benches and walls. And yet none of it really makes even the slightest dent in the now innumerable horde facing him.

Finally you realize the shocking truth, that Neo is overwhelmed and unable to defeat Smith. After a long, brutal, and vicious brawl, Neo blasts off into the sky, retreating to fight another day. Smith fades back into the alleys and buildings, his many copies vanishing just as quickly as they came.

This fight is the best in the Matrix series I believe, because it is by far the most groundbreaking. It not only has the most intesne and well choreographed hand-to-hand combat in the entire series, but it also totally shatters most of the preconception that you had about both characters without messing up the cannon of the universe in which they live. Everything that you thought that you knew about the powers of both characters before this fight means nothing afterwards. Suddenly Neo is not invincible, and Smith is so much more then just an Agent of the Matrix. It rocks the foundation of the entire movie series.

I have seen many very good fight scenes in movies both before and since, but when all is said and done, this is still number one. The single best movie fight scene which I have ever seen.

Although it doesn't really fit into the list of the top 10 best ever movie fights, I feel that I must give at least a nod to one of my personal favorite fight scenes in any movie ever, the showdown between Inigo Montoya and the evil Count Rugen at the end of The Princess Bride.

This fight doesn't really work on this list, because in all truthfullness, the actual combat is extremely unimpressive. Compare this to any of the combat scenes which I have placed on this list and it is really rather pathetic. There is an earlier fight in this movie which is an excellent display of fencing, but this scene is not intended to be a great combat scene.

The reason that I don't put this fight on the list, but still note it as one of my favorite fight scenes in movie history, is because of the brilliant acting, and also simply because of how emotionally evocative the scene in and of itself is. It is an absolutely brillient fight scene...for everything other then the fighting.

When first introduced to the character, Inigo Montoya tells a story about how his father (a very skilled swordmaker) was killed when he (Inigo) was 11 years old by a man with six fingers on his right hand who had come to take a sword that had been crafted for him at far under the promised price. Inigo's father refused and the six-fingered man killed him. Inigo tried to fight the man but was beaten easily. The man spared Inigo but gave him a scar on each of his cheeks.

Inigo spent the next 20 years training with the worlds greatest fencing masters in order to one day find the six-fingered man (who's name he does not know) and kill him in order to avenge his father. He became essentially the greatest swordsman in the world, but could never find the man who killed his father. He believed he would one day however, and had planned exactly what he will to say to this man when he finds him. A short and simple greeting and three statements which nevertheless express exactly what he wants to say with no added flair or childishness.

"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father...Prepare to die."

Cutting through the rest of the movie (an excellent movie by the way, I advise anyone who hasn't seen it to go out and do so), after a long and trecherous journy Inigo finally finds the six-fingered man, the evil and sadistic Count Rugen who works for the equally evil Prince. After killing Rugen's guard quickly and with amazing ease, he turns to the Count and delivers the words which he has waited twenty years for, preparing for the most important fight of his life.

The fight itself is, as I already said, not meant to be a huge battle to the death between two masters. On the contrary, Rugen runs away like a frightened rat at the beginning and then uses an entirely underhanded trick to throw a knife into Inigo's gut before the hero can react. Inigo appears to be defeated before the fight even begins. This moment is so shocking and impacting that even after all these years my heart still gets lodged in my throat every time I watch it.

Of course this isn't the end as, after Rugen's cruelty gets the best of him and he starts gloating and rubbing as much salt in the wound as he possibly can, Inigo's anger gives him the strength to get back up even with a knife in his gut and continue the fight.

What follows is one of the most brilliantly excecuted scenes in movie history with Inigo finally unleashing all of the pent up anger and regret and pain and hatred that he has held back for 20 long years. Rugen quickly goes from cruel and overconfident to quivering with fear. The fight is short, with Inigo totally overpowering Rugen. By the end the Count is begging for his life, offering Inigo money, power, and anything that he asks for. Inigo runs him through with his rapier and whispers to him a single line which is delivered with such subtle yet intense hatred that I personally have never seen it matched in any movie.

"I want my father back you son of a bitch."

The first time I saw the movie I pumped my fist in the air and yelled "YEAH!" at this one line.

His life's duty done, Inigo goes off to find the other heroes and complete what they set out to do.

This scene is one of the best in movie history because the acting is exceptional, in my mind cementing Mandy Patinkin as one of the best actors of all time (He plays Inigo Monotya in the movie), and because the emotion in this scene is so powerful and so moving that it will move even the hardest of hearts. Inigo's pain and his love for his father is so palpable that you can't help but feel alongside him, and his hatred for Rugen also pools over into you so much that I would certainly place Rugen's death as the most satisfactory death in any movie I have ever seen.

I love this movie, and I love this fight scene. The fighting itself isn't good enough perhaps to warrent a place on this list, but I feel that it at least deserves to be noted for the great thing that it is.

Other excellent fight scenes which I considered for but ended up not including for some reason or another can be found here all of them are excellent fight scenes and most are pretty great movies in and of themselves. All should be considered for anyone who wants to watch a good fight, even if they didn't quite squeeze into my Top 10 Best Movie Fight Scenes

Spartans vs. Persian Immortals - 300

Spider-man vs. Doc Oc - Spider-man 2

Riggs vs. Mr.Joshua - Lethal Weapon

John Rambo vs. Local Police force - First Blood

Voldemort vs. Dumbledore - HP: Order of the Phoenix

Anakin Skywalker vs. Obi-Wan Kenobi - Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

Gandalf vs. Balrog - LoTR: The Fellowship of the Ring

Sam vs. Shelob - LoTR: The Return of the King

William Wallace and Scot's vs. British - Braveheart

Inigo Montoya vs. Man in Black - The Princess Bride

Iron Man and War Machine vs. Drones - Iron Man 2

James Bond (Daniel Craig) vs. Bomb Maker - Casino Royale

James Bond (Sean Connery) vs. Oddjob - Goldfinger

Jack Sparrow vs Barbossa - Pirates of the Caribbean

Neo vs. Morpheus - The Matrix

John and Frank Sullivan vs. Nightengale Killer - Frequency

Nick vs. Victor - Push

American Fighter Pilots vs. Alien Invaders and Destroyer Ship - Independance Day

Robert Roy MacGregor vs. Archibald Cunningham - Rob Roy