The Movies' Greatest Action Sequences (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

Forgot a recent one, the scene in Superman Returns when Supes just calmly strides foreward as if he's taking a stroll through the park on a Sunday afternoon...while having no less than a Gatlin gun unloaded onto his freakin' chest (and eye )!

I was giddy when I saw that. The plane rescue is a given I think.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

dp, sorry.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

triple post, darn it, sorry.

 

[Dave Simpson]

Great picks, gang. For me, the scene depicting the missle attack on the jet in The Incredibles is likely the most exciting sequence I've ever seen, in greater than 30 years of movie-watchin'; leaves me slack-jawed, with my heart in my throat, which ain't a pretty sight. This bit, for my money, easily trumps the very similar scene in X2, which is also quite swell, but just not quite as...incredible.
Very honourable mentions to both Aliens and Die Hard, especially Hans taking the high fall. T2 never did it for me; I've always found it somewhat over-wrought. Cameron's extended cut is crushed by the weight of its own needless ponderousness. For me, the whole thing is over after the canal chase, which is otherwise quite marvelous. Cheers.

DS.

 

[Brent M]

I know most people hated the movie, but the street shootout and subsequent car chase across the bridge in Bad Boys II is an excellent 15 minutes of non-stop action.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Last one, I swear. I recently watched Michael Bay's The Island, and that chase scene on the freeway with the run-away train wheels and subsequent air-chase with those flying bikes was some pretty exhilerating stuff!

Made me actually audibly say the word "Wow!" as I was watching it. Say what you will, but nobody does vehicular mayhem like Michael Bay.

Good call with The Incredibles, and i'll add the whole 'Dash' chase through the forest and across the water.

 

[Greg_S_H]

That Untouchables sequence kind of loses its luster since it's a complete *ahem* "homage" to Battleship Potemkin.

The crop duster sequence and Mount Rushmore in NxNW are both tops.

 

[Tim Glover]

Great stuff! Truly great stuff!!!

Somehow my sick little warped mind forgot about Die Hard as well. Excellent call on that gents.

Chuck, thanks for the props on The Untouchables. I think it's an underrated film too.

Other great action moments:
Opening sequence of Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom ...The show piece song stuff, losing the diamonds...the humor, then the fantastic action that follows...One disastrous thing after another. Over the top? You bet...but a whole lot of fun. (This is the film that Ebert came up with the term, "bruised forearm moment" or something like that. Good stuff.

You all have listed some fantastic moments. Keep em coming!

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Tim, I have to tell you that I love your sig pic! Can I save it to my computer and use it when your done with it?

 

[Kevin Grey]

The bank robbery from Heat, no contest. Lots of other greats mentioned here, but Heat is still tops for me.

 

[EricW]

yes, Heat, Matrix2, SPR, Incredibles... all good ones.

also:

Bad Boys 2 - the only good sequence of the movie, where the camera does the crazy circular move in the house with the haitians

Appleseed - both the opening sequence and the one with the attack at the plant

Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children - many great fight scenes, like the chapel, the motorcycles in the tunnel, big winged monster thing, and more

Batman Begins - batmobile. nuff said

Behind Enemy Lines - when the pilots try to evade the missles

Blade 1 - rave

Equilibrium - dog in the trunk

 

[ChrisBEA]

Some faves:
Final fight in Legend of Drunken Master
Final fight in Iron Monkey
The car chase in Ronin
the hammer fight in Old Boy
Anything with Bruce Lee
Army of Darkness the big castle battle
The big shootout in Fulltime Killer
The final battle in Giant Monsters All Out Attack

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Pearl Harbor: The entire attack sequence on Pearl Harbor
T2: The end helicopter, truck, semi-truck, liquid nitrogen, "hasta la vista" sequence.
Dances With Wolves: The buffalo hunting sequence, also the attack on the Apaches I think it was.
The One: Jet Li vs Jet Li, final showdown.
Godzilla(98): The apache helicopters chasing Godzilla through the skyscrapers. The end of the sequence, I remember hearing a huge gasp from the audience.
Armageddon: First wave of asteroids hitting NYC.
Ronin: Car chase scene.
Back to the Future Part III: The entire end train sequence. I used to always yell out the speeds along with Marty McFly.

 

[Tim Glover]

to John.

 

[Robert Anthony]

I'll add this, just for the hell of it:

Ash vs His Hand, Evil Dead 2

also, because I'm having a hard time deciding, and most of the greats are already named:

The final shootout in Way of the Gun. Unbelievably visceral and tense. especially when you consider it's 2 youngbucks vs about 10 octogenarians with shotguns. And it's not once played for laughs.

Oh, and I don't remember if this has been mentioned yet, but the T-Rex vs the Jeeps in Jurassic Park.

And the 3 way Saber Duel on Naboo in Phantom Menace.

And "I Know Kung Fu," "..show me." from Matrix. The pose Fishburne strikes at the top of one jump, his knee pointed downwards, his arms in Crane Kick position, slow-mo, wide shot, time stopped--I seriously had to stop myself from jumping up in the theater.

Along the same lines: the gladiator spectacle that ends with Maximus sneering at the crowd "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?" sheer lethal brutality with no grace or art to it at all. And then he throws both swords on the ground and spits on them. It's like pure testosterone was coating the film, not emulsion.

I don't know if this should count since it's animation, but the Clown Attack that opens Akira is hypnotic.

Along those lines--the initial rock-man battle and final death in Ninja Scroll is total insanity.

Also, anyone mentioned the final shootout in The Wild Bunch yet?

Or the fight with Mr. Han at the climax of Enter the Dragon?

 

[Paul_Scott]

I've always been impressed with the underwater to seaplane escape from License To Kill. One of things I like so much about it is that, besides being a cool looking piece of stunt work that doesn't strain credibility, it becomes fundemental to, and forwards, the plot. It functions as the linchpin for the rest of the movie by giving Bond the resources to effect the con job on Sanchez, in multiple ways
.
I'm also fond of the Gibraltar opening in Living Daylights, and the transport plane fight in the same film.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

So many ones I love mentioned...but I'll be the first on this.

It's not an action film, but the swordfight in The Princess Bride between the Dread Pirate Roberts and Inigo Montoya is beautiful to watch. One of the more swashbuckling action moments in recent history.

 

[Tim Glover]

This is the second time in about a week that Chuck has been right. Going to go to his head now for sure ...But he said no one is better than Jim Cameron, and I think I agree. I've got so many more scenes to put down but don't want to spoil all the fun...but I'll be the first (surprising) to list this Jim Cameron bigtime GEM:

Bridge rescue of Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies . Unreal. I remember back in the heyday of laserdisc around 1994-1997 when nearly all the high end HT stores in Dallas had this AC-3 laserdisc playing in their big Front projection rooms. Back when I barely had a system I would go in these places almost every weekend and just dream (about Jamie lee 2 ). This scene really does have it all. Incredibly tight action, concern for the actors, and some humor. Fantastic all around, and one I nearly forgot about.

Don't let it get to your head Chuck

 

[Chuck Mayer]

No worries, Tim. What I've been right about is hardly me going out on a limb. Calling Big Jim the master of modern action isn't straying too far out of the loop. When Steven Spielberg was looking for superlatives to call the action scenes in AOTC...who did he namecheck as a similarity? Take one guess.

Another major issue with action scenes is the location. Does the audience understand the geography and physical space, do they know WHY it's happening. Basic stuff, but the advent of quick cuts have sometimes made this very basic tool unreadable. Ridley Scott is quite good at this, as Black Hawk Down illustrates. The audience always has a sense of place and layout, even when it's chaotic.

I still have a big head,
Chuck

 

[Greg_C_T]

The Crow: When Brandon Lee puts a hurting on the bad guys above the club.
Predator: Jungle "deforestation" scene.
The Phantom Menace: 3-way saber fight
Braveheart: totally raised the bar for large-scale battle scenes
Brotherhood of the Wolf: The first fight scene (in the rain) between the two heros and the bad guys. Awesome!
The Matrix: Lobby Shootout