I’m posting in c/movies but including tv shows, anime, comics, manga, etc.
Personally I think the final war rig sequence in Mad Max: Fury Road is the most impressive live-action fight I’ve ever seen. The practical effects and choreographing are incredible and the fight keeps moving along by having the stakes raised and characters dying, it doesn’t meander.
In animation it’s harder to say. Attack on Titan had a lot of really well animated action (it used be so good, goddammit). The battle in Shiganshina in season 3 is the best, the narrative weight is so strong, the characters all have really good moments, the stakes are really high and the production is incredible, animation, soundtrack, sound design, voice acting etc.
Mob Psycho has the most consistently incredible animation of anything I’ve ever seen, I think the group fight against the teleporting psychic in season 2 is my personal favourite, even if it’s not the flashiest, it’s really well directed and just such a cool fight, even though it’s not that long.
The ChainsawMan manga has a lot of good fights, the Falling Devil arc is like my favourite arc of anything ever, but that’s mainly because of the characters. The art is stunning, Fujimoto at his absolute peak, but the action is pretty straightforward. I mainly love it because it’s Asa at her best as a character, and Asa is my favourite character of anything ever.
Wow it was way easier for me to choose a live action sequence than animated. Honestly there’s so much lazy action in superhero slop that Mad Max stands out so, so much.
The hospital shootout in Hard Boiled fucking rules. There are probably a bunch of John Woo scenes I could mention though, like the shootout at the beginning of The Killer that sets the whole story into motion, which has incredible choreography and emotional impact.
@SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net already mentioned Police Story, so I’ll just second it.
Kind of primitive by today’s standards, but the duel that introduces Kyuzo in Seven Samurai is cool as hell (for some reason I can’t find it unedited on youtube, so just watch the movie).
Car Chase scene in The French Connection- William Friedkin was firing on all cylinders.
Not really a single scene, but I love John McTiernan’s very slick and interesting way of directing action in the 80s, with Die Hard and Predator. His action scenes are tense and almost like horror scenes, particularly in Predator.
There are lots of James Cameron action scenes I could list, so I’ll just say the police station shootout in Terminator, and Ripley fighting the Alien Queen.
I’m also personally fond of the final sword fight in Rob Roy.
In animation, I think I’ve got to mention the fight between Aang and Katara versus Azula and Zuko in ATLA, for the animation quality, creative choreography, and story impact. As a kid I loved how it ended the second season on this massive defeat and tragedy, which reminded me of Empire Strikes Back. I could mention a ton of scenes across all of Avatar but that’s my favorite.
Church shootout in Cowboy Bebop
The Rob Roy fight is a great one. Tim Roth is such a fucking asshole in that movie and the way his character arc ends is extremely satisfying.
Yeah, he’s a complex but deeply hateable villain. Great character, great performance, underrated movie.
He definitely stole scenery. Great pick btw.
Book recommendation - The Last Samurai, by Helen DeWitt (which is actually connected to this movie, and is obsessed with this scene, and has nothing to do with the Tom Cruise movie that came out later)
For my favorite samurai action scene (other than this one) I’ll vote for the end of The Sword of Doom, or the hilltop duel in Harakiri.
I saw hard boiled for the first time this year and hooooooooly shit.
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