Movie fight scenes

[Nishibi Ryu]

I am an old Brue Lee fight scene fan from the 70's and I just got a new box set of all the Hong Kong movies from that era. Now I had not watched any of his movies since the 80's but once I had re seen them I still beleive his work is the best.
My question to you is " has anyone even staged better fight scenes than Bruce on film?

 

[Brian Jones]

I think so. I would put the Lee Vs. O'Hara scene as a top classic, maybe the best ever. Maybe Le Vs. Norris, although if you look at it today I'm not completley sure the choreography stands up. Lee suffered soem what from not always having the best opponents (The big Boss at the End of "The Big Boss", Han in Enter The Dragon). Most of his movies consisted of Lee standing in a big circle of villans and fighting them one on one.
I think Donnie Yen's fights in FlashPoint and Kill Zone are better. Jackie Chan's fights in Drunken Master 2 is better (at least more imaginative), Jet Li's opening fight in Fist of Legend, Tony Jaa in "The Protector" are all better.

Now that's not to say that any of these people are better Martial Artist than Lee. Your question was about choreography.

Brian Jones

 

[Omar B]

Brian mentioned a lot of good ones. Bruce did a lot and was revolutionary but today you have a lot of guys who can do fights on that level. They may not be as stong at their acting but there are a bunch of raelly great screen fighters out there today. Right now I'm really digging Scott Adkins (Ninja), Donnie Yen (I'm watching Ip Man as I type this), Sonny Chiba, Sho Kusogi. I'm a big JMA fan, a lot moreso than CMA, even when it comes to movies too.

 

[Nishibi Ryu]

I think so. I would put the Lee Vs. O'Hara scene as a top classic, maybe the best ever. Maybe Le Vs. Norris, although if you look at it today I'm not completley sure the choreography stands up. Lee suffered soem what from not always having the best opponents (The big Boss at the End of "The Big Boss", Han in Enter The Dragon). Most of his movies consisted of Lee standing in a big circle of villans and fighting them one on one.
I think Donnie Yen's fights in FlashPoint and Kill Zone are better. Jackie Chan's fights in Drunken Master 2 is better (at least more imaginative), Jet Li's opening fight in Fist of Legend, Tony Jaa in "The Protector" are all better.

Now that's not to say that any of these people are better Martial Artist than Lee. Your question was about choreography.

Brian Jones

Yes I agree on the O'Hara one that was excellent although I thought all of his work in that movie was good, that being said the fight against the entire Karate do jo was a little over staged, but from then on it was all good. I still like the Chuck one, I remember seeing it at the movies when it was released it was rated R and I snuck in with my older sister to watch it, my first set of movie boobs too.lol, I was 14yo.
Over all I think Enter the Dragon had the best variety but yes his opponants did lack somewhat, but for its time!!!

I did see a Chan vs Li fight in that movie they did a little while ago, can't remember the name which was very good, the others you mention I have not seen well, my wife does'nt like action movies so I can only sneak in bits and pieces I will try to see the ones mentioned on both posts.

Nice talking to ya

 

[MA-Caver]

Possibly one of the best fight choreographers on the planet would have to be Woo-ping Yuen... http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0950759/ (see his list of films under "miscellaneous crew" and read down the films that he has been involved with as the fight choreographer) ...
One cannot possibly imagine the fight scenes that he and Lee would've come up with if Lee had survived to today's film making.

To say one fight scene is better than all the rest is pointless... you'll never get ANYONE to agree with EVERYONE on the #1 of all time. We all have our favorites.

Lee vs Wall in Enter The Dragon still gets me going "oooh!" every time they put their wrists together and next thing you know you hear a BAM and Wall is on his knee wondering WTF happened? :lol: And not once but three times! BTW, this particular scene with the third set up should show that Lee hadn't given up on WC entirely.
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Did such a good job of (acting) showing the control that a MA-ist should have even when confronted with someone whom you have reason to be vindictive... but don't. It was sparring turned to self-defense.
Brilliant.

Of course Lee's Chinese Connection/Fist Of Fury Dojo fight scene was marvelous... same with Jet Li's remake of the same film/scene.

 

[Nishibi Ryu]

Sorry I have to make a correction,I was initially talking about Fist of Fury, you know same actors different names, working all night and sleepy!!!!!

 

[Slav]

I'm a fan of 3 ultimate fighting scenes from "Game Of Death" with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar etc (Especially full versions on You Tube). I consider them to be one of the best for all the time!

 

[Fumbling Dufus]

I thought the Brandon/Al Leong fight scene in Rapid Fire was cool.

Also the scene(s) in the Bourne Identity.

 

[Gruenewald]

Brian mentioned a lot of good ones. Bruce did a lot and was revolutionary but today you have a lot of guys who can do fights on that level. They may not be as stong at their acting but there are a bunch of raelly great screen fighters out there today. Right now I'm really digging Scott Adkins (Ninja), Donnie Yen (I'm watching Ip Man as I type this), Sonny Chiba, Sho Kusogi. I'm a big JMA fan, a lot moreso than CMA, even when it comes to movies too.

Agreed. However, I would like to add that Bruce (and Danny, as well) was arguably the best practitioner of the nunchaku we'll ever see, period.

 

[Haakon]

My question to you is " has anyone even staged better fight scenes than Bruce on film?

I'll be the first to speak the heresy - I've never been a big fan of Bruce Lee movies, I thought his son did better (very sad his life was cut so short).

In my opinion many people have staged better fight scenes, movie fight choreography has come a very long way. Jackie Chan has had dozens of fight scenes better than Bruce Lee. Look at Ip Man and Ip Man 2, great fight scenes.

Here are some interesting comparisons, fight scenes with the main character vs a bunch of opponents:
Bruce Lee vs bunch of karate guys (Fist of Fury):

Jet Li vs bunch of karate guys (Fist of Legend):

Jet Li vs bunch of black belts (Kiss of the Dragon):

Donnie Yen vs bunch of karate guys (Ip Man):

 

[David43515]

I`ve heard a few stuntmen say that the best fight scene they ever saw was one Dan Inosanto shot for the James Caan movie "Killer Elite". It wound up on the cutting room floor, but it was probably the first FMA to hit Hollywood.

But personal taste is a big factor in what is "best". I`d say Jet Li and Donnie Yen and even Jackie Chan blow Bruce out of the water.

*goes off to soak in the heresy*

 

[Thesemindz]

For me, nothing beats Jet Li in Fist of Legend.


-Rob

 

[Gruenewald]

You all have to remember the immense difficulties that stood in Bruce's way during the filming of his movies. For the most part, the directors and producers for his films were uninterested or just plain terrible (I can't remember who exactly it was, but I remember reading that the director of one of his movies was caught listening to horse races during filming of an important scene in one of Bruce's movies). He produced excellent work considering the unusual circumstances. There were also a few stories of Bruce injuring himself on-set because they had such terrible equipment.

Actors today are basically spoiled: they have absolutely everything at their disposal, amazing directors and choreographers, and most importantly of all they have trendsetters like Bruce to improve from. Bruce was a pioneer and revolutionized MA movies, everybody since then has had him to look at and improve from.

 

[Stickgrappler]

Sorry for posting to an old thread.

Movie fight scenes are fantasy... depends on what the viewer is looking for ultimately... wire-fu or no wire-fu? One on one? One vs many? Weapons work? "Realism"?

Just adding to this thread some of my faves:

* Tony Jaa vs 50+ guys in The Protector aka Tom Yum Goong is awesome display of jointbreaking

* Donnie Yen vs Calvin Chou in Flashpoint

* Donnie Yen vs Sammo Hung on the table in Ip Man 2

* Donnie Yen vs 10 Karatekas in Ip Man 1

* Donnie Yen in the opening scene of Legend of the Fist - Return of Chen Zhen - I could feel my testoterone surging through me as I watched this scene!

* Bruce Lee vs Chuck Norris - loads of BL/JKD philosophy in that scene as well as movie, it's no wonder, as BL was writer, director and star

* The brief scene towards the end of The Man From Nowhere aka This Man when the protagonist uses a knife and fights like 7 guys

* Benicio Del Toro vs Tommy Lee Jones in The Hunted

* CGI anyone? Legend of Zu, Storm Riders, etc

* Jet Li's one-on-one fight at the end of Fist of Legend ... both fighters learned from each other while fighting each other and adapted

* Gordon Liu vs the 7 Japanese experts in Heroes of the East aka Shaolin vs Ninja

* Dorian Tan Tao Liang kicking it (literally and figuratively) in The Leg Fighters or The Hot the Cool and the Vicious

* Oldboy - the protagonist fighting like 20 guys in a narrow hallway using only boxing

* Fight scene in Grosse Point Blank with Benny the Jet Urquidez

* Jackie Chan vs Benny the Jet in Dragons Forever


Loads more.

 

[zDom]

My question to you is " has anyone even staged better fight scenes than Bruce on film?

Yes. Jackie Chan.

 

[boldchamp]

Personally, i think those 'flashy' fight scenes are the least impressive ones. I generally favor fights that look 'techniqually' good, and also ones that would most closely work in a serious fight.

Bruce lee`s fight with Chuck Norris in 'The way of the dragon' was probably his best fight i`ve seen. But, the single best fight i`ve seen is the scene from Jackie Chan`s who am i? in a fight between Jackie and Ron Smoorenburg.