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I've scrolled through a lot of comments and seen exactly what I thought I would. Lots of John Wicks, Mad Max etc. For me the most teeth grinding action scene I've witnessed in recent years has to be the tank battle against the Tiger in Fury. I was seriously shouting in front of my screen during that.
The spinning gravity hallway fight in Inception was so wonderful. Instead of the gun battles with anonymous drones in the other concurrent threads, there was a visceral intensity and a tooth-and-claw quality to that sequence that really brought the whole film up a notch for me.
The Joker highway chase scene from The Dark Knight. A great, intense sequences that wowed me when I first saw it in theaters and still wows me to this day.
Dorian Johnson I still like Bane crashing the plane. It’s not exactly groundbreaking in terms of cinematography, but just the fact that it actually happened is cool.
@@movierr111 There's an air cannon inside the truck,that's how they did it,unless you're asking how the physics works according to what batman actually did to flip it
Perhaps an unpopular opinion to some, but seeing the action scenes in Man of Steel for the first time absolutely blew me away. I finally felt the scale and power of Superman. Snyder's cinematography is gorgeous, in part due to his use of anamorphic lenses, but also his choice to film everything handheld to give that slight 'real world' feeling. I think that if a director is using CGI camerawork, they should take full advantage of it, and in the case of Man of Steel, I feel the force and the speed of Superman and the camera work actually complimented his character in a way that only works for him. Also down to the choreography and how it was structured around the characters abilities and flaws, something that would go over most peoples heads. For example, Zod is a trained fighter, but has never been exposed to Earths sun, so he can't fly but he makes huge leaps. Superman on the other hand has lived his whole life on Earth and has had time to control his abilities, but he isn't a trained fighter. So in the final action sequence, Superman constantly tries forcing Zod into the air as he has the advantage over him, and when ever he is on the ground Zod knocks him to pieces. I still think the action in that film is unmatched, but has been overdone so much since then that it unfortunately feels stale, especially when everyone else doesn't understand how to do it like Snyder; one of the only action blockbuster directors that has a unique artistic/visual style.
John Wick 2, Baby Driver, Dunkirk and Blade Runner 2049 were all lastyear's masterclasses of what you talk about in this video. John Wick 2 for its worldbuilding and great fights, Baby Driver for bringing back weights to car chases, Dunkirk for its building of crosscut suspense and bringing weight to the dogfights the same way BD did for car chases, and BR 2049 for making futuristic, surreal yet believable world
And what i loved about Dunkirk is that Nolan learnt to let his action scenes breathe with much more fluid editing, lack of which plagued his earlier action in TDK, Inception etc... a lot more than the filming itself
Blade Runner 2049 really made me feel like I was watching critical injury. Usually you know a guy is about to die when he’s covered in a gallon of blood and talking gruff; but when that dude responds to a neck punch with room-echoing throat-creaking, you know something in that guy’s anatomy is seriously not okay.
It is mentioned (and shown) in the video, but I have to give the "Best Big Action" award to Fury Road. I've rewatched that movie so many times it's ridiculous and it's awesome every single time. Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park are my go to "big action" movies and probably the two movies I have rewatched the most times ever.
I don’t th think its that great. Road Warrior is better. There’s heaps of plot holes in Fury Road. The action is also more over the top and doesn’t have as much tension. The characters don’t feel as real.
Finally someone who is not praising FR like it's a modern day Citizen Kane. It was a lot of action and a lot of action scenes but in netween those it was quite shallow. On the contrary, Road Warrior had few action scenes but build up to them was perfect, made us really care about the characters. Also there no really bad/good characters in RW, everybody has their flaw, while n FR it's pretty much black and white.
All that and it actually felt like resources were scare in RW. Despite them supposed to be scare in FR, there was a surplus of ammunition and fuel. They didn’t seem to give a shit bout wasting water either. We never got the sense that they were short on anything.
I would say that the 2 PERFECT genre films ever made, my humble uneducated opinion, and by perfect, I mean perfect from start to finish would be JAWS and Mad Max Fury Road and oh the hell with it lets make it 3 with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Perfect in every way. Direction, sound, music, action, pacing, acting, writing, tone, feeling, shock and awe...across the board perfect
No movie is perfect and no movie will please everyone. I was fine with the plot of Fury Road and I thought the visual storytelling and the "show don't tell" style worldbuilding worked quite well to support and justify the action and the over the top tone.
I like the way your editing towards the end demonstrated what you meant by planning quick cuts so it's fluid, rather than jerky. Even cutting different films together can make sense if your eyes are able to follow the movement.
Avengers vs thanos in titan was pretty cool and creative and had a sense of place even in the titan rubbish over the floor made all look the same i did noticed whenever they moved somewhere else. As thanos obliterates the arena itself i do believe things get progressively crazy but in a fitting way as he fights dr strange.
I didn't like it as much because I couldn't get a real sense of space since everything looked pretty similar throughout as if they didn't really move anywhere in Titan.
The Boat + Car chase in Hitman's Bodyguard is fantastic I was actually testing the set piece by predicting where things would go when a character made decision. For example, when character decides to fire his gun or move the vehicle somewhere. It had a fantastic sense of geography, I was never lost or confused throughout it. Oh and it was damn fun!
Even though i'm blanking right now and can't remember movies with good action scenes what i like in action is the pause! The right pause in the start,middle or end of a scene are breath takers for me! One example the fight scene in SnowPiercer where you had a first pause when they saw the enemy, then fight, then pause etc etc. Same goes to to John Wick the small pauses he took to look around or check his gun were the reason i liked them in my opinion. I firstly remember this in movies like 300 where even though there isn't a pause there is a slow down in action that literally makes me hold my breath!
Zeliek Oh yeah. Like the scene where they open the door to 30 guys with hatchets, and they stand there for a full minute thinking “Shit. We WERE NOT prepare for this!”. And then the guys put on night vision goggles. Enough said.
City of Violence, a relatively obscure Korean action film. Our heroes have just battle their way through absolutely ridiculous odds. They walk into a hallway filled to the brim with assholes holding swords. Exhausted, our heroes exchange a look of annoyance and have this wonderfully human moment where they try to just "shoo" the mooks away. Then we don't see the fight at all, only it's aftermath. I wonder if that movie is as low-key great as I kind of remember it being...?
Sounds good! I like "human moments"! I want my action heroes acknowledge the danger of a fight especially if the enemy is armed or they are not in perfect condition. Example, even though it's more comedic, is almost all action with Jackie Chan. When he notices a dude first pull out a gun or any weapon he EMOTES then tries to fix the situation/fights. Even in my superhero movies i want them to EMOTE for their action (more than teeth grinding/showing) even though their "power level" is beyond the situation!
Jackie Chan is an excellent example of how believable fight scenes are the result of believable failures. It isn't the pretty hero spinning around dropping fools left and right that "sells" a scene, it's the reactions of the fools he's dropping. This is why most of your favorite small-scale action heroes began their careers as stuntmen getting dropped by the hero. Jackie, for a perfect example. Scott Adkins, a favorite on this channel. Cyril Raffaelli, one of the co-protagonists of District b13, can be seen for maybe a single second getting his lights punched out by Statham in Transporter. I'm the only person I know who reads the stuntman credits at the end of movies. I assure you, if you appreciate good action, doing so is more than worth it. It's how I know to follow Jeff Imada movies.
Love CA: THE WINTER SOLDIER. The cuts are fast but you don’t lose place with geography, the entire highway fight is immense BUT for character AND action, the elevator scene takes that. It builds really well with all the subtle looks and noticed that Steve goes through. It’s perfect performance and direction from everyone involved.
Great Action (or fight scenes) in recent years in my opinion; not in a specific order: 1. John Wick - Club Scene. 2. The Revenant - Last Battle. 3. Atomic Blonde - Stairwell Scene. 4. Daredevil - Hallway Scene. 5. Oldboy (Korean Version) - Hallway Scene. 6. Infinity War - Ironman, Spiderman, etc. Against Thanos. 7. M.I.: Fallout - Bathroom Fight. 8. Skyfall - Sniper Fight. 9. Kingsman - Church Scene. 10. Winter Soldier - First Capt. America and Winter Soldier fight. 11. John Wick 2 - Fight against the other hitmen & Subway fight.
I love what the Russo Bros did with Civil War and Infinity War, but the smaller scale and hand-to-hand fights and camerawork of The Winter Soldier still makes it my favorite of the MCU. I really enjoyed the battles of CW and IW, but I keep going back to watch the elevator fight sequence or the highway battle of TWS. Hands down though, the John Wick and The Raid movies have the best action in recent times.
As someone who is usually bored by action but love the action in The Winter Soldier and Civil War I have to disagree. What the Russos do so well is for one, inserting an emotional core in every action scene and two, even in the big set-pieces they switch between the grand explosions and the more personal fights. That's why the scene at the bridge works so well, and why I honestly think that the MCU has the best action scenes which have been made in the last ten years outside of Fury Road. Everything else looks nice, I guess, but unless you are really into seeing blood in your action scenes not necessarily better.
The Russo's did a lot of of horrendous over editing. I'm getting really fucking annoyed that it's even getting praise in Ross's comment section where people should know better.
Sorry you don't like the action in their mcu films. Not sure why you're annoyed, though. Yeah, they have used quick cuts and multiple angles but you are always able to appreciate the choreography of the action and stunts, and there's a real sense of velocity and movement to their scenes. In fact, they moved away from their Bourne trilogy influences in IW to capture the much bigger scale, so they've improved in that regard anyways :) Now.. movies like the Taken sequels and Colombiana are so over-edited to the point where you cannot even see any actual fighting.
I actually found Atomic Blonde to be quite engaging. The fights were some of the best I’ve seen in a while. I thought they told a story and captured the feeling of desperation and struggle well. I like how injured she got, bit struggled on anyway.
Upgrade's first real fight scene is amazing. Its got so much character building and such expressive emotion thats not just anger and adrenaline. There is just so much that is said about both of the main characters just by each of their reactions. One of those few "more than just another fight scene in action films". Its definitely worth a look.
You should take like example Villeneuve in the last fight of Blade Runner 2049, the soundtrack of the complete scene since K decided go to save Deckard to the final fight hand to hand against Luv is almost perfect.
The Revenant’s first fight sequence is one of my favourite. The need to aim accurately as you only have one shot in your gun. The urgency to load before they fight close quarters combat with warriors experienced in it. I also noticed that sweet sweet transition.
"Camera work should feel as human as possible" oh gods, yes. Every time camera starts to fly around pointlessly I'm taken out of the movie. This happens too many times.
The content you produce is absolutely necessary for filmmakers to see. As a young filmmaker myself who wants to write and direct action films, I'm concerned that that I wouldn't even be able to shoot the action sequences I'd have on the script-in favor of a technically proficient second unit director and team making a safer alternative. Second unit is important (I mean the Wackowskis shot the second unit action scenes for V for Vendetta) but I love and respect filmmakers who have shot almost every part of their film
Rossatron Can't imagine how long it took you to source, compile, sort and edit all the similar shots from different movies which cut so well into each other. I particularly loved Duane Johnson running at the baddie in Jumanji cutting perfectly to Harrison Ford socking Pat Roach in the hooter in Raiders. Very amusingly done.
Not as long as you would expect, since I've seen many of these films a lot for this channel now, and there are always happy accidents you find scrolling through, but it was one of the more intense edits for the channel I've done yet. The 20+ minute Tony Scott one though is still the hardest, since that was basically a TV episode.
Rossatron I loved that one too. His visual influence is writ so large in modern action cinema and I feel he's not an oft cited reference point in the way his mimickers are. Heck, even Tony's own, more lauded brother was influenced heavily by his look and style throughout the 90s - 2000s!
Dude! The editing in your video and how you've matched the motion at the end of one video with the beginning of another video is just bonkers! Superb stuff man!
I watched Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets a week ago and that had a really good action set piece at the end of act one. Reminds me how good Luc Besson's action was in the 90's. Leon and The Fifth Element are just great films. Nikita was also really good. If Valerian wasn't so badley misscast with Dana DeHaan and the character wasn't played so creepy it could be a great film. I really like the original comic and I wonder why Besson decided to make the character so creepy. He gets better when he isn't hitting on Laureline, but some of the stuff in the beginning is just awful. I also wished it was still a thing that Valerian brought Laureline back from 1200 France (yeah Valerian and Laureline comic had some crazy stories, that involved wizards and time travel).
I don't know what impressive me more.....the incredible, well written, depth analysis you just did.......or the MASTERWORK EDITING of all those sequences in this video....your Essays alone are a work of art.
I think the best recent example of "big blockbuster action" that I truly enjoyed and cannot stop thinking about is Infinity War. It feels raw yet other-worldly and keeps the tension of the characters up all the while looking extremely impressive. Cannot thank the Russos enough for that.
Dragonspartax *BIG SPOILERS* another thing I noticed is that almost everyone that dies pre snap does it in a way that's very human and not a big explosion or sci fi laser or anything like that, for example Loki gets choked, Heimdall stabbed, Gamora thrown from a risk, and even Vision to some extent, it would have been very easy to just remove the stone and that's it but instead it left a big hole in his forehead like a gunshot, plus the Thanos vs Hulk and the final parts vs Stark are hand to hand almost. Also my favourite is how Thanos stabs Iron Man and then Thor does the same to Thanos, again very human like
The opening fight from 300:Rise of an Empire. Its a case of slow-mo done so right, used to help us work out the geography and help us feel the impact. There's no quick cuts, the impact of the hits is clear and easy to see, but still impactful, the action itself tells us about the characters we're following, and the choreography is just so much more impressive than the first 300.
Rossatron I like the "single take" at the end of the film. Even though it's not a real one, it's stitched together well enough and there's some great fight choreography in there too.
I think maybe there's something interesting to explore in regards to cg camera movements. Specifically how these fast, sweeping, impossible camera movements can look really cool in animation, but never elicit the same feeling when emulated in live action.
Not a recent one, but something I always love coming back to is The Battle for Helms Deep in Lord of the Rings. Just the build up alone with both sides facing each other down is amazing, and an excellent sense of scale is felt as well.
Yeah, Skull Island legitimately impressed\surprised me. For me, it was just about a perfect way to bring kaiju movies into the 21st Century - even moreso than Shin Godzilla, surprisingly enough. Cheesy, silly fun but with juuuust enough substance to feel like it was more than just mindless action. Plus, the smackdown at the end was great - particularly how it felt like a wrestling match, a'la 70s Godzilla flicks.
The shootout at the end of _The Way of the Gun_ tends to get overlooked. Pretty good geography. _City of Violence_ is great too, geographically, editorially. The continuity is great too. Maybe I just like westerns.
Thanks, I wanted to be a bit more creative with the editing here, and give a sense of how a director/editor needs to take an audience through an action sequence by doing it myself in the essay.
My three favourite recent blockbuster action scenes are the bridge fight in Thor Ragnarok, the throne room fight in The Last Jedi, and the entire last thirty minutes of Rogue One.
An older film I re-watched the other day was Walter Hill's The Long Riders, which got me to thinking about how little he's mentioned in videos like this. I know he's often considered a Peckinpah imitator but in films like Red Heat, Extreme Prejudice and Last Man Standing he's created some of my favourite shoot-outs ever.
I still go to RUclips to watch the elevator fight scene from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I think it's the best blockbuster action scene in the past ten years. It starts with a slow build of tension that marks the culmination of Cap's growing distrust of SHIELD. Clear stakes. A constrained, manageable scale. An explosive breakout into violence. Choreography that is weighty and impactful, and really shows how strong and agile a supersoldier can be. Even creative use of the environment, like how the footwork gets more and more constrained as the floor piles up with unconscious guys. It all ends up with an appropriately impressive climax as he just jumps out the window and falls five stories. Seriously, go back and watch it. I think what's really impressed me more and more on repeat viewings is the sound effects and editing. The way they make hits sound and how it's edited together really gives a neat sense of both weight and rhythm to the fight.
The police station shootout in The Terminator has always stuck out in my mind ever since I first saw the movie when I was 11 yrs old. The tension of this unstoppable killing machine systematically killing its way through what is supposed to be a safe place just fills you with a sense of dread and claustrophobia, hitting the point home that no matter where you go this thing will hunt you down and nothing can stop it.
I'll cite three movies from this millenium that action aficionados need to reassess and grant classic status: 1. Tears Of The Sun (2003) 2. The Kingdom (2007) 3. The International (2009)
The Throne Room scene The Last Jedi was the last action scene in a big blockbuster that really impressed me.It's obvious watching the scene back that Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver were very comfortable with doing their own fight scene and able to execute it well, Driver especially. He really sells Kylo Ren's physicality. Rian Johnson recognized that they could do it and that they wouldn't have to rely on quick cuts or shaky cam to disguise stunt doubles and was able to keep the shots wide and linger on each respective actor as they made their way through each guard. Ended up being my favorite action scene in the current films.
Honestly, Shin Godzilla was the first time in awhile that I really felt like I was watching a city be destroyed. The music, the visual, the fact that so much of the film was spent attempting to get people to safety in preparation for the moment Godzilla let loose, the fact that - iirc - miniatures were used instead of CGI. It was gorgeous to watch , glad I caught it in theaters.
Infinity war really impressed me in it's take on large scale, super power driven, combat (particularly the fight on titan). It reminded me of the fantastical element to anime action that sucked me in as a kid. The best way i can describe it is that the sequence(s) always felt like a fight that happened to be on a fantastical scale rather than _oooh aahh_ hollywood spectacle. The scale of the fights didn't drowned out the fights themselves.
Shin Gojira / Godzilla Ressurgence (2016) I think has one of the most impressive big action scenes which is when Godzilla finally uses his atomic breath to annihilate and destroy most of Tokyo. It's not only a visual spectacle that is accompanied by some spectacular and haunting music but it's also very impactful on the narrative and the viewer's understanding of how dangerous Godzilla is. In short, the Japanese military has failed at killing him because their artillery isn't strong enough to even put a dent into the monster so now we're introduced to the US air force who damage Godzilla with a massive bomb attack but they are immediately brought down which shows that practically no conventional weaponry can take down this monster. The Prime Minister of Japan is also killed during the attack and it seems as if all hope is lost, creating a great sense of dread and despair as every character and the viewer starts to lose hope in this battle. It's a great action sequence which combines spectacle and narrative expertly and I absolutely love it.
I recentl rewatched the whole trilogy and was amazed at how clear and understandable the action is, made me (re)realize just how bad it was in The Hobbit
The last hour of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Cut)is the holy grail of big action. The first 2 hours were set ups in their entirety. The last hour gave us: - The Batman vs Superman fight - The infamous Batman warehouse sequence - Superman's brawl with Doomsday - The trinity vs Doomsday
the only recent movies with big chaotic action scenes I can think of, are the airport fight in cap. civil war and the church scene in the first kingsman, two completely different pieces but very well done and detailed
My favorite fights in Avengers: Infinity War were actually the smaller fights. For example, the Scotland battle. Lots of tension, some great camera work (no shaky cam like in WS and CW), and the Secret Avengers showing up with that theme song blasting... It was one hell of a spectacle, but it kept things small scale since it was just a simple fight scene.
Personally I adore everything about that film, the camera-work and choreography just clicked perfectly, unique, cool, and added a load of impact to the action and violence. It was an awesome cinema experience, having Whannell present for a Q&A was the cherry on top too. Hope he digs into more contained genre films in the future. Can't wait to get the film on blu-ray.
I think the War for the Planet of the Apes movie had fantastic action scenes, but that movie works so well, because it has stellar characterization in its script. It feels like the movie would've worked just as well if the action had been not as good
The battle at the start of War for the Planet of the Apes is shot in a similar Full Metal Jacket style. It’s chaotic and you can’t tell what’s going on in a deliberative way. It’s an ambush and it feels that way
Kong: Skull Island probably has some of my favorite action sequences recently. Like Legendary's "Godzilla", the scale is excellently felt while also capturing the human reaction really well. Plus they are filmed in a more unique way than typical stuff these days. An example is Kong's first true appearance, when he gets to do something. After Kong swats two helicopters out of the sky, the director gives us this slow build as we cut to our heroes various reactions and setting up the area of the set piece with lingering slow motion. Then it's kicked off with a roar and hail of gunfire, bringing to mind a classic motif of the character but executed differently. The geography is firmly established and many camera shots do well to emphasize the impact of the situation, such as when a pilot gets thrown into another chopper's blades. It also has a more dynamic construction compared to other giant monster movies, thanks to the camera actually moving through the scene (something that doesn't seem to happen as much as it should these days). Plus the sheer creativity of the moment, like Kong baseball batting a chopper with another chopper gives it that "cool" factor. For my taste, it's everything you listed here and also two other elements; how different it is and if it was simply cool to me. Listening to the director commentary, I was glad when he said he made it a point to construct the action different by simply showing it another way. And even as a guy who's watched a variety of monster movies and seen what every other famous cinematic creature has done, this new Kong impressed me a lot with what he can do.
The falling building scene in Transformers: Dark of the Moon is one of the greatest large scale action scenes ever, in my opinion. Also, the fight in the second movie between Optimus vs. Megatron, Blackout, and Starscream was great. And you forgot the Raid 2 had a couple of big action scenes that were really good like that car chase. The Hulk vs Hulkbuster was great, too. For smaller scale fights I would say every fight from The Raid: Redemption and The Raid 2, every John Wick action scene, the shower shootout in the Rock, Smith vs. Neo in the original Matrix, the Candyland shootout in Django Unchained, Glass vs. Fitzgerald in the Revenant, the final fight in Brawl in Cell Block 99, that gory killing spree in Rambo 4, and the hotel shootout in No Country for Old Men is a few of my favorites.
The Bifrost Battle in Thor Ragnarok is one of the most earned-feeling big scale action climaxes I've ever seen. Once "Immigrant Song" kicks in, it feels like everything in the movie was carefully building to that point. We get to see all the heroes of the movie at their absolute best for a solid amount of time without the sequence overstaying its welcome.
I thought The Kessel Run in SOLO was fantastic. Forget for a second the behind the scenes drama and just enjoy the sequence as a whole. It starts with the a pitch perfect nostalgia-driven musical score. Watching the Falcon careen through the maelstrom with Tie fighters at it's back just plain WORKED. The editing and sfx came together for pure cinema, with that space monster and Coaxium driven escape the perfect topper.
Ugh, to me the Kessel Run was pure creative bankruptcy. First they took the Maw concept from EU books, which okay, but I kind of expected them to be more inventive. Then the scene itself was nothing but a mashup of the TIE Attack and Asteroid Field scenes, with almost nothing new added. And, rather than doing anything interesting with the soundtrack, it also just mashes up the TIE and Asteroid themes - which was WAY too on the nose. Even all the fussing around with the coaxium mirrors all the stuff in ESB with Han trying to fix the Falcon mid-combat. Nor was the tentacle monster that interesting, since they'd already had tentacle monsters in both TFA and R1. That sequence was the first time in Star Wars where I felt like nobody making the movie had *any* new ideas, and were just recycling old material in hopes of scraping by on pure nostalgia.
I was lucky to see it at the Cinerama in Seattle with Laser projection. The cinematographer underexposed too much and only a handful of projectors were able to show it properly. My second viewing in Portland was a little disappointing :( Hopefully the blu-ray will compensate.
I would love to see a video about Zack Snyder. I think he is a great action director and a great director in general. Of course he made a few mistakes with BVS (the warehouse scene is still a phenomenal action scene and the best action scene for Batman). I dont even count Justice League. They cut 50 minutes, added so much shit and made an ugly frankenstein monster of a movie. So yeah, i am very curious to hear your opinion on the action in his movies.
Yes, this. Dear Rossatron, in these times, your channel is one of the few consistenly trustworthy sources into action. Your honest view on the action in either Man of Steel and/or Batman v Superman, or Wonder Woman would be fantastic. If not in video, then definitively on text.
I'd be interested to hear what he has to say too. I found BvS to be near-unwatchable and the fights to be really unimaginative punch-ups that made no creative use of the character's abilities. I'd be open to hearing about why people think otherwise.
I do plan on speaking about Snyder, as indeed he is an excellent director of action and visuals. He does have issues of course narratively, I can't deny the first (only?) film he wrote and directed was terrible (Sucker Punch), but he does have merit. I found Justice League visually to be very un-inspired, but I wonder how much of that was the Whedon effect. Watchmen is a goddamn masterpiece though, and his Dawn of the Dead is a favourite of mine.
A few of the films have been shown briefly, but I did want to mention I think the stunts in the Mission: Impossible movies have been getting more and more impressive in each subsequent movie.
Waterloo was one film that I would most definitely think about when it comes to a sense of scale. No other historical film has attempted to do something as big as Waterloo as it has preformed terribly at the box office. What amazes me was the amount of extras that were used in the film numbering in the thousands. Another film I like to think about when it comes to large scale action is Kingdom of Heaven’s siege of Jerusalem. When I was 7 the only thing I saw the most was the siege of Jerusalem battle and up to this day I stalk remember the clashing of swords and the blood on sand. My favorite moment was the finally collapsing of the wall. Troy was fine in scale as well and a favorite shot would be Agamemnon’s army breaching through the now open Trojan gates. It’s a nice over head view shot that always had me prepared to see bloodshed.
you say "unrealistic cgi camera movement reduces the danger felt in the shot" while showing the second panoramic shot in the avengers, as you said how you direct action depends on each movie, each scene and each story, in that particular moment in the avengers you're not supossed to feel the risk of the battle but how they work perfectly together as a team covering high amounts of ground, it's perfectly done
That was an example of a camera move, less the film. Though to be honest, I do not really find many of those movies entertaining anymore, simply due to the characters I know are never really in danger (with the camerawork and style a part of that).
When it comes to more recent material, I highly enjoy the slow motion Quicksilver sequences in both X-Men: Days of Future Past and Apocalypse. I've watched those isolated scenes more times than the films themselves.
As my tooth has elongated, I have reluctantly come to revelation that in action cinema John Woo has always been rediculously overrated, and Michael Bay has always been rediculously dismissed. If you ask me, Antoine Fuqua out wooed Woo, on the Woo produced "Replacement Killers". I feel there is only a few filmmakers who actually utilize slow-motion effectively to memorialize the emotion of the moment rather than just show off cool billowing fireballs or whizzing bullets. Woo can be magnificent at times, but also he often gets indulgent with trying to pander to his gimmicky hallmarks. Whereas, perhaps because everything Bay shoots is already so intensely visual, when he uses slow motion he tends to do it in service of honing in on the internal emotional subjective perspective of a specific character, or emphasizing the objective ramifications of a moment. Bay's instict for intention is on point. In visual storytelling, slow motion is a mythologizing tool. I'd say the only filmmakers who have really consistantly mastered correct usage of slow-motion are James Cameron, Mel Gibson, David Fincher, Ron Howard, Roland Emmerich, and Michael Bay. Because everytime they do it, it not only flows properly within the rhythm of the sequence, but it also always means something momentous (without excessively lingering to stagnate the momentum - I'm looking at you Watchowskis, Snyder, and Jackson!). I dislike Sam Peckinpah with something verging upon passion. To be brief, I think he just stinks. And Woo draws far too much inspiration from Peckinpah's horrenous variation on the technique. I mean both of their proclivities can quickly get silly, but Bay actually has better aesthetic versatility with far more intricate vision and technical prowess. As much as Bay is a hyperdrive derivative of grand scale action maestros like Cameron, Spielberg, and the Scott bros - nevertheless Bay is such a visual virtuoso that even his influences are influenced to step up their spectacle game considerably just to stay relevant in the midst of his Baydom. On the Mt. Rushmore of action gods, I would genuonely change out Woo for Bay. Carve him in right next to Spielberg, Cameron, McTiernan, and Gibson (yep, I'd put Mel in above his action mentors George Miller and Richard Donner). I appreciate every one of those individual's contribution to the action zeitgeist though. They've all put in indelible genre classics to some reverential degree, for sure.
Lord of the Rings. The action is easy to follow, the use of spectacularly good practical and digital effects means that they're not afraid to actually show you things, the action always follows the smaller encounters the main characters are facing while using big, sweeping shots to give us a sense of scale, and the music is perfectly on point at all times. The action is also closely tied in with the development of both the plot and the characters. The only two action scenes that are lacking in any appreciable way in my opinion are the cave troll fight, which isn't as technically good as the rest (check out the bit where Sam hits the orcs with a frying pan, and we don't even get to linger long enough to laugh), and the Battle of the Pelennor/Minas Tirith which is bloated in some respects (and in the theatrical version we never get to see Gothmog die, which is a major error).
A number of action sequences in The Last Jedi (which I unapologetically enjoyed anyway) have really stuck with me. There's a real sense of ferocity and catharsis in the throne room brawl in particular.
As usual if you want to support the channel please hit up www.patreon.com/rossp, and follow me on twitter for my daily film musings twitter.com/rosspeacock. I also have letterboxd, where I do make film lists letterboxd.com/ross. Thanks, and enjoy the video!
I've scrolled through a lot of comments and seen exactly what I thought I would. Lots of John Wicks, Mad Max etc.
For me the most teeth grinding action scene I've witnessed in recent years has to be the tank battle against the Tiger in Fury. I was seriously shouting in front of my screen during that.
As usual you make a very good video :)
They're good, really good as far as TV action goes. I didn't rate DD as a show personally, but those scenes were very well done.
I need to rewatch Fury, haven't seen it since it first came out.
Rossatron
What was your thoughts on the fight scene and how it was shot in Star Wars the Last Jedi. Rey and Kylo Ren vs Snokes Guards?
I hope people actually realize how well you edited this video.
Based on how long it took, so do I.
I did notice how there’s loads of match on action throughout the edit, especially towards the end
That's the thing about great editing, people don't notice it.
And how many footage you put into it
Daniel Clark thanks I can just like your comment so I won’t have to say the same thing
The spinning gravity hallway fight in Inception was so wonderful. Instead of the gun battles with anonymous drones in the other concurrent threads, there was a visceral intensity and a tooth-and-claw quality to that sequence that really brought the whole film up a notch for me.
Plus, the crosscut of the van falling with the other layers was also emotional cathartic, as well
The Joker highway chase scene from The Dark Knight. A great, intense sequences that wowed me when I first saw it in theaters and still wows me to this day.
Dorian Johnson I still like Bane crashing the plane. It’s not exactly groundbreaking in terms of cinematography, but just the fact that it actually happened is cool.
I'm a sucker for chases involving big rigs. T2 has my favorite. But yeah, the one in The Dark Knight is fantastic.
I still dont get the physics of it though, I mean how did the truck even flip?
@@movierr111 There's an air cannon inside the truck,that's how they did it,unless you're asking how the physics works according to what batman actually did to flip it
@@sriramr4957 yeah i meant the physics in the movie
I love how you edit certain action scenes in one movie to make them blend in with another.
Perhaps an unpopular opinion to some, but seeing the action scenes in Man of Steel for the first time absolutely blew me away. I finally felt the scale and power of Superman. Snyder's cinematography is gorgeous, in part due to his use of anamorphic lenses, but also his choice to film everything handheld to give that slight 'real world' feeling. I think that if a director is using CGI camerawork, they should take full advantage of it, and in the case of Man of Steel, I feel the force and the speed of Superman and the camera work actually complimented his character in a way that only works for him. Also down to the choreography and how it was structured around the characters abilities and flaws, something that would go over most peoples heads. For example, Zod is a trained fighter, but has never been exposed to Earths sun, so he can't fly but he makes huge leaps. Superman on the other hand has lived his whole life on Earth and has had time to control his abilities, but he isn't a trained fighter. So in the final action sequence, Superman constantly tries forcing Zod into the air as he has the advantage over him, and when ever he is on the ground Zod knocks him to pieces. I still think the action in that film is unmatched, but has been overdone so much since then that it unfortunately feels stale, especially when everyone else doesn't understand how to do it like Snyder; one of the only action blockbuster directors that has a unique artistic/visual style.
Issue I had with it is that it just became mind-numbing. I like that first sequence but it's just keeps going and more and more gets blown up.
Yeeesss. That fight in Kansas was amazing. First time I felt like I was watching a superman fight.
John Wick 2, Baby Driver, Dunkirk and Blade Runner 2049 were all lastyear's masterclasses of what you talk about in this video. John Wick 2 for its worldbuilding and great fights, Baby Driver for bringing back weights to car chases, Dunkirk for its building of crosscut suspense and bringing weight to the dogfights the same way BD did for car chases, and BR 2049 for making futuristic, surreal yet believable world
And what i loved about Dunkirk is that Nolan learnt to let his action scenes breathe with much more fluid editing, lack of which plagued his earlier action in TDK, Inception etc... a lot more than the filming itself
Can't disagree there! I loved all of them, I should have put more Baby Driver in this video at least for sure.
You should try doing a vid on atleast one of my suggestions, if you take suggestions ,of course :)
Blade Runner 2049 really made me feel like I was watching critical injury. Usually you know a guy is about to die when he’s covered in a gallon of blood and talking gruff; but when that dude responds to a neck punch with room-echoing throat-creaking, you know something in that guy’s anatomy is seriously not okay.
Krishna Nadoli bladerunner 2049 was trash tho.
It is mentioned (and shown) in the video, but I have to give the "Best Big Action" award to Fury Road. I've rewatched that movie so many times it's ridiculous and it's awesome every single time. Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park are my go to "big action" movies and probably the two movies I have rewatched the most times ever.
I don’t th think its that great. Road Warrior is better. There’s heaps of plot holes in Fury Road. The action is also more over the top and doesn’t have as much tension. The characters don’t feel as real.
Finally someone who is not praising FR like it's a modern day Citizen Kane. It was a lot of action and a lot of action scenes but in netween those it was quite shallow. On the contrary, Road Warrior had few action scenes but build up to them was perfect, made us really care about the characters. Also there no really bad/good characters in RW, everybody has their flaw, while n FR it's pretty much black and white.
All that and it actually felt like resources were scare in RW. Despite them supposed to be scare in FR, there was a surplus of ammunition and fuel. They didn’t seem to give a shit bout wasting water either. We never got the sense that they were short on anything.
I would say that the 2 PERFECT genre films ever made, my humble uneducated opinion, and by perfect, I mean perfect from start to finish would be JAWS and Mad Max Fury Road and oh the hell with it lets make it 3 with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Perfect in every way. Direction, sound, music, action, pacing, acting, writing, tone, feeling, shock and awe...across the board perfect
No movie is perfect and no movie will please everyone. I was fine with the plot of Fury Road and I thought the visual storytelling and the "show don't tell" style worldbuilding worked quite well to support and justify the action and the over the top tone.
I like the way your editing towards the end demonstrated what you meant by planning quick cuts so it's fluid, rather than jerky. Even cutting different films together can make sense if your eyes are able to follow the movement.
Avengers vs thanos in titan was pretty cool and creative and had a sense of place even in the titan rubbish over the floor made all look the same i did noticed whenever they moved somewhere else. As thanos obliterates the arena itself i do believe things get progressively crazy but in a fitting way as he fights dr strange.
I didn't like it as much because I couldn't get a real sense of space since everything looked pretty similar throughout as if they didn't really move anywhere in Titan.
The Boat + Car chase in Hitman's Bodyguard is fantastic I was actually testing the set piece by predicting where things would go when a character made decision. For example, when character decides to fire his gun or move the vehicle somewhere. It had a fantastic sense of geography, I was never lost or confused throughout it. Oh and it was damn fun!
Syed Hamza Alvi
Yeah Hitmans Bodyguard is an underrated one.
Even though i'm blanking right now and can't remember movies with good action scenes what i like in action is the pause! The right pause in the start,middle or end of a scene are breath takers for me! One example the fight scene in SnowPiercer where you had a first pause when they saw the enemy, then fight, then pause etc etc. Same goes to to John Wick the small pauses he took to look around or check his gun were the reason i liked them in my opinion. I firstly remember this in movies like 300 where even though there isn't a pause there is a slow down in action that literally makes me hold my breath!
Zeliek Oh yeah. Like the scene where they open the door to 30 guys with hatchets, and they stand there for a full minute thinking “Shit. We WERE NOT prepare for this!”. And then the guys put on night vision goggles. Enough said.
City of Violence, a relatively obscure Korean action film. Our heroes have just battle their way through absolutely ridiculous odds. They walk into a hallway filled to the brim with assholes holding swords. Exhausted, our heroes exchange a look of annoyance and have this wonderfully human moment where they try to just "shoo" the mooks away.
Then we don't see the fight at all, only it's aftermath.
I wonder if that movie is as low-key great as I kind of remember it being...?
Sounds good! I like "human moments"! I want my action heroes acknowledge the danger of a fight especially if the enemy is armed or they are not in perfect condition. Example, even though it's more comedic, is almost all action with Jackie Chan. When he notices a dude first pull out a gun or any weapon he EMOTES then tries to fix the situation/fights. Even in my superhero movies i want them to EMOTE for their action (more than teeth grinding/showing) even though their "power level" is beyond the situation!
Jackie Chan is an excellent example of how believable fight scenes are the result of believable failures. It isn't the pretty hero spinning around dropping fools left and right that "sells" a scene, it's the reactions of the fools he's dropping. This is why most of your favorite small-scale action heroes began their careers as stuntmen getting dropped by the hero. Jackie, for a perfect example. Scott Adkins, a favorite on this channel. Cyril Raffaelli, one of the co-protagonists of District b13, can be seen for maybe a single second getting his lights punched out by Statham in Transporter.
I'm the only person I know who reads the stuntman credits at the end of movies. I assure you, if you appreciate good action, doing so is more than worth it. It's how I know to follow Jeff Imada movies.
I loved the seamless cuts and transitions you edited together in this video.
very entertaining and informative, as always! thanks for your great work.
Love CA: THE WINTER SOLDIER. The cuts are fast but you don’t lose place with geography, the entire highway fight is immense BUT for character AND action, the elevator scene takes that. It builds really well with all the subtle looks and noticed that Steve goes through. It’s perfect performance and direction from everyone involved.
Great Action (or fight scenes) in recent years in my opinion; not in a specific order:
1. John Wick - Club Scene.
2. The Revenant - Last Battle.
3. Atomic Blonde - Stairwell Scene.
4. Daredevil - Hallway Scene.
5. Oldboy (Korean Version) - Hallway Scene.
6. Infinity War - Ironman, Spiderman, etc. Against Thanos.
7. M.I.: Fallout - Bathroom Fight.
8. Skyfall - Sniper Fight.
9. Kingsman - Church Scene.
10. Winter Soldier - First Capt. America and Winter Soldier fight.
11. John Wick 2 - Fight against the other hitmen & Subway fight.
I love what the Russo Bros did with Civil War and Infinity War, but the smaller scale and hand-to-hand fights and camerawork of The Winter Soldier still makes it my favorite of the MCU. I really enjoyed the battles of CW and IW, but I keep going back to watch the elevator fight sequence or the highway battle of TWS. Hands down though, the John Wick and The Raid movies have the best action in recent times.
I love seeing Winter Soldier vs Cap. One of my favorite fights in the entire MCU.
As someone who is usually bored by action but love the action in The Winter Soldier and Civil War I have to disagree. What the Russos do so well is for one, inserting an emotional core in every action scene and two, even in the big set-pieces they switch between the grand explosions and the more personal fights. That's why the scene at the bridge works so well, and why I honestly think that the MCU has the best action scenes which have been made in the last ten years outside of Fury Road. Everything else looks nice, I guess, but unless you are really into seeing blood in your action scenes not necessarily better.
The bridge scene in Winter Soldier was brilliantly crafted. The big reveal in the end was the icing on the cake.
The Russo's did a lot of of horrendous over editing.
I'm getting really fucking annoyed that it's even getting praise in Ross's comment section where people should know better.
Sorry you don't like the action in their mcu films. Not sure why you're annoyed, though. Yeah, they have used quick cuts and multiple angles but you are always able to appreciate the choreography of the action and stunts, and there's a real sense of velocity and movement to their scenes. In fact, they moved away from their Bourne trilogy influences in IW to capture the much bigger scale, so they've improved in that regard anyways :) Now.. movies like the Taken sequels and Colombiana are so over-edited to the point where you cannot even see any actual fighting.
I actually found Atomic Blonde to be quite engaging. The fights were some of the best I’ve seen in a while. I thought they told a story and captured the feeling of desperation and struggle well. I like how injured she got, bit struggled on anyway.
gilgamesh310 they where good but like he said. You don't care about them
I cared about them. More than I did the action in pretty much any super hero film I’ve seen in a while.
The action was great as I was expecting but I really didn't care for the story
Same director as John Wick
james tacoman he is uncredited for it though
Upgrade's first real fight scene is amazing. Its got so much character building and such expressive emotion thats not just anger and adrenaline. There is just so much that is said about both of the main characters just by each of their reactions. One of those few "more than just another fight scene in action films". Its definitely worth a look.
I'm very excited to see Upgrade, but sadly it's not out here for two months
You should take like example Villeneuve in the last fight of Blade Runner 2049, the soundtrack of the complete scene since K decided go to save Deckard to the final fight hand to hand against Luv is almost perfect.
Them weird electro guitar slides get me wet
Holdo's sacrifice in Last Jedi is one of the best BIG action sequences in recent memory.
Can we take a moment to appreciate the way you transition between footage by using clips with similar motifs? Damn, I really love your videos. :)
The Revenant’s first fight sequence is one of my favourite. The need to aim accurately as you only have one shot in your gun. The urgency to load before they fight close quarters combat with warriors experienced in it. I also noticed that sweet sweet transition.
this was one of your best edited videos yet. some of the edits from movie to movie seemed seamless, great job man!
"Camera work should feel as human as possible" oh gods, yes. Every time camera starts to fly around pointlessly I'm taken out of the movie. This happens too many times.
The content you produce is absolutely necessary for filmmakers to see. As a young filmmaker myself who wants to write and direct action films, I'm concerned that that I wouldn't even be able to shoot the action sequences I'd have on the script-in favor of a technically proficient second unit director and team making a safer alternative. Second unit is important (I mean the Wackowskis shot the second unit action scenes for V for Vendetta) but I love and respect filmmakers who have shot almost every part of their film
On of my favorite action sequence in recent memory is Dunkirk
I did love Dunkirk, good shout
Rossatron thanks
Aaditya Bhattacharya the dog fights were great.
Children of Men had some of the best action sequences for a movie that isn't necessarily an action film.
like near the end with the army attacking the building and them walking out with the baby and everyone stopping dead
It's really interesting how non-action films frequently have superior action sequences than ones from action films. Especially as of late.
That last segment was excellently edited. Well done man!
Would be nice to see longer clips of examples of badly done sequences and well-done sequences. Great video, learned a lot.
That’s tricky because long clips trigger copyright watch bots.
For sure, sucks.
Den of thieves the last shootout between was just amazing
Rossatron Can't imagine how long it took you to source, compile, sort and edit all the similar shots from different movies which cut so well into each other.
I particularly loved Duane Johnson running at the baddie in Jumanji cutting perfectly to Harrison Ford socking Pat Roach in the hooter in Raiders.
Very amusingly done.
Not as long as you would expect, since I've seen many of these films a lot for this channel now, and there are always happy accidents you find scrolling through, but it was one of the more intense edits for the channel I've done yet. The 20+ minute Tony Scott one though is still the hardest, since that was basically a TV episode.
Rossatron I loved that one too. His visual influence is writ so large in modern action cinema and I feel he's not an oft cited reference point in the way his mimickers are. Heck, even Tony's own, more lauded brother was influenced heavily by his look and style throughout the 90s - 2000s!
Dude! The editing in your video and how you've matched the motion at the end of one video with the beginning of another video is just bonkers! Superb stuff man!
Dude these match cuts of yours are on point! Really well put together
I watched Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets a week ago and that had a really good action set piece at the end of act one. Reminds me how good Luc Besson's action was in the 90's. Leon and The Fifth Element are just great films. Nikita was also really good.
If Valerian wasn't so badley misscast with Dana DeHaan and the character wasn't played so creepy it could be a great film. I really like the original comic and I wonder why Besson decided to make the character so creepy. He gets better when he isn't hitting on Laureline, but some of the stuff in the beginning is just awful. I also wished it was still a thing that Valerian brought Laureline back from 1200 France (yeah Valerian and Laureline comic had some crazy stories, that involved wizards and time travel).
The comics were great. Time travel and wizards and all.
The character was creepy to YOU and to some other. BUT he wasn't to Besson. That's why it turned out that way.
@@TheGeorgeD13 That's cause Besson himself is a creep too.
@@felipeoa9474 That's what I said, innit?
I don't know what impressive me more.....the incredible, well written, depth analysis you just did.......or the MASTERWORK EDITING of all those sequences in this video....your Essays alone are a work of art.
I think the best recent example of "big blockbuster action" that I truly enjoyed and cannot stop thinking about is Infinity War. It feels raw yet other-worldly and keeps the tension of the characters up all the while looking extremely impressive. Cannot thank the Russos enough for that.
Dragonspartax *BIG SPOILERS* another thing I noticed is that almost everyone that dies pre snap does it in a way that's very human and not a big explosion or sci fi laser or anything like that, for example Loki gets choked, Heimdall stabbed, Gamora thrown from a risk, and even Vision to some extent, it would have been very easy to just remove the stone and that's it but instead it left a big hole in his forehead like a gunshot, plus the Thanos vs Hulk and the final parts vs Stark are hand to hand almost. Also my favourite is how Thanos stabs Iron Man and then Thor does the same to Thanos, again very human like
Earth Fire Water Yeah man it's just fantastic action.
The opening fight from 300:Rise of an Empire. Its a case of slow-mo done so right, used to help us work out the geography and help us feel the impact. There's no quick cuts, the impact of the hits is clear and easy to see, but still impactful, the action itself tells us about the characters we're following, and the choreography is just so much more impressive than the first 300.
I have a real soft spot for Rise of an Empire
Rossatron I like the "single take" at the end of the film. Even though it's not a real one, it's stitched together well enough and there's some great fight choreography in there too.
great editing in the video itself, loved the matching cuts, like in 8:21 or 2:23. Visually providing examples of good cuts, great stuff
I think maybe there's something interesting to explore in regards to cg camera movements. Specifically how these fast, sweeping, impossible camera movements can look really cool in animation, but never elicit the same feeling when emulated in live action.
Beautifully structured and edited. Great video! I always find myself going back to Spielberg as well.
Ross your editing of this video is so good.
Thanks for saying
Speaking of editing. You naild so many cuts! I am almost proud.
Another great vid with super clever editing! This channel is blowing up
Holy mother of match cuts, Batman! What beautiful video essay!
I appreciate how well edited this vid is
Not a recent one, but something I always love coming back to is The Battle for Helms Deep in Lord of the Rings. Just the build up alone with both sides facing each other down is amazing, and an excellent sense of scale is felt as well.
Helms Deep is my favourite part of the LOTR series, and Two Towers my favourite film
I think big action was done really well in the recent King Kong movie
Yeah, Skull Island legitimately impressed\surprised me. For me, it was just about a perfect way to bring kaiju movies into the 21st Century - even moreso than Shin Godzilla, surprisingly enough. Cheesy, silly fun but with juuuust enough substance to feel like it was more than just mindless action. Plus, the smackdown at the end was great - particularly how it felt like a wrestling match, a'la 70s Godzilla flicks.
@@jasonblalock4429 shin Godzilla is back to the roots before Kaiju genre
The shootout at the end of _The Way of the Gun_ tends to get overlooked. Pretty good geography. _City of Violence_ is great too, geographically, editorially. The continuity is great too. Maybe I just like westerns.
8:26 - That's some smooth transition.
3 minutes in and great edits in this video. AWESOME CHANNEL!
Thanks, I wanted to be a bit more creative with the editing here, and give a sense of how a director/editor needs to take an audience through an action sequence by doing it myself in the essay.
My three favourite recent blockbuster action scenes are the bridge fight in Thor Ragnarok, the throne room fight in The Last Jedi, and the entire last thirty minutes of Rogue One.
An older film I re-watched the other day was Walter Hill's The Long Riders, which got me to thinking about how little he's mentioned in videos like this. I know he's often considered a Peckinpah imitator but in films like Red Heat, Extreme Prejudice and Last Man Standing he's created some of my favourite shoot-outs ever.
Last Man Standing, while it doesn't come close to being as good a film it's based on, had GREAT shoot-outs
Jason Bourne, Mission Impossible, Jack Reacher, John Wick, The Raid
Some incredible Action sequences in these Fantastically Entertaining Films !!!
I still go to RUclips to watch the elevator fight scene from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I think it's the best blockbuster action scene in the past ten years.
It starts with a slow build of tension that marks the culmination of Cap's growing distrust of SHIELD. Clear stakes. A constrained, manageable scale. An explosive breakout into violence. Choreography that is weighty and impactful, and really shows how strong and agile a supersoldier can be. Even creative use of the environment, like how the footwork gets more and more constrained as the floor piles up with unconscious guys. It all ends up with an appropriately impressive climax as he just jumps out the window and falls five stories.
Seriously, go back and watch it. I think what's really impressed me more and more on repeat viewings is the sound effects and editing. The way they make hits sound and how it's edited together really gives a neat sense of both weight and rhythm to the fight.
The police station shootout in The Terminator has always stuck out in my mind ever since I first saw the movie when I was 11 yrs old. The tension of this unstoppable killing machine systematically killing its way through what is supposed to be a safe place just fills you with a sense of dread and claustrophobia, hitting the point home that no matter where you go this thing will hunt you down and nothing can stop it.
I feel that battle of the bastards gets overlooked because it's in a tv show. Simply one of the best action sequences I've ever seen
You're not wrong, it is fantastic
I'll cite three movies from this millenium that action aficionados need to reassess and grant classic status:
1. Tears Of The Sun (2003)
2. The Kingdom (2007)
3. The International (2009)
"it isn't that bad."
Cuts to 'Justice League'
The Throne Room scene The Last Jedi was the last action scene in a big blockbuster that really impressed me.It's obvious watching the scene back that Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver were very comfortable with doing their own fight scene and able to execute it well, Driver especially. He really sells Kylo Ren's physicality. Rian Johnson recognized that they could do it and that they wouldn't have to rely on quick cuts or shaky cam to disguise stunt doubles and was able to keep the shots wide and linger on each respective actor as they made their way through each guard. Ended up being my favorite action scene in the current films.
I'm pretty much the stereotypical last jedi hater but the throne room fight was impressive.
Most impressive.
Yes it was visually and stylistically amazing
cyrus otell As was the rest of the movie.
The choreography was too bad in a lot of ways for me to say the fight was great, but it got close to being great.
Honestly, Shin Godzilla was the first time in awhile that I really felt like I was watching a city be destroyed. The music, the visual, the fact that so much of the film was spent attempting to get people to safety in preparation for the moment Godzilla let loose, the fact that - iirc - miniatures were used instead of CGI. It was gorgeous to watch , glad I caught it in theaters.
Infinity war really impressed me in it's take on large scale, super power driven, combat (particularly the fight on titan). It reminded me of the fantastical element to anime action that sucked me in as a kid. The best way i can describe it is that the sequence(s) always felt like a fight that happened to be on a fantastical scale rather than _oooh aahh_ hollywood spectacle. The scale of the fights didn't drowned out the fights themselves.
waste of time the fight in Greenwich Village looked like it was lifted straight up from Dragon Ball Z to me
Bobo Boy Think your comments through, please. 300 is not a war movie and your grammar is awful.
Shin Gojira / Godzilla Ressurgence (2016) I think has one of the most impressive big action scenes which is when Godzilla finally uses his atomic breath to annihilate and destroy most of Tokyo. It's not only a visual spectacle that is accompanied by some spectacular and haunting music but it's also very impactful on the narrative and the viewer's understanding of how dangerous Godzilla is. In short, the Japanese military has failed at killing him because their artillery isn't strong enough to even put a dent into the monster so now we're introduced to the US air force who damage Godzilla with a massive bomb attack but they are immediately brought down which shows that practically no conventional weaponry can take down this monster. The Prime Minister of Japan is also killed during the attack and it seems as if all hope is lost, creating a great sense of dread and despair as every character and the viewer starts to lose hope in this battle.
It's a great action sequence which combines spectacle and narrative expertly and I absolutely love it.
Can't argue with that, all excellent points!
I think the lord of the rings has some of the best action scenes ever.
I recentl rewatched the whole trilogy and was amazed at how clear and understandable the action is, made me (re)realize just how bad it was in The Hobbit
Love all your videos man... especially your Action masterclass series. Great work.
I don’t know if you want to count it as an action scene, but Godzilla’s first use of atomic breath in shin Godzilla gives me chills every time.
The editing in this video was so amazing.
Amazing video as always, Ross, keep up the great work, lots of respect to ya!
The cuts in this video are godly.
I could never consider myself godly, but I'll accept demi-godly.
The last hour of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Cut)is the holy grail of big action. The first 2 hours were set ups in their entirety. The last hour gave us:
- The Batman vs Superman fight
- The infamous Batman warehouse sequence
- Superman's brawl with Doomsday
- The trinity vs Doomsday
the only recent movies with big chaotic action scenes I can think of, are the airport fight in cap. civil war and the church scene in the first kingsman, two completely different pieces but very well done and detailed
My favorite is still the rooftop scene from the first Die Hard
My favorite fights in Avengers: Infinity War were actually the smaller fights. For example, the Scotland battle. Lots of tension, some great camera work (no shaky cam like in WS and CW), and the Secret Avengers showing up with that theme song blasting... It was one hell of a spectacle, but it kept things small scale since it was just a simple fight scene.
What did you think of the fight scenes and camera work in Upgrade? (Not the car chase)
Not out in the UK till end of August sadly, excited to see it though
Personally I adore everything about that film, the camera-work and choreography just clicked perfectly, unique, cool, and added a load of impact to the action and violence. It was an awesome cinema experience, having Whannell present for a Q&A was the cherry on top too. Hope he digs into more contained genre films in the future. Can't wait to get the film on blu-ray.
I think the War for the Planet of the Apes movie had fantastic action scenes, but that movie works so well, because it has stellar characterization in its script. It feels like the movie would've worked just as well if the action had been not as good
The battle at the start of War for the Planet of the Apes is shot in a similar Full Metal Jacket style. It’s chaotic and you can’t tell what’s going on in a deliberative way. It’s an ambush and it feels that way
Kong: Skull Island probably has some of my favorite action sequences recently. Like Legendary's "Godzilla", the scale is excellently felt while also capturing the human reaction really well. Plus they are filmed in a more unique way than typical stuff these days.
An example is Kong's first true appearance, when he gets to do something. After Kong swats two helicopters out of the sky, the director gives us this slow build as we cut to our heroes various reactions and setting up the area of the set piece with lingering slow motion. Then it's kicked off with a roar and hail of gunfire, bringing to mind a classic motif of the character but executed differently.
The geography is firmly established and many camera shots do well to emphasize the impact of the situation, such as when a pilot gets thrown into another chopper's blades. It also has a more dynamic construction compared to other giant monster movies, thanks to the camera actually moving through the scene (something that doesn't seem to happen as much as it should these days). Plus the sheer creativity of the moment, like Kong baseball batting a chopper with another chopper gives it that "cool" factor.
For my taste, it's everything you listed here and also two other elements; how different it is and if it was simply cool to me. Listening to the director commentary, I was glad when he said he made it a point to construct the action different by simply showing it another way. And even as a guy who's watched a variety of monster movies and seen what every other famous cinematic creature has done, this new Kong impressed me a lot with what he can do.
The falling building scene in Transformers: Dark of the Moon is one of the greatest large scale action scenes ever, in my opinion. Also, the fight in the second movie between Optimus vs. Megatron, Blackout, and Starscream was great. And you forgot the Raid 2 had a couple of big action scenes that were really good like that car chase. The Hulk vs Hulkbuster was great, too. For smaller scale fights I would say every fight from The Raid: Redemption and The Raid 2, every John Wick action scene, the shower shootout in the Rock, Smith vs. Neo in the original Matrix, the Candyland shootout in Django Unchained, Glass vs. Fitzgerald in the Revenant, the final fight in Brawl in Cell Block 99, that gory killing spree in Rambo 4, and the hotel shootout in No Country for Old Men is a few of my favorites.
The Bifrost Battle in Thor Ragnarok is one of the most earned-feeling big scale action climaxes I've ever seen. Once "Immigrant Song" kicks in, it feels like everything in the movie was carefully building to that point. We get to see all the heroes of the movie at their absolute best for a solid amount of time without the sequence overstaying its welcome.
I am happy that you constantly bring up Spielberg that man is a masterclass filmmaker
He has forgotten more about directing action than most filmmakers will ever learn, and he's still the best
Thank you! Glad I'm not the only who thinks bad editing in action flicks is more insufferable than shaky cam!!
I love your editing in this clip.
I thought The Kessel Run in SOLO was fantastic. Forget for a second the behind the scenes drama and just enjoy the sequence as a whole. It starts with the a pitch perfect nostalgia-driven musical score. Watching the Falcon careen through the maelstrom with Tie fighters at it's back just plain WORKED. The editing and sfx came together for pure cinema, with that space monster and Coaxium driven escape the perfect topper.
Ugh, to me the Kessel Run was pure creative bankruptcy. First they took the Maw concept from EU books, which okay, but I kind of expected them to be more inventive. Then the scene itself was nothing but a mashup of the TIE Attack and Asteroid Field scenes, with almost nothing new added. And, rather than doing anything interesting with the soundtrack, it also just mashes up the TIE and Asteroid themes - which was WAY too on the nose.
Even all the fussing around with the coaxium mirrors all the stuff in ESB with Han trying to fix the Falcon mid-combat. Nor was the tentacle monster that interesting, since they'd already had tentacle monsters in both TFA and R1. That sequence was the first time in Star Wars where I felt like nobody making the movie had *any* new ideas, and were just recycling old material in hopes of scraping by on pure nostalgia.
What can I say. I had the opposite reaction. The SW fandom is in a really weird place right now.
The only memorable thing was the Lovecraftian squidmonster that i felt like could have had a bigger presence in the movie outside of that scene
I thought the whole scene was way too dark and geographically confusing, not to mention feeling like a retread of the previous Falcon battles.
I was lucky to see it at the Cinerama in Seattle with Laser projection. The cinematographer underexposed too much and only a handful of projectors were able to show it properly. My second viewing in Portland was a little disappointing :( Hopefully the blu-ray will compensate.
I would love to see a video about Zack Snyder.
I think he is a great action director and a great director in general. Of course he made a few mistakes with BVS (the warehouse scene is still a phenomenal action scene and the best action scene for Batman).
I dont even count Justice League. They cut 50 minutes, added so much shit and made an ugly frankenstein monster of a movie.
So yeah, i am very curious to hear your opinion on the action in his movies.
Agreed would love a Snyder video :D
Yes, this.
Dear Rossatron, in these times, your channel is one of the few consistenly trustworthy sources into action. Your honest view on the action in either Man of Steel and/or Batman v Superman, or Wonder Woman would be fantastic. If not in video, then definitively on text.
i Draw #ReleaseTheSnyderCut
I'd be interested to hear what he has to say too. I found BvS to be near-unwatchable and the fights to be really unimaginative punch-ups that made no creative use of the character's abilities. I'd be open to hearing about why people think otherwise.
I do plan on speaking about Snyder, as indeed he is an excellent director of action and visuals. He does have issues of course narratively, I can't deny the first (only?) film he wrote and directed was terrible (Sucker Punch), but he does have merit. I found Justice League visually to be very un-inspired, but I wonder how much of that was the Whedon effect. Watchmen is a goddamn masterpiece though, and his Dawn of the Dead is a favourite of mine.
A few of the films have been shown briefly, but I did want to mention I think the stunts in the Mission: Impossible movies have been getting more and more impressive in each subsequent movie.
Somebody please tell me what movie is that at the 7:33 mark 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
Same question :)
The Villainess
2:23 had to rewind that just to catch your clever editing trick
This a fucking crazy editing, must took a while. Good job man
Waterloo was one film that I would most definitely think about when it comes to a sense of scale. No other historical film has attempted to do something as big as Waterloo as it has preformed terribly at the box office. What amazes me was the amount of extras that were used in the film numbering in the thousands.
Another film I like to think about when it comes to large scale action is Kingdom of Heaven’s siege of Jerusalem. When I was 7 the only thing I saw the most was the siege of Jerusalem battle and up to this day I stalk remember the clashing of swords and the blood on sand. My favorite moment was the finally collapsing of the wall.
Troy was fine in scale as well and a favorite shot would be Agamemnon’s army breaching through the now open Trojan gates. It’s a nice over head view shot that always had me prepared to see bloodshed.
the action scenes from the Accountant were pretty effective and tense
you say "unrealistic cgi camera movement reduces the danger felt in the shot" while showing the second panoramic shot in the avengers, as you said how you direct action depends on each movie, each scene and each story, in that particular moment in the avengers you're not supossed to feel the risk of the battle but how they work perfectly together as a team covering high amounts of ground, it's perfectly done
That was an example of a camera move, less the film. Though to be honest, I do not really find many of those movies entertaining anymore, simply due to the characters I know are never really in danger (with the camerawork and style a part of that).
can someone tell me what movie the clip at 3:07 is from (someone dangling upside down)
the hobbit battle of the five armies
When it comes to more recent material, I highly enjoy the slow motion Quicksilver sequences in both X-Men: Days of Future Past and Apocalypse. I've watched those isolated scenes more times than the films themselves.
As my tooth has elongated, I have reluctantly come to revelation that in action cinema John Woo has always been rediculously overrated, and Michael Bay has always been rediculously dismissed.
If you ask me, Antoine Fuqua out wooed Woo, on the Woo produced "Replacement Killers".
I feel there is only a few filmmakers who actually utilize slow-motion effectively to memorialize the emotion of the moment rather than just show off cool billowing fireballs or whizzing bullets. Woo can be magnificent at times, but also he often gets indulgent with trying to pander to his gimmicky hallmarks. Whereas, perhaps because everything Bay shoots is already so intensely visual, when he uses slow motion he tends to do it in service of honing in on the internal emotional subjective perspective of a specific character, or emphasizing the objective ramifications of a moment. Bay's instict for intention is on point. In visual storytelling, slow motion is a mythologizing tool.
I'd say the only filmmakers who have really consistantly mastered correct usage of slow-motion are James Cameron, Mel Gibson, David Fincher, Ron Howard, Roland Emmerich, and Michael Bay. Because everytime they do it, it not only flows properly within the rhythm of the sequence, but it also always means something momentous (without excessively lingering to stagnate the momentum - I'm looking at you Watchowskis, Snyder, and Jackson!).
I dislike Sam Peckinpah with something verging upon passion. To be brief, I think he just stinks. And Woo draws far too much inspiration from Peckinpah's horrenous variation on the technique.
I mean both of their proclivities can quickly get silly, but Bay actually has better aesthetic versatility with far more intricate vision and technical prowess. As much as Bay is a hyperdrive derivative of grand scale action maestros like Cameron, Spielberg, and the Scott bros - nevertheless Bay is such a visual virtuoso that even his influences are influenced to step up their spectacle game considerably just to stay relevant in the midst of his Baydom. On the Mt. Rushmore of action gods, I would genuonely change out Woo for Bay. Carve him in right next to Spielberg, Cameron, McTiernan, and Gibson (yep, I'd put Mel in above his action mentors George Miller and Richard Donner).
I appreciate every one of those individual's contribution to the action zeitgeist though. They've all put in indelible genre classics to some reverential degree, for sure.
A little off topic but, does anybody know any movies with great flamethrower scenes.
Off the top of my head, I can think of the flamethrower in Lethal Weapon (2 I think?), and the Comedian in Watchmen
Aliens. Aliens had awesome flamethrower scenes.
Rossatron thanks, I haven't watched Lethal Weapon yet but, I have watched Aliens and The Watchmen.
Tropic Thunder.
SamWallace Artisan yeah but that's a silly movie
What action scene was that in 7:32? That looks really awesome.
The Villainess
Thank you very much for introducing another action movie that I might potentially enjoy. I appreciate it.
I'm a simple man. *I see a new Rossatron video, I hit the LIKE button.*
Should watch it first probably, as this one's terrible
I did, in full, like all of your other content. The 99.9% approval rating of this video says it all. Thank you good sir.
Holy hell the editing in this video is amazing
Lord of the Rings. The action is easy to follow, the use of spectacularly good practical and digital effects means that they're not afraid to actually show you things, the action always follows the smaller encounters the main characters are facing while using big, sweeping shots to give us a sense of scale, and the music is perfectly on point at all times. The action is also closely tied in with the development of both the plot and the characters. The only two action scenes that are lacking in any appreciable way in my opinion are the cave troll fight, which isn't as technically good as the rest (check out the bit where Sam hits the orcs with a frying pan, and we don't even get to linger long enough to laugh), and the Battle of the Pelennor/Minas Tirith which is bloated in some respects (and in the theatrical version we never get to see Gothmog die, which is a major error).
A number of action sequences in The Last Jedi (which I unapologetically enjoyed anyway) have really stuck with me. There's a real sense of ferocity and catharsis in the throne room brawl in particular.
I also love the scene in Oldboy when he fights in the corridor. 🤯