Favorite movie fight scenes

[James Y]

Tokyo Rampage (alternate title: Pornostar; 1998, Japan). Director: Toshiaki Toyoda.

Note: This movie’s alternate title, ‘Pornostar’, has nothing at all to do with the content of the movie, or the clip of scenes from it I’ve posted below.

A very dark and unusual crime drama/Yakuza movie about a psychopathic young man who comes to Tokyo to kill Yakuza gangsters. His weapons of choice are knives; he walks around carrying a bag full of various knives, mostly ‘tactical’ folding knives. Throughout the movie, there are some name-brand knives of that era that were shown; off the top of my head, a couple of Kershaw models: a 1415 Starkey Ridge, and a 2420 Liner Action. I may also recall spotting a SS Spyderco Delica. There are many others, some probably cheap knives and folders. There is also one or two CGI scenes of knives raining down. It’s been years since I’ve watched the movie, so I may have been mistaken about the Delica. The scenes in the clip below do not include all the knife scenes in the movie.

The clip below is a “killcount” video with a montage of kill scenes taken from the film. The very beginning of the clip shows Chihara Junia picking up a liner lock folder that resembles (but probably isn’t) an old Benchmade Spike model. The movie’s biggest flaw is the two foreign guys (shown in the clip), who were clearly not actors, and clearly weren’t taking it seriously. The casting director probably just found them in a club, on the street, or staying at a hotel or youth hostel, and cast them because they were foreigners.

The parking garage scene must have been dangerous to film. He’s actually sticking the knives in, hard. Even if the actor playing the Yakuza were wearing padding with a wooden backing, it would still have been risky.

(From 2:34): Chihara Junia kills gangster in parking garage:

(From 5:03): Final fight: Chihara Junia vs Yakuza gangsters (with Akaji Maro):

https://youtu.be/u1yZ07EdJCM

Jim

[James Y]

The Witch: Subversion (AKA, The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion; 2018, South Korea). Director: Park Hoon-Jung.

I just saw this film, and it’s excellent. IMO, it is superior to any Hollywood action fare, such as the John Wick films, the Bourne movies, or the Marvel Universe films. Kim Da-Mi plays the teen girl who had escaped years before from a secret facility that experiments on genetically enhancing children for nefarious purposes. Her acting is simply phenomenal.

I saw this movie without any preconceived notions, as I hadn’t watched the trailer on YouTube. So I came into it with a fresh mind. It turned out even MUCH better than I had anticipated.

Note: For anyone who may have plans to see this movie, I recommend that you NOT watch this clip beforehand. This is the kind of movie that is best seen without too many preconceived notions.

House fight scene: Kim Da-Mi vs abduction team:

https://youtu.be/_g-fmus4e1M

Jim

[James Y]

No Tears For The Dead (2014, South Korea). Director: Lee Jeong-Beom.

This South Korean movie is by the same director as The Man From Nowhere (which was posted much earlier in this thread), and also features Japanese/Korean-American actor Brian Tee (Tokyo Drift, Chicago Med, etc.).

Fight scene: Jang Dong-Gun vs thugs & assassins (Anthony Dilio & Alexander Wraith):

https://youtu.be/EODAs8cMW7w

Final fight: Jang Dong-Gun vs Alexander Wraith, Anthony Dilio & Brian Tee:

https://youtu.be/RFcVMjkUkX4

Jim

[OrangeShoes]

Not sure if anybody had mentioned this movie (too lazy to read through all the pages), but the Raid: Redemption is basically one giant fight scene. It's a fun movie.

I'll think I will watch that today! Looking for good fight scenes with comedy in it.Thanks mate

[James Y]

Not sure if anybody had mentioned this movie (too lazy to read through all the pages), but the Raid: Redemption is basically one giant fight scene. It's a fun movie.

I'll think I will watch that today! Looking for good fight scenes with comedy in it.Thanks mate

In case you weren’t joking:

The Raid: Redemption has some great fight scenes, but it is most definitely NOT a comedy.

Jim

[James Y]

Promising Young Boy (1987, Taiwan). Director: Wu Kuo-Hsiao. Action directors: Wong Tao & Li Hai-Shing.

This was the first-ever movie for leading man Collin Chou. Collin Chou has since had a long career in Hong Kong and Taiwanese movies, and has also appeared in American movies, such as The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), The Forbidden Kingdom (2008), etc. He was the main fighting villain against Donnie Yen in the Hong Kong thriller Flash Point (2007; posted on page 1 of this thread). His resume includes nearly 70 movies. In his early movies, he was credited as Ngai Sing, but in 1997 he decided to go by his real name of Chou Hsiao-Long (English name: Collin Chou).

Promising Young Boy is about the trials and tribulations of a Taiwanese Tae Kwon Do team. At 1:36, the subtitles say “China karate team,” but he is actually saying “Zhonghua Minguo Taiquan dui” (Republic of China/Taiwan Tae Kwon Do Team).

The final fight scene in this movie has a few similarities to the finale of the 1986 American movie No Retreat, No Surrender, which featured Jean-Claude Van Damme in his first American movie role as a seemingly ‘unbeatable’ Russian fighter (which was posted on page 3 of this thread). Instead of a Russian, this movie’s main fighting villain is a Korean fighter, played by Taiwanese action star Alexander Lo Rei. The similar themes of the two movies’ final fights may be due to Corey Yuen (who directed No Retreat, No Surrender); he also did the planning for Promising Young Boy.

The fighting villain, Alexander Lo Rei, had his heyday in the 1980s, in several Taiwanese Shaolin and modern-day ninja movies. His best movie is generally considered to have been Shaolin vs Lama (which was posted on page 7 of this thread). Lo Rei mostly played heroic characters; he very rarely played villains.

This movie also features Wong Tao (AKA, Don Wong), as the Taiwanese team’s coach. Wong Tao was one of Taiwan’s top kung fu stars of the ‘70s and early ‘80s.

Final fights: Alexander Lo Rei vs Huang Kai-Sen; Collin Chou vs Alexander Lo Rei:

https://youtu.be/kwLlsQP9f4s

Jim

[James Y]

*Edited.

Oops! I accidentally quoted myself while trying to correct a spelling error in my last post.

Jim

[James Y]

Shaolin Temple Against Lama (1983, Taiwan). Director: Chang Chien-Chi. Action directors: Alan Chui, Wang Chi-Sheng & the Robert Tai Action Group.

Note: This movie is NOT to be confused with Shaolin vs Lama, which was also released in 1983, and which also starred Alexander Lo Rei.

Shaolin Temple Against Lama was one of the later ‘period’ kung fu films to come out of Taiwan. By the early 1980s, ‘modern-day action’ films were starting to overtake ‘period’ kung fu films in popularity in both Hong Kong and in Taiwan. This movie was clearly an attempt to cash in on the popularity of the excellent Shaolin vs Lama; but Shaolin Temple Against Lama had a much lower budget, and the story wasn’t as good. Also, you may notice the colors appear a bit washed-out in this video clip; when I saw this movie in a theater in the early ‘80s, the colors appeared washed-out then, too. The choreography in this movie also has a good amount of “undercranking” (speeding up) of the action. And the shakiness of the camera in some of the slow-motion sequences are also original to the movie; perhaps an intentional dramatic effect (or due to ultra-low budget?).

I only consider this movie to be fair, action-wise. I’m including it mainly due to the very last fight between Alexander Lo Rei and arch-villain Alan Chui. This last fight also contains less ‘undercranking’. Alan Chui’s character possesses a skill referred to as “Bronze Body,” but it’s simply another version of Jin Zhong Zhao (Golden Bell Cover) or Tie Bu Shan (Iron Shirt/Iron Cloth), which renders the practitioner’s body seemingly invulnerable, except for one secret weak point. Many villains in many entries posted in this thread possessed such abilities, but the weak point in this villain is pretty unusual.

Final fights: Alexander Lo Rei vs Li Hai-Shing; Alan Chui vs William Yen & Jian Xun; Alexander Lo Rei vs Alan Chui:

https://youtu.be/8qNbXrf18z0

Jim

[James Y]

Shaolin vs Lama (1983, Taiwan). Director: Lee Tso-Nan. Action director: Peng Kang.

Full movie, English-dubbed version. I posted scenes from this movie on page 7 of this thread; but since I mentioned it in my last post, I decided to post it in its entirety. This version is full-screen and parts of the picture are cut out. Unfortunately, this is the best and most complete version of the full movie currently online. The widescreen version(s) posted are scratchy, contain some skips, and the picture isn’t as clear. Also, some of the nighttime scenes in this version are a little too dark, something that wasn’t a problem when the movie was shown in theaters, nor in the version I own on DVD. However, it shouldn’t interfere with one’s enjoyment of it, as the fight scenes are clearly shown.

This was Alexander Lo Rei’s (identified in the opening credits as Lo Jui) best movie. He has stated that it “almost killed him,” because he would get up early, run six miles, lift weights at a gym, and practice before going to the set all day, every day. The humidity in Taiwan can be brutal.

This movie’s villain, played by Chang Shan, possesses the skill of Jin Zhong Zhao (Golden Bell Cover), which, like villains in other movies with similar invincibility skills, always contains one built-in secret weak point. In the original Mandarin language version, his special ability is specifically referred to as “Jin Zhong Zhao”. The metallic sound when Chang Shan’s character is hit is strictly for cinematic effect, indicating that his skill is being activated, since he is obviously not covered in metal. IMO, Chang Shan steals the show a bit from leading man Alexander Lo Rei.

IMO, Shaolin vs Lama was one of the best Taiwan-made kung fu movies, action-wise, and it was among the last of the great period kung fu films made in Taiwan. This movie also has a cult following among hard-core kung fu movie fans. It was reported that when Shaolin vs Lama played at a theater on NYC’s 42nd Street back in the ‘80s, Mike Tyson went to see it no less than five times.

A side note: When I was in Taiwan in the ‘80s, a group of us were training kung fu in a park one day, and two men approached us and asked if we wanted to be in a movie. They gave us all their business card (there were five of us). I thought they seemed a bit shady, and I never followed up, but three of the other guys did. I eventually saw the movie, and unexpectedly, it was the one with them in it. They ended up appearing onscreen (very briefly), as attackers getting beaten up by Alexander Lo Rei in a parking garage. So I just missed an opportunity to get beaten up in a movie by Alexander Lo Rei. I have no recollection of the title of that movie, only that it was modern-day action (as opposed to a period kung fu film).

Shaolin vs Lama is chock full of fight scenes and training sequences, but I’m only highlighting a few of the fight scenes.

(From 1:45); Opening fight: Alexander Lo Rei vs Wang Chi-Sheng:

(From 13:00); Fight with monk: Sun Jung-Chi vs Alexander Lo Rei. (Note: You couldn’t pay me enough money to do what Alexander Lo Rei had to do @ 14:36):

(From 43:15); Alexander Lo Rei vs Ching Kuo-Chung; Li Wei-Yun vs Li Min-Lang; Chang Shan vs Alexander Lo Rei:

(From 58:05): Chang Shan vs Alexander Lo Rei & Sun Jung-Chi:

(From 121:20): Final fights: Chang Shan vs Chang Chi-Ping; Yang Hsiung vs Li Min-Lang & Ching Kuo-Chung; Alexander Lo Rei & William Yen vs Chang Shan:

https://youtu.be/buicHFRB2SM

Jim

[James Y]

A Heroic Fight (1986, Taiwan). Director: Chao Chung-Hsing. Action directors: Chao Chung-Hsing & the Chao Chung-Hsing Stuntman’s Association.

This action comedy is about a family of movie stunt people/special effects technicians, played by Lin Hsiao-Lou, Lin Hsieh-Wen & Yuen Cheung-Yan (brother of internationally famous director/choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping). In this movie, the lead star, Lin Hsiao-Lou (who is a girl/woman), plays a boy who plays girls in movies (wrap your head around that). The scenes involving special weapons and other devices created by the special effects family to fight against a gang were very cleverly staged.

In the second clip, most of the final fight is shown, but unfortunately, for whatever reason, whoever uploaded it onto YouTube cut off the very end of the final fight, which sucks, because the final prop/weapon used is cool. The final fight occurs on a movie set, where the FX technicians can best use their props and know-how to defeat the gangsters on home territory.

BMX fight: Lin Hsiao-Lou vs Chung Rei-Fu & other thugs:

https://youtu.be/X-y69UBeS4g

Final fight: Lin Hsiao-Lou, Yuen Cheung-Yan & Lin Hsieh-Wen vs Dick Wei & his henchmen:

https://youtu.be/Lsxp6tgk0vE

Jim

[James Y]

Burning Ambition (1989, Hong Kong). Director: Frankie Chan. Action directors: Fung Hak-On & Austin Wai.

Note: The late Austin Wai (wearing the Suzuki outfit), who plays the oldest sibling, was the real-life older brother of Kara Hui (Cantonese name spelling: Kara Wai, wearing black and red), who plays the elder of the two sisters. Japanese actress Yukari Oshima plays the youngest sister. Ko Chun-Hsiung plays their father.

Restaurant and parking garage fight: Austin Wai, Kara Hui, Yukari Oshima & Ko Chun-Hsiung vs gangsters:

https://youtu.be/y7drDmrQ8f8

Jim

[James Y]

Re:Born (2016, Japan). Director: Yuji Shimomura. Combat and tactical adviser: Yoshitaka Inagawa.

Re:Born is a rare movie, in that it’s an excellent modern-day martial arts/action film from Japan. Rare, because, although some action movies are produced in Japan, in recent years, the action genre has not been popular there. IMO, the hand-to-hand combat scenes are excellently staged and executed.

Veteran Japanese martial arts/action star Tak Sakaguchi plays a former member of a top-secret, elite squad of assassins, in which he was the best of the best, and has now become the target of his former unit. Some will compare Tak Sakaguchi’s character, Toshiro, to John Wick. Which may have some similarities, but Toshiro is several notches above John Wick in terms of his skills and his psychopathy. Although Toshiro is the protagonist, he admits to his shrink that he feels at home killing without remorse in his dreams. He’s clearly ‘not okay’ mentally/emotionally. Sakaguchi’s Toshiro is much more plausible as a stone killer than Keanu Reeves’ John Wick is. Toshiro is an elite killer with near-superhuman skills. Out of the several movies I’ve seen starring Tak Sakaguchi, IMO, this is his most impressive performance by far, fight-wise.

Yoshitaka Inagawa, the film’s combat adviser, teaches a method called Zero Range Combat System, which he has taught to police, military, and Japan’s Self-Defence Force.

I’m only presenting a few of the fights in this movie.

First fight (from 1:00): Tak Sakaguchi vs Issei Ishida; elevator fight (from 4:12): Mariko Shinoda vs pervs:

https://youtu.be/F6ghcUldzm4

Phone booth fight: Tak Sakaguchi vs Mariko Shinoda:

https://youtu.be/KaNxplVvdbg

Final H2H fight: Tak Sakaguchi vs Yoshitaka Inagawa:

https://youtu.be/j6BqGrv47g0

Jim

[James Y]

High Kick Girl (2009, Japan). Director and action director: Fuyuhiko Nishi.

This is NOT a great movie; in particular, the “fight replays” are annoying. But there are a few gems in it. ‘High Kick Girl,’ Rina Takeda, is a real-life black belt in Okinawan Shorin-ryu karate. Tatsuya Naka, who plays her sensei, is a real-life master of Shotokan karate, and an instructor for the Japan Karate Association.

In the movie, Rina Takeda plays Kei, an arrogant girl who enjoys beating up people from other karate groups, even though it violates her sensei’s teachings.

Yuka Kobayashi, the woman who fights Rina Takeda in the second clip, is a black belt in Ashihara karate, which is a variant of Kyokushin karate, with additions from various other martial arts as well.

Dojo training scene: Tatsuya Naka, Rina Takeda, etc.:

https://youtu.be/9cTHj9NKHXk

Rina Takeda vs Yuka Kobayashi:

https://youtu.be/KlNmtsP9OHQ

Final fight, part 1: Tatsuya Naka vs henchmen:

https://youtu.be/KYQjUOjBx0A

Final fight, part 2: Tatsuya Naka & Rina Takeda vs Kyoji Amano:

https://youtu.be/D_-VW2paVeA

Jim

[James Y]

Extraction (2013, USA). Director: Tony Giglio. Stunt coordinators/choreography: James Lew & Lin Oeding.

Prison fight: Jon Foo vs Paul Duke:

https://youtu.be/ULkzOl70pIQ

Jim

[James Y]

Ninja vs Shaolin Guards (alternate title: Guards of Shaolin; 1984, Taiwan). Directors: William Cheung Kei & Robert Tai. Action directors: Robert Tai, Alexander Lo Rei, Li Hai-Shing & Yeh Yong.

Although this is a Taiwan-produced film starring Taiwanese star Alexander Lo Rei, it was filmed entirely in South Korea, and many of the co-stars and villains (and many of the extras) were Koreans. I rate this as Alexander Lo Rei’s second-best starring role, after Shaolin vs Lama. The acrobatic stunts that Alexander Lo Rei’s character performs in this movie were actually stunt doubled by Taiwanese Peking Opera acrobat Li Hai-Shing, who also played the villainous archer.

The arch-villain was played by the late Han Ying (AKA, Eagle Han). Han Ying was one of the most underrated screen fighters of kung fu cinema’s Golden Era. He rarely got to show much of his talent, either in kung fu films in his native South Korea, or in the few Taiwanese and Hong Kong movies he appeared in, most of which were also filmed in Korea. Han Ying also played the arch-villain against Wong Tao and John Liu in Death Duel of Kung Fu, and a supporting character in Jackie Chan’s Dragon Fist, (both are earlier entries in this thread), among others. Han Ying was one of the best kickers, easily matching the kicking skills of Casanova Wong, and surpassing those of John Liu, both of whom he faced as past onscreen opponents. He also possessed good hand skills to go along with his kicks. I rate his fighting performance in this movie as probably his second-best, almost as good as he was in Death Duel of Kung Fu.

Fights compilation: (from 0:01): Opening fight: Han Ying vs his own henchmen/training sequence; (from 2:37): Alexander Lo Rei vs swordsmen: (from 5:45): Alexander Lo Rei vs Robert Tai: (from 7:30): Mike Wong Lung, An Dai-Uk, ?, & Alexander Lo Rei vs Li Hai-Shing:

https://youtu.be/yBOibujY5Hk

The final fight between Alexander Lo Rei and Han Ying is available on YouTube by itself, but I’m not posting that vid, because it’s extremely poor quality. So instead, I’m posting a link below to the full movie, which is good quality, and is the only good way to see the final fight online, for anyone who may want to see it. I’m not embedding it here, because the movie contains a scene where a female villain’s breasts are fully exposed to distract a Shaolin abbot during a fight scene, and I don’t want to violate forum rules.

Final fight (from 120:33: Alexander Lo Rei vs Han Ying:

https://youtu.be/3iKbGGDuz9A

Jim

[James Y]

Magnificent Warriors (1987, Hong Kong; filmed in Taiwan). Director: David Chung Chi-Man. Action directors: Stephen Tung Wai & Benz Kong.

This was Michelle Yeoh’s second-to-last Hong Kong movie before she originally “retired” from acting to marry her first husband, film mogul Dickson Poon. Her last movie was Easy Money, also released in 1987. After she and Dickson Poon divorced, Michelle Yeoh made her big comeback five years later, in Jackie Chan’s Police Story 3: Supercop. After that, her film career shot up way beyond her original run. Among other things, she would go on to star or co-star in movies such as Wing Chun (1994), the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), etc., etc.

This is the only fight from this movie I can find on YouTube. It comes fairly early in the movie. TBH, although Magnificent Warriors was one of the most ambitious and highest-budgeted Hong Kong/Taiwanese movies at the time, I always felt it was overrated. IMO, this is actually one of the movie’s better fights.

Michelle Yeoh (rope dart) vs Tang Wai-Wo (Chinese straight sword):

https://youtu.be/mWt7jEDvSKU

Jim

[James Y]

Special ID (2013, China). Director: Clarence Fok. Action director: Donnie Yen.

Andy On (On Chi-Kit), who plays the arch-villain, was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1977, and moved to Hong Kong to pursue a film career.

Ken Lo, the fighter with the mohawk in the first scene, is Jackie Chan’s former bodyguard. Ken Lo’s best onscreen fighting performance was in the final fight against Jackie Chan in the 1994 film Drunken Master II (US title: Legend of the Drunken Master).

(From 0:01): Donnie Yen vs Ken Lo; (from 3:42): Donnie Yen vs thugs; (from 7:06): final fight: Donnie Yen vs Andy On:

https://youtu.be/dgZeSdAz8kc

Jim

[James Y]

Way of the Dragon (1972, Hong Kong). Director and action director: Bruce Lee.

I’ve already posted the Bruce Lee/Chuck Norris fight earlier in this thread, as well as Bruce’s fights with Bob Wall and Hwang In-Shik from this movie.

But since this is my favorite Bruce Lee movie, I also wanted to include these scenes, which feature an uncredited ‘thug’ who, since way back in the ‘70s, I’ve always thought was Wolfman Jack. If he wasn’t, he looked remarkably like him, and the dubbed voice given to him also sounds like Wolfman Jack’s. Maybe he even dubbed his own voice. The “Wolfman Jack” thug also appeared to have some acting and comedic ability, unlike most of his fellow thugs. A search on Wolfman Jack and Way of the Dragon came up empty. The more I think about it, though, the guy playing the thug was probably smaller and shorter than Wolfman Jack. At one point, I was 100% certain it was Wolfman Jack; now I’m only about 10%.

Most of the foreigners playing thugs were probably scouted while staying at a YMCA or youth hostels in Hong Kong. However, Bruce Lee did a remarkable job of directing them. Their reaction timing was excellent, not easy for many non-actor martial artists to do in choreographed scenes, much less a bunch of random guys practically hired off the street. The one skinny thug who comes out and semi-crouches beside “Wolfman Jack” at 1:24 of the second clip is Anders Nelsson, a well-known musician in the Hong Kong music scene since the 1960s, and definitely not just some random guy found in some hostel or YMCA.

Although the movie was set in Rome, Italy, in reality, only a few scenes and location shots were actually filmed in Rome. The majority of it was filmed in Hong Kong, including these scenes. Even the famous Bruce Lee/Chuck Norris Roman Coliseum fight was mostly filmed on a mock coliseum set at a Golden Harvest Studio backlot in Hong Kong. However, the scenes of Bruce and Chuck seeing each other for the first time from a distance leading up to the fight were filmed in the real coliseum.

IMO, the second clip features Bruce Lee’s best and most entertaining nunchaku scene.

First alley fight; “Wolfman Jack” vs Unicorn Chan; Bruce Lee vs “Wolfman Jack” & other thugs:

https://youtu.be/1ZpqDhQJhFA

Second alley fight: Bruce Lee vs “Wolfman Jack” & other thugs:

https://youtu.be/tpt8MQVCytM

Jim

[James Y]

The Inspector Wears Skirts (alternate title: Top Squad; 1988, Hong Kong). Director: Chin Sing-Wei. Action directors: Jackie Chan’s Stuntmen Association.

This was the first movie appearance of American martial artist Jeff Falcon, a Wushu practitioner originally from San Diego, CA. He was cast as the leader of a group of robbers. For being his first appearance in a film, he did a great job. Although the idea that he would toss his gun away in favor of fighting the lady cops with Monkey-style kung fu is silly. But if the scene had been done realistically, it would’ve been boring. In 1998, four years after his last appearance in a Hong Kong film, Jeff Falcon starred in the minor American cult film, Six-String Samurai.

Cynthia Rothrock was the most prolific Caucasian martial artist to be featured in starring or co-starring roles in Hong Kong Action films. Other Westerners appeared in more Hong Kong films, but never in as many roles as the protagonist as she had. Before her movie career in Hong Kong, Rothrock was a well-known US tournament forms champion.

Kara Hui was most famous for her work in Shaw Brothers films directed by Lau Kar-Leung; in particular, for her starring role in My Young Auntie (the fights of which were posted much earlier in this thread).


Final fight: Cynthia Rothrock & Kara Hui vs Jeff Falcon:

https://youtu.be/E5icIRfBUik

Jim

[James Y]

The Blonde Fury (1989, Hong Kong). Director: Meng Hoi. Action directors: Meng Hoi & Corey Yuen.

Another Hong Kong actioner starring American martial artist Cynthia Rothrock, and featuring Jeff Falcon. The taller fighter with Jeff Falcon is Vincent Lyn.

Final fight: Cynthia Rothrock vs Jeff Falcon, Vincent Lyn & thugs:

https://youtu.be/6omMCckxIYE

Jim