quote:

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I don't know. The part in Revolutions where all the robot squids come streaming in was extremely cool for me.

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I couldnt help hearing the "challenging stage" music from Galaga everytime a swarm of squids came out of the hole.

Too much. Zulu is so good because the survival against the overwhelming odds is believable. In Revolutions, it wasn't. At least to me.
 

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Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
 
Also, wasn't there a really well done Normandy scene in a movie I didn't watch a few years back? Saving Private Ryan or something?
 

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Posted by Mike (Member # 55) on :
 
The ones that popped to mind instantly were Two Towers, Braveheart, and Alexander Nevsky. So you guys are way ahead of me. I'm not sure I agree with Return of the King being number 1.
 

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Posted by Aerto (Member # 8810) on :
 
The first battle scene, storming of Normandy, in Saving Private Ryan was good. The subsequent scenes became too Hollywood, little outnumbered guys stand up to the big guys, for me.
 

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Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
 
Ack, I'm too slow!
 

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Posted by ricree101 (Member # 7749) on :
 
I can think of a couple things come to mind reading the list. I think that the opening battle from Gladiator definitely deserves to be on the list, the lobby fight scene in the Matrix was better than anything in reloaded, and I'd say that Zulu was overrated. Other than that, I either agree with the choices or haven't seen the movie.

Edit:
Somehow I forgot about Saving Private Ryan. The beach landing was very well done and probably deserves a place on the list.
 

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Posted by WntrMute (Member # 7556) on :
 
Aerto, I agree, which is why I didn't like Private Ryan. But that first scene is well done.

One of the aspects I liked in the other battles was that it accurately portrayed the importance of movement. If you'll note, the US sniper only hit people who were sitting still, he missed the guys who were running. But, yeah, way too much Hollywood after that first scene.
 

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Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
 
I might add Taps. And I'd change Matrix Revolutions to Matrix. A million Smiths was cool-ish, but there's nothing like the original.
 

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Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
 
I didn't like the Matrix Revolutions battle scene with the robots. There was one in Reloaded that I liked a lot better, but I forget what actually happens in it.
 

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Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
How many combatants have to be in it before it's a "battle?"
 

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Posted by SenojRetep (Member # 8614) on :
 
I'm partial to the Battle of Agincourt in Henry V (Branagh, not Olivier).

Also, rather than Return of the King they should use the battle of the five armies from the Hobbit. All those elf dots and dwarf dots moving around and the Eagle dots swooping down and picking up orc dots and dropping them, and the dust cloud. Oh wait, they mean the live action one, not the cartoon. Nevermind.
 

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Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
 
I remember thinking the battle of Agincourt was excellent too, SenojRetep.
 

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Posted by Gosu (Member # 5783) on :
 
The Battle of Gaugamela in Alexander?
 

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Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
 
I'm going to have to give a HUGE thumbs down to that scene in Revolutions. Its one of my least favorite battle scenes ever. I was actually quite bored. I could go into all the different reasons I thought that battle was stupid, but I don't see any reason to. Sorry Ruth.

I love the movie Aliens, but which scene are you referring to? Theres the one where the marines get creamed in the beginning. Then there's the extended retreat scene where the marines are trying to hold the Aliens back. Then two fight scenes with Ripley versus the Queen, but I don't think those would be considered "battle" scenes.

I haven't seen 9, 8, 5, 3, or 2, but the rest I would agree with. I would put the battle of Helms Deep on there above the battle in RotK, but that's just me.

I think the Battle of Sterling from Braveheart is probably near the top of my list (even if it wasn't accurate to history, especially since it was the "Battle of Sterling Bridge" in real life, and there was no bridge in the movie). I agree with others that the battle in Saving Private Ryan was a good scene.

Recently, I was pleasantly surprised with the battle scene in the Narnia movie, but I don't think it would make the list.

There's more, but none are coming to me...
 

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Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
 
I have to say, I was extremely suprised Braveheart wasn't on there. And I would tie ROTK and Helms Deep battles. ROTK was pretty freaking awesome I thought, but then so was Helms Deep. And that's pretty much all I feel qualified to comment on.
 

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Posted by Silent E (Member # 8840) on :
 
I was going to mention Henry V, but I see it's already been mentioned. And seconded.
 

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Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
 
Helm's Deep should be on there for sure if Minas Tirith is.

Gettysburg should be higher. Glory should be on there too. Glory had some fantastic battle scenes, especially the one at the end.

Braveheart I agree with too. If we're talking INDIVIDUAL scenes from movies though, Gettysburg would have to be on there like three times. The Battle of Little Round top is for me one of the best battle scenes in film, but you'd also have to include Pickett's Charge. The Battle of Stirling in Braveheart, Battle of Helm's Deep in Two Towers, Battle of Minas Tirith in ROTK, and really the Battle of Dagor-Lad in Fellowship was pretty sweet too.

If we're including Sci Fi type battles, I would consider the space battle in Revenge of the Sith, and the battle in The Last Starfighter. Even the battle against the Death Star in A New Hope, but I'd separate space battles from ground battles, they operate on different plains of existance, literally.

The battle in Kingdom of Heaven wasn't bad, but I don't know if it should make the list.
 

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Posted by GaalDornick (Member # 8880) on :
 
Revenge of the Sith, anyone?
 

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Posted by Aerto (Member # 8810) on :
 
L.A. Confidential was a great movie until it got to the final shoot-out scene, which was simply too Hollywood and too convenient of a way to wrap up the story. Even then, if they had actually killed Bud White after he was shoot multiple times, the ending could have been salvaged. As it is, I love the movie, as long as I stop watching it before Exley shakes hands with White at the end.
 

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Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
 
I think Revenge of the Sith would win a couple awards for "Best Duels" if such a list were ever compiled.

Were such a list compiled, I think Star Wars would probably take up half of it.

::creates Duel thread::
 

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Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
 
It's rather dated, but the battle scene from Gunga Din was pretty incredible for its time.
 

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Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
 
Any of the battles from Saving Private Ryan

Any of the battles from We Were Soldiers
 

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Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
 
The final episode of Reboot season three!

--Enigmatic
 

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Posted by newfoundlogic (Member # 3907) on :
 
Helm's Deep should be added and not only should Zulu not be number one, but I think it should be off the list altoghter. If that was an accurate depiction of the Battle of Rorke's Drift then frankly the Zulus were just plain dumb. They foolishly allowed the British to use their range by sending small wave after small which allowed the defenders to defeat each wave individually and reload their weapons in between. The obvious and logical move would be to send in one massive wave during which the long range British rifles would only be able to be used once. Besides, as far as I'm concerned the good guys lost and they shouldn't have.

Also, while not as bloody as Saving Private Ryan, The Longest Day may very well have been the best overall depiction of D-Day.
 

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Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
 
There were decent Battle scenes in both Troy and King Arthur, but after awhile they seriously all run together.

And I totally forgot about Gladiator, there were some great scenes from that.
 

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Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
 
Both the Wesley/Inigo fight on the mountain and the Inigo/Ruger fight in the dining hall!
 

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Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :
 
The scenes with Riddick from Pitch Black against the monster alien things get a vote from me. Does that count as a battle? They sure are intense, especially in the movie theater (home video just doesn't compare).
 

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Posted by human_2.0 (Member # 6006) on :
 
Star Trek II in the nebula! Ok, it isn't so cool now, but it was pretty cool when it came out.

Matrix II's freeway battle was really cool. Don't know if it qualifies though. What are the battles judged by? Size? Intensity? Suspense?

I really liked Return of the Jedi's space battle.

Ran was cool. Seven Samuri too. Every Jackie Chan movie should be on the list (ok, except a lot of the stupid American ones).

I know I'm forgetting something.
 

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Posted by NinjaBirdman (Member # 7114) on :
 
Call me a crazy fanboy, but the final battle in Serenity was fantastic. I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it, but the feeling I had watching that battle the first time... well, I can't think of many movie experiences that made me feel that way. If you've seen the film I'm pretty sure you'll know what I mean.

I would also rate Helm's Deep higher than Minas Tirith... And now I'm getting sleepy, time for bed.
 

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Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
 
Nobody likes the two big battle scenes from "Saving Private Ryan?"
 

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Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
 
Danny the Dog has some of the most honest, visceral fight scenes I've ever seen.
 

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Posted by boogashaga (Member # 8881) on :
 
Best battle scene? There was a movie made in Britain with Dustin Hoffman that had an assault on his home by a group of thugs. It was taken from a book with a title of something like "Assault on Trench's Farm," or something like that. I can't remember it, but I DO remember the final "battle" as he defends the simple farmhouse.

Also, I saw a loser of a cop movie on video a short while ago about a NYPD station house that is closing on 1 January. There is a skeleton crew on New Year's Eve who gets "hit" by a group trying to free a prisoner. It was a pretty interesting "battle." I believe that it was called "Assualt on Precient 13."

For all out length, in a comedic vein no less, try the very long battles at the end of the first two "Trinity" movies. In #1, the battle of the "Mormons" against the Major's hired henchmen was as long as it was funny. In #2, the battle of the Catholic priests against the gun runners was the same. Not very artistic, I agree, but still quite a "battle."
 

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Posted by calaban (Member # 2516) on :
 
The shootout at the end of Open Range was amazing.
 

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Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
 
I don't know on what planet Braveheart doesn't make that sort of list. If we're talking large numbers of people fighting other large numbers of people, that is.

I really don't see Revolutions as having a good battle scene...the walkers were simply ridiculous. And the order of battle was absurd as well. The squids could've just swarmed the walkers, gotten right on top of them, and gutted the drivers easily with one of their near-ubiquitous tentacles. Instead of all that aimless flying around crap.

We Were Soldiers should definitely make that list. Some stuff from Spartacus, most especially the breakout from the gladiator school/prison.
 

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Posted by calaban (Member # 2516) on :
 
I enjoy the battle at the end of 13th warrior.
 

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Posted by Zarex (Member # 8504) on :
 
First off I think you need to qualify some of the scenes by putting them into categories.

Category 1: Individual fights

This category would involve those fights which are too small to be considered a battle.

Category 2: Battles, Modern.

Frankly there are so many cool battle scenes out there that I think that you should have a seperate topic for sci-fi/contemporary battles.

Category 3: Battles, Medieval.

Battles from movies like Braveheart, Lord of the Rings.

Category 4: Anime, Cartoon

Non live action battles, like Princess Mononoke
 

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Posted by human_2.0 (Member # 6006) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by NinjaBirdman:
Call me a crazy fanboy, but the final battle in Serenity was fantastic

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quote:

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- posted December 14, 2005 07:59 PM Profile for newfoundlogic Email newfoundlogic Edit/Delete Post Reply With Quote Helm's Deep should be added and not only should Zulu not be number one, but I think it should be off the list altoghter. If that was an accurate depiction of the Battle of Rorke's Drift then frankly the Zulus were just plain dumb. They foolishly allowed the British to use their range by sending small wave after small which allowed the defenders to defeat each wave individually and reload their weapons in between. The obvious and logical move would be to send in one massive wave during which the long range British rifles would only be able to be used once. Besides, as far as I'm concerned the good guys lost and they shouldn't have.

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Zulu is an accurate portrayal of the battle of Rorkes Drift, believe it or not. I did some research on it and apparently that's pretty much what the Zulu's did. I imagine there was some reason for it, cultural or tatical, but I'm not sure what it might have been.
 

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Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
 
I think if the focus of the Revenge of the Sith battle had been different, it would have been better than the Serenity battle. You got a LOT more wide shots of the fight in Serenity, whereas the RotS battle was focused almost entirely on two individual fighter pilots.

I have to say though, the one shot in RotS where the starfighter was hit, exploded, and then time stopped and the picture was rotated 180 degrees while time resumed was friggin awesome, and is one of the better shots I think I've ever seen in a sci fi movie.

I also really liked the fight at the end of 13th Warrior.

Following Zarex's guide, I would add much of the battle scenes from Midway, and a ton of fights from Gundam Wing and G Gundam (which is a series about people who do nothing but duel one on one basically).

And Tarrsk, oy. I can follow you a bit on the lightsaber battles in Ep II, and some of Ep III, but the Obiwan vs Anakin fight was ANYTHING but boring. It was so charged with emotion and energy, I don't see how you could posssibly call it boring.
 

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Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
 
Add to Category 1 - the duel between Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu (sorry, I can't remember LL's character name) in Kill Bill II
 

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Posted by John Van Pelt (Member # 5767) on :
 
Kurosawa's 'Ran' has a couple candidate battle scenes here. For epic sweep, detail, stunning cinematography... Don't miss Kurosawa.
 

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Posted by Leonide (Member # 4157) on :
 
The Lucy Liu (Oren Ishii) fight was in Kill Bill I, Goody.
 

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Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
 
1. Zulu
2. Return of the King
3. Open Range
4. Last of the Mohicans (the ambush of the British after their surrender)
5. Black Hawk Down
6. The Last Samurai
7. We Were Soldiers Once
8. Saving Private Ryan
 

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Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
 
Hmm... I'd do it this way:

1. Saving Private Ryan - The normandy scene is amazing
2. Band of Brothers - chock full of em
3. Two Towers - Helms Deep, ROTK was good, but Helms deep was better
4. Gettysberg - The whole movie, again with the chock full of em
5. The Empire Strikes Back - The Battle of Hoth is a classic
6. Gladiator - The opening battle is amazing.
7. The Last Samurai - The final battle is very good
8. Zulu - sadly it is accurate to life, and it is also very good
9. Braveheart - loses points for inaccuracy, but still kick ass battles
10. The Memphis Bell - Amazing air battles, pretty much the entire movie is one long one.
 

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Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
 
I don't know if anyone's seen King Kong yet, but does the battle between King Kong and the T-Rex's count? I personally thought it was pppreeetttyyyy cool.
 

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Posted by Philosofickle (Member # 10993) on :
 
-Blast From the Past

I was wondering if with all of the great movies that have come out recently anyone would like to put down new opinions.
 

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Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
 
The Protecter- Tony Jaa is just plain awesome most of the time anyway but he has one fight in this movie with capoeira specialist in a flooded/burning temple. All the water getting kicked up by the two of them really set the scene apart for me.
 

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Posted by 0Megabyte (Member # 8624) on :
 
For Zarex's catagory 4, there's a battle in the 08th MS Team that was simply great. I think it was the dual between the main character and the sympathetic enemy ace in like episode 10 or 11. Great duel for a giant robot show, if I remember right.
 

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Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
 
While a two or three hour movie is enough for me to care about two or three people, it takes hours for me to get invested in a cast of characters.

(Which is why maybe the multi-part (or with lead-in) LOTR, ST, or Serenity battles stand tall to me in the existing lists)

So my personal list would probably insert TV instances, this would be a quick off-the-top of my head list for TV:

$
$ For BSG, B5, ST:DS9, SG
$


1. Babylon 5: Severed Dreams (multiple parts around declaration of independence)
2. BSG: Exodus (Liberation of New Caprica)
3. ST:DS9: Sacrifice of Angels (Starfleet attempt to reach DS9)
4. SGA: The Siege (multipart-episode surrounding Wraith attack on Atlantis)
5. BSG: Daybreak (Assault on the colony)
6. BSG: The Hand of God (Refinery attack)
7. Babylon 5: The Fall of Night (Destruction of Narn fleet)
8. SG1: Camelot (Ori invasion through the Supergate) (Edit to add: Or maybe the battle over Antarctica)
9. Band of Brothers (can't really narrow it down)
 

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Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
 
I had no idea this was an ancient thread when I started reading and I have nothing recent to add, but like many previous posters my first thought on reading the OP was that I found Agincourt in Henry V very moving. And I don't even like battle scenes.
 

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Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
 

quote:

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1. Saving Private Ryan - The normandy scene is amazing
2. Band of Brothers - chock full of em
3. Two Towers - Helms Deep, ROTK was good, but Helms deep was better
4. Gettysberg - The whole movie, again with the chock full of em
5. The Empire Strikes Back - The Battle of Hoth is a classic
6. Gladiator - The opening battle is amazing.
7. The Last Samurai - The final battle is very good
8. Zulu - sadly it is accurate to life, and it is also very good
9. Braveheart - loses points for inaccuracy, but still kick ass battles
10. The Memphis Bell - Amazing air battles, pretty much the entire movie is one long one.

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This is a very good list by Alcon.

I'd also agree that the Matrix Revolutions battle was LAME.

Super AI: Instead of one of us breaking free from the pack and going and killing the guy shooting at us, lets just stay all herded in one mass so all of his bullets hit us. We'll fly by and get creamed that way.

The special effects may have been good, I couldn't tell through all my eye rolling .
 

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Posted by DarkKnight (Member # 7536) on :
 
How about 300? I think almost the whole movie counts as a fight scene...
 

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Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
 
I hate thread necromancy but I have to state that We Were Soldiers is one big long battle scene.
 

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Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by WntrMute:
Patton. And though I hated Saving Private Ryan, I think the battle scenes were done well.

Excaliber, though!?!? Please. I liked the movie, but the battle scenes were not all that well done.

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Actually, the battle scenes in Excalibur were excellent, and had a little more reality than you think. The producers got local villagers involved as extras, and some of the towns and people have hated each other for generations, so when they yelled cut people kept on fighting. They really WERE beating the hell out of each other, and it took a long time to get them to stop.

It's probably the closest to an actual battle than any of have seen, at least from that time period.
 

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Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
 
Does the "long take" hospital scene in Hard Boiled count?

And, to be quite honest, despite Patton being one of my favorite movies, you could argue that there was only one real battle scene in it (the Battle of El Guettar, the battle in the beginning immediately after Kasserine Pass).
 

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Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
 
Man, seeing a post from almost 5 years ago is weird. I was like... 5 years younger back then. Crazy. I mean, you can tell to. I can't even remember the scene from King Kong I was talking about. Psh. I was such a battle scene amateur back then...
 

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Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
 
I don't know how it stacks up against more recent movies, but the battle scene in "Gunga Din" would have been included in this list 30 years ago.
 

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Posted by Flying Fish (Member # 12032) on :
 
There's an old Sam Fuller movie with Claude Akins called "Merrill's Marauders." There's a sequence toward the end in which a squadron of American infantry fight Japanese on the island of Burma, amidst a rail yard filled with an array of giant concrete blocks. The whole thing is creepy and suspenseful. Individual men are stalking each other through this block yard which is like a great stone labrhynth. It makes everything look so personal.

I kind of felt the same way in the sequence in "Hurt Locker" where the bomb squad guys meet the contractors who have captured some insurgents and they get ambushed by some other insurgents, and because both sets of combatants are pinned down over very long range, the battle take place with spotting scopes and sniper rifles. At one point in the scene they show a close up of one non-com's face and he's filthy and sweaty and his eye is glued to the scope and he looks like he doesn't dare blink because he knows he can't miss his one shot to kill the insurgent who is about 3000 yards away who is only going to show himself for a second.

Big battles like Braveheart and The Patriot are ok, but those two really made an impression.
 

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Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by BlackBlade:
I hate thread necromancy

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Party pooper.
 

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Posted by Philosofickle (Member # 10993) on :
 
I have to say that after seeing it the fight in the hotel hallway in Inception is one of the most awesome things I have ever seen.

It's short, but man the intensity and the uniqueness of that fight will make it stick out in my memory for a long time.
 

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Posted by umberhulk (Member # 11788) on :
 
Revenge of the Sith is ass. All of it. I cant stans that movie.

Also my favorite battle in LotR is Amon Hen. But does that count?

For more fight scenes:

The chase in 2007 310 to yuma.

Batman vs Raz Al Ghul

Batman vs Heath Ledger.

Spike vs Vincent (Cowboy Bebop)

I'll seocnd the Serenity fight.
 

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Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
 
I think a distiction should be made between battle scenes, and fight scenes. They are not the same.

I say this in particular having re-watched the battle scene in Gunga Din, to refresh my memory. It begins with a fight, which is pretty terrible. But as it transitions to the battle, there's a stark difference, where camera placement becomes critical in order to see troop position, landscape, and movement. If all you see are the front lines clashing, it gives no sense of the strategy or how battles can turn as a result of the landscape, etc.
 

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Posted by umberhulk (Member # 11788) on :
 
Yeah, but Amon Hen is sort in between.
 

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Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
 
I definitely agree that a battle scene and a fight scene have to be split up.

Episode IV's attack on the death star was extremely epic for its time. The scene where all the X-Wings, Y-Wings, and A-wings are approaching in formation and you can see the pilot inside the lead X-Wing still gives me chills every time.

I think the imperial walker attack in Episode V is epic in that for once the bad guys with all the resources, just plow through the good guys. Which is what should happen a bit more in cinema/books when I examine my gut feeling on the matter.
 

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Posted by Flying Fish (Member # 12032) on :
 
Maybe to split it further, with some of my choices:

fight scene, two combatants: Henry Silva and Frank Sinatra in "Manchurian Candidate"

fight scene, multiple combatants: Tim Holt, Humphrey Bogart, and that cheatin' oil rig guy in "Treasure of Sierra Madre"

battle scene, "low-tech": final battle, "Seven Samurai"

battle scene, high-tech: rushing the allied trenches, "All Quiet on the Western Front"

battle scene, sf or fantasy: troopers versus the bugs, "Starship Troopers" or marines retreating vs aliens "Aliens"

Looking back over my choices I see why, whenever I invite certain friends over for a movie they always ask, "Is this movie in color and is it one
I'm going to have to read?"
 

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Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
 
Just wait until they start complaining "A 2-D movie again?!?"
 

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Posted by Flying Fish (Member # 12032) on :
 
I'll still get get 'em over to the house. I'll just say, "Hey, I'm gonna make that soylent green thing you like."
 

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Posted by malanthrop (Member # 11992) on :
 
I just watched Kick Ass...Hit Girl working her way through the hall is amazing. Need to watch it more than once to catch it all though.
 

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Posted by umberhulk (Member # 11788) on :
 
I just saw Kickass.

APTLY NAMED.


I just imagined myself as mcluvin when typed that.
 

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Posted by SoaPiNuReYe (Member # 9144) on :
 
It's a crime that this hasn't been mentioned yet.
 

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Posted by malanthrop (Member # 11992) on :
 
very good....especially with the knife sticking out his back.

Are you sure you want to go there...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8yokvEILFU
 

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Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
 
Ah, the Fist of Fury dojo scene.

One cool thing is to see the homages to it over the years. From Jet Li's showy one, Stephen Chow's comedic one, and Donnie Yen's awesome dark one.

I think even Jackie Chan had to re-do the whole movie at the beginning of his career although that turned out to be a flop unlike the former three.
 

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