Battle of the Action Sequences!

[jamail77]

Here is the deal. In the last month you saw an incredible action sequence. It could be from a film, TV show, or video game. I'm going to link the most recent awesome action sequence I saw. And, it has to be something you saw RECENTLY. Last month is the cutoff. The next response has to 1-up me, which might be difficult considering that it's limited to just the last 30 days. Then, the response after that has to 1-up that.

Feel free to make any side notes you want and discuss action in general. Hopefully, the videos we linked won't be taken down by copyright any time soon.

Here's mine:
EDIT: I just realized, should this be under 'Forum Games'? I don't have that much experience with that forum topic, but I just looked around and it seems to line up with the subject of my thread here.

 

[Keoul]

I think it's pretty good since after 0:55 the animation is just amazing.
So much stuff happening and it just looks awesome.

 

[jamail77]

I think it's pretty good since after 0:55 the animation is just amazing.
So much stuff happening and it just looks awesome.

That is impressive and I love One Piece (I really should get caught up on the manga), but is that something you saw in the last month? You never said when you saw it.

 

[Keoul]

That is impressive and I love One Piece (I really should get caught up on the manga), but is that something you saw in the last month? You never said when you saw it.

Yeah, while the movie it's from came out ages ago I only watched it yesterday haha.

 

[jamail77]

Yeah, while the movie it's from came out ages ago I only watched it yesterday haha.

Damn. I thought I had you there. All I can say is

[small]Though, I think my clip might still, just barely, come out on top...[/small]

Truth be told, I'm not sure. It's just, that's typical One Piece. I'm used to it, so it's not as impressive to me as it might be otherwise. My clip is unique for that show and it only just started its new season. In reality, yours probably comes out on top for being a little more versatile and not as total a pwnage.[small]I think I just don't want to admit it because I'm suffering from One Piece withdrawal. _>[/small]

 

[Nouw]

Lucky for you OP I haven't seen The Raid 1 or 2 in the past month.

Spoiler: But I have seen the latest Fate/Stay Night.

 

[jamail77]

Lucky for you OP I haven't seen The Raid 1 or 2 in the past month.

Spoiler: But I have seen the latest Fate/Stay Night.

Flashy. Also kind of bland though; I'm used to seeing fights like that. It's a stand off, a few clashing hits, some light and speed effects, camera emphasis. It's good, but I'm not sure it's worthy. Also, it's longer than my clip, which gives it an advantage. Haha, kidding. Back to my point. Then again, I'm at my university taking a break from homework: So, I'm watching this via their bad computers and their bad Internet connection. My opinion might change if I were to see it on something reliable. Might have to get back to you. It does remind me that I should pick up Fate/Zero again. A friend introduced it to me and I got halfway through the series. I didn't stop because it was bad. I just sort of stopped. I definitely enjoyed it though.

Well, I better counter. This is the last clip I'll use from the series. Considering there are only so many good fights in the series anyway it's not like I had many options left. Gonna get hard for me: This one of the few series I've watched recently. This clip is altered, so the voices (too deep), speed of the fight, and things like that aren't how they should be. Sadly, it's the best video of the fight I could find on short notice.


I mean the animation is good, the camera emphasis is sublime (other shows all too often focus the camera too closely on unimportant things), the visible anger adds emotion, and the techniques used just really sell this for me. In particular, I love how the camera angle pans whenever she does those dart jumps and the flair added when she breaks off that rock while twisting in midair via fire propulsion. Better than yours? Worse? That's for the readers to decide! Too bad this is a discussion and not a poll!

 

[hazabaza1]

While I haven't actually watched the film recently I find that I flick through a lot of sequences from Lord of the Rings every so often and... god damn I love these movies. And while it's not as personal or probably as flashy as half the stuff that's going to be posted I think that the Battle for Helm's Deep/Defense of the Hornburg is just so damn fun to watch. Sadly it's hard to find a full clip of the fight so here's the end sequence to it. Without context I'll admit it probably isn't quite as good, but I saw these movies when I was relatively young and I've loved them ever since. I love the casting, I love the acting, I love the music, I love the cheesy fucking speeches, I love how horribly incompetent yet utterly intimidating the Uruks are, I love how hopeless everything seems only to be flipped on its head, I love Gandalf, I love the mix of practical effects and CG, and I fucking, fucking love how massive it is. They say 10,000 Uruks at the start and maybe it is, maybe it's less maybe it's more but when you see Theoden and Gandalf charging from opposite angels respectively it all looks just so huge. Love it.

 

[jamail77]

Lucky for you OP I haven't seen The Raid 1 or 2 in the past month.

Spoiler: But I have seen the latest Fate/Stay Night.

Having re-watched on a more appropriate device and Internet connection on the highest available HD quality Youtube setting for that video, my opinion has gone up a bit. I still feel largely the same, but that fight had more going for it than it seemed at first. For going on longer, it doesn't accomplish as much impressive choreography as quickly as the clips from Keoul and me however and that is what I really love about good action sequences above all else. Nice contender though, I underestimated it.

While I haven't actually watched the film recently I find that I flick through a lot of sequences from Lord of the Rings every so often and... god damn I love these movies. And while it's not as personal or probably as flashy as half the stuff that's going to be posted I think that the Battle for Helm's Deep/Defense of the Hornburg is just so damn fun to watch.

I will assume that you have flicked through this battle recently BEFORE this thread. Seriously, nobody use this as a precedent to watch something right now to get the upper hand. That's dirty boxin' right there. I can't tell whether you watched what you link before your thread post or not, but I'd appreciate good sportsmanship

Anyway, yeah, it's not as personal. It's kind of a generic big fight by today's standards even if it was incredible at the time. The music is great and there's clearly building tension. I do enjoy the acting there. You're right though that without context and with only this end sequence to go off of the fight does not appear as good as it might actually be. It doesn't help that I have never seen The Lord of the Rings. Speaking of which, what is with you people!?!? Reminding me to catch up on stuff? Come on! First, I get reminded to catch up on One Piece, then Fate/Zero, and now I have to get around to watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy?!? Ugh. I've got a big enough backlog as it is, don't you know?

Whether your sequence is better or not I want to continue the chain, so I raise the stakes of the hugeness of your battle with the coolness factors of the badasses known as Dante, Vergil, and Lady. I'm torn between responding with this (Skip to 4:40)

this

this


or this (actual battle gets ready to start at 1:55 if you don't care for the beginning)

Seriously. I got Devil May Cry 3 only like 2 months ago and I love everything about it. I've already sunk 120 hours into it and while Dante/Vergil Must Die Mode is currently a big pain, it's also a ton of fun, even if it is just to see cutscenes like these once again. The game is cliche, cheesy/campy, and gimmicky in its Matrix-esque slow-mo and other such effects, but it's in all the right ways. All my complaints are nitpicks directed at a very solid core, nitpicks like why can't I contribute to the badassness of these cutscenes?

 

[Iron_will]

Well, this won't 1-up anyone but:
Yeah, I realize I'm late to the party with this, but hey. I ended up watching practically everything of Ghost in the Shell soon after I watched the first movie in a short time frame.

This scene is so damn good. I honestly couldn't believe I missed such a gem after all these years of watching anime.
The sheer tension and atmosphere augmented by the muted soundtrack is pure perfection.
And part where she changed the barrel of her gun was absolutely delicious fanservice for me.

 

[jamail77]

Well, this won't 1-up anyone but

Well, I won't even be able to take it into consideration for possible 1-upping when the video is not available in my country...

 

[hazabaza1]

While I haven't actually watched the film recently I find that I flick through a lot of sequences from Lord of the Rings every so often and... god damn I love these movies. And while it's not as personal or probably as flashy as half the stuff that's going to be posted I think that the Battle for Helm's Deep/Defense of the Hornburg is just so damn fun to watch.

I will assume that you have flicked through this battle recently BEFORE this thread. Seriously, nobody use this as a precedent to watch something right now to get the upper hand. That's dirty boxin' right there. I can't tell whether you watched what you link before your thread post or not, but I'd appreciate good sportsmanship

Anyway, yeah, it's not as personal. It's kind of a generic big fight by today's standards even if it was incredible at the time. The music is great and there's clearly building tension. I do enjoy the acting there. You're right though that without context and with only this end sequence to go off of the fight does not appear as good as it might actually be. It doesn't help that I have never seen The Lord of the Rings. Speaking of which, what is with you people!?!? Reminding me to catch up on stuff? Come on! First, I get reminded to catch up on One Piece, then Fate/Zero, and now I have to get around to watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy?!? Ugh. I've got a big enough backlog as it is, don't you know?

Yeah my clip viewing is a near monthly thing sometimes. Usually it's some of the bigger speeches that Frodo and Sam and Aragorn end up making but the occasional thread on /tg/ just reminds me to watch some of these parts.

 

[Iron_will]

Well, this won't 1-up anyone but

Well, I won't even be able to take it into consideration for possible 1-upping when the video is not available in my country...

Welp, goddamn Youtube. Does this one work?

 

[jamail77]

Welp, goddamn Youtube. Does this one work?

Yeah, it works. It might not be Youtube. It could be the uploader restricting who can view. Either way, that's not what I had in mind, so I agree with you that it can't really 1-up what anyone has posted so far. Seems well done though. I've heard how good that series is in the past. Just another thing to add to my backlog.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

1-upping is subjective, I'll just offer the best action sequence I can remember from the last month and hopefully get one from someone else that's somehow even better than that.

I used this one in a similar thread about a week before, but I really liked it so...

Spoiler: Hail to the king

I particularly liked the first-person part.

 

[jamail77]

1-upping is subjective

Of course, it's subjective. That's kind of the idea. Somebody puts up an action sequence they saw recently that they thought was amazing. Respondents judge how good that really is, from their point of view, and think if they've seen a better one. The whole point is competitive, but it's also to see how much great action we can share with each other. I've seen some great stuff posted already including yours. And the fact that we only saw them within the limited time frame of the last month? Damn impressive, isn't it? That subjectivity actually adds diversity to the action shared if you look at the variety of posts so far. Elemental fighting? Superpowers and sword one-on-one? Big epic army battle? Campy spectacle fighter video game cutscenes? Whatever Ghost in the Shell classifies as? And, now, alien robots fisticuffing it out? If I had constricted this to be more objective, we might not have gotten all that.

I'll just offer the best action sequence I can remember from the last month and hopefully get one from someone else that's somehow even better than that.

Then, you say this. Weird. It seems like you get it, but I guess you expect objectivity to be administered in these discussions? It's not a poll, which you could argue is somewhat objective. It's just for fun

 

[Fox12]

This isn't "epic" like The Matrix, DBZ, or Superman or whatever, but honestly, those fights bore me to tears. I can only see two people destroy a city while tackling each other so many times. It's a spectacle, but there's no real flare to it. DBZ had its moments (gohan), but overall it got kind of boring.

This, on the other hand, is stylized. It's not as raw as other fight scenes, but it has an unconventional look that reinforces what's happening to the characters in the story. It also has actual emotional weight to it, like all good fight scenes should. This was the first time in a long time that I actually enjoyed an action sequence.


I guess you could give this epic points, though.


This is cheating, but it's funny, so I'll add it anyway.

 

[Pink Gregory]

I LOVE continuous takes.

 

[jamail77]

This isn't "epic" like The Matrix, DBZ, or Superman or whatever, but honestly, those fights bore me to tears. I can only see two people destroy a city while tackling each other so many times. It's a spectacle, but there's no real flare to it. DBZ had its moments (gohan), but overall it got kind of boring.

I've barely watched The Matrix, but I've seen enough of it to know what you mean. Superman, I get too. I think you're stereotyping DBZ a bit though, not that the fights don't get too spectacle-ish and derivative after a while sometimes. The original Dragon Ball anime always had the more carefully choreographed, down-to-earth, non-yelling fight scenes, but even DBZ had more than just a few moments in my opinion. Music could be good, emotion was often there, I always thought Funimation did great voice acting with the series, at least after the Frieza saga when they got the hang of it.

I always thought the best fight was Goku vs Cell in regards to the choreography, strategy, music, the fighters testing each other's limits, and all that good stuff. This is of course minus the DBZ cliche/trope that itched its way into the fight of not being able to see them fighting, but rather just a bunch of transportation and mini explosions/clashes. Take that stuff out and it was good. Gohan had moments, but Goku vs Cell still stands out to me above the rest. Then again, maybe I need to rewatch the series.

This, on the other hand, is stylized. It's not as raw as other fight scenes, but it has an unconventional look that reinforces what's happening to the characters in the story. It also has actual emotional weight to it, like all good fight scenes should. This was the first time in a long time that I actually enjoyed an action sequence.

[snip-too much video quoting is going to make my posts look messy]

I guess you could give this epic points, though.

[snip]

That was definitely something to watch for all the reasons you stated. You have good taste.

This is cheating, but it's funny, so I'll add it anyway.

That was kind of funny.

I'll cut the video editor some slack because the description says its his first time, but he needs to work on the sound editing. He overused the lightsaber clashing sound effects in the wrong places and it sounds off and out of place throughout the video. Some of it was fine, but at other times what was going on did not match the sounds quite right. Sorry, I can't help nitpicking.

Since we mentioned DBZ, Goku vs Cell is my 1-up response. Truth be told, it doesn't really 1-up you. For one thing, I haven't seen this fight in years, so it is AUTOMATICALLY disqualified by my own rules for this discussion. Oh, the irony. I just want to post it. As the description says it is sped up by 25%, but whatever. Boom:

 

[The Madman]

Other than Korra, I can't really think of any movies or shows I've seen recently that have any real action scenes in it. I did re-watch one of my favourite westerns just a little while ago though, which contains one of my favourite movie standoff:


Not really much of an action sequence, but does that count?