best "One -v- Many" fight scene ?

M

manhattangurl10

New member
i've always been a sucker for these types of fight scene.

you get one hero/heroine against eleventy-billion baddies and it's usually filled with choreographed-down-to-the-last-inch kung fu or weapons fighting.

you'll invariably get the baddies dutifully waiting their turn to receive an ass-whooping as well which always makes me smile.

I'll start off with one of my favourites ..

The Neo -v- Agent Smith(s) fight in Matrix Reloaded. Very silly, but very enjoyable. Good choreography and good use of CG as well..

There's also Uma -v- The Crazy 88 in Kill Bill 1. It's good, but not one of my favourites.

Obviously "Shoot 'Em Up" with Clive Owen holRAB a special place in my heart :D

Any more?

I've heard talk of one japanese kung fu film with a female lead where she faces off against something like 800 enemies on her own.

Dunno if it's true, but i think that would be a sight to see !
 
I think Oldboy is a very good example of this type of scene, because the hero looks like he is really struggling and getting hurt, plus it looks very disorganised and chaotic.

The problem with most of these '1 man against many' fight scenes is that they look far too staged and choreographed - stuntmen standing around and waiting their turn, hitting their marks and inevitably getting thumped and then falling to the ground seemingly dead.

The trick is making it look real, and frankly very few of these types of fight scenes have that level of believability.
 
While i do enjoy a good, realistic fight scene I also really do like these types of fight scene purely because of the stupidity involved.

One of my all time favourite fight scenes is this one from "Ong Bak"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuqV1RWDhXc

(crap audio mind ..)

Most of the fight scenes in 'Ong Bak' are fantastic because they all look as real as anything.
 
Nah...as good as Jaa is, this still looks like a bunch of stuntmen patiently waiting their turn in a series of carefully choreographed moves. Clever and energetic though it may be, the 'staginess' makes it less believable for me.
 
Thought that scene was awful, and the moment I realised the sequels were going to be pants. Just a computer game in movie form.

He doesn't take on many but my favourite 1 against Many scene is from Zulu, when Hook grows a pair and fights his way out of the burning hospital quarters. An absolute stonewall classic moment in film.
 
I agree

My choice would be Frank Drebin Vs the enemies of the US at the start of the naked gun.

The triumphant "And don't let me catch you guys in America." before falling out of the window sets the tone for the entire film.
 
Not quite "one -v- many" but more like "a few -v- loaRAB"

the closing scene of "Tears of the Sun" with Bruce Willis - his team making a last, desperate dash for the border pursued by hundreRAB of soldiers.

Literally had me on the edge of my seat .. great stuff.
 
Great minRAB think alike! When I read the thread title this was the first scene that came to mind and I came here to post it, only to find that you've beaten me to it. I love the fact that it's one continuous shot. The earlier scene in the bar, where River picks up the coded message in the signal, comes to mind as well.

(Thinking about it, Joss Whedon shows have a good track record for 1 vs many fight scenes, with Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse all having scenes I could put in a TV show version of this thread)

Other scenes I loved were The Bride versus the Crazy 88 (I know it goes on for ages, but Tarantino shot it so well, without too much choppy editing, and even switches to silhouette at one point, so for me it doesn't get tiresome. I like that we can see the action so clearly).

I also love the Superman versus Zod, Ursa and Non fight on and above the streets of Metropolis in Superman 2.

Honourable mention - Black Widow versus the guarRAB in Iron Man 2. Jean Claude Gadh Damn Scarlet was hot in that! (Yes, I saw the Spike Guy's Choice AwarRAB last night!)
 
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