Action Sequences: Man vs Bear, Max vs Furiosa.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 10:07AM The Film Bitch Awards "extra" categories have commenced. We've already discussed Ensembles, Breakthrough, and Casting and now we hit Action Sequences. These are sometimes hard to define as with the much celebrated fourth installment of Mad Max which could be described in its entirety as "chase sequence" but I've tried to break it down a bit for these purposes. Given the choreography, wonder and passion happening on Fury Road the bar was high and even hugely entertaining fight sequences that I thought would be easy placements for the category like the "Hulkbuster" fight in The Avengers: Age of Ultron or technical wows like Johnson vs. Sporino in Creed (all in one continuous shot!) were edged out.
Films with standard action setpieces, whatever their other strengths, like the two biggest blockbusters of the year (The Force Awakens and Jurassic World) or films with inventive brief moments that didn't quite transcend their otherwise rote action beats (Ant-Man) didn't really stand a chance in this high energy competition that put the motion in motion pictures.
Click the image for more on fine action sequences of the past year in cinema
Reader Comments (9)
Surprised that you seemed to like the action scenes in Ultron considerably -- within a day or so they were mishmashing hopelessly in my mind. They weren't terrible, but I found them so unmemorable.
Went through the other Star Wars movies recently and I have to say that the lightsaber sequence in TFA holds up quite well next to the others - it's visually arresting, emotionally investing and there are great character parallels within the swordsmanship (sabermanship?). Shame about the other action sequences in that movie, tho.
Everything about The Assassin is so zen that even its action scenes do not seem action-y, but I'd also nominate the duel in the forest with the masked woman. Haunting and expertly rendered.
Any other action scenes are mere mortals when compared to the border cross in SICARIO and the entirety of MMFR, but these are flawless selections!
Thrilling choices! I might add Charlotte's pulling away gesture at the end of 45 Years. Talk about closing with a breathtaking action.
Hmm: I'd probably bump down everything not from Mad Max. (The Revenant off the list, Sicario to Finalist, Opera to Semi-Finalist.) My guess, with only two of these scenes (Creed and '71) unseen.
Hulk vs. Hulkbuster, Avengers: Age of Ultron
Johnson vs. Sportino, Creed - Bronze
Entering the Sandstorm, Mad Max: Fury Road - Winner
Mad Max vs Furiosa vs Nux vs Brides, Mad Max: Fury Road
The Escape, Room - Silver (No, Room is not an action movie. But this bit is an action sequence and a well done one at that. Taut and efficient, but also oddly dreamy. NICE.)
(Finalists: Border Crossing, Sicario and "We've Got Our Boy", The Martian.)
(Semi-Finalists: "Bah! Mediocre!", Mad Max: Fury Road, Final Clusterbattle, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Opera House, M:I - Rogue Nation, Suit Surprise, Ant-Man, Sinking Truck, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.)
I love these choices and this category as I relive the sequences you chose. With all of the (worthy) commotion this year concerning "overlooked" Oscar nominations it reminds me of the lack of recognition for one of my top films of the year, Sicario. The border crossing sequence had me wide eyed with terror because of the the reality of it all. The subjective experience of seeing something so original and unexpected is high on my list (not to mention the point of view of a female in an action movie). Sicario: the overlooked film in the snubbed category!
Stella -- yeah that was my thing with THE ASSASSIN. it never felt like an action movie despite having action sequences (albeit super brief ones)
BVR -- brilliant choice. That gesture is more thrilling than all explosions or firearms this year.
Debby M -- yeah, Sicario seems to have landed somewhere between remembered and forgotten which is an odd place for a movie that technically dazzling when it's compared to films with more nominations
Am I the only one who thinks of Tangerine as an action movie? I've gotten people to watch it by describing it as "Fury Road on high heels" The scene were Sin-Dee grabs Dinah from the motel room is as good as the 5 above.
I may have considered the underground/subway sequence from THE HUNGER GAMES, and I probably would've chosen the last climactic road pursuit over the sandstorm of MAD MAX.
But I never saw M:I-5 so can't say anything about that.
No opening scene or train fight from "Spectre?"