There’s no one element necessary for a great movie fight — but there are many elements that can make a movie fight great. It could be a performer’s physical mastery: Consider Donnie Yen punching a foe into the ground in Ip Man, his furious, rapid-fire blows evoking the pitter-patter of rain. Perhaps it’s the sheer relentlessness on display, as with John Wick procedurally mowing down wave after wave of bad guys in his ceaseless pursuit of revenge and redemption.
Or a moment may simply look cool as hell. Remember Patrick Swayze ripping out a guy’s throat in Road House? Of course you do. Such brawls elicit a primal pleasure, as if the rhythmic crunching of bones emits a frequency that tickles an ancient part of the brain. A good movie fight is a feast for the eyes, but a great one feeds the soul.
formerly Mad Cornish Projectionist.