Cinema and action have been intertwined for a very long time, and the big screen has been trying to meet people’s need for action for a very long time. At the peak of these action scenes, of course, there are one-on-one fights. Of course, there is no consensus on which is the best fight scene we have seen in the cinema so far.
In such a situation, of course, there is no easy way to choose the best one-on-one fight scene in movie history. After all, everyone’s preferences can be different. Someone came out and said, “I think the best one-on-one fight scene is the fight between Tarkan and the octopus, bro!” he may say. In order to determine the scene chosen in this article, I made a giant survey of 1 person (me).
Before announcing the winner, let’s take a look at other scenes worth mentioning:
Gladiator Maximus disregards the emperor: Maximus vs Tigris of Gaul
In the movie Gladiator, Maximus takes part in many deadly fights. “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the armies of the north, general of the Roman division, loyal assistant of the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius, father of the murdered son, husband of the murdered woman, and I will avenge, in this life or the other…” This fight was of great interest.
An epic fight from a fairytale mythological movie: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Michelle Yeoh vs Zhang Ziyi
The production, signed by the director Ang Lee, is ultimately a fairy-tale movie based on legends and the fight scenes are suitable for this. In this scene, one of our two characters is standing with his trusty sword in his hand, while our other character uses all the melee weapons and martial arts in the arsenal.
James Bond copied in all subsequent movies From Russia With Love: Bond vs Red
This scene holds a special place for the James Bond series. Because the audience loved this episode so much that in all subsequent Bond productions, the famous British agent fought hand to hand with someone.
One of the high points of the action, The Raid 2: Fight in the kitchen
If any fight roster is going to be made, there would be The Raid 2. In The Raid 2, which includes a lot of action, the fight in the kitchen was a scene that almost smashed the bottom of the action.
The Punisher: The Punisher vs Russian, which does not look for Jackie Chan movies
The Punisher movie was mediocre at best, and a little too jolly for a character like Punisher. However, the fight scenes of the movie were not bad at all. The Russian and Frank’s fight became quite enjoyable with the music in the background.
The Matrix: Neo vs Agent Smith, whose dialogue is as compelling as the combat
Although these two have faced each other frequently throughout the series, the fight scene mentioned here is the famous scene in the subway. This fight was a remarkable sequence in the history of cinema, especially with its dialogues and choreography that had never been seen before.
They were like brothers: Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi vs Anakin Skywalker
The best-known fight scene in the Star Wars franchise is probably the fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin on the lava-covered mining planet Mustafar. After this fight, Obi-Wan exiles himself, while Anakin completes his journey of transformation into Darth Vader.
Let our hearts dry if we forget: Rocky vs Ivan Drago
Rocky, who faced Russian fighter Ivan Drago to avenge Apollo, managed to knock his opponent down with his US flag shorts after a long fight. This fight had been the defining fight of the series for a very long time.
And the winner: Troy: Achilles vs Hector
Although the movie Troy may not even be in the top 100 in its list of my favorite movies, the scenes where Achilles and Hector face off manage to reach a different level regardless of the movie. The CGI-supported action we see throughout the movie leaves its place to the fight of two people here. In this scene where mythology and legends are mixed with reality, we see that both Hector and Achilles are ultimately very good warriors.
Hector and Achilles act according to their characters and use different strategies from the beginning to the end of the fight. Points such as the way they change their weapons, their attitudes in war, the aggressiveness of their strategies, this scene makes the climax of the movie for both characters.
Another point that makes this scene so great is that almost none of the tricks Hollywood uses in action scenes are in this fight. There is no music playing in the background that makes you gasp. The shaky camera technique, which aims to increase the dose of action by shaking the camera, is not used. Just two men engaged in a fight to the death. In addition, we can clearly see the logic of “show, tell”, which is one of the most basic rules of cinema, and the habit of not putting anything unnecessary on the stage.
Footnote: Since superhero movies are very different movies by nature and they have taken over the big screen for the last 25 years, we will present the fight scenes in those movies as a separate list.
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