The Most Well Shot Fight Scenes in KF Cinema?

[One Armed Boxer]

In the last couple of weeks I re-watched the Stunt People's two feature length productions, 'Contour / The Agent' & 'Death Grip' again along with their making of documentaries. One of the things I enjoyed so much about the 'Makings of' these movies, is that both of them dedicate a fair amount of time to the cinematographer explaining how they shot the action, why they shot it the way they did, what did & didn't work, and essentially breaking down the science of how to film a fight scene, which even on big productions and the classic HK movies you don't tend to hear that much of.

It got me thinking that really, when the camera is done well, it essentially acts as an invisible third person (or member of a large group!) in a fight scene....the way it captures moves, enhancing some and adding impact to others, the whole package. I noticed on here that we gripe a lot about badly shot fight scenes, but we've never really posted about what our favorite scenes are that have been shot really well, so I thought I'd start! Bare in mind that I'm specifically talking about the way it's shot, so even if the fight scene itself may not be your best choice, if you think it was shot well, please post it here.

Off the top of my head, I can reel off 8, obviously starting with examples from 'Contour / The Agent' & 'Death Grip'.





'Ong Bak 2' - Jaa's fight against the two assailants, I love everything about the camera work in this fight, it's so original, especially the way a lot of it is shot from a lower level.



'The Raid' - So many to choose from in this one, but I went with the raid on the meth lab, very dynamic camerawork which actually moves with the punches, a lot of impact!



'Clash' - I enjoyed this group fight scene as I thought the editing was really tight, especially the way the camera captures Nguyen's scissor kick take-down, it's really fluid and organic.



'Heart of the Dragon' - I think it's safe to say Sammo was one of the pioneers of shooting fight scenes in a dynamic and exciting way, so there's a lot of options to choose from, but I always enjoyed the way he captured Jackie's fight with Dick Wei in this movie, it has a real immediacy to it.



'Undisputed 3' - Scott Adkins vs Lateef Crowder, really well shot fight with good camera positioning for falls and a very rare example of the slow motion / real time, zoom in / zoom out technique being used to really good effect and adding to the clarity of the fight.



'Sha Po Lang / Kill Zone' - Yen vs Wu Jing, a lot going on in this fight which would be easy to miss if done in lesser hands, but thankfully the camera work captures this awesome fight in all its glory while remaining unobtrusive, very skillful.

[Drunken Monk]

Easily one of the best, for me, is Collin Chou versus Donnie Yen in "Flashpoint." The wide angles, the zooms, the pans, the close ups. It's pitch perfect in terms of camera work and somehow manages to capture the serenity of the location as well as the ballistic fight that's on display.
We get up close and person for the ground work and then lavish wide shots for the big kicks and more dynamic attacks. It really is beautifully crafted.

[Drunken Monk]

Oh and just to be a little controversial, before anyone mentions it, the one shot fight from "The Protector" isn't really that well filmed. Sure it takes talent and amazing planning to pull it off and it's a very talented scene, but, in my opinion, it doesn't really give the moment any more of a dramatic element. It adds to what I think about the film makers and not the scene itself.

[AbeRudder]

LKL's shaw bros movies have beautifully filmed fights. I was watching disciples of the 36th chamber the other day, the exchanges at the end are so well captured.

[ShaOW!linDude]

Cool idea, OAB! I'll be adding to this more as I think of stuff.

To start....I can watch the sequence from Tom Yum Goong/The Protector where Tony Jaa loses his mind on, like, 50 goons.



Jet Li's dojo fight in Fist Of Legend.



Donnie Yen pummeling 10 karatekas in Ipman.



Oh, and the Scott Adkins/Marko Zaror end fight in Undisputed 3.

[DiP]

[Drunken Monk]

What's that first fight from, DiP? It's pretty bananas.

[DiP]

It's from Twins Effect. Donnie did the action choreography.

[One Armed Boxer]

Oh and just to be a little controversial, before anyone mentions it, the one shot fight from "The Protector" isn't really that well filmed. Sure it takes talent and amazing planning to pull it off and it's a very talented scene, but, in my opinion, it doesn't really give the moment any more of a dramatic element. It adds to what I think about the film makers and not the scene itself.

Interesting point, and one I'd agree with. I think it's a good reflection on the athleticism of the camera man, as he was obviously having to keep up with Jaa while rigged up to a hip mounted camera which wouldn't have been easy, but the camera work itself isn't particularly spectacular, it's a great scene though nonetheless.

'The Protector' by the way is originally called 'Tom Yum Goong' and in the UK is called 'Warrior King'

Donnie's getting mentioned on here a lot, it looks like the general opinion is he's the current master of filming a good fight scene, although at the same time he doesn't really have much competition.

Have to throw in Yuen Biao vs Dick Wei at the end of 'Millionaires Express' as well...

I'm probably a bit old school but I minimalist camera movement like in shapes, I even think bashers had bad camera some new waves are OK but I think everything about Shapes is almost as good as it gets.

jrcma...can you give some examples? I'd still be interested to hear of your choices.