I’m posting in c/movies but including tv shows, anime, comics, manga, etc.
Personally I think the final war rig sequence in Mad Max: Fury Road is the most impressive live-action fight I’ve ever seen. The practical effects and choreographing are incredible and the fight keeps moving along by having the stakes raised and characters dying, it doesn’t meander.
In animation it’s harder to say. Attack on Titan had a lot of really well animated action (it used be so good, goddammit). The battle in Shiganshina in season 3 is the best, the narrative weight is so strong, the characters all have really good moments, the stakes are really high and the production is incredible, animation, soundtrack, sound design, voice acting etc.
Mob Psycho has the most consistently incredible animation of anything I’ve ever seen, I think the group fight against the teleporting psychic in season 2 is my personal favourite, even if it’s not the flashiest, it’s really well directed and just such a cool fight, even though it’s not that long.
The ChainsawMan manga has a lot of good fights, the Falling Devil arc is like my favourite arc of anything ever, but that’s mainly because of the characters. The art is stunning, Fujimoto at his absolute peak, but the action is pretty straightforward. I mainly love it because it’s Asa at her best as a character, and Asa is my favourite character of anything ever.
Wow it was way easier for me to choose a live action sequence than animated. Honestly there’s so much lazy action in superhero slop that Mad Max stands out so, so much.
It’s hard to pick just one as a favorite so I’ll mention a few that haven’t been mentioned.
Strange Days, specifically the scene where you find out what happened to Jericho One.
The opening heist/chase from Drive is a great example of music setting the tempo and the tension.
The big apartment/stairwell fight from Atomic Blonde which is fantastic because they actually show the combatants getting exhausted as the fight drags on. Fantastic change of pace from the usual frenetic stuff. You’re on the edge of your seat screaming “GET UP!” at the screen.
The colony attack from Aliens when the power gets cut and the emergency lights kick on with that eerie red glow as the motion trackers count down until all hell breaks loose.
The opening battle from the Macross movie Do You Remember Love with the low gravity flight physics and the fantastic music I can only describe as “Battle Jazz”
Honorable mention to tank chase from Goldeneye because it’s got a fucking tank in it.
just popping in to say that Strange Days is like, a top-10 movie for me. i watch it each year, around new year’s. feels like it’ll never get talked about enough, so i appreciate the shout-out! ❤
It’s a trip to watch it today with how impressive the first-person camera segments were given the technology at the time. The stuff we take for granted.