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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
For me, a good fight scene needs several things.
First, it should feel like the outcome could go either way. Maybe the villain will win. Maybe the hero will but is going to come out of it too damaged. Even if the hero wins completely, it should feel like it took real effort. This is often more dependent on the outside story than just the fight itself. If the hero has just been easily plowing through everything before then even the toughest of opponents later might come off as yet another boring hurdle.
Second, use the fighting styles to tell us about the characters. A demonstration of how they defend themselves, what they’ve trained for, what tricks they use, can be so revealing without spending ages on exposition. And it can even be used to develop characters’ relationships with the emotions running high as they fight with or against each other.
Third, don’t needlessly hold out on the extraordinary moves just to justify a loss or longer fight. If your character uses a Super Duper Omega Power to instantly crush opponents in one scene, you have to make clear why they don’t use that all the time just to make a later fight last. Even more points deducted if they lose because not using their Ultimate for no clear reason. It’s more creative to see their opponent find a way around it.
And last, don’t cover it in choppy editing and dull color grading. I want to see what’s going on.
Edited by Tuckerscreator on Sep 8th 2021 at 12:54:59 PM
Those ones are only okay, you haven't gotten to the good ones yet, fredhot.
For those who already have watched the show, I'm talking about Punisher's prison hallway fight, Stick vs. Elektra, and the final rooftop battle.
Edited by Anomalocaris20 on Sep 8th 2021 at 3:58:24 PM
You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!It's got to flow, is really my only fight scene criteria. As long as the tempo of the fight feels good, it's good, whether it's a 20 minute Jackie Chan environmental spotfest or Captain Marvel flattening Yon Rogg in 2 seconds (I know a lot of people hate that, but having the film's climactic character vs. character fight scene last 2 seconds is brilliant and made me laugh a lot)
You know what my biggest criterion is for a good fight scene? Being able to tell what the Mephisto is going on. Things that immediately turn me off: obscured by fog or water, shot in darkness, loaded with cuts, lack of continuity, shot so close-up that I can't tell where the fighters are relative to anything.
The lightsaber duel in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is pretty awful from a choreography standpoint. It's two old men waving sticks at each other. But it's well-lit, mostly continuous, and I can see nearly every stroke and counter in proper context with the scene.
Edited by Fighteer on Sep 8th 2021 at 5:07:45 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"It comes down to what exactly are they trying to tell with a fight scene. One does not simply includes a fight if it isn't to continue move forward the story and characters. A fight scene that is very well staged and choreographed will ultimately fall flat if there's no emotional resonance to it.
Super Eyepatch Wolf has a great video on what makes a fight scene interesting.
Also a big criteria (in my book): is it memorable? What's a specific element about the fight that makes you remember it later?
Like, I can give some examples of Matt's fights in Daredevil and what makes them stand out:
- Matt fighting traffickers at the docks (best way to introduce Matt's abilities as a fighter)
- The season 1 hallway fight (the editing style, and Matt is nursing an earlier stab wound)
- Matt vs. Russians in episode 5 (the long-take orbital shot at the start of the fight)
- Matt's duel to the death with Nobu (Nobu is a deadly opponent), then his first fight with Fisk (showing off how Matt is outmatched when he's been weakened by Nobu, and Fisk is also protected by body armor)
- Matt's rematch with Fisk (debuting the red Daredevil armor, and also he is fighting Fisk on equal ground)
- Matt and Frank escaping the Kitchen Irish in the catacombs (Matt is saving the guy who concussed him and chained him up to a roof)
- Matt's prison fight (eleven minute continuous take that Charlie Cox did 95% of the stunt work on)
- Matt vs. Dex at the Bulletin (demonstrating Dex's killer aim with improvised weapnory)
- Matt vs. Dex at the church (Father Lantom dies, and Karen saves Matt)
For me, the biggest factor in making a fight interesting is: Do I care?
I realize that sounds like a tautology. But what I mean is, am I invested in the characters that are fighting (or, at least, one side of the fight)? Do I know these people, and have I been given sufficient reason to care about who wins? Are they fighting over something that's actually meaningful, and has the story already set up for me that it's meaningful?
A fight is only as interesting as its participants and function to the plot. Without a solid emotional core, it might as well be one of those kung fu flash videos they used to make on Newgrounds way back when. Do it well, and you've got Iron Man throwing down with Captain America and Bucky in Civil War. Do it poorly, and you've got... well, like, half of RWBY's fights.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Sep 8th 2021 at 2:51:15 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.A few things make up a good fight scene. Here's some in no particular order:
- It should be clear to the audience what is going on at all times. The camera should not shake or move unnecessarily. The camera should show all relevant participants in any given shot.
- The hero should be vulnerable in some way. Typically, it's a mistake to make a superhero too bulletproof if they're fighting guys with guns (don't have them outright no-sell them, at least have them say "ow"). In general, while it's likely obvious the hero will win, you should at least make the audience wonder how.
- The above rule goes double if your character is a Badass Normal. It's pretty common to give a character like Batman what amounts to low-end superpowers. With a Badass Normal character, you need to understand what a human is capable of.
- In general, the hero (if they win) should win by something other than brute force, luck, or willpower. This goes with the second rule.
- The fight should not be repetitive and generally should avoid having flynning and the like, though there are many exceptions to this rule.
- A good fight takes advantage of environment. For example, a fight in a kitchen can have knives or have someone's face tossed into a stove or something.
- Physics should generally be grounded, even in fantasy. This is part of why fights with a lot of CGI and such can seem rather lame. They have to give the fighters proper weight and such, to give the audience an impression of what the consequences of punches and such are.
Creative use of powers is always good. Coming up with ways to use familiar powersets in less common ways.
In terms of pure spectacle, one of my all-time favorite fight moments is this bit from Godzilla (2014):
That's just fucking cool.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Sep 8th 2021 at 3:32:21 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.One of the reasons why I love Avatar: The Last Airbender is that every fight has a narrative purpose and there are always stakes for at least one of the characters involved. Moreover, the story always establishes those stakes beforehand, so that battles feel like a culmination rather than something that happens in passing.
It also follows all the rules I laid out above of clearly showing where the characters are and what's going on.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
The Final Battle between Aang and Ozai and the Agni Kai between Zuko and Azula in particular stand out. Aang vs. Ozai is also something of a Final-Exam Boss for Aang, forcing him to use every skill he's picked up in the series.
That final battle is also a moral one. There are the surface stakes: will Ozai destroy the world or Aang save it, but there's also Aang's inner conflict. Everything in his nature tells him not to kill, but everyone around him is telling him he must. Ozai will give no quarter. So what we are invested in as the audience isn't just who wins the fight but whether Aang will sacrifice his ideals.
What's so brilliant about the second half, when the Avatar State is wrecking Ozai's shit, is that the villain/hero perspective is flipped. Aang is in the role of the antagonist: the implacable monster hounding the hero to his death.
The visual storytelling is so good that I could go on about it for hours. Anyway, back to Marvel.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"It's the same thing that happens in the final battle of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, though obviously, Broly is a lot more sympathetic than Ozai. As soon as Gogeta goes SSB, the story flips and the tension of the fight goes from "can Goku and Vegeta beat Broly" to "will Broly survive".
Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Sep 8th 2021 at 6:28:39 AM
It was very very proudly gay
A SINGULAR power that be killed the show. Because it was too gay. A rich, straight, Brentwood turd.
He got fired for being vile at his company.
We, on the other hand, live.
yeah, we got killed by 1 exec
fuck him
G'night
Curse you, that one exec!
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Nope. Justice was dating Firestar....in the comics. I don't know if he was in the show (I don't think he was, since this show seemed more like an adaptation of the Great Lakes Avengers from what I remember than the New Warriors), but maybe they changed his orientation in this.
One Strip! One Strip!

For me, it all comes down to "feeling" the impact. It's really hard to describe. I guess the train fight in Spider-Man 2 is a good example.
Or take this scene from Arrow for example. Great camera work and choreography. And you feel every punch thrown.
Edited by Forenperser on Sep 8th 2021 at 9:33:51 PM
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