Your Favourite Bond Movie Strictly from a Fight Scenes POV

chrisisall

As a lifelong martial artist, and a former stuntman in movies, I'm usually a little bit hard to impress.
But the Bond films have mostly always had terrific fight choreography.
So, a lot of choices here, but my all time favourite would be TND. Lin's martial arts scene at her base, and Bond's furious battle with Stamper on Carver's ship are total joys to behold IMO; not as dirty/gritty as the FRWL train fight, or as epic as some of the scenes in YOLT, but tight, clean, and creatively executed. Plus, the emotional content added by needing to get to Lin in the Stamper fight.

That's mine, what's yours?

Roger Mo'

chrisisall wrote:

As a lifelong martial artist, and a former stuntman in movies, I'm usually a little bit hard to impress.
But the Bond films have mostly always had terrific fight choreography.
So, a lot of choices here, but my all time favourite would be TND. Lin's martial arts scene at her base, and Bond's furious battle with Stamper on Carver's ship are total joys to behold IMO; not as dirty/gritty as the FRWL train fight, or as epic as some of the scenes in YOLT, but tight, clean, and creatively executed. Plus, the emotional content added by needing to get to Lin in the Stamper fight.

That's mine, what's yours?

Roger Mo'

The stairwell fight in CR. Short, brutal and effective. Signalled Craig as a rough, tough Bond after the pretty boy Brosnan!

GoldenEye85

Die Another Day for the sword fight. It seemed like a classic Bond fight scene in a modern Bond film and it was a very nice touch. I like the throws to the other movies during it. For one the fight itself is reminiscent of the golf game in Goldfinger. Destroying the painting was like the one on Moonraker with the wrist dart gun.

chrisisall

Jamesbond007571985 wrote:

Die Another Day for the sword fight.

Yes, that was arguably the best 'weapons' fight of the series, and the main reason to own the film IMO. None of the 'Pirates' movies' sword fight scenes can be said to top it!

Loeffelholz

chrisisall wrote:

Jamesbond007571985 wrote:

Die Another Day for the sword fight.

Yes, that was arguably the best 'weapons' fight of the series, and the main reason to own the film IMO. None of the 'Pirates' movies' sword fight scenes can be said to top it!

I believe the swordmaster who choreographed the Errol Flynn/Basil Rathbone swordfight from "Robin Hood" was still around to do this one, incredibly. Seem to have read that somewhere. A fantastic sequence, in my opinion. Very 'Bond.'

don p

i think one of the better fights is

bond V alec trevelion in goldeneye, on the radar dish,

the CR fight on the stairs was a bit to movie for me,, to much not getting hurt my knives, but the craig fights are normally good, ie the hati fight, ..

Golrush007

Loeffelholz wrote:

chrisisall wrote:

Jamesbond007571985 wrote:

Die Another Day for the sword fight.

Yes, that was arguably the best 'weapons' fight of the series, and the main reason to own the film IMO. None of the 'Pirates' movies' sword fight scenes can be said to top it!

I believe the swordmaster who choreographed the Errol Flynn/Basil Rathbone swordfight from "Robin Hood" was still around to do this one, incredibly. Seem to have read that somewhere. A fantastic sequence, in my opinion. Very 'Bond.'

The swordmaster was Bob Anderson. Although he wasn't involved with Robin Hood (Anderson was only 16 years old when that film was made), he did work with Flynn on a later film - 'The Master of Ballantrae' according to Wikipedia.

BIG TAM

I'd vote for the Bond vs Trevelyan radar dish fight from GOLDENEYE, too. Well choreographed with two actors giving their all. And you could tell exactly what was going on without the need for a shaky camera.
Silly one this, but an honorary mention goes to Moore slugging it out with Saida's bodyguards in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN. Moore gets some stick for his lack of fighting prowess but I think he acquits himself quite well in this scene.

Peppermill

If the final fight between Tiger's and Blofeld's army count as well I would have to say YOLT. I like the fight at Osato's office, the rooftopfight and final volcano fight quite a lot.

DEFIANT 74205

For me, it's still From Russia With Love. In my view, that train fight, although brief, remains the best fight scene of the series - two evenly matched professionals one on one, in a tiny little cabin, as brutal as can be.

Blackleiter

Ditto!

DEFIANT 74205 wrote:

For me, it's still From Russia With Love. In my view, that train fight, although brief, remains the best fight scene of the series - two evenly matched professionals one on one, in a tiny little cabin, as brutal as can be.

thesecretagent

FRWL on the train. Brilliant, and brutal. I also liked CR on the stairwell, especially the ju jitsu choke hold and scissor hold. Coldly effective. Brozzer's satellite fight in GE was good too.

Blood_Stone

When Bond beat the sh** out of the dude in the bathroom, I was SOLD on Daniel Craig as James Bond after that!

Honorable mention: The uncut fight on the stairwell is deliciously vicious. I had to import Casino Royale on Blu-Ray from Australia to see the missing 23 seconds.

Scrummy64

Bond vs. Trevelyan in GoldenEye is undoubtedly my favourite, but I am also a massive fan of Bond vs. Obanno in Casino Royale and Bond vs. Grant in From Russia with Love. Another highlight from CR would be the Venice fight - that was seriously cool, especially when Bond (literally) nailed Gettler in the eye at the end.

Other favourites include Bond vs. Necros from The Living Daylights, Bond vs. Zorin from A View to a Kill (of course), and Bond vs. Graves from Die Another Day - and I'm not talking about the sword fight
Yes, it was very silly, not least due to all the henchmen comically flying through the window and the fact that Graves is wearing some kind of supervillain suit that not only allows him to electrocute people, but also conveniently has a button right in the centre which, when pressed, will shock himself - but I mostly like it because it had some great dialogue. Oh, and Graves has a VERY punchable face, so that makes it more enjoyable too :P

I also like the Bond vs. Blofeld fight at the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I've always thought it sounds incredibly lame on paper - I mean, they're on a bobsled - but it always seems like one of the most exciting ones when I see it.

BIG TAM

To counter this thread, I reckon the worst fight is the one between Bond, Tibbett & the two heavies in Zorin's microchip warehouse. It's so lacklustre as to be untrue. The bit where the the burly heavy stiffly lies on the conveyorbelt is just plain bloody awful.
Runner-up for duff fight choreography is the set-to between Bond & more overweight thugs in Stacey Sutton's mansion. Absolute rubbish.

For quality, I'd forgotten to mention the face-off between Bond & Oddjob in Fort Knox. Not as energetically choreographed as others but it's tremendously suspensful & one really does wonder how Bond will get out of it. The electricution pay-off is perfect.

Virgil37

BIG TAM wrote:

To counter this thread, I reckon the worst fight is the one between Bond, Tibbett & the two heavies in Zorin's microchip warehouse. It's so lacklustre as to be untrue. The bit where the the burly heavy stiffly lies on the conveyorbelt is just plain bloody awful.
Runner-up for duff fight choreography is the set-to between Bond & more overweight thugs in Stacey Sutton's mansion. Absolute rubbish.

For quality, I'd forgotten to mention the face-off between Bond & Oddjob in Fort Knox. Not as energetically choreographed as others but it's tremendously suspensful & one really does wonder how Bond will get out of it. The electricution pay-off is perfect.

True, Moore at 57 was well passed it by then to be truly believable.

Virgil37

FRWL train fight. Absolutely epic, brutal and trend setting.
OHMSS fights. Lazenby was extremely believable in fights.
CR stairs fight. Truly great, unexpected and brutal. I also love just after the fight, when Bond looks himself in the mirror and washes the blood away. Chilling moment, you can feel his pain. Easily one of the best performances in a bond movie ever.

Thunderpussy

BIG TAM wrote ;

I reckon the worst fight is the one between Bond, Tibbett & the two heavies in Zorin's microchip

It seemed, even when I first saw it a very lack luster effort
having the same gag of wrapping the heavys in the conveyor belt,
Once might of been amusing but twice was sad.
Also the Big guy was in "Eastenders" as a stall holder at the time which
spoilt the scary heavy effect. )

Favourite fights, would be.
Bond and grant, FRWL
Bond and Trevelyan, GoldenEye

Thunderpussy

Found this great video, showing some of Bond's most brutal fights.
( the only oddity is RM fighting on the rooftop from SPY, didn't
Think it was all that brutal. ]

http://youtu.be/f-bDoEG8skQ

PPK 7.65mm

FRWL Bond vs Grant:
Bond uses both his skills and the narrow train cabin to his advantage to hold off Grant to great effect.

TB Bond Vs Colonel Bouvar: I liked how Bond gets the drop on his quarry, and then uses the furniture in room to aide to him in slowing Bouvar down.

YOLT Bond Vs hechman in Osato's office: Again Bond used objects at hand like the couch and the small staute to help him over come his opponet like the fight in TB.

TLD Bond vs Necros: Bond employs his cunning to gain the upper hand and finally get rid of his foe. Also the ticking bomb on the plane adds to the tension.

GE Bond vs Trevelyan: Nice hand to hand action here with both men using their skills to their advantage during the battle.

CR Stairwell fight with Obanno: Another fight in a confined space like the train car in FRWL. I really liked how Bond used his dinner jacket to distract Obanno as it is a vaild technique in practical self defense when facing an opponnet and you have no conventitional weapons availbile to you. Also using the rear naked choke to finish the fight was an excellent choice by the stunt team. Plus it was nice to see Bond get hurt and then clean his wounds later just like in the original novels.

Honorable mention:CR Bathroom fight with Fisher in the teaser: Bond uses good techiques like the front kick to the face and when he holds Fisher face down in the sink. Also the way the fight is set up, you get the sense that Bond wants end it quickly so Fisher does not escape or kill him first.

James Suzuki

I very much like GE fight, mentioned before how it was 00 vs. 00. How they use to be friends and now aren't. Its a shame none of Moore fights are mentioned. His fights were mostly played for laughs :007)

GordoLeiter

don p wrote:

i think one of the better fights is

bond V alec trevelion in goldeneye, on the radar dish,

the CR fight on the stairs was a bit to movie for me,, to much not getting hurt my knives, but the craig fights are normally good, ie the hati fight, ..

The radar dish fight as cool, except for Brosnan's overdramatic grunt with a british accent when sliding down the ladder.
"OOOOOOoooouuuuUHHH" )

James Suzuki

Yeah... that was funny

Loeffelholz

I'd add the elevator fight in DAF, a film which doesn't get many kudos, but deserves one here, IMO :007)

chrisisall

Loeffelholz wrote:

I'd add the elevator fight in DAF, a film which doesn't get many kudos, but deserves one here, IMO :007)

Yes, that was an excellent close-quarters fight indeed. The obvious plexiglass shard notwithstanding. ) )

James Suzuki

chrisisall wrote:

Loeffelholz wrote:

I'd add the elevator fight in DAF, a film which doesn't get many kudos, but deserves one here, IMO :007)

Yes, that was an excellent close-quarters fight indeed. The obvious plexiglass shard notwithstanding. ) )

I enjoyed that fight, very solid and good compared to the very campy and made for laughs film

chrisisall

xboy614 wrote:

I enjoyed that fight, very solid and good compared to the very campy and made for laughs film

Very different from the Bambi/Bumper fight which, while it had its moments, turned silly in the pool. He can hold their heads down & they don't do monkey grabs peach????
(Kung Fu term)

Loeffelholz

Golrush007 wrote:

Loeffelholz wrote:

chrisisall wrote:

Yes, that was arguably the best 'weapons' fight of the series, and the main reason to own the film IMO. None of the 'Pirates' movies' sword fight scenes can be said to top it!

I believe the swordmaster who choreographed the Errol Flynn/Basil Rathbone swordfight from "Robin Hood" was still around to do this one, incredibly. Seem to have read that somewhere. A fantastic sequence, in my opinion. Very 'Bond.'

The swordmaster was Bob Anderson. Although he wasn't involved with Robin Hood (Anderson was only 16 years old when that film was made), he did work with Flynn on a later film - 'The Master of Ballantrae' according to Wikipedia.

Ah, right then.

Bodie

Bond Vs. Grant in FRWL. Still one of the best fights ever filmed. Doesn't look choreographed. Two dangerous men in a no quarter asked no quarter given fight.

007 VS. 006 in GE. Shows that the 00s are really highly trained. Plenty of martial arts moves. Strangly after GE Brosnan's fights moved back to the right hook to the jaw type and Bond didn't seem as dangerous.

Bond Vs. Franks in DAF deserves an honourable mention. The only decent fight in the entire movie and one of the few segments that wasn't played for laughs.

DEFIANT 74205

PPK 7.65mm wrote:

FRWL Bond vs Grant:
TB Bond Vs Colonel Bouvar: I liked how Bond gets the drop on his quarry, and then uses the furniture in room to aide to him in slowing Bouvar down.

YOLT Bond Vs hechman in Osato's office: Again Bond used objects at hand like the couch and the small staute to help him over come his opponet like the fight in TB.

TLD Bond vs Necros: Bond employs his cunning to gain the upper hand and finally get rid of his foe. Also the ticking bomb on the plane adds to the tension.

I do not agree with those. For me, nothing beats a good old fashioned fist fight in close quarters - no furniture, and definitely no guns.

To each their own, I guess ...