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Pretty simple which fights in the movies were very disappointing to you. Ones that were supposed to be more exciting or which fighters were hyped up and performed lackluster at best.

Some of my entries.

Godzilla vs. Ghidorah final battle could have been much better.

Zod-terrible fighter

Kylo Ren- terrible

Star Wars 7,8,9 - somehow made Lightsaber fights boring to watch, boring choreography, non athletic actors, just sucked.

Originally posted by ShadowFyre
Pretty simple which fights in the movies were very disappointing to you. Ones that were supposed to be more exciting or which fighters were hyped up and performed lackluster at best.

Some of my entries.

Godzilla vs. Ghidorah final battle could have been much better.

Zod-terrible fighter

Kylo Ren- terrible

Star Wars 7,8,9 - somehow made Lightsaber fights boring to watch, boring choreography, non athletic actors, just sucked. Yeah they don't do fights with tons of spinning and good choreography anymore, it's slow.

OT had no spinning and was slow at times, yet their lightsaber duels were really enjoyable. I'm including the ANH duel.

ST's problem is that their lightsaber combat is just... well... bland.

Beatrix Kiddo vs. Bill.

What a gyp.

There are two main components that make a fight scene good. A good technical narrative (the physical action taking place basically, what constitutes as "good" being fairly subjective), and a good emotional narrative (everything encompassing what's gone on with or between the characters up to the time of the fight).

Take the Obi vs. Vader fight in ANH Stiltman mentioned above. The technical narrative is, frankly, almost completely worthless IIRC. It is quite literally just an old man and a guy in a cumbersome suit slapping sticks against the other guy's stick until Obi gets killed. Every saber fight in the sequel trilogy had a better technical narrative than this. But it's the emotional narrative, the build-up between Obi-wan and Vader's final meeting and what the fight means to the two of them, that make the fight compelling despite its technical shortcomings. And this is where so many of the fights in the sequel trilogy fall woefully short (though the fight between Finn and Kylo Ren is genuinely good and probably the best scene in the whole ST).

As far as the thread, for me the only one I can think of is Gregor Clegane vs. Oberyn Martell, probably the most iconic duel that actually takes place in the pages of A Song of Ice and Fire (as opposed to duels in the backstory that are more important in-universe like Robert vs. Rhaegar). The emotional narrative is still largely intact, it being Oberyn's climactic duel with the man who raped and murdered his sister and killed her son, and Oberyn's choreography is pretty good and suits the character. But the fight is dragged down by Bjornsson's absolutely abysmal choreography. Unlike Conan Steven who played the character in season 1 he had no experience with a sword and it showed, he flailed in Oberyn's general location and is portrayed as way too slow.

Not a single fight in the Home trilogy of Spidey movies lived up to any of the fights from the original Raimi trilogy. Same with all the fights in the Amazing movies. The Raimi movies had a narrative to each fight that allowed the fights to evolve as they want on to an eventual satisfying conclusion. The movement also looked like it had more weight/momentum to it. The Spidey movies after just never lived up.

It's wild to me that Spidey vs Ock on the train is still the best super hero fight I've ever seen. It's been a decade of super hero movies, but nothing has topped it. Hulk vs Abom got the closest.

Actually, you could put 90% of the fights in Marvel movies up for my vote.

Jason Statham vs. Scott Adkins in Expendables 2. Considering the martial arts skills of both these guys, their showdown was ridiculously underwhelming. Come to think of it, pretty much all of the fights in the Expendables movies were underwhelming, especially when you consider the actors they cast.

Originally posted by Arachnid1
Not a single fight in the Home trilogy of Spidey movies lived up to any of the fights from the original Raimi trilogy. Same with all the fights in the Amazing movies. The Raimi movies had a narrative to each fight that allowed the fights to evolve as they want on to an eventual satisfying conclusion. The movement also looked like it had more weight/momentum to it. The Spidey movies after just never lived up.

It's wild to me that Spidey vs Ock on the train is still the best super hero fight I've ever seen. It's been a decade of super hero movies, but nothing has topped it. Hulk vs Abom got the closest.

Actually, you could put 90% of the fights in Marvel movies up for my vote.

Agreed with the exception of the two Green Goblin fights in No Way Home, especially the apartment hallway fight. Willem Dafoe just smiling up at Peter as he wails on him and then cackling and powerbombing him four stories down instantly made him one of the best villains in both the Raimi-verse and the MCU.

Originally posted by FrothByte
Jason Statham vs. Scott Adkins in Expendables 2. Considering the martial arts skills of both these guys, their showdown was ridiculously underwhelming. Come to think of it, pretty much all of the fights in the Expendables movies were underwhelming, especially when you consider the actors they cast.
Good call. Along with some of the matchups (Stallone vs. Stone Cold? Couture vs. Stone Cold?) being head scratchers. No Stallone vs. Arnold?

My pick from both the technical and narrative standpoints: pick any of the fights from The Matrix Resurrections, but in particular Smith vs. Neo. Worst downgrade in filmmaking from movie to movie I've ever seen period, but to go from the subway fight, the Burly Brawl, and the Revolutions final battle to whatever happened in Resurrections was horrid.

My pick from a narrative standpoint: anything in the MCU past the Sakaar gladiator fight involving Hulk besides Thanos vs. Hulk. You have Louis Letterier directing the Harlem throwdown between Abom and Hulk (good call Arachnid), then Hulk vs. Thor, then Hulk punching the Leviathan (best moment of the MCU up to that point, still one of the best), then Hulk vs. Hulkbuster, then Hulk vs. Thor 2. After that, you have the following:
- Hulk gets survives getting doghandled by Fenris by holding onto a cliff (should've suplexed Fenris into oblivion).
- Hulk knocks Surtur's head back by jumping at him (should've done something insane like suplex Surtur into oblivion).
- Hulk gets body slammed by Thanos (great intro for Thanos, that and destroying the Asgardians tells me all I need to know about purple boi. Wonder how Hulk will recover for his night matchup...)
- Banner kills Cull Obsidian (okay, but surely Hulk is going to come out in World Breaker mode for Endgame????)
- Professor Hulk does nothing but make some quips, throw a bench, and do the snap, which cripples him and then he runs with the M'Baku's of the world for the final battle against Thanos and his army (big letdown).
- And now, he is training what looks like a real abomination in She-Hulk while Banner gets sidelined. Garbage.

Honorable mentions: Superman vs. Batman in Batman v Superman; most of the stuff from the MCU TV shows on Disney +

Wow awesome feedback from everyone. I figured everyone would feel strongly about a particular fight.

I have been wanting to read the GOT novels but haven't gotten to it yet.

I know I'm a minority but I just genuinely do not care for Tobey Spiderman, Green Goblin or the Norman Osborn character period (aside from a few of the comics) nor do I really like any of the Raimi films though I do know they are genuinely good movies.

I never looked at Hulks fights in that order I guess.

Not just thanks to Heath.

Three rottweilers were needed, too. And Batman's "radar sense" going haywire after the repeated strikes from the crowbar (which was a fancy special effect in itself).

All of that mixed together... along with switching to the ship scenes... made it work.

Fight choreography is Nolan's kryptonite. But in TDK, he tried to remedy that problem of his.

Originally posted by NemeBro
There are two main components that make a fight scene good. A good technical narrative (the physical action taking place basically, what constitutes as "good" being fairly subjective), and a good emotional narrative (everything encompassing what's gone on with or between the characters up to the time of the fight).

Take the Obi vs. Vader fight in ANH Stiltman mentioned above. The technical narrative is, frankly, almost completely worthless IIRC. It is quite literally just an old man and a guy in a cumbersome suit slapping sticks against the other guy's stick until Obi gets killed. Every saber fight in the sequel trilogy had a better technical narrative than this. But it's the emotional narrative, the build-up between Obi-wan and Vader's final meeting and what the fight means to the two of them, that make the fight compelling despite its technical shortcomings. And this is where so many of the fights in the sequel trilogy fall woefully short (though the fight between Finn and Kylo Ren is genuinely good and probably the best scene in the whole ST).

As far as the thread, for me the only one I can think of is Gregor Clegane vs. Oberyn Martell, probably the most iconic duel that actually takes place in the pages of A Song of Ice and Fire (as opposed to duels in the backstory that are more important in-universe like Robert vs. Rhaegar). The emotional narrative is still largely intact, it being Oberyn's climactic duel with the man who raped and murdered his sister and killed her son, and Oberyn's choreography is pretty good and suits the character. But the fight is dragged down by Bjornsson's absolutely abysmal choreography. Unlike Conan Steven who played the character in season 1 he had no experience with a sword and it showed, he flailed in Oberyn's general location and is portrayed as way too slow.

I mean, pretty much any fight in GOT is absolute sh*t. The only decent one was Arya vs. Brienne, but all the rest handle a longsword about as gracefully as a sledgehammer. Arthur Dayne vs. Ned Stark and his team was probably the worst.

Good point about Bjornsson. Great athlete but doesn't handle fight scenes as well as Conan Stevens.

Originally posted by FrothByte
I mean, pretty much any fight in GOT is absolute sh*t. The only decent one was Arya vs. Brienne, but all the rest handle a longsword about as gracefully as a sledgehammer. Arthur Dayne vs. Ned Stark and his team was probably the worst.

Good point about Bjornsson. Great athlete but doesn't handle fight scenes as well as Conan Stevens. It is true that fight scenes were always one of the show's weakest points but this is like I said the most iconic duel from the source material, the one everyone who read it remembers and the purest example of dex vs. str in fiction. But because Bjornsson just had no experience handling a sword (not having a stuntman background like Stevens does) this one is the most disappointing for me. As opposed to something that is honestly even more objectively terrible like Cleganebowl, but by that point Game of Thrones had been firmly dogshit for like three or four seasons and so I expected dogshit and dogshit is what I got. No disappointment. In fact if anything the fight, despite being the same lumbering unskilled swordplay the show has featured all series, was so weird and over the top in other ways (them literally breaking through solid stone walls while fighting and their swords clashing producing a little shockwave, the cinematography framing it like this epic climactic duel when in fact it had literally zero impact on the narrative and at this point did nothing for the characters involved either) that it had a corny charm to it.

Originally posted by Impediment
Beatrix Kiddo vs. Bill.

What a gyp.

Horrible taste.

Chelsea and Cee Cee R Uma Thurman and Lucy Lu

Pretty much any big MCU fight. It's always shot like a tv movie. At least Snyder knew how to direct action. The Zod vs Superman fight feels so much more massive than anything in the MCU.

Originally posted by Psychotron
Pretty much any big MCU fight. It's always shot like a tv movie. At least Snyder knew how to direct action. The Zod vs Superman fight feels so much more massive than anything in the MCU.

I'd argue that Snyder knew how to shoot action but he didn't know how to direct it. As in he made beautifully shot and stylized action pieces but with sh!t choreography and non-existent tension.

Originally posted by FrothByte
I'd argue that Snyder knew how to shoot action but he didn't know how to direct it. As in he made beautifully shot and stylized action pieces but with sh!t choreography and non-existent tension.

Yeah, not like the tension-filled MCU scenes, where everything is constantly interrupted by jokes and quips.

At absolute best you're just arguing that they're equally trash.

Originally posted by Tzeentch
At absolute best you're just arguing that they're equally trash.


MOS mogs anything in the MCU. Compare the Kryptonian battle to Hulk vs Thor or Hulk vs Thanos. MOS actually feels like two godlike beings battling. The city crumbles around them as a side effect of their fight. Meanwhile, Thor gets knocked out by a taser. Hulk and Thanos barely wreck half a room in a ship.

Originally posted by Psychotron
Yeah, not like the tension-filled MCU scenes, where everything is constantly interrupted by jokes and quips.

MCU fights scenes have very dull visuals and palette, have a number of CGI issues, tend to be shot from weird angles and use some degree of that shaky-cam nonsense. But they have pretty great choreography and yes, they handle tension and flow pretty well. The jokes are part of that flow. Most impressive are how the MCU handles massive group fight sequences, something that neither Fox nor DC has been able to match.

In comparison, most Snyder fight scenes are shot with incredible visuals. Nice, wide-angled shots, crisp movements, great color palette and he's really the only director I know who's been able to portray power jumping decently without making it look cartoony. On the other hand, his fight choreography mostly boils down to throwing haymakers and tackling each other. It's like the choreography a 7 year old might have while playing with his action figures.
Snyder also has an over-reliance on slow motion which gets exhausting after a time. Plus, while he portrays his fight scenes in a serious tone, there's generally very little flow or build-up to the sequence so there isn't a lot of tension.

Originally posted by FrothByte
MCU fights scenes have very dull visuals and palette, have a number of CGI issues, tend to be shot from weird angles and use some degree of that shaky-cam nonsense. But they have pretty great choreography and yes, they handle tension and flow pretty well. The jokes are part of that flow. Most impressive are how the MCU handles massive group fight sequences, something that neither Fox nor DC has been able to match.

In comparison, most Snyder fight scenes are shot with incredible visuals. Nice, wide-angled shots, crisp movements, great color palette and he's really the only director I know who's been able to portray power jumping decently without making it look cartoony. On the other hand, his fight choreography mostly boils down to throwing haymakers and tackling each other. It's like the choreography a 7 year old might have while playing with his action figures.
Snyder also has an over-reliance on slow motion which gets exhausting after a time. Plus, while he portrays his fight scenes in a serious tone, there's generally very little flow or build-up to the sequence so there isn't a lot of tension.

I'm gonna have to disagree here. The only MCU movie that stood out with good choreography was The Winter Soldier. As for group fights, the Civil War airport was comically bad IMO.

Complaining about humor in an action movie is also pretty silly when interjecting humor into action sequences is a staple of action adventure films. This fight is considered to be one of the greatest action sequences in film history:

d-ltRBEu0IU

No one in their right mind would say that this fight is bad because halfway through it Jackie Chan starts break dancing and tickling the other fighter.

Originally posted by Psychotron
I'm gonna have to disagree here. The only MCU movie that stood out with good choreography was The Winter Soldier. As for group fights, the Civil War airport was comically bad IMO. Thanos vs Iron Man/Spider Man/Strange etc was fine. The fight scenes in Eternals were also really well coordinated.

Originally posted by Psychotron
I'm gonna have to disagree here. The only MCU movie that stood out with good choreography was The Winter Soldier. As for group fights, the Civil War airport was comically bad IMO.

Compare the 3-way fight between Aquaman, Diana and Steppenwolf in JL to the 3-way fight between Cap, Bucky and Ironman. There's a massive disparity in choreography there.

Even some of the less spectacular fights like Ironman vs. Thor or Ironman vs. Hulk had a lot more choreography to it than say Superman vs. Zod.

You may think the airport fight was bad but it was the best massive group fight we've ever seen in a superhero movie before... up until it was topped by Infinity War later on.

Other stand out fights are the waterfall fights in Black Panther, pretty much any fight in CATWS, most of the fights in AoU and Civil War, majority of the fights in Infinity War especially the battle on Titan, etc.

EDIT: I will say though that Snyder has a far better portrayal of physics in fight scenes. The way he's able to showcase the speed, force and impact of movements is 2nd to none. The MCU is great with their street-level characters but movements get a bit cartoony when they get to their more superpowered characters.

Originally posted by Tzeentch
Complaining about humor in an action movie is also pretty silly when interjecting humor into action sequences is a staple of action adventure films.

Well, I don't consider comic book movies as action movies. Second, humor is has its place, but what the MCU does is too much. Every big moment and every dramatic scene is immediately deflated by some quip. Star Wars is a light-hearted adventure movie, but it knew when to take itself seriously and when not to. Imagine if someone quipped after the Empire blew up the Death Star or after Ben died.

Originally posted by FrothByte
Compare the 3-way fight between Aquaman, Diana and Steppenwolf in JL to the 3-way fight between Cap, Bucky and Ironman. There's a massive disparity in choreography there.

Even some of the less spectacular fights like Ironman vs. Thor or Ironman vs. Hulk had a lot more choreography to it than say Superman vs. Zod.

You may think the airport fight was bad but it was the best massive group fight we've ever seen in a superhero movie before... up until it was topped by Infinity War later on.

Other stand out fights are the waterfall fights in Black Panther, pretty much any fight in CATWS, most of the fights in AoU and Civil War, majority of the fights in Infinity War especially the battle on Titan, etc.

EDIT: I will say though that Snyder has a far better portrayal of physics in fight scenes. The way he's able to showcase the speed, force and impact of movements is 2nd to none. The MCU is great with their street-level characters but movements get a bit cartoony when they get to their more superpowered characters.

The Civil War fight, seriously? Iron Man had to job so MUCH for that fight to last more than 5 seconds. It was embarrassing. That's another thing. The MCU's power levels are all over the place. Snyder was consistent.

I feel like much of Captain America movies are just overchoreographed and they look like dances after a certain point. That's okay for street level guys, but I don't think a fight between people, who can lift supertankers should fight like that.

Originally posted by Psychotron
Well, I don't consider comic book movies as action movies. what do you consider them, then?

Originally posted by Psychotron

The Civil War fight, seriously? Iron Man had to job so MUCH for that fight to last more than 5 seconds. It was embarrassing. That's another thing. The MCU's power levels are all over the place. Snyder was consistent.

I feel like much of Captain America movies are just overchoreographed and they look like dances after a certain point. That's okay for street level guys, but I don't think a fight between people, who can lift supertankers should fight like that.

Yes, there's quite a bit of power inconsistencies within the MCU, especially since the Russo era, but that's not the same thing as having bad choreography. Besides, Snyder isn't exactly great with consistency either. I mean, Zod was supposedly trained and bred as a soldier since birth, yet he was throwing haymakers and shoulder tackles with as little finesse as a farm boy who's never been in a fight in his life.

Heck, Batman was fast enough to evade attacks from Doomsday. Aquaman was fast enough to keep up with Steppenwolf who was fast enough to keep up with Diana.

Look man, I'm not trying to bash Snyder here. I listed a whole bunch of stuff that he does better action-wise than any MCU director. But his fight choreography just plain sucks. He pulls it off because his fight cinematography is superb, and that's what you're seeing. Because he makes even bad choreography look beautiful. You're getting dazzled by his style to the point where you're unable to notice his lack of substance.

To this day, MOS had the baddest fight scenes as far as superhero movies go. They were spectacular imo

Thor 2 vs. Malekith wasn't to bad except all the silliness

Originally posted by FrothByte
Yes, there's quite a bit of power inconsistencies within the MCU, especially since the Russo era, but that's not the same thing as having bad choreography. Besides, Snyder isn't exactly great with consistency either. I mean, Zod was supposedly trained and bred as a soldier since birth, yet he was throwing haymakers and shoulder tackles with as little finesse as a farm boy who's never been in a fight in his life.

Heck, Batman was fast enough to evade attacks from Doomsday. Aquaman was fast enough to keep up with Steppenwolf who was fast enough to keep up with Diana.

Look man, I'm not trying to bash Snyder here. I listed a whole bunch of stuff that he does better action-wise than any MCU director. But his fight choreography just plain sucks. He pulls it off because his fight cinematography is superb, and that's what you're seeing. Because he makes even bad choreography look beautiful. You're getting dazzled by his style to the point where you're unable to notice his lack of substance.

Zod started fighting sloppy once he lost the chancer to rebuild Krypton. This is character development not bad choreography

Batman wasn't so much fast enough to evade Doomsday he just had expert timing which comes from a lifetime of martial arts training

Originally posted by relentless1
Zod started fighting sloppy once he lost the chancer to rebuild Krypton. This is character development not bad choreography

Batman wasn't so much fast enough to evade Doomsday he just had expert timing which comes from a lifetime of martial arts training

Meh, you're making that sh*t up. Nowhere in the movie was this stated. Faora certainly didn't look sloppy even though she was part of Zod's team.

Besides, fighting skills are embedded into muscle memory. As long as Zod decides to fight (which he did) we should have at least seen a skill discrepancy between himself and a farm boy who's never been in a fight in his life.

Originally posted by Psychotron
Well, I don't consider comic book movies as action movies. Second, humor is has its place, but what the MCU does is too much. Every big moment and every dramatic scene is immediately deflated by some quip. Star Wars is a light-hearted adventure movie, but it knew when to take itself seriously and when not to. Imagine if someone quipped after the Empire blew up the Death Star or after Ben died.



The Civil War fight, seriously? Iron Man had to job so MUCH for that fight to last more than 5 seconds. It was embarrassing. That's another thing. The MCU's power levels are all over the place. Snyder was consistent.

I feel like much of Captain America movies are just overchoreographed and they look like dances after a certain point. That's okay for street level guys, but I don't think a fight between people, who can lift supertankers should fight like that.
.
This is all opinion based which is fun. I think me and psychotron are of the same mind when it comes to fights. Specially about the humor part. Though I agree with Froth on Snyders actual choreography being somewhat boring. And Zod was a terrible fighter. Krypton army is ****ed if he is the best they have.

Originally posted by Psychotron
Well, I don't consider comic book movies as action movies. Second, humor is has its place, but what the MCU does is too much. Every big moment and every dramatic scene is immediately deflated by some quip. Star Wars is a light-hearted adventure movie, but it knew when to take itself seriously and when not to. Imagine if someone quipped after the Empire blew up the Death Star or after Ben died.



The Civil War fight, seriously? Iron Man had to job so MUCH for that fight to last more than 5 seconds. It was embarrassing. That's another thing. The MCU's power levels are all over the place. Snyder was consistent.

I feel like much of Captain America movies are just overchoreographed and they look like dances after a certain point. That's okay for street level guys, but I don't think a fight between people, who can lift supertankers should fight like that.
.
This is all opinion based which is fun. I think me and psychotron are of the same mind when it comes to fights. Specially about the humor part. Though I agree with Froth on Snyders actual choreography being somewhat boring.