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Fight Club: How Realistic Movie Fight Scenes Could Save Your Life

Here we go, fight club community, we are about to tackle a subject no one has taken on before, OK, I don’t know if that’s true, but it sounded terrific and dramatic in my head. In this article, we will take on the topic of the most realistic movie fight scenes and dissect how realistic they actually are. Now 95% of most fight scenes in movies cause me to shake my head. Let’s be honest John Wick, and Jason Bourne, the accountant, fill in the blanks. They can kick so much ass, and rarely do they get any real injuries. OK, John Wick always looks like he got his ass kicked, Fairpoint.

How much do these Hollywood directors actually get correct when filming realistic movie fight scenes?

Outstanding Realistic Movie Fight Scenes

The most realistic fight scene I have ever seen in the movie did not come from an action film. It is the fight in the movie classic, a Christmas story, yes, that movie. Where Ralphie, our protagonist, fights with the neighborhood bully ( the dreaded Scut Farkus) who’s been bullying him all year long, insert dramatic music. 

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He finally snaps and has had enough. Ralphie, our untrained charming, and witty protagonist, charges toward the bully in a berserker rage, gets on top of the bully, and starts beating the living snot out of the bully. I mean, hammering him as well as cussing up a storm. If you’ve ever had a real fight, you know this is one of the most realistic fight scenes you’ll ever see on film.

That probably won’t sell for this article, so I chose a personal favorite. The Daredevil Tv series, season two, episode nine. A little background information, our protagonist Frank Castle also known as The Punisher, is in jail and takes on badass felons with multiple weapons and bad intentions. Disclaimers: Remember, it’s for the screens and entertainment!

Frank Castle Punishes

OK, let’s remove the fact that the scene is filmed in a jail where the corrections officers have mysteriously all walked away from their post( hmm, this is beginning to sound like that guy who “allegedly hung himself” what was his name again? Epi-pen? Nope. Never mind, I’ll remember later.

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 Instead, let’s focus on the fact that the protagonist, a.k.a. the good guy, Yep, we’re going to pretend that’s you in this case. You are in a corridor facing multiple attackers with various weapons and no accessible exit, which begs the question. “You have at least seven attackers coming at you in a forward motion you cannot escape. So what do you do?”

Well, let’s look at what Mr. Frank Castle did. You attack, and you attack with a tremendous amount of violence ( that kind of violence that makes the crowd go Dayuuuum ) you possibly can.

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The Dissection of The Scene

In this scene, Frank Castle, a.k.a. the Punisher, uses a massive amount of violently beautiful blunt force trauma to hurt, maim and cripple his attackers. The magnificent part about the choreography of this scene is that he uses one attacker as a shield between him and another attacker. Huge Tactical advantage and one that you all will utilize if you are in this type of scenario. 

He aggressively attacks one of the serial-killing inmates coming at him with a stick-type weapon. This could be considered a common object weapon for self-defense. Frank disarms said bad guy and then uses the stick as a force multiplier, AKA he’s leveling the playing field. Frank also stabs the bad guy with his weapon to add insult to injury.

But Why This Attack?

Now the big reason why I wanted to utilize the scene is that the good guy gets hurt. For example, he gets stabbed in the forearm, his face smashed, and gets bruised, beaten, and bloodied. If you like to take this opportunity to share some painful truth, you will not walk away from any fight unscathed, especially when there are multiple attackers. I hate to break your heart, but you will be injured. The key is to minimize the severity of those injuries.

Remember that the stunt coordinators were very smart in developing this complex fight scene when you watch this scene. When the good guy attacks the bad guys who are coming at him he hits the first available target and works his way up or down. For example, when an attacker came at Frank, he took the knife acquired from a previous attacker. Frank’s first point of contact was the groin, a game-stopper. Definitely, a move that made most of us grimace.

Realistic movie fight scenes are all the rage these days in Hollywood.

Its Called Fight Club Folks

Please allow me one minor criticism. I understand that it would not have looked good on the screen. However, when Frank Castle had been knocked to the ground, he should’ve attacked, got up, and then continued attacking. This did not happen. He stayed on the floor, laying a beating on the group of misunderstood young men. 

Trust me. You don’t want to stay on the ground for too long, especially when multiple attackers exist. As I mentioned, it looked sexier the way they choreographed the fight. OK, moving on. I loved that their stunt coordinators involved groin shots, eye gouges, head butts, and movements you would use in a real-world situation.

The truth is that most fight scenes cause me to shake my head at the ridiculousness they’ve staged. This is one scene that got as realistically close as possible to how you should deal with this situation. Please remember if there are multiple attackers and they have weapons, and you don’t, get access to a weapon and attack within the safest means possible. You escape when you get the opportunity to escape, regardless of who’s left.

Final Fight Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed this article, where we take realistic movie fight scenes and dissect a little bit about what would be a safe and effective option in the real world.

Stay safe, scan your horizon, be present in the moment, and be very aware. Let’s be a nightmare for bad guys.

Can’t get enough of SKILLSET Fight Club? Don’t worry, we have got you covered right here.

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