10. Athens Riot – “Jason Bourne”
It was far from the worst movie of the year, but “Jason Bourne” might have been one of the bigger disappointments — we love the franchise and were excited for Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon to return, but it was telling an over-familiar story that never found a reason for its own existence. But as ever, the action was pretty good, if not quite up to the standards of Greengrass’s previous two entries, and the Bourne-iest sequence comes early on, in the Athens set piece where our once-amnesiac hero tries to meet up with old contact Nicky (Julia Stiles) amidst an anti-austerity riot, only for Vincent Cassel’s assassin to crash the reunion. The film’s closer, with an armored car crashing through casinos, feels a bit more Bay than Bourne, but this is all the best of the franchise — vehicles driving down steps, snipers on rooftops, stern looking people in control rooms — with all the visceral energy that Greengrass brings and, thanks to the fiery setting, more.
9. New York Chase – “Doctor Strange”
While it has its flaws, “Doctor Strange” has some of the most impressive visuals and enjoyable action sequences of the Marvel universe, and those two things come together in this kaleidoscopic third-act chase scene. The titular sorceror (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) are pursued into a Mirror Dimension version of New York by the evil Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and his men, space warping and shifting around them as they flee. It’s undoubtedly indebted to Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” in its twisting skylines and Escher-ish landscapes, but more like if Nolan was dropping a ton of acid, with everything amped up to 11 in terms of the visual madness, while director Scott Derrickson somehow keeps a handle on the all-important geography. There are other memorable sequences — the similar opening in London, the astral projection fight, the clever finale — but this one’s the most purely thrilling.
8. Swimming for the Buoy – “The Shallows”
The notes for this feature had someone scrawling “Blake Lively vs. the Shark” as a description of the best action moment from Jaume Collet-Serra‘s sleek, clever little B-movie. But that, of course, is the entire film. For sheer heart-stopping thrills, though, you really can’t beat any of the close encounter moments, whether it’s Nancy trying to get the GoPro helmet cam, or the final showdown. But we’re going to isolate an earlier sequence as indicative of everything the film does in miniature. When Nancy decides to leave her rocky perch for the buoy, first we understand her smarts, as she hides in the field of jellyfish. Then we admire her resilience as she overcomes the pain of their stings. And finally, we get her sheer will to survive as she pounds through the final stretch of water toward the buoy with that massive fin closing in behind her, and then the ladder gives way in her hand… The compounding of action beat on action beat, along with Lively’s extraordinarily physical performance and the lean purity of Collet-Serra’s direction, makes “The Shallows” such a perfect exercise in tension.
7. Final Chase & Standoff – “Hell Or High Water”
Probably the major sleeper hit of the year, an agreeably old-fashioned crime drama with very modern sensibilities that looks to be on its way to a Best Picture nomination, “Hell Or High Water” isn’t exactly an action movie — most of its bank heists are quick and clean, rather than involving protracted shootouts. But it ends on a high, as the Howard Brothers (Ben Foster and Chris Pine) kill a guard and a hostage during their final job, and are chased out of town by gun-toting civilians, and eventually the cops. Foster sees off the vigilantes with an assault rifle, buys his brother time to get away, and heads into the hills for a final standoff with a sniper rifle, where he kills the partner (Gil Birmingham) of the Texas Ranger (Jeff Bridges) pursuing them. It’s clean and classical in its shooting, director David Mackenzie keeping things realistic for the most part, but he still keeps the tension, and most crucially the emotion, high.
6. Exorcism Scene – “The Wailing”
Some might object to the decision to label this moment from the extraordinary Korean horror movie “The Wailing” an action scene — it’s not really one in the traditional sense, with no speeding cars or clashing limbs or explosions. But in showing two contrasting rituals — one, by a shaman (Hwang Jung-min) hired by the mother of lead cop Jong-Goo (Kwak Do-won) in an attempt to exorcise what could be a demon in her granddaughter, the other, a strange one performed by a Japanese man (Jun Kunimura) to resurrect a dead man — director Na Hong-jin makes it feel as visceral and thrilling as anything else on screen this year, with drums pounding, the girl writhing in terrible pain, chicken blood splattering and flames licking. It’s unlike anything else we’ve ever really seen on screen, an exorcism treated at once like a fight and like a dance, and is as remarkable a 10 minutes as we saw on screen all year.
5. The Plane Crash – “Sully”
Clint Eastwood’s “Sully” is not a perfect movie, not by any stretch of the imagination. But when 86-year-old Eastwood is inspired, the seasoned Oscar-winning filmmaker knows how to direct a sequence like few others in the business — sometimes, even better than the little whippersnappers three times younger than him. While such inspiration comes in short supply these days, it was bristling throughout the extended plane landing sequences here, the “Miracle on the Hudson” itself, the IMAX spectacles that very likely motivated Eastwood to bring this familiar-to-a-fault feel-good story to the gigantic screen in the first place. Not unlike Paul Greengrass’ extraordinary “United 93,” if with a far less tragic ending, these dramatizations vividly put us in the rattling seats of these frightened passengers, those who worried their lives would end within mere seconds, as Captain Chesley Sullenberger’s decades of in-the-air expertise are put to the ultimate test within flashing moments of quick thinking and hasty judgement. The results are stunning and striking, especially in a film that notably can be called otherwise away the cockpit, showcasing the rousing triumph in Sully’s miraculous recovery from first-hand perspectives and illuminating all the terror and unease that couldn’t be captured in any news story nearly seven years ago. “Sully” isn’t necessarily an all-around success, but when you’re strapped into the plane, it soars.
4. The Train Sequence — “The Age Of Shadows”
Calling the entire train-bound part of Kim Jee-woon‘s directing masterclass an “action scene” is definitely a cheat, but it’s a necessary one, because the editors rejected my pitch for “The 40, Maybe 45, Best Action Scenes In ‘Age Of Shadows’.” The opening soldier attack, the later “Untouchables“-style train station shootout and the bomb-plot finale all could equally have been here, but by calling out “the train sequence” we actually get to give shine to practically a whole act. With about six different plot threads happening, each culminating in a brilliantly conceived fight or chase scene, the train sequence here is like a Russian nesting doll of action. Each tiny moment of intrigue, sometimes just a glance between adversaries, leads to something bigger (a fight in the opulently appointed bar being a particularly memorable incident), which is in turn encased in the larger drama, as different configurations of spies, double agents and pursuers meet in different carriages with never less than thrillingly inventive results.
3. The First Assault On The Ridge – “Hacksaw Ridge”
Brutal, bloody and visceral (as in filled with viscera), the battle scenes are where Mel Gibson‘s “Hacksaw Ridge” really comes alive, paradoxically amid so much death. The best of them form one longer sequence: the costly, drawn-out first attempt by Desmond Doss’ (Andrew Garfield) company to take the titular ridge during the Battle of Okinawa. Within that sequence, there are periods of relative calm — or rather, lulls of exhausted desperation during which grimy men hunker down in foxholes and rats nibble on corpses — which give the devastation some context, but which also allow Gibson to continually ramp back up to orgiastic, explosive displays of violent death and maiming. Minutely choreographed, fluidly edited and using slow motion so heavily that it would feel gratuitous if it wasn’t so effective, this is war as a Hieronymous Bosch depiction of hell, and while comparisons to “Saving Private Ryan“‘s Omaha Beach landing are justified, it’s Gibson’s command of the rhythms of a longer battle of attrition that really sets ‘Ridge’ apart.
2. Third-Act Battle — “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
As you’ll likely discover this weekend, “Rogue One” is as strong a return to a galaxy far, far away as you could possibly hope for, really finding a fascinating new angle on George Lucas’ universe. The action sequences throughout are strong, but it’s the epic, multi-layered third-act attempt to take the Death Star plans from Jedha that might be the action high point of not just the movie, but of the entire franchise. Even though early trailers containing quite different shots from the released movie make it clear that the ending was altered in reshoots, it seems like it was very much for the better. Edwards (and/or Tony Gilroy, who played a major part in the additional material) juggles a dizzying number of characters and threads — Jyn (Felicity Jones) and Cassian (Diego Luna) infiltrating the tower, Bodhi (Riz Ahmed) defending the ship, rebel soldiers led by Chirrut (Donnie Yen) and Baze (Jiang Wen) on the ground, and the Rebel Alliance in the skies — and really brings together the movie’s theme: that every single soldier, spy and rebel is vital to defeating the Empire, and that every sacrifice they make is essential. No embed available, but go see it in theaters!
1. The Airport Fight – “Captain America: Civil War”
Marvel have not always been known for their great action sequences. There have been some — the final fight in “The Avengers,” some scenes in earlier “Captain America” movies — but there’s sometimes a sort of default to just smashing CGI adversaries up, reaching something of a peak in the endless robo-crunching of “Avengers: Age Of Ultron.” But the best Marvel fight to date — the best superhero action ever, we’d argue — came this year in “Captain America: Civil War” in the extraordinarily enjoyable airport fight. Team Cap — Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Renner, Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Olsen — square off against Team Tony — Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany and, in his first MCU appearance, Tom Holland as Spider-Man — and the Russo Brothers make almost every beat into enormous fun, despite the heavy emotional stakes. Whether it’s Spidey’s wisecracks, a rain of cars, Hawkeye firing an arrow with Ant-Man on top, the badass hand-to-hand combat, or the appearance of Giant Man (and the “Empire Strikes Back” nod that brings him down), it’s cracked with gags, spectacle and character. It might be the high-point of the entire MCU so far.
And of course, there’s plenty more we could have included, even with an expanded list of 25. Among those we considered were the absurd but strangely enjoyable hide-the-card scene in “Now You See Me 2,” the final battle in “Moana,” Isabelle Huppert fighting off her masked attacker in “Elle,” the final fight in “Kung Fu Panda 3,” and much of “Hardcore Henry.”
We were divided on the Quicksilver sequence in “X-Men: Apocalypse,” which to some was the highlight of the movie, to others a rather dull retread of the similar scene in ‘Days Of Future Past.’ The third-act scene of Batman taking down a room full of thugs in ‘Batman v Superman‘ was, we suppose, all right, but we’re loathe to praise that movie much. The opening chase of “Midnight Special,” the potions room scene in “The BFG,” the final battle in “The Magnificent Seven,” the early escape in “April And The Extraordinary World” and the tightrope in “Tale Of Tales” were all on our longlist too, as were the animal stampede in “The Legend Of Tarzan” and the office escape scene in “Central Intelligence.”
Anything else we missed that you think needs a shoutout? Let us know in the comments.
Click here for our complete coverage of the Best Of 2016
— Oliver Lyttelton, Jessica Kiang, Will Ashton, C.J. Prince
