Even if a movie follows skilled sword fighters, warriors, or martial arts experts, it’s still actors who need to play out the scenes. And as good as fight choreography might be, mistakes are bound to happen. And the bigger the budget or drama, the funnier those slip ups become.
Here are Screen Rant’s 10 Amazing Movie Fight Fails You Missed.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
By the time Terminator 2 was released, everyone knew the skills and strengths of the T-800. But the opening barfight for Arnold’s character put the mythology - and the props - to the test. A small knife can barely do any damage because of the metal skeleton underneath his skin, but seeing the rubber stunt knife completely bend and deform proves that steel isn’t the only factor at work.
300
If Zack Snyder knows one thing, it’s a speed-ramp filled action sequence. The Spartans of 300 showed they were more terrifying than any other soldier by breaking ranks to slash, stab, kick, punch, and spear their oncoming enemies. But it may not have been as hard as it sounds. When the Spartan king throws a spear into the chest of a Persian, the soldier next to him is sent flying. Whether it’s sympathy impact, or just looking for an excuse to get out of the battle, we’ll never know.
The Matrix
The Wachowskis’ idea of “bullet time” changed action movies forever, but when they weren’t inventing new types of action, they were copying plenty of others - like the wire work of Eastern martial arts movies. Every fan knows that The Matrix star Keanu Reeves couldn’t really backflip a dozen feet in the air out of the way of a subway train. But when you watch the actor’s hands, and realize he’s holding onto the wires pulling him up the entire time, you might wonder why the directors didn’t even bother to hide the giveaway (or ask for another take).
The Dark Knight Rises
Bane’s henchmen don’t get too much attention in The Dark Knight Rises, but a few nameless stuntmen do end up earning the spotlight - for the worst possible reason. There’s the highly-trained League assassin who falls for absolutely no reason during a rooftop fight with Batman and Catwoman, but that’s not even the worst fight scene mistake in the movie: that honor goes to the other League gunman who decides to just pretend he’s been hit, despite nobody even coming near him. It may have been his best option.
Star Wars: Revenge of The Sith
When most of what’s seen on screen is created in a computer, you would think that mistakes would be easy to hide or avoid. But what happens when the Jedi stars of Star Wars start fighting hand-to-hand, or foot-to-foot, and the actors can’t sell the moves? Anakin’s running kick during his showdown with Obi-wan is a rough enough stunt, since Ewan McGregor reacts before the kick even lands. But the move that immediately follows it is…. well, the less said about it the better.
Mr & Mrs. Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Smith might be most famous for uniting one of Hollywood’s biggest couples, but the fight scene between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie is anything but forgettable. Buried between the punches and kicks, there’s even a scene played for laughs, when the pair’s battle sends a couch shaking and jumping on the floor of their house. Don’t bother asking how it’s done, either - you can clearly see the crew member shaking the couch when he pops into frame.
Fast Five
There’s no point in poking holes in the physics or realism of the Fast & Furious series, but that doesn’t mean they don’t make some mistakes worth catching. When the crew steal a vault in the fifth installment, the police they’re stealing from take exception. The first officer to investigate gets a surprise hello from The Rock, dropping him with a single punch. It’s hard to say if it was the actor or the character who wanted to go easy on the cop, but the boxing glove taking him out was a nice gesture, all the same.
Transformers: Age of Extinction
There are too many continuity errors to count in the Transformers series, assuming audiences are looking for them. But there’s one that is more obvious, more baffling, and more worrying than any other. When star Mark Wahlberg is heading to take out the movie’s transforming villain, he takes cover behind a stone wall, moments before it’s blown to pieces. But the man who suddenly appears just in time to be killed is never explained. If you’ve got a theory, we’re all ears.
Gladiator
Everyone knows that Ridley Scott’s Gladiator epic is filled with small mistakes or fake attacks, but it’s the stranger, less expected mistakes that are the most fun to spot. During the reenactment of the Battle of Carthage, there’s a good chance that audiences will be too distracted by seeing an archer sliced in half to notice the chariot supervisor tucked away on board. But his black clothing and work boots are hard to miss, once you’ve spotted them.
Star Wars: Return of The Jedi
We covered this one in our other video 10 Hilarious Details Hidden In The Backgrounds Of Movies but it’s just too amazing to leave out! In Return Of The Jedi, when Luke is battling Jabba’s goons on a skiff near the Sarlacc Pit, he is seen kicking one of them in the face. The fast pacing of the scene almost hides the mistake but if you slow down the sequence, it’s obvious Luke was nowhere near the stuntman’s face. Or was it a Force Kick?! I guess we’ll never know…
Conclusion
Those are the mistakes, blown punches, kicks, and overall errors we found in our favorite fight scenes, but which ones did we miss? Let us know in the comments, and remember to subscribe to our channel for more videos like this one!
