Top 10 Movie Hallway Fights
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Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the best film fights in hallways and other narrow rooms and spaces.
She may be eleven years old, but Hit-Girl is easily the most badass character in this film! After her father is murdered by mob boss Frank D’Amico, Mindy Macready, or Hit-Girl, storms his headquarters. After doing some absurd kills with a knife on a rope, Hit-Girl proceeds to shoot her way through the rest of D’Amico’s goons in a narrow, book-lined hallway. Her acrobatics have her leaping off of her opponents, the walls, and over obstacles, and all this over-the-top violence is set to Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation.” It’s a snappy, bloody sequence that’s a ton of fun to watch, even if it’s the shortest of the fights we’ll be discussing.
The climax of this classic thriller sees Travis Bickle attack Sport, a pimp whom he knows “employs” a child prostitute, named Iris. After shooting Sport, Travis makes his way inside, shooting a client and contending with the injured pimp who follows him in. Wounded, Travis makes his way up a staircase, fighting off the bleeding client and Sport’s bouncer. It’s a haunting, bloody sequence, with an ambiguous ending that leaves Travis’s fate, in light of later events, hard to pin down. But there’s nothing in question about how intense this shootout is, even almost half a century later!
The conclusion of this “Star Wars” prequel sees the rebellion get their hands on the plans to the Death Star, at great cost. But the rebels aren’t out of the woods just yet! As a door jams in a hallway, who should appear at the darkened opposite end, but Darth Vader himself! The Sith Lord ignites his lightsaber and angrily tears through the panicked rebel soldiers like tissue paper, throwing them around with the Force and generally causing mayhem. While calling this a fight is a bit generous, the sheer terror and presence Vader invokes makes this sequence unforgettable!
Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow, has a lot of great fight scenes, but her debut is still something special. The SHIELD assassin shows up at the Hammer factory with Tony Stark’s bodyguard, Happy Hogan, in tow. While Happy struggles against the first guard they encounter, Black Widow charges down the hallway and quickly takes down a dozen guards. She does so with a ton of gadgets, wires, and her signature head-scissor move. She even breaks out some mace! The variety of weapons, creative takedowns, and bits of humor make this an excellent fight.
On the eve of the Berlin Wall coming down, Lorraine Broughton is an MI6 agent trying to get a defector, Spyglass, out of East Berlin. Taking refuge in a nearby building’s stairwell after Spyglass is shot, Lorraine fights half a dozen KGB agents who pursue them. Lorraine fights the first two in the stairwell, with all three combatants getting bloodied throughout as they gradually make it down the stairs. A shootout with some more opponents leads to a nearby flat, where an exhausted Lorraine finally takes down the final opponent. Arranged to appear like one continuous shot, though with a couple clever cuts, this scene is among the most brutal hallway fights around!
Sometimes a hallway fight is the best way to open a movie! At the White House, a brainwashed Nightcrawler teleports his way through security before he begins attacking every guard in his way. The blue, devilish-looking mutant’s acrobatics and teleportation make for a truly unique and exciting fight scene, as he appears and disappears faster than you can say “bamf!” With classic Mozart accompanying his attack, Nightcrawler nearly kills the U.S. president before he’s wounded and retreats. Even decades after its release, this is still an epic set piece and one of the coolest uses of teleportation on screen!
Christopher Nolan is famous for his wild, high-concept fight scenes. And while the backwards fight in “Tenet” was tempting, this fight is simply more memorable. “Inception” in general has plenty of mind-bending moments, due to its concept of dreams within dreams. However, one of the coolest uses of the concept occurs in a fight scene. Arthur is dreaming he’s in a hotel, while he’s in a car being driven by Yusuf. As Arthur fights off assailants in a hotel hallway, Yusuf’s frankly terrible driving causes the whole world to rotate, leading to Arthur and his foes battling not just on the floor of the hallway, but also its walls and ceiling! Not only is this effect incredible, it’s also achieved without CGI! Crazy, right?
A lobby isn’t exactly a hallway, but it’s narrow enough that we’re counting it. In this famous scene from “The Matrix,” Neo and Trinity waltz into the building where their leader Morpheus is being held, armed to the teeth. After blowing away the initial guards, they’re faced with much more dangerous resistance. With each taking one side of the room, the duo shoots their way towards the elevator, all while effortlessly avoiding the hail of bullets coming their way. Between the music, the trademark slow-motion, and all the flying debris, the lobby fight is among the most effortlessly cool shootouts in cinema!
“The Raid” films have some of the best fight scenes ever, so it’s no surprise one of the best hallway fights is in one of them. Rama is a police officer whose team becomes trapped and ambushed in an apartment building controlled by drug dealers. Alone and without backup, Rama faces off against a gang of machete-wielding thugs in a hallway. Rama fights off the gang using rapidfire kicks, the environment, some of their machetes, and his considerable skills in martial arts. The choreography is fluid, yet natural, and the hits are brutal! The whole thing will leave you breathless until Rama dives with the last guy out a window!
This is the O.G. hallway fight! It’s the one that has inspired so many others, including one from the 3rd “Guardians of the Galaxy!” Oh Dae-Su is a man on a quest for vengeance and answers. After interrogating the warden of the prison he was held in for years, Dae-su is set upon by many guards. Shot from the side and in one continuous take, Dae-su fights off the men with a hammer and his fists! Despite the extraordinary circumstances, the whole fight feels grounded in reality - the combatants tire eventually. Dae-su gets a second wind and manages to prevail. Despite backup appearing, the grizzled badass still wins. The stylish approach and gritty, ferocious combat have made it the gold standard of hallway fights.
#10: Hit-Girl Hits Mobsters
“Kick-Ass” (2010)She may be eleven years old, but Hit-Girl is easily the most badass character in this film! After her father is murdered by mob boss Frank D’Amico, Mindy Macready, or Hit-Girl, storms his headquarters. After doing some absurd kills with a knife on a rope, Hit-Girl proceeds to shoot her way through the rest of D’Amico’s goons in a narrow, book-lined hallway. Her acrobatics have her leaping off of her opponents, the walls, and over obstacles, and all this over-the-top violence is set to Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation.” It’s a snappy, bloody sequence that’s a ton of fun to watch, even if it’s the shortest of the fights we’ll be discussing.
#9: Brothel Assault
“Taxi Driver” (1976)The climax of this classic thriller sees Travis Bickle attack Sport, a pimp whom he knows “employs” a child prostitute, named Iris. After shooting Sport, Travis makes his way inside, shooting a client and contending with the injured pimp who follows him in. Wounded, Travis makes his way up a staircase, fighting off the bleeding client and Sport’s bouncer. It’s a haunting, bloody sequence, with an ambiguous ending that leaves Travis’s fate, in light of later events, hard to pin down. But there’s nothing in question about how intense this shootout is, even almost half a century later!
#8: Vader Pursues the Rebels
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (2016)The conclusion of this “Star Wars” prequel sees the rebellion get their hands on the plans to the Death Star, at great cost. But the rebels aren’t out of the woods just yet! As a door jams in a hallway, who should appear at the darkened opposite end, but Darth Vader himself! The Sith Lord ignites his lightsaber and angrily tears through the panicked rebel soldiers like tissue paper, throwing them around with the Force and generally causing mayhem. While calling this a fight is a bit generous, the sheer terror and presence Vader invokes makes this sequence unforgettable!
#7: Black Widow vs. Hammer Security
“Iron Man 2” (2010)Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow, has a lot of great fight scenes, but her debut is still something special. The SHIELD assassin shows up at the Hammer factory with Tony Stark’s bodyguard, Happy Hogan, in tow. While Happy struggles against the first guard they encounter, Black Widow charges down the hallway and quickly takes down a dozen guards. She does so with a ton of gadgets, wires, and her signature head-scissor move. She even breaks out some mace! The variety of weapons, creative takedowns, and bits of humor make this an excellent fight.
#6: Stairwell Fight
“Atomic Blonde” (2017)On the eve of the Berlin Wall coming down, Lorraine Broughton is an MI6 agent trying to get a defector, Spyglass, out of East Berlin. Taking refuge in a nearby building’s stairwell after Spyglass is shot, Lorraine fights half a dozen KGB agents who pursue them. Lorraine fights the first two in the stairwell, with all three combatants getting bloodied throughout as they gradually make it down the stairs. A shootout with some more opponents leads to a nearby flat, where an exhausted Lorraine finally takes down the final opponent. Arranged to appear like one continuous shot, though with a couple clever cuts, this scene is among the most brutal hallway fights around!
#5: White House Attack
“X2: X-Men United” (2003)Sometimes a hallway fight is the best way to open a movie! At the White House, a brainwashed Nightcrawler teleports his way through security before he begins attacking every guard in his way. The blue, devilish-looking mutant’s acrobatics and teleportation make for a truly unique and exciting fight scene, as he appears and disappears faster than you can say “bamf!” With classic Mozart accompanying his attack, Nightcrawler nearly kills the U.S. president before he’s wounded and retreats. Even decades after its release, this is still an epic set piece and one of the coolest uses of teleportation on screen!
#4: Rotating Hallway
“Inception” (2010)Christopher Nolan is famous for his wild, high-concept fight scenes. And while the backwards fight in “Tenet” was tempting, this fight is simply more memorable. “Inception” in general has plenty of mind-bending moments, due to its concept of dreams within dreams. However, one of the coolest uses of the concept occurs in a fight scene. Arthur is dreaming he’s in a hotel, while he’s in a car being driven by Yusuf. As Arthur fights off assailants in a hotel hallway, Yusuf’s frankly terrible driving causes the whole world to rotate, leading to Arthur and his foes battling not just on the floor of the hallway, but also its walls and ceiling! Not only is this effect incredible, it’s also achieved without CGI! Crazy, right?
#3: Lobby Shootout
“The Matrix” (1999)A lobby isn’t exactly a hallway, but it’s narrow enough that we’re counting it. In this famous scene from “The Matrix,” Neo and Trinity waltz into the building where their leader Morpheus is being held, armed to the teeth. After blowing away the initial guards, they’re faced with much more dangerous resistance. With each taking one side of the room, the duo shoots their way towards the elevator, all while effortlessly avoiding the hail of bullets coming their way. Between the music, the trademark slow-motion, and all the flying debris, the lobby fight is among the most effortlessly cool shootouts in cinema!
#2: Rama vs. the Machete Gang
“The Raid: Redemption” (2012)“The Raid” films have some of the best fight scenes ever, so it’s no surprise one of the best hallway fights is in one of them. Rama is a police officer whose team becomes trapped and ambushed in an apartment building controlled by drug dealers. Alone and without backup, Rama faces off against a gang of machete-wielding thugs in a hallway. Rama fights off the gang using rapidfire kicks, the environment, some of their machetes, and his considerable skills in martial arts. The choreography is fluid, yet natural, and the hits are brutal! The whole thing will leave you breathless until Rama dives with the last guy out a window!
#1: The Hallway Fight
“Oldboy” (2003)This is the O.G. hallway fight! It’s the one that has inspired so many others, including one from the 3rd “Guardians of the Galaxy!” Oh Dae-Su is a man on a quest for vengeance and answers. After interrogating the warden of the prison he was held in for years, Dae-su is set upon by many guards. Shot from the side and in one continuous take, Dae-su fights off the men with a hammer and his fists! Despite the extraordinary circumstances, the whole fight feels grounded in reality - the combatants tire eventually. Dae-su gets a second wind and manages to prevail. Despite backup appearing, the grizzled badass still wins. The stylish approach and gritty, ferocious combat have made it the gold standard of hallway fights.
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