8. Julian vs. Chang - Only God Forgives
I'll be the first to admit that Nicolas Winding Refn's Only God Forgives was a tremendous disappointment after the comparative brilliance of Drive; it was a style-over-substance, pretentious mess that completely wastes its talented cast,
but it did feature one memorable action scene, in the climactic stand-off between Julian (Gosling) and the Angel of Death, retired police officer Chang. "Wanna fight?", Julian asks him, moments before Cliff Martinez's song of the same name kicks in, and the two prepare to face off in slow-motion, while Julian's mother Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) shows up to watch. Though the expectation is that the considerably younger Gosling will easily win the fight, he gets his ass categorically kicked by Chang, barely getting a single hit in. Though it's not a particularly flash fight, the simple brutality of the choreography makes it one that certainly sticks in the mind, as well as Gosling's battered, bruised face at the brawl's conclusion.