8. Neo vs. Agent Smith - The Matrix
After serving up some of the most astonishing action ever filmed in the prior 2 hours, The Matrix certainly had a lot to live up to in its finale, which is in many ways a handy summation of everything that came before, a breathless chase sequence that becomes a gritty hand-to-hand fight, complete with white-knuckle wire work. What is one of the film's hall marks to me, though, is the crisp sound editing; we feel every hit because the effects aren't comically overdubbed, and both Smith and Neo make pained cries as one would in a real-life battle. Though not the
final battle between the two, it's without question the finest of the three films, as the Reloaded battle becomes too reliant on poor CGI, and Smith's climactic send-off in Revolutions de-evolves into what is essentially the most expensive episode of Dragonball Z ever produced.