15 Best Comic Book Movie Moments Of 2017
3. The Stairwell Brawl - Atomic Blonde
The Charlize Theron-starring adaptation of the 2012 graphic novel The Coldest City received strong praise for its exceptional visual style, intense action sequences and Theron's gutsy performance, exemplified no better than by the iconic stairwell fight mid-way through the movie.
As Theron's MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton tries to get a Stasi defector to safety, she's forced to fend off countless assailants, at first on a stairwell then through several floors of the entire apartment building.
In a number of silky smooth takes cleverly sewn together, Broughton thoroughly dismantles everyone who comes at her, until she's left facing a relentless, blonde-haired German assassin.
After stabbing him in the throat and leaving the building, he's miraculously still alive and chases her down the street, but she soon enough puts an end to that by running him over. They're still not safe, though, as more assassins show up in a car and ram Lorraine's vehicle into a river, killing the defector, though she just barely survives.
Though many movies showing slender women destroying burly men look comically implausible, Theron never feels less than in control of these fights, aided no doubt by David Leitch's superbly brutal direction and fight choreography.