9 Most Brutally Satisfying Fights Ever Put On Film

3. The Man From Nowhere: Knife At A Gun Fight

In the vein of Taken or Australia's extremely grim The Horseman, The Man From Nowhere is a good-versus-evil tale in which a young girl is kidnapped and it's up to a reluctant hero with absolutely nothing to lose to get her back. While there is of course more meat to the story, such as missing drugs, child labor, and a villain known as "500" (interesting reason for that number too), when it comes down to it this is truly one man's journey to revenge and redemption. The plot itself isn't that noteworthy, but it doesn't need to be. It retains everything it needs to in order to give reason and foundation for our hero to wreak havoc on those who oppose him. Due to the plot's simplicity, focus is able to be placed on character and action; and at that, the film doesn't disappoint at all. Cha Tae-sik (Bin Won) is a quiet loner with a haunted past which makes him a perfect catalyst for revenge. During the course of the film he evolves, has many realisations and comes to a point in which all emotion is utterly stripped from his face; fighting with a meticulous grace without a second glance at those he soullessly dispatches. Cha Tae-sik's skill is put to the ultimate test during the film's final dance of death in which he must contend with an assortment of gun-blasting vandals utilising his wits, prowess...and a knife. The climax itself is very reminiscent to Oldboy's "one versus the many" scene, but delivers some truly stellar knife-play which had me repeatedly pressing the rewind button. While the story was rather meagre and had me wishing for more development in some areas (such as the fate of one overly-hyped villain) and the dialogue may have lost footing when it became almost "too Korean" in some places (think typical, repetitive anime conversations), I was nonetheless giddy with excitement at everything the film did right; the sum outweighed the flaws of its parts. And this scene, geez, just watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAiRifWPgi4