If summer is the season of the big-budget tent-pole film, at least at mainstream theatres, then it is also the season of the action sequence/set piece. Which do you find the most memorable this year?

My top four:



1. The final multiple-train chase in The Lone Ranger

Set, in a truly inspired move, to a nine-minute adaptation of Rossini's "William Tell Overture," this sequence, in my opinion, encapsulates the height of popcorn-movie pleasure and excitement. As Tonto, the Lone Ranger, his love interest and her son, and the various antagonists pursue, wrestle with, and shoot at each other from various trains, the scene maintains a high level of both suspense and visual clarity. Though I am sure a great deal of computer-generated imagery is utilized, the fusion of the artificial and the practical is invisible, and many of the stunts have an old-fashioned quality, as if we are truly glimpsing a death defying feat of physicality. Though perhaps most indebted to Buster Keaton and The General, it also conjures the majesty of the motorcycle jump in The Great Escape and the bridge explosion in The Bridge on the River Kwai, among other enduring moments of in-camera cinematic spectacle, and put a huge and earnest smile on my face.



2. Gong Er's fight to avenge her father in The Grandmaster

In a film with several astonishing fight sequences (both in their fast-paced violence and in their aesthetic beauty), my favorite is the climactic train-station bout which pits Gong Er (Ziyi Zhang) against a student of her father turned mortal enemy. The staging of the fight, which transpires on a snow swept Chinese New Year's Eve, could not be more atmospheric, and the rooting interest generated for the vengeance minded, self-sacrificing Gong Er is intense.



3. The zombie siege of Jerusalem in World War Z

I dig this scene, in which Brad Pitt's protagonist becomes caught in an enormous zombie siege of Jerusalem, for two main reasons. First, the sense of scale and the sense of motion is riveting. Far more than any other sequence in the decent, but flawed film, this one justifies the decision to render the zombies as waves upon waves of flesh devouring and human shaped ants rather than more conventional, lumbering ghouls: there is a genuine sense of consuming fear as the humans try to survive the never-ending onslaught of undead. Second, the ancient, yet also crowded and urban Mideast locale, with its stone walls and its winding alleyways, is an interesting and unique place to stage a large-canvas action sequence. This alone places the scene far above the film's frenzied, yet largely bland opening set piece in, I believe, Manhattan.



4. The fight atop the bullet train in The Wolverine

Yet another train! I am not sure the computer-generated city exteriors are 100 percent convincing, but this fight atop a Japanese bullet train is still memorable. The way the speed of the train gives the combat a zero-gravity sensation, with Wolverine forced not only to fight, but also remember to use his claws to attach himself to the train after each encounter with an enemy or be blown away by the wind, is neat and intensifying.

An honorable mention: the mind-heist gone awry in Elysium, which uses heavy science-fiction imagery, including droid policemen and a flying car, in a very dirty, disorienting, intense, urban-warfare type way, which is an intriguing combination.

The worst is the underwater bullshit at the end of Pacific Rim. So ugly and boring.

Had to think about it for a minute because I figured it wouldn't be fair to say the final 45 minutes of Man of Steel.

I'll go with the "out-of-body" Air Force One rescue in Iron Man 3.

The train finale in The Lone Ranger would be a close second.

1. The World's End- Bathroom Brawl. Really well put together, with a lot of continuos motion, and some great choreography. It's funny, close, and exciting.
2. The Funeral and train scene in The Wolverine are definitely the best action for high profile films this year. They are just great.
3. Tony Stark's home depot inspired siege of Mandarin's lair. The action in general was very good, and a major step up from part II.
4. Battle of Smallville- Man of Steel. It's a really interesting dynamic watching these multiple Gods fight while trying to use their powers they have.
5. Star Trek into Darkness- Space Jump scene.

EDIT- I really thought the first 25 minutes of WWZ is the best action of the year. I'll put that above everything else the more I think about it.

None of the action in Man of Steel is memorable for me, except maybe the small (comparatively) scene where he rescues the men from the burning oil rig. The never-ending climax is a total blur of grey images and loud noises.

World War Z definitely has fairly well crafted action sequences, with the Jerusalem sequence being the highlight, in my opinion at least. And this is an admirable fact considering how infamously poorly Marc Forster shot the chases and fights in Quantum of Solace. The problem with World War Z, as I see it, is they cut the film too lean and mean. It is a two-hour ADHD gasp for air. It could have become a true end-of-the-world epic if it were allowed to breathe, allowed to develop its characters, etc.

I hope they have a directors cut. Or a lot of the footage that was changed.

and the ensuing events.

The Man of Steel action scenes are nothing short of brilliant and exactly the type of action I wanted to see in a Superman film so yeah those.

It's between the two train scenes - The Wolverine and the final one in The Lone Ranger.

Though no fighting occurs in the scene this scene is nothing short of beautiful perfection