TOP TEN: Superhero Action Moments

Fans of the original Blade didn’t know what they were in store for when Gulliermo Del Toro took hold of the franchise. The fighting bull delivered in a big way, but never better than in the film’s final showdown between a tragic villain and our half-breed hero. Jared Nomak and Blade’s fight is a great over-the-top showdown and one of the best ever put on film at the time. Gulliermo just went balls-out for this rough-and-tough finale.

Brad Bird’s The Incredibles is a Pixar favorite of mine because of all the little things he gets right. One of the great things in any superhero movie is the moment our heroes realize their potential. The little things in this scene; the ridiculously beautiful animation, Michael Giacchino’s roaring score and the inventive quick-fire action.

Dash and Violet are being chased by Syndrome’s henchman through a scenic tropical jungle and before he even realizes it, Dash – a kid who wasn’t even allowed to play sports in school and show what he’s really made of – is running on water, outwitting and out-dodging villains three, four, five times his age. The moment he sees he’s running on water always gets a smile from me. He looks down, gives an I-can’t-believe-I’m-really-doing-this-giggle and then REALLY takes off. In self-defense he punches a henchman in the face soon realizing he could go Manny Pacquiao on the guy before anyone realized what happened. Move like a butterfly and sting like a bee, indeed.

This will be brief because the scene is. Many of us thought the first X-Men movie was going to suck massive beach balls. The joke was on us because it was surprisingly good. The action could have used some improvement, perhaps, but Bryan Singer concentrated more on character and it was actually refreshing to see a comic-book film that wasn’t solely about special effects.

In his next film, Singer ups the ante. He lets you know in the opening sequence that you’re in for an ass-kicking when Allan Cumming’s Nightcrawler breaches White House security in an assasination attempt against the President of the United States. X2: X-Men United remains the best comic-book film ever made and this is the most healthy reminder of it.

Whether or not you think this movie’s a snoozer (like those two trouble-making kids, Brad and Laremy did), there’s little denying the “lift-off” Superman Returns takes when this button is pressed. If you saw this in IMAX 3-D you really know what I’m talking about.

The climactic scene at the end where Supes helps Metropolis from falling apart is aces, but this was the real “Holy Cow!” stamp of the movie. See, Superman has been gone for a few years. The people around him have changed. Some have grown bitter at his absence. There’s guilt on his end. Outside, in our world, truth, justice and the American way can’t be said without any sense of true righteousness (which is why Supes leaves that last part out in the film). It’s a different world he returned to, but people still need saving.

I flip-flop on the “What’s the best comic-book movie ever?” question a lot. Some days it’s X2 and sometimes it’s Spider-Man 2. It’s hard to argue with anyone, though, when they credit this fight as one of the very best. I certainly think it’s the best of the Spidey series.

The action is straight-up sick but what really set’s this one apart is the final moments. The people try standing up for Spidey. He’s their guy, their protector. Peter’s identity is exposed to a few strangers on that train, but they hand him his mask back and in a quiet breath, you know they’ll never say a word about the face they saw. It’s a nice, intimate moment and elevates a really good scene into a great one.