Atomic Blonde | The 10-Minute Single Take Fight Scene in 4K HDR
Oscar®-winner Charlize Theron stars as elite MI6’s most lethal assassin and the crown jewel of her Majesty's secret intelligence service, Lorraine Broughton. When she's sent on a covert mission into Cold War Berlin, she must use all of the spycraft, sensuality and savagery she has to stay alive in the ticking time bomb of a city simmering with revolution and double-crossing hives of traitors. Broughton must navigate her way through a deadly game of spies to recover a priceless dossier while fighting ferocious killers along the way in this breakneck action-thriller from director David Leitch (John Wick).
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I feel like black widow desperately needed more scenes like this. This is the kind of fight scene a spy movie needs.
Yet Scar Jo’s body build and strength may not be able to reach Charlize’s level. Charlize rocks
@@tc2767 They should've found a way to do it then. It had some great pieces like her fight with Yelena in the apartment.
@@tc2767 then Black Widow should be R-Rated
IKR!!!
@@Bjjbhcoa86 That was a watered-down version of the kitchenette fight in ATOMIC BLONDE.
One of the few action movie fight scenes where they actually make you feel like they're genuinely fighting for their lives.
Wouldn't surprise me if they accidentally landed some real blows
I know right
After Bourne. ;)
considering the long take they are really fighting for their lives😅 I would be dead at the end of the take
According to Charlize Theron, there were more than a few occasions where she actually landed her strikes.
What I love about this fight scene is that there’s no shaky cam and that Charlize Theron is literally getting hit in the fight scene. The guys that she’s fighting feel like actual threats rather than disposable henchmen. In other words: She’s getting her ass kicked while kicking ass.
Can never take this seriously, as she’d get folded by the first guy in real life. She just needs to focus on not forcing her adopted son to wear dresses
@@deezelkaneyeah between you and me, I was thinking that in terms of biology and the fact man naturally have more muscle, I just couldn’t see her not getting her ass easily kicked by those 2 guys at the beginning. You could chalk up to special training and endurance, but still. However very good and realistic fight scene nevertheless
"No shaky cam" except for all the camera shaking about as the cameraman runs around the actors trying to get the shots
nigga what?@@CrashSable
@@CrashSableI'd argue it's more on hand held cam instead of shaky cam. Shaky cam is literally just the cinematographer shaking the camera for no reason as if there's an earthquake going on
I like how the enemies are not just a bunch of disposable henchmen; each enemy was it's own unique challenge. They're all as highly trained as she is, and she could die just easily as them.
These agents are West German Stasi and possibly KGB.
The last guy she fought in this scene is the same actor who played as one of Viggo's henchmen in John Wick. His also the guy who gave John a tough fight in the club and at the warehouse
@@Luke-vf6qcce serait pas lui qui aurait joué Kirill par hasard ?
@@jojoheavensdour8616 English pls
Not as highly trained I think but not because they lost. The last guy for example dropped his magazine alerting her she could move round the corner and he wouldn't be able to fire yet. He should not have approached that corner knowing he had to change magazine, as he couldn't do it quietly quickly.
I love how they don't just immediately get up after being hit in the face and are obviously getting tired and sloppy as the fight progress. Pretty amazing scene.
My favorite part is the bad guy on the stairs working so hard to standup and we he finally makes it, he just falls backwards and dies.
If you like scenes like these you should watch daredevil
@@thehardyfan9908 in comparison to daredevil, this scene is much better in my opinion. The fighting here seemed much more clever in terms of the way she uses impromptu weapons available to her, like doors, stair railings, opponents body, and an empty rifle as a club. In comparison, daredevil is just a brawl, with little finesse. Not as entertaining to me.
@@Analysta654 I mean he used a gun strapped to his hand and a chain strapped to his other in s2
@@warrenjohnson5971 reminds me of the bus fight from the movie nobody
No loud action music, no editing, no cuts, realistic sounds, brutal scenes. This is a real fight scene.
One the best films of late like no other (even Bond never delivered girl on girl action!)reflecting an amazing and turbulent period in history, along with the original harder cut Taken and of course Ronin excellent European action movies. I hope Atomic Blonde 2 does the first one justice it's currently greenlit and in development for Netflix.
@@nickthomas181 omg seriously number 2?! Charlize Theron is still starring right?
Sounds are created later , aren't they ???
Woman physically dominating huge trained men is..."realistic". Hahahahaha!!!!
@@stanley-fghijk441 You wanna make this character become weak and get her ass kicked to lose a fight?
What I love about this fight scene is that Charlize has good fighting skills but she's still taking hits, this makes this fighting sequence more realistic. Kill or be killed is the vibe coming from this awesome scene.
It also just feels so bloody impactful whenever anybody gets hit, kicked, thrown, stabbed, and so on, you really feel it.
@@bruce3242Those fights are choreographed. Charlize Theron isn't a martial artist
@@kishanchali8752 Really!? I HAD NO IDEA!... Obviously they were choreographed, what I'm saying is that they were well done, and feel very real.... You know.... Kind of the point of rehearsing them, and I never said Charlize Theron was a martial artist.
@@bruce3242You said, "Charlize has good fighting skills ."
@@glennwatson3313 he was talkign about the character she plays
I remember seeing this in the theater and people were clapping during this scene because was so epic. One of the best single shot action scenes in cinema history
check out anna restaurant fight scene that one is great also
Also a few separate scenes in Children of Men, though theyre maybe a bit less actiony
Extraction is on par with this one
1917 was breathtaking too.
I watched on my telly tonight and I thought must've been mind blowing on the big screen.
I love when the hero’s actually get beat up in a fight too. Makes it much more realistic
I prefer, "raising the stakes". It'll be foolish to watch a movie and expect it to be exactly like real life
Yes, give me struggle. I'm so done with marvel. Great movies but I need variation. And disney's cornered the market. Good films but it won't be this type of film
Except it is very unrealistic that she wouldn't be incapacitated with the first punch that landed. But, yes it is a great scene .
So you like iko uwais stuff?
@@alanstewart5218 well I'm sure there's women in the world that could take a punch like that tbh, not just a man
What I like about this fight is that she never wins by brute strength. When she straight up punches a man, he doesn't move as much as when one of them punches her. You can see that her hits aren't doing as much in terms of raw strength. She wins by fighting dirty, punching a guy where she already shot him, striking the throat, using the leverage of the staircase to throw people off balance. Obviously she never could have kicked that guy that far on flat ground, but down stairs? He can't step back to brace himself. She also uses a couple of judo throws. Those use leverage as much if not more than they use strength. With the right technique, a smaller person can throw a larger person. So it clearly shows she has more combat training than these guys do. The men rely on brute force, whereas she uses tactics. So, while it's still not super realistic, it's also not super unrealistic. Everyone saying it's impossible for a woman to beat men like that can go fuck right off.
Exactly, this fight scene is amazing. I feel like our protagonist is in danger for one, she uses what she can to her advantage to make up for her lack of physical brute strength, and she just keeps going even when you can see she’s basically running on “E”. This is one of those scenes that I constantly think about randomly even when I’m not watching the movie. It’s what I want for one when I think of female protagonist that are well done. Charlize will be legend for this one.
Hi simp! Way to grovel!
She almost fainted and fall over the floor and scrawled 😩 I'd say is quite realistic.
@@stanley-fghijk441 cringe
@@altaisrs2857 Hi incel!
This is in the top 10 fight scenes EVER in a movie. Theron earned every single second of that performance. I mean in terms of action and actors, she made me believe every single guttural grunt of exhaustion... of treading water to just outlast the person. I got the feel of someone taking on an opponent twice her size and feeling like I could believe the hard victory. Anyone writing female leads, female action, or a heroine that is universal... this is the character study.
Sarah Conner in "Terminator 2" and Luc Besson's "Nikita" are fine examples too.
i would like to know your top 10 fight scenes in a movie?
The bus fight-scene in the film "Nobody" is great! Realistic, but very satisfying 👏
@@kellysong2256which bus?
@@KygoCalvinHarris-xu4kv In a movie called "Nobody" there is an amazing, but realistic fight scene. I wasn't saying that it is in this movie "Atomic Blonde'
The realism makes it great. The camera guy is a hero the way he danced with the fighters, getting the viewer super intimate with the fight. You really feel the fatigue and desperation to survive and protect. I rank this in the top 5 best fight scenes of all time.
You and I have a very different definition of the word realism.
I like her using the empty gun to reinforce her punches. I also appreciate how everyone was tired at the end of the fight, you can see it in the room sequence with the blonde bad guy. The fight because less about finesse and more about survival.
Ah another show with a 90 pound women beating men wow so brave Edit: See below arguments why women should be forced to join the draft. (Ignore the fact men and women have completely different muscle fibers as well and dont ask questions regarding why men and women have different sports.)
@@king6530 a highly trained and skilled 90-pound woman. We need to stop acting like it’s impossible for a fully grown woman to defeat a fully grown man just because of size or strength difference. It might be hard but there are still a lot of different ways it can happen.
@@king6530 First of all, she isn't tiny, she is as tall as average guys she beat up. Plus Charlize is pretty athletic woman. Second, you can see she also got winded up real good, especially with the bigger blonde guy, and has to resort of random objects as weapons.
@@king6530 King, your sexism be showing.
@@king6530 Serious question. Would you consider the scene as realistic if it was a male that be taking out all these guys? Any trained fighter would lose against that many people but this is an Action movie, not a documentary. There is a script and choreography for a reason. To entertain the viewers
This is probably my favorite scene in this whole movie. Not because its brutal, but because this fight scene has no cuts in between it, like in most fight scenes in movies. The first time I saw this, I thought some parts were improvised! This just goes to show that no matter how long a scene has to take to film, Theron is committed to getting it done. Mad respect for every single person in this scene.
Agree. Theron broke her teeth and finger for this
Plenty of cuts, check out camera swings and blurs, and when ever something fills the screen.
@@4EyedAnimation damn really no way? I did not notice I actually thought this was shot in one take Thanks Sherlock!
@@hdgrimey my pleasure call me if you ever need any advice
It was one long shot, but after the first take they kept what they really liked and redid the take over and over so that they got it all without goofs, so technically it was both a cut scene, and one long fight scene. Hope that clears it up.
Love how Charlize Theron committed to this scene. Love how there's no phoning in. You can also see the tactics she uses to fight against larger and probably stronger opponents like using her body weight to disarm the guy with the knife. The physicality of the entire scene and just how 'human' they all are. Absolutely one of my favorite fight scenes
You think they are "probably" stronger than her? Really?
@@glennwatson3313do you just assume strength based on a person having a penis?
@@glennwatson3313I'm praising a fight scene and describing how I feel about it. If my use of the word 'probably' is triggering you, maybe you should just give us the benefit of your wonderful insight in your own comment. Please F all the way off. Thank you.
@@glennwatson3313 does it matter? They still d ! E d 😅
I love that towards the end she's also fighting her own exhaustion along with the men. She throws herself at the man to take him down knowing that the momentum will take her down too, same with the metal cooktop she hits him with. She has to kneel to stabilize herself while she's getting up because she's too weak to push herself using her arms. The fact that she can even dodge the punches as fast as she can at the end is seriously impressive.
Charlize Theron, amazingly, insisted on doing all the fighting herself - without a stunt double. She apparently suffered broken bones from this incredible long single take scene. I think this is one of the best fight scenes on film. My favorite nuanced detail is how the fight slows down toward the end due to plain exhaustion - as a real fight does, and is never depicted in other movies. You really get the flavor and true sense of a real fight for your life situation. This movie was underrated IMO.
Yeah... Due to this clip, I'm gonna see it tonight!
@@KutWrite I hope you enjoyed it as I did. It's based on a comic book but it is NOT a comic book type movie and story - it's very realistic (to a point). The plot is complex (I think that's why it got mixed reviews: people were expecting a simple comic book type story) and is closer to the serious/dirty/gritty/full of betrayals type spy story typical of John Le Carre/George Smiley than the comic book type Ian Fleming/James Bond type fantasy/glamour/take-over-the-world evil bad guy spy story. Both types are enjoyable when in the right mood, but generally I find the grittier, more realistic spy stories more to my liking. The twists and turns are more impactful. If you like twists, you'll like the end of Atomic Blond.
@@rhmayer1 Thanks for the heads-up. I'm going to watch it in a few moments. I expect to be excited and entertained based on this clip and your description. Cheers.
Yeah I’m sure the insurance wrote off on her doing the whole fight scene herself, no doubles. 🙄🤣
@@dolphin069 They do (have insurance waivers for actors performing their own stunt-action). They just require that the scenes be filmed last, after all the other scenes, so that everyone else's jobs and the completion of the film project isn't put in jeopardy.
One of the most realistic fight scenes in a movie I've ever seen. Her doing her own fights and stunts brought it that much more to life and you are able to tell how the actors are even physically tired themselves from this entire scene
There are a few cuts in this scene; they generally happen when someone or something gets really close to the camera or the camera pans rapidly to the side. Set the playback speed to .25 and watch when they get right up to the camera at 3:53 for an example, specifically the stairway to the right of the actors. You can also see another cut at 5:36, they jump from a few meters away from the painting on the wall to right next to it, and the male actor goes from having his hand on her shoulder to holding on to the jacket collar. 8:06 has another as the man enters the car, you can see the open area beyond the car panning in one direction on the right side of him, and the other area in the opposite direction.
Are you joking?
wat is then@@glennwatson3313
@@tariq4544Who cares? Why you gotta ruin it for?
You should watch They Live.
I so love this scene. My favorite part is everyone is tired, but she’s still thinking and blinds one guy, or flips another guy, or takes a hot plate to a guy’s knee. It’s so brutal, but realistic.
I appreciate that she got her shit rocked in this scene. Not a Mary sue styling on disposable henchmen. 10/10
3:50 she held the gun slider so when it fired, that way the shell won't eject, it won't load another round and the guy can't fire Then at 3:57 she cocked back the gun to fire. I can't remember other times i saw someone do that in a movie, but this right here is perfect. There's no way to not fell in love with Charlize in this movie.
this is so smart! I haven't noticed!
WTF that's such a cool detail!!!
Are we sure that's what she's doing? Why would she, every round the guy wastes is one less that can be used on her, and at this point she has the gun held ninety degrees away from the white coat man and well past her, so its not a risk, and why is there no clear slide racking sound after or is my speaker crap? Great scene with brass checks and the nice touch of the unused suppressor in the bag.
@@johnbird8060 Its so the gun he is holding isn't ready to fire more while she is in the middle of grappling with the man. You say it isn't a risk because it's pointing away from her in the moment but he still has it in his hand and it could easily end up pointed at her again. Its a lot easier to pull a trigger while you're grappling than it is to rack a slide then pull a trigger.
Excellent noticed!
Probably one of the most recently best under rated movies ever made. This "one take" scene alone should have been nominated for an award IMO.
Would have been acclaimed in the 90's, but it's forgotten in today's ultra branding cinematography.
It's not at all "one take", there are tons of cuts and stitches that are "cleverly hidden" and it's easy to spot several of them if you know what to look for. There's a lot of known and well used filming tricks used in scenes like this and I can guarantee it's not done in one take. I don't really like this style either since it's limited to a single camera that never jumps around to capture the action better, it's even kind've worse since everything is so close up which is the main reason people complain about excessive uses of cuts, hard to tell what's going on in this too. It would be impressive if this were actually one take, if only for the fact that not a single actor messed up or needed another take with all that happened, but even the director himself stated they stitched multiple takes together from multiple tries to get everything right. You can tell there was a cut right when she entered the building through the dark hallway and a couple more secret cuts when one of the bad guys gets shot and completely blocks the camera out. Another one when the camera pans over the entirely blank wall, that's an easy way to hide a cut too, all those methods are and they just rely on completely blocking out the camera at the end of one scene and panning out of it on another. It's rather useful for the cameraman to "teleport" around so they can capture the scenes better so that's a pretty huge downside to a style like this, it becomes rather disorienting having the camera swing around too much... Most action movies tend to abuse spastic super zoomed close up shots in dark lighting to hide bad choreography, I hate that as much as the next guy but it's still important for the camera to be able to "teleport" around to give a better view of things because if you watch some of these scenes carefully it's hard to tell what's going on. Most of the bad guys who attacked her came in pairs but the partner always goes missing while she takes on the other dude. Worst offender is probably at 3:42 , two armed hostiles come in but as soon as she attacks one, the other dude just completely disappears from the hallway. That person surely had a clear shot on her when she knocked the partner down and shot him in the head but instead he just begs not to be shot then she shoots him back off screen? Like just imagine you're the dude in the back, what the hell did he do that entire time, he clearly had a gun too??? Multiple camera angles suck when abused but they're still extremely important for good story telling and shouldn't outright be taken out to favor a style like this, both have their downsides. From the directors exact words: "We spent four days filming in stairwell. It involved using a lot of old-school camera tricks-pans, wipes, body-crossings-that allowed us editorially to have breaks, to choose between takes, but so it would never feel like we cut out. But the pieces we stitched together were really long, some as long as two minutes."
you got to play the song rumble from the hm2 soundtrack in a other tab while these scene plays and you have start at 1 minute. Its amazing.
David lietch is an Under rated action director
why isn't fight choreography a category at the Grammys???
6:30 is the kind of little touch that makes me adore a movie.
Not just one of the most amazing fight sequences ever filmed, but the ability to stay with the action instead of the jump-cutting which has taken over too many fight sequences. This movie was fantastic on so many levels and the character as the workout Theron went through make her the baddest thing on two legs.
I love the small detail of her checking the magazine and chamber of every gun she picks up. She doesn’t just assume it’s loaded and ready to roll because that would be stupid.
Still has a couple errors. The first cz75 she picks up has the hammer forward after she shoots a couple times when it should be back. Then when she checks the suppressed gun and goes to hit the guy with it, the slide hasn’t locked back meaning there should still be bullets in it.
@@keenanbartlome8153 those were probably cgi gunshots that the animators weren't quite paying enough attention to.
My favorite part is the fact that she knows she is outmatched during the fight, both in numbers and physcially. So she plays to her advantage of being faster and more agile, as well as going for killing blows or just damaging them to make the battle more even. It is great to see a female protagonist that doesn't fight with perfection like Black Widow and plays to her strengths.
To be fair, black widow is a superhuman super soldier lol.
@@josephburnside2135 In the movies I was told that she had no special powers, even though she has something with vibranium in the comments.
@@DemonicRobots I don't think that is true. She was part of the black widow program and took the soviet version of the super soldier serum. I think it made her a little stronger, and much faster. It just didn't enhance her as much (or as noticeably) as the American version of the serum that Steve Rodgers took.
@@josephburnside2135 Ah, I thought that but when I checked before the black widow movie it never is mentioned if she got a super serum or not so hence why I assumed. But still kinda my point is that many times in movies they make them like black widow and they aren't superheroes enhanced.
Marvel heroes fights are too fake & disgraceful to compare with this raw & realistic combat.
What makes this so good is she gives as good as she gets. She’s a badass but not invincible. And the whole thing is so grounded and realistic makes you believe they are fighting for their lives we need more fights like this in movies
You and I have a very different definition of the word realistic.
I remember a young girl in the army who was sort of like this, when I was stationed in Germany. When she came to the unit, she did her job really good, but for the most part stayed to herself and never talked that much. She worked in the mess hall. She brought a German on the post and brought him to the mess hall. It was steak night. Then later she brought him to the local club on post for a couple of drinks. When she left club with him, 2 guys who were slightly drunk followed them to let him and her know that German boyfriends should not come on post. When they came to her, she told them to get lost. And then it got serious. She took one of them out with a round house. His friend was quick to realize the situation and backed off. It turned out that when she was stationed in Korea, she took lessons from the karate masters there. She still stayed to herself but people looked at her in a different way. One thing that changed was the girls in the Unit became more friendly to her. Before they found her standoffish. The only thing she would do with them however, for the most part, was listen to them and still would never say that much. Surprisingly she became very popular with them. I finally asked why she never talked that much, and she said, "It's better that way, because I usually say the wrong thing." And, "When you talk you're revealing information about yourself and not everybody here is my friend so it's best to be quiet. Also I try to be very professional and not get friendly with anyone under me, because they'll expect favors and that would ruin cohesion." Just before I left, she made E6 with 8 years in. I was curious what happened to her and I looked her up on the internet but can't find anything. I asked around but still nothing.
Looks like she's your roman empire, she's a badass!
Probably got recruited by intelligence, seems like the exact kind of person they'd want
That is a long paragraph about something that never happened.
@@amapnamedpam I don't think they would have put her in the Mess Hall if she was in intelligence. However she spoke fluent German because she talk in German to the German women who washed the dishes. She could also speak French. She talked to a woman from I think from Tunisia in French who also worked in the Mess Hall. She was self satisfied working in the Mess Hall feeding people. The Mess Hall she worked in was first class and was visited by troops from other concerns in the area. It got to a point by the way where one was not supposed to call it the "Mess Hall." The preferred term is "Dining Facility."
if she studied hand to hand in KOREA it was probably TAEKWONDO & not 'karate' (which is japanese).
No quick cut choppy editing, that's how you do a great fight scene
Ya they did it in post...about 15 cuts.
@Peter Brandtman I assumed more but I could easily show 15...
Compare this fighting to the Bourne trilogy. All you get is choppy cuts where you cant make out what's exactly happening in the fight.
This was the most realistic fight scene I have ever saw in a movie. Each time she was hit, you could hear it, see it, feel it. Lots of bruises, blood, and gore. I was feeling as much pain as she was.
Yep.Absolutely right
@@michaeljenkins8679 Thanks and what a crazy ending.
Then you don't know much about fighting. She would have been utterly defeated, taking so many hard blows, so early, against trained men plural.
@@christophdollis1955 then apparently neither do you because trust me the way she was going for their throats they would be on the ground choking not getting back up and punching her so why dont you shut the hell up, im literally trained in krav maga, ofc in real life nobody can fight this many people at once but its a movie and for a movie this is pretty damn realistic
Realistic? A skinny 135lb woman taking fist blows from a man outweigh ing her by 100lbs, sure realistic
An brilliant piece of cinema. I like the two comical lines “you need to work on your German” and “fasten your seat belt”. The whole ten minutes is absolute genius.
Wow this is right up there with the Nobody Bus Fight scene for feeling real. You can have someone be a badass but if they're up against multiple opponents they're gonna get hurt.
Now this is a realistic fight scene with an evidently large amount of planning and thought put into it. If action movies bothered to put in the effort of being more realistic (like this) I would watch more of them. Atomic Blonde has some of the best fighting choreography I've ever seen.
This being cool looking and choreographically great, was far from realism though. For example, if you get shot on anywhere on your body, the projectile tears your muscles on that area and people actually need them to move. That was only one example of the outrageous unrealism of this scene, while it's the outrageous unrealism which is the whole point of these types of movies. Great looking scene still.
@@sanakassara well, of course. I'm not gonna go out and try to fight five guys in a hallway after seeing this! 🤣 But I admire that they made a highly unrealistic genre MORE realistic than you generally see in cinema. They paid attention to details and made it memorable. There's maybe ten fight scenes I've seen in cinema in my life that were memorable, and this definitely is up in that list for me. :)
@@wltschmrz1945 Yeah, it looks quite photorealistic indeed.
"Now this is a realistic fight scene" No.
Realistic? Someone taking 4-5 bullets to the stomach and chest, thrown down stairs, kicked in the face 10 times is realistic? This was nothing short of a video game, nothing more.
It's not easy to pull off such a long single-take scene without making mistakes. Charlize Theron is definitely talented and so is the director.
It’s not a single take.
You need to understand the difference between a scene and a take. This sequence is comprised of many scenes, but what they claim is each scene was done in one take. A scene encompasses a certain segment of the overall movie. A take, is one attempt to shoot that scene. Most movies will doe several takes for each scene, often from different angles. This gives the director and editor choices on how to construct the final story. Also, multiple takes occur due to actors making mistakes with their lines.
And the make up! How this was planned and executed was true top of their game film making 👍🏽
I agree, Amitj. This was one incredible bit of filming. Technical term is a "long take" (to expound on Amitj's words, _"a long single-take"_ filmed with one camera, without appearing to cut to another camera). Long takes usually require a tremendous amount of setup comparable to "choreography" (which must include the camera operator) and this scene was no exception. If you want to see more good long takes, check out the opening scene in PT Anderson's *_BOOGIE NIGHTS_* (1997). Also the opening scene in Robert Alman's *_THE PLAYER_* (1992) and Orson Welles' *_TOUCH OF EVIL_* (1958). Each opening scene is available here on KZhead, though not the entire film. Not that you need it, but if ever you want a good definition of "scene" - i strongly recommend you ignore the less educated comments in this thread, and visit Wikipedia or a good dictionary.
@@BrianNewberry Check, Mira (2022) - Asteroid Scene. The single-take scene starts after 37 seconds. Goosebumps guaranteed.
i will forever appreciate how much thought was put into the fight scenes to make it more realistic really makes this movie stand out from most action films
Thankyou Critical Drinker for the heads' up. I haven't seen any fight scene with a female protagonist that holds a candle to this in terms of realism. What fantastic direction/execution.
I've watched this scene numerous times and am always amazed. There are no stage-combat mistakes that I myself can see. I can only imagine how many times they walked through the blocking and choreography, not to mention how many takes this took to get it right. Just amazing. My hats off to every performer in this scene.
Seems like they probably went through it a lot of times and just cut the best parts together. Still a great scene but arguably not as impressive as many are claiming.
They will take several shots and then edit out the mistakes.
@@JustapErson it is impressive
only one I say was he dropped a loaded gun on the floor and had time to pick it up and shoot her but instead grabbed a stick to hit her with. she also never went for the gun either
This is a single take
Such a great scene. Brutal, visceral, unflinching. It looks unstable and chaotic, but only because it's been expertly crafted to appear that way. You can see every blow land. There isn't a single moment where you're confused about the geography.
It looks as fake as hell. It is as bad as the De Niro assault scene in the Irish Man.
@@bighands69 No, this is unrealistic kzhead.info/sun/ebGSXbp5sXionJ8/bejne.html
@@bricktop9486 They look as bad as one other to be honest. Lightweight women moving slowly as hell doing tippy tappy martial arts that would never work in the real world. If you want more realistic looking and better entertainment from a fight scene involving a women (still fantasy). kzhead.info/sun/n5SKo9CXbZ-rhZE/bejne.html
@@bighands69 Atomic blonde not 100% realistic, its a movie, it can have some suspension of disbelief (like the throw at 1:25), but most of the time the fight is grounded and realistic, she fights smart, ambushes her enemies, uses melee weapons and surrounding objects, weakens her enemies by shooting them or hitting them in the throat and b*lls, and also the fact that she gets hit a lot and gets more tired as the fight goes on. I don't understand why you say it is as unrealistic as Charlie's Angel's fight, where she faces him head on and defeats him.
@@bricktop9486 It is not close to be believable. It is very hard to suspend belief when it does not look believable. That throw was about the only thing that you could suspend belief for. Everything else was slow, weak and very light looking. She does not look realistic in her movements or her athletic ability and everything looks weak.
Truly one of the greatest fight scenes EVER! Yall notice there is no music till the end of the scene. This is a masterpiece!!!
I remember watching this film in theaters and my jaw dropping at how both long and well executed this fight was! You can feel the exhaustion of both the characters and the actors portraying them with how extensive this scene is
4:51 I LOVE THAT !! She doesn’t automatically drop the gun she uses whatever she possibly can for an advantage.
The guy she's fighting tries to get his back too, in most movies they forget about them
One of the few fight scenes on film that makes you realize why, when given a choice, most people choose not to fight.
Daniel Bernhardt is always in great fight scenes in every movie or show. Barry, this, John Wick, Nobody. Always dies hits to the throat as well. Or you think he died, but then comes back.
Does anybody else truly appreciate the lack of dramaric fight music that movies are often oh so happy to use? Theres something about the lack of music that gives the scene a raw feeling to it. I love it!
Must of watched and rewatched this scene 50 times over the years. Still blows my mind, the acting, the choreography, the training, the camera movements and tricks (in the car especially), the set, the sound, the editing. Everything is staggeringly excellent. The work that went into this scene is immense. Movie making at the very top of its game.
...must have;) 'Must of' does not exist in any form of English except the internet.
Totally underrated. Charlize Theron has not received enough credit for her awesome and jaw dropping piece of work here.
What I love about this is that it’s clear who has martial arts skill and who doesn’t. The first 2 guys out of the elevator, the little guy is surprisingly capable at hand to hand fighting. But the big guy? He never fights hand to hand. He has a gun/bag/knife. Those 2 are such amazing “first wave” baddies. Such a fun dynamic to start this scene with.
You can take all the fight scenes in the world and few of them come close to this one. One of the best fight scenes I’ve ever scene beautifully choreographed, beautiful cinematography, flawless execution.
I love the fact that they didn't make her just beat them up easily like the main character always does in every action movie, she actually had to struggle to beat them even though they were just goons
This is it, this is the single most amazing fighting scene I have ever seen in a movie. Realistic, gritty and brutal; people fighting for their lives. Truly it is an artistic masterpiece!
I also love how the characters are getting more and more tired as the fight goes on, in other action movies the characters are full energy and never get exhausted.
This is the most amazing fighting scene you have ever seen in a movie? Really? How many movies have you seen?
3:00 Love the little slow-stab. It looks like he knows he has no chance, but he has to fight to the end.
One of the best fight scenes in cinema history. This was just incredible to watch.
This scene is completely underrated, i remember seeing this at the movies and being so impressed.
Underrated yet it is considered one of the best filmed action scenes of the 2010s?
Underrated ? I was shitting bricks in awe the first time I watched it. :-)
B...
this MOVIE is completely underrated.
I love how she knows the numbers and physical capabilities are not in her favor. But she uses her speed agility,her environment while going for death blows. This was very realistic way of showing the female protagonist. A very resourceful,quick thinker who will do whatever to get the job done.
Everyone in the comments hating on her for not being actual martial artist. This scene is exceptional for being a continuous shoot, and for the fact that every action has a direct and immediate consequence. Real fights are like this, not some cage-fight MMA stuff. Not enough to be good in an indoor environment, you have to be lucky too. You never see MMA fights with stairs, railings, stuff you can actually die on.
"Am I yr bitch now?" is the best line i haf heard in action movies
What amazes me is that through movie magic they can act out remarkable scenes like this and virtually no one is in actuality truly hurt. Kudos to the fight coaches and the actors for portraying such brutal one cut looking scenes with such intense realism! An amazingly primitive looking up close and personal battle.
Funny that you say that. People do get hurt doing this, and in fact, Charlize took quite a beating. Several broken bones and all. Google it. It's very available, open info.
@@kengruz669 I was going to say the same thing 😅 Was watching an interview for John Wick and Halle Berry talked about cracking several ribs. Kudos to these actors and their stunt doubled for committing
When you're outmatched, play it smart. Most of this fight is her fighting just two (2) guys, and she takes one largely out of the fight right at the start by shooting him in the guts, which greatly diminished his participation in the engagement. She uses anything she can to get an edge from improvising weapons to utilizing her speed and agility where she can't match them for rough brawn. Unlike a lot of movies with female action heroes, her most notable trait isn't raw power, it's grit and toughness. She takes a beating and it shows, she's been pretty badly injured and very worn out by the end and that's very realistic of an actual fight. One-on-one matches are hard enough, throw in multiple people at once and you're in trouble. She often tries to take one out fast so she can deal with the other, it's smart fighting. Well choreographed, well shot and very believable. This is the standards we should have with our action scenes and this is how you do a female action lead.
“…….Greatly diminished ……”! 🤣😂😂🤣😏🤗🙄! How about “ FUBAR “ ( Fu___d Up Beyond All Recognition )!
spoke all about what I thought about this scene
In my opinion Charlize Theron's fight scene here is hands down the most intense and believable I have seen and I've been watching action films since the Rambo-Schwarzenegger era. She's an incredible actor.
This movie is right up there with John wick in terms of the choreography. Absolutely amazing scene.
I love the brutal realism in this scene. Especially that people who are shot or stabbed don't instantly die. They're running on adrenaline and keep on fighting even though they're dead in five minutes anyway. But! This is far from a one-take fight scene. Most "single take" fight scenes actually aren't. Look for moments where the camera looks away from the action, or where a large object obstructs the majority of the screen. Those are places editors hide cuts. For example: 0:11 - There's a cut hidden in the blackout. The action hasn't started yet, though. They just don't want to have to keep re-filming the opening on a crowded street. 1:44 - 100% a cut. You can see the frames jump, plus there's no way they throw someone down a flight of stairs without immediately seeing if they're okay. 3:53 - There's a cut in the middle of the spin. 4:43 - There's a cut hidden in the motion blur. Either that or she left cover to step into this guy's field of fire while he was shooting at her so she could make it to the other doorway in 3 seconds. 5:20 - Another cut hidden in the spin. 5:34 - They like hiding cuts in spins. This one is to swap her out for a stunt double, because: 5:41 - They just dumped her through a table. There's a cut as his jacket obstructs the camera so they can stop and make sure she's okay. Then they swap her back out for Theron. 7:10 - There's a cut. The actors leave frame. All you have to do is keep the camera still while they set up the next scene. it doesn't look like the camera is still, but all you need is one identical frame and it's basically seamless. 7:46 - Cut in the blackout. Gotta admit, I'm not sure how they did the car sequence though. At 8:03 the camera passes through what appears to be a closed window to begin filming the interior. I assumed they were just passing the camera to an operator in the backseat, but that window is closed and there's no obvious cut. Looks like magic to me. XD
Your last comment reminds me of a scene in the first(?) Jason Bourne film. There's a scene with Bourne running down a hallway with the camera shooting right behind him. He runs down the hallway and jumps through a window, breaking it, going through the air a story or two, landing in the street with a roll with the falling glass following, gets up and goes. How the heck was that filmed? The camera/man went through the broken window immediately after Bourne, also going airborne, filming the whole time right behind Bourne, landing stories below without smashing the camera or anything. How? How did the cameraman jump while holding the camera and land, stabilizing himself while still holding and using the camera without needing to also do a roll and instead kept the camera steady the whole time. No visible cuts to the filming. To use your quote, it looked like magic to me.
Visual artists react series from corridor crew often breaks down these fancy camera transitions that goes through windows and mirrors
this is an amazing breakdown of the scene, thank you!
Wow you like ruining things don't you? Smh
@@Spalbeert Nobody ruined anything, stop moping LOL!
Daniel Bernhardt 4:50 is awesome, I kept seeing him in these epic fight scenes and started researching him, come to find out he's the guy who trained all these actors how to fight!! He's in Atomic Blonde, John Wick, Nobody and he has a great part in an episode of Barry on HBO.
Don't forget the Matrix films.
@@horysmokes3339 don't forget Mortal Kombat and Bloodsport 2
And who could forget Future War?
@@theyrecousins Holy shit just watched the trailer that is hilarious! I'm definitely going to pop an edible and check that out!
@@sn0m0ns40 ahaha, dude, i'd say you should watch the mst3k version of it if you're doing it up that style.
That was genuinely thrilling from beginning to end. Man what a tough sequence to even think about filming let alone actually pulling it off
I love Charlize. What an amazing woman. One of the best fight scenes on film
I'm glad that is finally compiled into a single clip now. I like watching this from time to time
Same
Good work.
Is that not the point. That this is and always was a single clip in the movie
@@kinklee I think she was referring to KZheadrs uploading only portions of the scene and not the entire scene.
@@HZEditsYT Thanks for that.
It's hard to believe that there's a third/fourth person dancing along with this fight, staying out of the way: the cameraman. So coordinated!
This lone badass heroine possibly outperformed any male action lead I've seen in any movie. Serious props.
There's really nothing to compare this to. An absolute masterpiece. Some scenes are just fun to replay in your head, like the car chase in Bullitt, the bank robbery in Heat, or Roy Batty's last monologue in Blade Runner. They're little movies in themselves.
Yeah it's pretty amazing, I wonder who choreogrpahed this...have you ever seen the church scene from Kingsman? It's another one shot sequence where it's hard to find out where the cuts are, just like in this one scene. Tht kind of scene adds soooo much more in terms of immersion, it's incredible! I wonder why we don't see more. I guess one needs to find actors that are believable as fighters to begin with. I mean I hate it when in movies there's cuts all over the place. I remember that scene from Taken where LIam Neeson jumps over a fence and there's like 15 different shots, angles, cuts whatever....like wtf?
That's how you portray a credible female action star, incredible.
1:15 solid punch...fights over
@@4EyedAnimation Not necessarily.
@@4EyedAnimation ... it's a film. Do you complain when any other action star, regardless of gender, gets hit in the face and doesn't collapse to the floor?
@@marcus7195 Every time unless its Indian Jones and a Nazi
This is credible in what way, specifically?
I have absolutely no idea how the camera man dodged the action on the staircase! Astonishing!
It's called editing. The scene appears to be one shot, but they need tons of equipment to actually film all this, plus the stunt choreography. It looks really good, but the title here is misleading.
A fight scene where the protagonist doesnt just walk away with a split lip and a trail of dead bodies, but was genuinely hurt and had to really fight
This movie was so detailed with the geopolitical issues at the time of the collapse of Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and had an excellent soundtrack of eighties tunes. Excellent flick with great acting, and a much deeper story than just the realistic violence.
This is intense and feels much more realistic than your average action fight sequence. Amazing work
I love how realistic this looks. First! Because there is no music. You are hearing exactly what the fighters are hearing themselves .. no cheesy suspenseful music. . Second, as the fight goes along, you see all of them getting psychically tired. Most movies show fighting scenes in which the fighters can literally go for hours at the same speed and strength as when they first started. THAT'S NOT REALISTIC WHEN IT HAPPENS LIKE THAT.
It is so refreshing to see a realistic fight scene where the protagonist is not a superhero badass. She uses her environment, adapts weapons and while her enemies are stronger she pushes on through and prevails. I have not seen this film before, it did not look that interesting in the promos, but after watching this fight scene I am going to buy it for sure
Those first two guys should have gotten the 'employee of the month' award
By far the BEST choreographed fight scenes I have ever seen in a motion picture! Gritty! Raw! Bloody! And, needless to say, enormously entertaining. Only the Bourne movies come close. I love Matt Damon! But Charlize Theron easily pushes him aside!!!
The bus fight in Nobody comes close to this one for rawness and both sides getting a hard beating.
Guys, watch Oldboy.
@@snnnaaaaaakeeeee4470 Heh heh, I first did in 2004. Always loved films with great fights, I've enjoyed Kung Fu films since the 70s too (I'm old) so fights being shot right is a big bugbear with me. Nice to see loads of fighting films being remastered and rereleased by Eureka, lots of Sammo Hung recently. I was shocked at how bad the fights were in the new Matrix considering how good they were in the first one. Did Lana learn nothing from John Wick? You'd think Keanu would have said something.
Atomic Blonde is the single greatest action film by an actress. Haywire comes a close second. Both actors are phenomenal.
La femme Nikita is way better than Haywire. Haywire has good action scenes but the story isn't interesting and Gina Carano can't act to save her life.
I just love how the fight scene just keeps rolling and they all seem really tired and out of puff to the point where they have to get their breath back to keep fucking eachother up.
The choreography that made this sequence so memorable is astounding.
I love the editing on the getaway scene in the "Atomic Blonde", how the camera swings back and forth while they're in the police car (the viewer gets to see what's in front of them and then behind them) So seamlessly as if it's all one take.
This is one of the best action movies of current time. Yet so underrated
overrated
@@dinuxplay8003better than any marvel action scene 🤣
@@Lidoe I mean, yeah they are fantasies. In a different world
Absolutely incredible sequence,Charlize was a beast in this entire movie but in terms of pure action realism,the stairwell scene beats most others for me due to the actual reaction to damage that all the actors show.Visceral is an understatement.I dearly hope the sequel happens.🤞🏻
I like how it’s just not some girl boss one punching everyone it’s actually a genuine fight
I don't know how the stunt performers and Charlize herself took all those falls on the stairs without seriously injuring themselves. Especially the one at 2:50. He had to fall backwards onto stairs without using his hands to save himself. That's absolutely brutal.
Prepared stairs, fully padded and dressed, so as to look like solid, hard stairs. And padding underneath jackets, etc. in key areas, but not as to notice. But still, professional stunt people who know how to take falls and fall down stairs, take hits.
Something like that, especially one-take, is rehearsed to extremes. They could only do one -take, so, that means they did a lot of practicing. This is the part about the world's motion picture industry I do not enjoy. The part of people not getting recognition for their work, especially in long scenes of one-take and keep what they have and just put that into print. The problem of why they are not noticed, is because that is an action picture. So, people that make decisions in the "film community" do not even pay attention. I think that is why actors walk away from parts due to lack of being noticed in an earlier project that went unnoticed. So, like many actors, even from 1980's movies that did not take the part that they were offered, they still regret that today like Richard Gere for the movie Die Hard. He has done the same as Bruce Willis. He has done romantic comedies and done action and mysteries. So, he is just one of many that kicked himself in the ass 20 years later, and I do not blame any one of them. Many of movies of the past, they really were not noticed until the 2000's, by the peers of the motion picture industry, world-wide, until we us fans forced them to, by no longer renting older films, but buying them in great amounts.
@@454brianbat From other comments its clear that this is not a true single take (per the title) but a "single shot" technique, which is based heavily on editing together many sequences.
One thing I liked about this film was that Charlize Theron is a good sized woman in fist fights with grown men that outweigh her, but does things that would realistically work. She gets hit, she takes damage. She off balances them and uses improvised weapons. And best of all, she's damage sponge, but not a tank. She doesn't walk off every shot and it gives you sympathy for her. I dig it, I dig it a lot.
Yeah, I found a lot of naysayers here undermined this scene since in their world, woman can't fight man. They forgot one small detail, Charlize is not a tiny woman, she is physically taller than Rhonda Rousey and Gina Carano. Plus fairly athletic woman.
@@manchesterunitedno7 plus people always analyse these fights from the perspective of fighting sports, where a whole bunch of tactics are outlawed because they’re too effective. Here you see her gouge eyes, punch throats and generally focus on other weak areas; if you gouge out someone’s eye, it doesn’t matter how big and strong they are…
I knew a ex female bank robber who recently died who actually was tougher than most men, who I actually could have seen doing something like this scene
The first time I saw this film, was my second day detoxing in rehab… Now if you’ve seen it, you know exactly what a taxing, emotional toll it takes on you when you’re in a STABLE state of mind. My brain was like one big damaged and exposed nerve, and this film takes you back to a bygone era when people were fighting for freedom and the world was a very different place… If you open your mind to that, it can twist your emotions any day of the week, and I was already dwelling on lost time and getting older, so my mental state was a total wreck by the end, feeling like I was in a delirium like I HAD just consumed some horrible, horrible drugs.
I love the fact that under extreme stress the character's American accent actually slips through at one point in the scene. Nice realistic detail if you watched the whole movie and know the plot.
I thought this scene couldn't be topped... until the street chase in Extraction. Apparently Theron is getting $25m for the sequel which will make her the highest paid actress of all time.
dont forget the huge fight scene in Anna, abdolutey nuts! and the one take fight scene from the daredevil tv series on netflix...good stuff! may as well throw in the one take from Old Boy with josh Brolin...crazy
so has a sequel been confirmed? I've been trying to find a solid answer on that for a while
@@skip741x3 That Old Boy one was garbage. If you think that was any good go watch the original Old Boy's one take and you'll realize how bad it was.
Any updates of a release date for the sequel?
@@DemonicRobots The original Old Boy one was so good, shame they screwed up the second one. Ironically enough, the 1 take from Daredevil season 1 was directly inspired by original Old Boy.
Charlize killed it in this. Awesome movie, awesome job by Charlize. This needs a sequel.
These stunt men and Theron are magnificent.
Gotta love Ms. Theron's acting abilities! Oh, also, wasn't this based of a comic book, or something similar?
The stuntwork in the stairway scene is truly outstanding. I suppose the guys are professional stuntmen who know their shit. Amazing though how Charlize does all the stunts herself & isn't even afriad to fall off the stairs. Her drivig is also awesome. I suppose they spent months planning & rehearsing everything we see in this scene. God knows how many takes they needed, how many times the actors & stuntmen had to hit each other, how many bruises they got while falling off the stairs, how many cars got wrecked, how many times they did it right but the camara man was not standing in the right position - until they could get the final take (the one we can now enjoy). Much, much respect for this outstanding scene & to everyone involved in making it!
Oh, she is always well known to be exceptionally good at stunt driving. Way back in Italian Jobs days, there are BTS reels when everyone involved said Charlize bested all the male stars in stunt driving tryouts, even Jason Statham, who was more experienced given his involvement back in The Transporter days.
4:40 That pie-slice after she smokes the first dude then the instant retreat to another corner of the room when she takes fire was amazing, whoever choreographed this knew their shit
Extraordinary realistic fight scenes ever made
The fact that there is no soundtrack makes the scene a lot better! Feels much more like an real dramtic fight
What's important to remember that a "single take" action sequence actually does have several cuts in it, but the editing and continuity is so brilliant that it looks like it was filmed in one shot (10 minutes in this case). A challenge would be to watch this clip and identify all the places where the director said "cut" and where the actors took a break. For example: when we get a close up of someone's back or when the camera turns.
2:18 is the first cut imho
@@moody4624 or when they were walking outside and it turned black for a second.
@@moody4624 more like 0:13
The spice girls ‘wannabe’ has no cuts or edits.
One of the best fight scenes ever on film. Major props to Charlize Theron and all the stuntmen. We did a full breakdown of this scene on our channel for you to enjoy!
Appreciate the choreo being appropriate for the physical size of the actors. When she throws them, its all about leverage and effectively using her smaller stature. She waits and watches for the right time to counter or throw them off balance, where as they can hurt her with far less thought or effort. It makes the fight feel more real and captivating.
whoever was responsible for that fight coreography was a genius