The Hard Man Feature

With the release of Repo Men on Blu-ray and DVD from 23rd August, set in the not too distance furture, that follows the story of Remy, a ruthless debt collector who is employed by a sinister organisation, The Union, to track down and repossess state-of-the-art artificial organs. After a freak accident on the job leaves Remy needing a new heart, the hunter becomes the hunted as his old partner Jake (Forest Whitaker) is sent to hunt him down when he falls behind on his re-payments.

With the release of Repo Men on Blu-ray and DVD from 23rd August, set in the not too distance furture, that follows the story of Remy, a ruthless debt collector who is employed by a sinister organisation, The Union, to track down and repossess state-of-the-art artificial organs. After a freak accident on the job leaves Remy needing a new heart, the hunter becomes the hunted as his old partner Jake (Forest Whitaker) is sent to hunt him down when he falls behind on his re-payments.

Knife-wielding battles between Remy and endless number of Union thugs ensue; setting the film up for a climatic fight sequence where Remy has to smash is way through a corridor of trained killers, using an arsenal of knives, hammers, spanners and spades. With the ‘always outnumbered never out-gunned’ philosophy at the heart of the Repo Men, it is the perfect film to start our journey through the corridors of classic ‘man against many’ fight sequences. We take a look at the heroes who fought against the masses in order to take a stand!

Commando

Arnie vs. Nameless Cannon Fodder

An entire villa full of bad guys feels the full force of a rampaging Arnold in this 80’s action classic. It’s quite literally one man against 500 as our hero takes them all down one by one with a range of machine guns, hand guns, one or two grenades and a knife.

Why he needs camouflage is anyone guess, as it’s quite easy to spot a big hulking Austrian with enough weapons to wipe out a small country.

Weapons: Various guns, grenades and some knives.

V FOR Vendetta

V vs. The Government

James McTiegue’s futuristic thriller is set in a fascist England and follows the story of V, a political a freedom fighter and masked avenger! V’s resistance leads to him being caught while trying to Guy Fawkes the houses of parliament. He’s quickly cornered by an arsenal of army men who unload a thousand rounds directly into his chest. However he doesn’t fall, instead he pulls out his collection of shiny daggers and proceeds to seamlessly massacre the entire group. Pure poetry in motion.

Weapons: Anarchy, daggers, fancy Karate and a bulletproof vest.

Oldboy

Dae-su Oh vs. A Corridor full of goons

The main problem with a one vs. many fight scene is that it can look overly choreographed. Not so with Oldboy as Oh Dae-su seeks retribution and answers at the end of a corridor populated with men armed to the teeth. Sickening thuds ring out as his hammer hits every mark and make mincemeat out of the opposition. There’s nothing quite like imprisonment for 15 years to turn an ordinary bloke into a one-man killing machine.

Weapons: A really hard hammer

Matrix Reloaded

Neo vs. Many Agent Smiths

Neo squares up to Agent Smith on a rooftop. One on one! This is going to be easy thinks Keanu. Then Smith comes down with a strange case of multiplicity and the burley brawl begins. As Neo lets rip more and more Smith’s appear and a never-ending cacophony of over the top violence takes place. Bodies fly amidst glorious bullet time photography.

Weapons: Fists and metal poles

Kill Bill: Volume 2

Beatrix Kiddo vs. The Crazy 88

Hell has no fury like a woman scorned. That statement has never been truer as The Bride arrives in Japan to kill O-Ren Ishi only to be confronted with her army of bodyguards. What follows is blood-spattering mayhem as she dishes out her own unique brand of revenge. It’s almost balletic as Tarantino let’s the camera dance around the action so we can witness every moment of the bride’s blade slicing retribution.

Weapons: Katana

The Protector Aka Warrior King

Kham vs. A Brothel Full Of Thugs

The incredible Tony Jaa storms a mafia brothel (as you do) and takes down about 100 bad guys and perverts. He throws them off various balconies and drives their heads through walls. What makes this particular sequence incredible is that it is all done in one glorious take. It’s 6 minutes of bone breaking carnage choreographed in the most electrifying way. Go ahead. Watch it. I defy you to find the edit.

Weapons: Fists and a very fit cameraman

Ip Man

Ip Man vs. 10 Black Belts

Making Donnie Yen angry is a shortcut to an early grave. This scene from IP Man showcases one of the greatest fight sequences in cinema history as Donnie takes down 10 black belts all at once. They don’t even land a punch and as Donnie snaps their bones like matchsticks and delivers punches at the speed of light it’s quite obvious to see that being his enemy isn’t in anybody’s best interest.

Weapons: F-off! Donnie Yen needs no weapons!

Fist Of Fury

Bruce Lee vs. A Dojo Full Of Japanese Guys

A seemingly normal Karate lesson turns into a massacre when Bruce shows up to dish out some of his trademark justice. “You must be tired of living” sneers one of the bad guys and as the entire dojo surrounds our hero. The fun really begins when Bruce pulls out some nun-chucks. Fear spreads across the bad guys faces as each swing hits its mark the foolish group continue to advance until all of them end up with a cracked skulls and broken knees. Classic!

Weapons: Bruce & nun-chucks

Taken

Liam Neeson vs. Kidnappers

“I’m going to find you and I’m going to kill you” says Liam down the phone to one of his daughters good for nothing kidnappers. “Good luck” is the ballsy response. Big mistake. Not only does Liam find them but he kicks so much-ass in the process that the mayor of Paris erected a statue in his honour and is now a more popular tourist attraction then the Eiffel tower. Liam’s big finale is to electrocute the last bad guy standing using some jump-start cables and a pair of very sore nipples.

Weapons: A father’s love

Kickboxer

JCVD vs. Bar Trash

Jean-Claude has too much to drink and gets his groove on with two lovely local honeys. The sight of a Belgian without rhythm is way too much for the bar regulars and they set about kicking his ass. However a drunk Jean-Claude is just as adept at kicking ass as a sober one and the baddies realise that if Jean-Claude wants to dance he is damn well going to dance!

Weapons: Muscles from Brussels