While Quentin Tarantino has a reputation for making violent movies, he doesn’t necessarily make many movies that are non-stop by way of violence. There’s one from 2003 that’s relentless, sure, and a wholehearted action movie, plus a few others that could be classified as such, but Tarantino’s characters tend to talk more than they kill. Of course, they’re usually happy to do a bit of both, with even Jackie Brown, Tarantino’s talkiest and most mature film, having a handful of characters who don’t make it to the end… though their deaths are usually pretty subdued. That one is surprisingly mild, for a Tarantino film, but it’s still great, and easy to appreciate for trying something different.
But there are Tarantino movies with action scenes, and here, an action scene is defined by something that goes on for at least a minute or two (sometimes much longer), and has at least two people engaged in some kind of fight or battle. So, while there are scenes in the likes of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and The Hateful Eight where people do violent things to each other, and sometimes that violence is drawn out, it’s hard to call any sequences in any of those films action scenes. This’ll hopefully become clear as things go along, and there are two movies here where it was worth picking more than one example from. Also, Inglourious Basterds is not featured here. It’s got a ton of suspense and violence, but no real extended action sequences with guns or any other weapons (other than the movie within a movie, Nation’s Pride, but only fragments of that are seen). So, what follows below is just a focus on parts in his films that can be called action scenes, and a rough ranking of them from good to great.
7
‘Kill Bill: Vol. 2’ (2004)
Pai Mei Testing Beatrix
Talking about the second part of Kill Bill before the first here, which might be a bit confusing. Also, in Kill Bill: Vol. 1, she’s known as the Bride, whereas in Kill Bill: Vol. 2, it’s revealed her name is Beatrix, so if there’s some inconsistency in what she’s being called here, between movies, that’s why. More confusingly, perhaps, is that her whole period of training with the infamous Pai Mei in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 takes place well before all the events of Kill Bill: Vol. 1, but Tarantino likes to play around with time, and if you watch both volumes together as one massive movie, it does really work.
Anyway, Pai Mei has to test what the relatively novice Beatrix knows, and also uses the time to suss her out psychologically and mentally. It’s not really a fair battle, considering Pai Mei is supernaturally good at kung fu, but it’s a way to have Gordon Liu (who played a smaller/unrelated role in Vol. 1, too) shine in the sort of role he used to play against in most of his iconic older martial arts movies, like The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter. There, he played young men who needed training, while here, he plays the old master, and Beatrix is the one seeking training… reluctantly at first, but she does ultimately learn from her torturous time with Pai Mei, with the one-inch-punch technique, plus another revealed later on, certainly coming in handy from her training here.
6
‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ (2019)
Cliff & Rick vs. The Manson Family
For most of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, things are generally laid-back, and the stakes aren’t really life or death. There’s an actor named Rick Dalton who’s freaking out about the fact that he might be a has-been, though his loyal friend and stuntman, Cliff Booth, is there for emotional support. And then, when things turn violent right near the end of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Cliff’s also there for a more physical support… though, to Rick’s credit, he does contribute to the stand the pair end up taking against members of the Manson Family, especially once he brings out his trusty flamethrower.
Watching the scene is kind of surreal on more than one front. It didn’t happen in reality, and there’s immense catharsis seeing things go in this direction once you know about what the Manson Family actually did at the end of the 1960s. Also, watching the film in the 2020s, it features renowned actors, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, going to town on – and dispatching – some then-up-and-comers, with both Austin Butler and Mikey Madison (the latter an Oscar winner, come 2025, for Anora) playing characters who get viciously defeated by the two pros, though Pitt’s Cliff does sustain quite a bit of damage during the fight. Anyway, read into that what you want, if you’re into over-analyzing and stuff.
5
‘Kill Bill: Vol. 1’ (2003)
The Bride vs. Vernita Green
As mentioned before, Kill Bill plays around with chronology, with the very first scene being the moment the Bride is betrayed and then seemingly killed (but not for good), though there’s not much context at this point in the story. And then there might well be even less context when the next major scene is an elaborately choreographed action sequence between two women, one of them being the Bride herself and the other – it turns out – being an old associate of hers who played a part in the betrayal.
So, things do click as more scenes pass along, but what the fight between the Bride and Vernita Green does is get the ball rolling pacing-wise, establishing that, yes, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is going to be a pretty relentless and action-heavy rise. The big sequence that makes the first volume of Kill Bill an all-timer of an action movie doesn’t happen until much later in the film, but this opening fight shouldn’t be overlooked. It’s vicious, intense, and darkly funny, being a good mood-setter for some of the madness to come.
4
‘Django Unchained’ (2012)
The Candyland Shootout
Quentin Tarantino has always liked Westerns, and had some homages to the genre most noticeably, pre-2012, in Kill Bill: Vol. 2, but it took until 2012 for him to make his first full-on Western: Django Unchained. This one has a fair amount of action, given the titular character is after revenge and gets trained to be a very proficient gunman, and it turns out that there are plenty of people who deserve to be held accountable for the ways they’ve wronged either him or his still captive wife (with his mission also involving her eventual rescue).
Narratively, things reach their peak right before all hell breaks loose, with two prominent characters getting killed off very suddenly, and then a remarkably bloody gunfight ensuing, which is brutal and over-the-top in the ways that many of the action scenes in Kill Bill were, but this sequence involves firearms instead of bladed weapons. It’s quite the sight to behold, and Django Unchained does lose some steam once the gunfight ends, the narrative resets, and then another final sequence gets built to. Still, what a peak, and one of the best extended gunfights in any movie not directed by John Woo.
3
‘Death Proof’ (2007)
The Second Group of Girls Fighting Back Against Stuntman Mike
Talk about saving the best for last. Death Proof is the kind of movie where the ending is pretty much all that really matters, but looking back on it, you can see how the slow build-up adds to things being more cathartic and exciting near the end. This has to do with Death Proof distinctly being a movie of two halves, one in which a serial killer – who goes by the name Stuntman Mike – targets and takes out a group of young women, and the other half having him try to do the same to another group of women, but they manage to fight back.
Eventually, Death Proof’s final action scene stops being Mike chasing the girls, and shifts to it being more them chasing him, and all the while, it’s incredibly well-filmed and edited.
The chase ends up going on for a while, but they’re skilled behind the wheel, and one of them’s a stuntwoman, with Mike not expecting such things out of a group of potential victims. Eventually, it stops being him chasing them and shifts to it being more them chasing him, and all the while, it’s incredibly well-filmed and edited, plus the stunt work (Zoë Bell basically playing herself and also being a member of the film’s stunt team) is remarkable. Say what you want about the rest of Death Proof – and people have, because it’s divisive – but the way it ends is great.
2
‘Kill Bill: Vol. 2’ (2004)
Beatrix vs. Elle Driver
Elle Driver is the last person Beatrix really gets to fight in Kill Bill, since her showdown with the titular character is more a battle of words, and the physical side of things only lasts a few seconds (not enough to really be a fight scene). It’s also funny how the last big action sequence in the whole duology is so confined, playing out inside a tiny trailer where neither woman can – at first – find enough space to even unsheathe any swords.
It’s also a great sequence because of who Elle is, as a character, and how much hate she harbors for Beatrix (and the feeling seems to be mutual). It’s a no-holds-barred fight, as a result, and the way it ends is simultaneously funny, disgusting, and disturbing. It’s similarly tight and well-choreographed as the one-on-one fight in Kill Bill: Vol. 1, between the Bride and Vernita, but the setting of this one – and the added intensity between Elle and Beatrix, compared to Vernita and Beatrix/the Bride – puts it over the edge.
1
‘Kill Bill: Vol. 1’ (2003)
The Bride vs. The Crazy 88 & O-Ren Ishii
If you wanted to be more specific, there are a few different action scenes that comprise the whole action climax of Kill Bill: Vol. 1, since the Bride has to fight a small number of O-Ren’s group, then Gogo, then the Crazy 88, and, finally, O-Ren herself. And even the battle between the Bride and the Crazy 88 could be broken down into sections, like when they all go up a level and you only see silhouettes fighting, shifting the tone and visuals quite abruptly, but successfully.
We could be here all day talking about the entire sequence, but it’s getting labeled as just the one big action set piece, and so yeah, it’s obviously the best one found in any Quentin Tarantino movie. Tarantino went for broke here, and every little shot is great for multiple reasons, and then all those little shots combine into one thrilling sequence that might well be one of the best in the history of the action genre. That might sound hyperbolic, going from saying it’s a highlight of Tarantino’s filmography to a highlight of cinema more generally, but the big showdown at the end of Kill Bill: Vol. 1 really is just that good.
