You know you’ve seen them and you know when they’re coming. It’s the patented training montage familiar to any action flick of the 80’s and 90’s. Maybe it’s the drama of the scene, maybe it’s the determination of the hero or maybe it’s the incredibly cheesy music that accompanies them. Regardless, training montages are just as famous as the movies themselves and will continue to be remembered, cherished and… mocked for years to come.

So let’s stop wasting time and get on with the list of the best action movie training montages ever.

Bloodsport (1988)

Bloodsport’s montage is spectacular and has everything that a good montage should – an old yet wise teacher, scenes of torturous training, ridiculous determination music and lastly the student becoming the teacher. Oh, and of course one of the most ridiculous training sequences during the montage (fighting blindfolded) ultimately comes back to pay off in the end when Van Damme gets temporarily blinded by Chong Li. Looks like it was a good thing he managed to train specifically for that scenario. Bloodsport has many more montages throughout the film including the montage of all the fighters training for the tournament as well as the montage during the actual tournament, yet Van Damme’s training montage will forever be classic.

Perhaps you’ll recall in this scene of the montage where Van Damme actually rips down the tree to which he is tied. Hey, they don’t call him the Chong Li killer for nothing!

Here’s a clip of Van Damme’s awesome training montage. Sit back, relax and prepare to be amazed…or to laugh?

Kick Boxer (1989)

Since we’re already on the topic of Van Damme montages let’s just slide right into Kickboxer. What’s there to say about Kickboxer other than it’s nearly a Bloodsport clone with a different setting and different characters? However, that doesn’t stop it from earning a spot on this list. Once again, Van Damme is caught in a montage for what seems like the entire movie – this movie starts out in a montage just like Bloodsport for God’s sake. If you can’t remember anything about this movie I hope you at least didn’t forget about the final fight scene with gloves made of glass shards – priceless.

Hard to Kill (1990)

Now, I’ve never been much of a Seagal fan, other than maybe a couple of his movies, namely Under Siege and Hard to Kill. It could be because he always looks the exact same in all his movies from the 80’s up to now (although he has gotten wider), maybe it’s because he has that ridiculous ponytail, or maybe it’s the fact that he talks in a low whisper attempting to sound wise and that he continually looks constipated. Regardless of my Seagal bias, Hard to Kill earns a spot on this countdown. The montage is this flick shows Seagal learning how to perform basic life functions again after awakening from a coma. I have to say that it’s pretty funny watching Seagal hone his martial arts skills while getting nursed back to health by Kelly LeBrock, a.k.a. Lisa from Weird Science. And what’s better than the actual montage…how about the entire synopsis of the movie written on the DVD’s front cover. Go ahead and look for yourself, you deserve a good laugh. It says, “He’s L.A. Detective Mason Storm. Three hired assassins left him for dead. And he’s waited seven years to even the score.” Once again this is priceless action movie history we’re reminiscing over.

Team America World Police (2004)

Honestly, what could be better than an action movie montage than a montage the mocks all action montages. If you haven’t seen the South Park creators’ Team America I suggest you youtube this montage – lucky for you I’ve already provided the link to it below. It pays humble tribute to all montages before it while completely making fun of them at the same time. The lyrics to the song that plays during the montage even instructs the viewer how to execute a proper montage in an action movie. For example, “If you fade out in a montage, it seems like more time has passed.” This montage, nay, this movie is hilarious.

Karate Kid (1984)

I don’t know what it is about The Karate Kid that makes it such a classic action movie. It could be the joy of watching Ralph Macchio (who should be on one of those where are they now TV shows) beat up people, it could be watching Ralph Macchio act tuff, it could be watching Ralph Macchio win the girl or it could be the ridiculous way in which Ralph Macchio expresses all forms of emotion and dialogue, whatever it may be, we can rest assured that it has something to do with Ralph Macchio. The montages are pretty good in this movie, especially the scenes where Daniel-son is balancing on the stump at the beach perfecting his patented finishing kick; however, The Karate kid’s brightest moment is when Daniel-son is doing all the chores for Mr. Miyagi. Who would have thought that washing the car, sanding the deck and painting the house could teach you karate? If that really was the case, then I think there would be a lot more ass kicking in the world because everyone would know karate.

Kill Bill: Vol 2 (2004)

The montage in Kill Bill: Vol 2 will go down in movie montage history because of the ridiculousness and humor of Pai Mei (the long-bearded teacher). I mean, the Kill Bill movies aren’t what I’d necessarily call realistic, especially the fight scenes, yet I’ll never forget when I first saw Pai Mei jump on top of Uma Thurman’s sword – ridiculous and awesome rolled into one, big sexy sandwich. The coolest part about this montage is that it has that sense of cheesiness simply because it’s a Quentin Tarantino movie and he loves to go over-the-top, but it doesn’t consist of the ultra corny music that accustoms earlier action movie montages.

Kill Bill…Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon… or just plain ridiculous?

Rocky IV (1985)

Before I say anything about Rocky IV, I must attribute its training montage as the greatest action movie montage of all time. Not only do we see the Italian Stallion training in the harsh winter of the USSR, but we also get to see his opponent, Ivan Drago, train in his uber high-tech training facility. I also think that during this montage Rocky and Drago are competing to see who is the most over dramatic grunter. I’ve never heard so many grunts in such a short time span before. Oh well, anything can happen in a montage.

However, other than the movie’s montage, this flick portrays two other major events. First, we get to see the modern day version of David and Goliath, and secondly, we get to see Rocky Balboa single-handedly defeat communism. What more could you ask for?

 “Mush Rocky…Mush!”

“Uhhh, yous should shuts yo mouth Paulie, and uhh be mores nicer to yos sista you know dat? You gotta big moutha Paulie.”

Well there you have it, my list of some of the best action movie training montages ever. If you disagree with some of my choices or think that I left some important ones out, drop me a comment and let me know. As always, thanks for reading.

-Dillon (D-dub)

Last night as I scrolled through my movie collection I came across a dilemma. I was torn between watching Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York or Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys II. Obviously I was in the mood for an action flick before I finally decided on Bad Boys II – I think the hype from Will Smith’s new movie I Am Legend was the ultimate kicker in swaying my decision. Anyways, as I popped in BBII and prepared to saddle up next to the TV for the next couple hours, something dawned on me. Out of nowhere one question came to mind as I watched Will Smith fly through the air firing double pistols at the slew of oncoming bad guys. Have all the great action stars died?

I can remember a time, a past decade that paid homage to the greatest action heroes to ever grace the big screen – the 1990’s. I can recall a time when I would say, “I want to watch an action movie” and the first names out of my mouth were Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Willis or Snipes, among a few others – Smith (Bad Boys I & II), Cruise (Mission Impossible), Swayze (Road House), Russell (Escape from NY & L.A.), Gibson (Lethal Weapon series), Reeves (The Matrix and Speed) and Cage (Con-Air). However, the time of coinciding movie stars’ names to the action genre is slowly coming to an end. Gone are the prime days of horribly awesome B list movies and actors. The 90’s are quickly fading into more and more of an ancient decade – come this January, someone who was born in 1990 will actually be considered an adult. How old does that make you feel? And just as the 90’s have gained their respective resting place in history so too has the prime of the action hero genre. Actors who thrived in the 90’s are getting too old to keep up their badass status on screen. Movies like Terminator 3, Live Free or Die Hard, Blade Trinity and Rocky Balboa have caused many respected action stars (my heroes) embarrassment and a loss of respect. And unfortunately as the 90’s ended, so too came the seemingly inevitable death of the action hero.

The 1990’s and its finest gang of action heroes.

So if the action hero really is dead, how are there still action movies being made? That is a good question with a very simple answer. Today’s action movies have great potential –deep plot lines, great special effects and decent bad guys, but they lack the biggest ingredient of all. They all lack an over-the-top (no pun relating to Stallone intended) action hero star who can pull off the impossible and pull it off with style. Too many action movies these days are using pretty boy actors for their heroes. They don’t look like your typical 90’s action hero. They aren’t ripped beyond the laws of nature, they don’t say cheesy lines before killing a bad guy and their last name isn’t Stallone or Schwarzenegger. Okay, so that last point is stretching it, but seriously, actors like Matt Damon, Paul Walker (She’s All That), Thomas Jane (The Sweetest Thing) and Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic) are becoming the new faces of the action hero genre, and although their latest action movies have been everywhere from bad to good, all of these actors were once idolized by swarms of obsessed pre-teen girls. Think about it. Before these actors made their way to the top of showbiz they lulled around acting in various chick flicks and other pretty boy roles, and although those days are gone (hopefully for good) the scars from their roles in those various movies still plague their careers as action heroes.

Not exactly who you would consider as your next action movie heroes are they?

Now I’ll admit, some of the greatest action heroes of the 90’s starred in some very bad, non-action movies, yet they did so only after their careers as renowned action heroes had been established. For example, Schwarzenegger starred in Junior (where he played the role as a pregnant man) and in Twins, Cage starred in City of Angels, Swayze of course in Dirty Dancing, and many other 90’s action heroes starred in equally chick-esque movies. However, because they had all established their action hero status originally (prior), these later disgraceful titles failed to pollute their names as action heroes.

So, to finally answer my original question: “Have all the great action heroes died?” – The answer is both yes and no. It is true that the era of the 90’s action hero has sadly and tragically come to an end. Hollywood’s implementation to bring back the heroic action stars of the 90’s by producing horrible movies like Terminator 3, Rocky Balboa, Blade Trinity, and the upcoming John Rambo and Indiana Jones films is only concluding these action heroes’ successful careers with a last helping of failure. However, as tragic as it may seem, now is the time to appoint future successors to the great action heroes that comprised the genre during its hype in the 1990’s.

If I had to list five popular action movie stars today that I felt were good enough to fill the over-sized shoes of their 1990’s predecessors and save the dying genre I would list the following: Clive Owen, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Thomas Jane and Viggo Mortensen. Each one of these actors has slowly, yet surely submerged themselves in action hero glory over the last few years and they have the movies to prove it.

1) Clive Owen introduced himself to American action movie lovers in his first action starring role in King Arthur. Since then he’s gone on to star in the popular graphic novel adaptation Sin City, as well as Children of Men and most recently Shoot ‘Em Up.

2) Matt Damon has proved to avid action lovers that he has more than just a pretty face and a Boston accent. He’s gone on to star in the incredibly popular Bourne series as well as playing the role of a bad cop in The Departed.

3) Leonardo DiCaprio, out of all action movie actors, has probably had the biggest turn around of roles in his career. After thinking that he would forever be cast as Jack from the Titanic, DiCaprio has shocked me time and time again with his new found tough guy image and diverse acting skills. He’s gone on to star in Gangs of New York, The Blood Diamond, and opposite of Damon in The Departed. His successful turn around from being labeled merely as a boy toy has really caused me to cast a liking to his nature.

4 & 5) Then there’s Thomas Jane and Viggo Mortensen. Both of these guys aren’t incredibly well-known but with hit movies like Marvel’s The Punisher (Jane) and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (Mortensen) these two actors are shaping up to be the future’s next big-name action heroes.

Jane in The Punisher (left) and Mortensen in A History of Violence (Right).

6) I would have added Vin Diesel to my top five picks to save the dying breed of action heroes, yet after making the poor decision to star in Disney’s The Pacifier and his sudden disappearance from the action movie genre (he hasn’t been in a solid action movie since The Chronicles of Riddick – 2004 release) I chose to revoke him as one of my original top five picks. He slides in on the list at the number six spot.

Although no star will ever be able to fill the voids of the beloved 90’s action heroes, there is still a glimmer of hope that the action hero genre will live on and the breed of worthy action heroes will survive. As always, thanks for reading.

-Dillon (D-Dub)