Best Blockbuster Movie Moments of 2013 (so far)

This year, many people have complained about Hollywood’s (apparently) brainless assortment of big-budget blockbusters. From April’s Tom Cruise action flick Oblivion to July’s X-men instalment The Wolverine, audiences and critics have blamed one blockbuster after another for the apparent death of cinema. In this time of fiery internet comment sections and one analytic article after another (not too dissimilar to this one), we have been trained to look down upon anything that aims to entertain the masses. I, however, believe that this is has been a good year for movies. Man of Steel and Iron Man 3 become gloriously fun movies while Pacific Rim proved that audiences love creatively intense monster mashes. As I am someone to give credit where credit is due, I looked back on 2013’s crop of Hollywood fare to dissect and reveal some of this year’s best cinematic moments.

6. Counting to 12 (World War Z)

Brad-Pitt-in-World-War-Z-2013-Movie-Image-2At the beginning of the year, everyone expected Brad Pitt’s expensive zombie flick to be a bigger cinematic bomb than Battleship (or any other generic disaster flick of its type). Plagued with expensive production issues over its two year run, everyone expected it to be buried under a wave of superhero flicks and other apocalyptic action flicks. Thankfully, it ended up being a enjoyable, pacy and visceral thrill-ride. Pitt proved he could still lead a big-budget romp and zombies were revealed as one of this year’s greatest movie/TV antagonists (as well as the flavour of the month). During the first set-piece, in which Philadelphia is over-run by the undead, the movie pauses and depicts one man’s transition from human to zombie. Thanks to Pitt’s character’s cunning intellect, and a children’s toy, the film counts down from 12 to 1. during this countdown, the man is bitten, collapses, writhes around on the street before clumsily rising and joining the zombie horde. It’s a tight, tense and brutal few seconds in which a connection between the outbreak and the world-scale implications is established. We may have only seen one person turning into a zombie, but we understand just how vicious this disease can be.

5. Head crushing (Star Trek into Darkness)

stid-t1-36Making a sequel to a beloved reboot wasn’t going to be an easy task. Thankfully, JJ Abrams and co. pulled it off with style and panache. The sequel, Star Trek into Darkness, is a fun, character-driven Star Trek film that is also filled with relentless action set-pieces. However, the best scene doesn’t involve phasers, battleships, or foot chases (although there’s still plenty of that to be had). It involves, arguably, the best villain of many big-budget 2013 movie (so far). Throughout the movie, John Harrison (Sherlock‘s Benedict Cumberbatch) is presented as a carnage-inducing yet sympathetic freedom fighter. His actions may draw similarities to terrorist attacks committed over the last decade, but we find out why he commits such atrocities. The best scene illustrates just how far he is willing to go to save his race. Taking over the enemy ship, Harrison betrays Captain Kirk, breaks Dr. Carol Marcus’ leg and crushes the bad guy(Admiral Marcus)’s head with his bare hands. Carol’s scream, at the sight of her father being brutally murdered, says everything you need to know about this all-important scene. In it, the crunching sound effects, the star-making performances, and climactic score build to this terrifying crescendo. Also, if every movie lived by the phrase: “a movie is only as good as its villain”, than Star Trek into Darkness would be an instant classic among Trekkies.

4. Bullet Train (The Wolverine)

imagesIn James Mangold’s action-drama The Wolverine, we see a titular character whom doesn’t want to be noticed or relied upon. Forced to travel to Japan to say goodbye to an old friend, Hugh Jackman’s most influential, and most popular, character Logan/Wolverine will face his internal demons whilst coming across Yakuza thugs, assassins, ninjas, and…giant samurai robots (admittedly, the movie’s weakest aspect). The tightly shot and edited action set-pieces are thrilling to watch and carry emotional weight (so rare to see one film with both elements). In The Wolverine, we see three fights occur one after the other. After a hack-and-slash-a-thon that puts the ‘fun’ in ‘funeral’ and a foot chase through Tokyo’s dirty yet brightly coloured streets, Logan and Mariko (his love interest) end up on a bullet train. Just when you think the movie will catch its breath and return to the character/story building elements, four assassins descend upon the two fugitives. The bullet train sequence, both the tension-inducing lead up and the heart-thumping train-top sequence condense many thrills into a few minutes. This sequence, in which Wolverine must kick assassins off the train to their deaths, is a nail-biting sequence that tests the bonds of stunt-work and CGI. Here, we see Wolverine’s fury in full view as he lunges towards his targets. With each stab into the train top, Wolverine and the assassins hold on for dear life whilst continuing their quests.

3. Superman vs. General Zod (Man of Steel)

Man-of-Steel-General-Zod-armor-570x415Man of Steel is one of this year’s most polarising movies. Featuring many ‘alien’ characters and a large amount of collateral damage, the movie reached out to superhero-action film fans but may have left the Superman aficionados at the door. Here, we see a much darker, existentially distraught hero who doesn’t know what to do. There are many jaw-dropping scenes in this controversial movie. One of which is the final fight between Superman and General Zod. Both featuring superpowers when situated on Earth, the final battle is an exhaustive and enthralling few minutes. We see two super-powered men smacking each other and throwing each other through buildings in stylish and cohesive way. This sequence may seem conventional, but one moment, in which Zod strips his armour off to reveal his natural body structure, is an awe-inspiring yet efficient revelation. The end of this set-piece is also startlingly effective. Superman’s actions in this sequence craft the seemingly weakened Kryptonian into a powerful saviour of Earth.

2. Skydiving (Iron Man 3)

images 2Iron Man 3 contains many scenes/nuances you wouldn’t see in any other superhero movie. Following on from The Avengers, Iron Man 3 had a mountain to climb in order to reach the ridiculous audience expectations it had received. Here, we see a side of Tony Stark that the other movies have only lightly hinted at. In this movie, he is a damaged soul who is willing to save everyone to prove he’s made of much more than just iron. The nuances carry through to the action set-pieces. In them, Tony Stark uses his intelligence and guile to wiggle out of multiple life-threatening situations. The film’s best set-piece, by far, is the skydiving sequence. Tony Stark, here, proves he, despite only being one man in a can, can save multiple lives in impressive ways whilst being in two places at once. The technical aspects of this sequence are also astounding. Performed by the Red-Bull skydiving team, this skydive is expertly choreographed and thrilling from beginning to end. Director Shane Black, as welcome addition to this franchise, is able to capture certain focused and unique shots that others would find impossible to grasp.

1. Cargo Ship/Baseball Bat (Pacific Rim)

images 3Featuring giant robots and monsters engaged in a super-up version of Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots, Pacific Rim is, of course, popular due to its fun and outlandish premise and visuals. Director Guillermo Del Toro is clearly a fan of Japanese Kaiju movies and anime. So much so that there are many references and ideas alluding to famous examples of the two aforementioned genres. Here, one action set-piece rumbles and roars like no other. Featuring skyscraper-tall creations, the Hong Kong smack-down stands out as being an expansive and creative set-piece that lets the viewer know just how important battles like these are to the overall narrative. Here, a battle breaks out between a Jaeger (giant robots piloted by the lead characters) and a creepy, crawly Kaiju. The Kaiju waltz’s into the city. Before it can cause mass destruction, the Jaeger walks into the city whilst carrying a cargo ship. The Jaeger uses the ship as a baseball bat, laying down some powerful attacks onto the confused creature. This sequence illustrates the scale and inventiveness on display throughout the film. We see the jaegers using anything at their disposal throughout the Pacific Ocean to destroy these gigantic beasts. Yes, there’s an extraneous amount of collateral damage, but every inch of celluloid is beautiful, detailed, and awe-inspiring.

Hopefully, this list has proven that this year’s big-budget movies contain many inventive and awe-inspiring moments. The up-coming prestige film season may eclipse this year’s blockbuster movie season, but these big-budget extravaganzas still have their commendable and important aspects that separate them from blockbusters of any other year or generation.

What do you think? Leave a comment.

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Hi, I'm Tom Munday. I'm a Journalism graduate from Perth's Curtin University who's passionate about film, TV, music, theatre, and sport. Happy reading, folks!

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15 Comments

  1. Man, I want to see the new star trek movie, is it coming out already!!

  2. When I first watched the trailer for Pacific Rim, I wasn’t as hyped as I was when the movie finished. The special effects were the best I’ve ever seen in a movie and to be honest the acting could have been better but otherwise it was.

  3. Thao Bar
    0

    While the bullet train sequence was awesome, this movie was sort of heading in the right direction until the Silver Samurai turned out to be a robot. In the 4 issue mini-series, Wolverine and theSilver Samurai had an epic battle which would have been great to see in the movie.

    Not to mention that the Silver Samurai is a mutant who has the power to generate an energy field manifested through his katana. How sad this could not have been portrayed accurately in the movie.

  4. David Tatlow

    I was not a huge fan of the latest Superman movie, but it did have some good entertainment value. The Zod fight was certainly impressive as they managed to stay just the right side of impossible to follow.

    Personally, my favourite action moment of the year so far came in The World’s End. The pub fight scene is just pure, silly overkill. It needs to be seen for Simon Pegg’s beer-balancing antics alone. Good list though, glad to see Pacific Rim getting some love.

  5. This year has been great with blockbusters. I think Pacific Rim was the one I enjoyed the most, although I have a truly soft spot in me for anything Star Trek related. Pacific Rim was surprisingly good, which held the most appeal for me, whereas I knew and expected the rest of these movies to be fine.

  6. Joe Harker

    Superman vs Zod was a great paced fight scene. Every punch was the result of build up and anticipation and the soundtrack made it genuinely thrilling. I loved Man of Steel though I wish there as a bit more humour. There were a couple of funny scenes near the end that showed promise.

  7. Triplett
    0

    I wanted to like Man of Steel but I just couldn’t. Not for a moment did I get the overwhelming warmth in your heart when superman saves the day which I got when Christopher Reeve played Superman.

  8. Man of Steel was simply the worst movie I have seen in years. By the time the General Zod fight came around, my mind was elsewhere.

  9. Kelsey Clark

    Great list. Blockbusters always seem to be overlooked these days but a lot of them are really great films and just solid entertainment, which is what we want from a movie most of the time right?

    • David Tatlow

      Agreed. Blockbusters need love too.There seems to be a tendency to bash them for a slew of what have become “typical” reasons, and I think it’s become a little too easy to target them. Sure, there are still really bad ones, but that can be said for all genres/types of film.

  10. Joseph Brennan

    Congrats on creating a well-balanced list. I had done the same list it would have been dominated by moments from ‘Pacific Rim’.

  11. Jessica Koroll

    There have definitely been a lot of memorable blockbuster moments this year. This has been the first summer in a while where I’ve felt that I needed to see almost everything. Anywho, this is a great list. I agree completely with your breakdown for Pacific Rim. Everything about that movie was just fantastic. I have to disagree on Star Trek though. I was underwhelmed and even kinda ‘meh’ about the head crushing. While not really action oriented, Uhura’s scene with the Klingons was easily the most memorable moment of that movie for me.

  12. Brett Siegel

    Gotta love that scene in Pacific Rim! The scale and ambition of that movie was awesome in the true sense of the word. I rarely want to splurge on the IMAX/3-D experience these days, but I’m glad I did for this one. I think we as viewers have collectively settled for run-of-the-mill superhero movies when we could be setting our sights much higher. It’s a shame that Hollywood only feels safe investing in the sequel/franchise/reboot machine instead of fostering fresh concepts and ideas like Del Toros’.

  13. seeing this list reminds me of two things: one, that i don’t watch near enough movies, and two, that Pacific Rim is a bad script. fantastic movie, and Guillermo Del Toro/everybody besides the screenwriter who worked on that movie did a likewise fantastic job. but, really, how does it make any sense to build bipedal tanks that cost the GDP of a Caribbean island nation to fight giant monsters? jagers clearly have failed in the past (perhaps due to the GLARING WEAK SPOT THAT JUTS FROM ITS CHEST), so why wouldn’t they rethink their approach? maybe, perhaps, a pinpoint carpet bomb from every bomber plane on the planet would do it?

    obviously i’m splitting hairs with a petty gripe like that but it completely undercuts the entire plot of the movie. the whole setup is contrived from stupidity in an attempt to include one original thing that can be sold. it’s apparently too much to ask for the thing being sold to be good writing in blockbuster releases.

  14. All of these films are superhero/action movies.

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