• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

Besides Daredevil and GoT, what are the current best shows for great action?

More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,622
Banshee. Strike Back. More than a few episodes in Fargo. Daredevil. The big battles of GoT. All of those shows were praised for the excellent action direction and/or quality fight choreography.

Have any other current shows filled those gaps, particularly in terms of fight scenes, besides Daredevil? The fights and action in Banshee in particular were fantastic.

(on that note, does Cinemax's short lived show Quarry have good action like Banshee and Strike Back?)
 
Cardon

Cardon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
407
Chicago
Into the Badlands is great too. Really captures the old school Wuxia feel and the fights never get boring.
 
Vic_Viper

Vic_Viper

Thanked By SGM
Member
Oct 25, 2017
29,034
Arrow is the only show I can think of, but it probably looks more like Power Rangers when compared to what they can do on GoT and Daredevil lol.
 
LewieP

LewieP

Member
Oct 26, 2017
18,094
It's Barry, without a doubt. The action scenes, especially towards the end of the first season, are phenomenally well done.

Fantastic show overall, too.
 
matrix-cat

matrix-cat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,284
More_Badass said:
Forgot about that show, only saw S1. I recall reading or seeing thread impressions that fights in later seasons weren't as good?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I haven't seen Season 3 yet, but Season 2's were definitely a step down from the first. More cuts, worse camerawork, that kind of thing.

Iron Fist Season 2 has a couple of great fight scenes dotted throughout, but they're the exception rather than the norm:

 
Swig

Swig

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,495
I'm loving a lot of HBO stuff lately.. Barry, Divorce, High Maintenance (although, I wish there were more of the dealer guy in this). Even the one off series, like Big Little Lies.
 
Soundscream

Soundscream

Member
Nov 2, 2017
9,232
Kin5290 said:
The action sucks now though. It's all mad charges and single combat in melee. Apparently everyone forgot how to fight in shieldwall, which was the defining feature of the Vikings and the show's fight scenes.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
There is a contingent of people who feel the way you do.....I'm not one of them.
While S5 isn't as good as the rest 1-4 is great and I don't care what anyone else thinks. And I still think S5 is ok.
 
Kin5290

Kin5290

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,390
matrix-cat said:
I haven't seen Season 3 yet, but Season 2's were definitely a step down from the first. More cuts, worse camerawork, that kind of thing.

Iron Fist Season 2 has a couple of great fight scenes dotted throughout, but they're the exception rather than the norm:

Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Basically any fight Colleen gets in is pretty great in Season 2.
 
Sterling's Gold

Sterling's Gold

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,443
Mad Men obviously
When-Lane-Does-What-Everyone-Else-Wanted.gif
 
VeryHighlander

VeryHighlander

The Fallen
May 9, 2018
6,376
Into the Badlands' first fight scene has the main dude stab a mother fucker with a spear, and then pull it out the other side of the mother fucker and used it to whoop more ass. Season 2 was kinda bad and I haven't seen season 3 but I still think the first season is a hidden little treat that everyone should watch. It has a shit load of awesome fight scenes
 
Spacejaws

Spacejaws

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,795
Scotland
Not sure what the consensus is here but I thought that Happy! Had some awesome action bits. Lots of gritty stylistic street brawl sort of stuff like Sin City Marv segments.
 
RatskyWatsky

RatskyWatsky

Are we human or are we dancer?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,931
More_Badass said:
(on that note, does Cinemax's short lived show Quarry have good action like Banshee and Strike Back?)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Quarry isn't as action-y as those two, but there are several action scenes that are very well done. It's a great show that ended way too soon but it has a complete story so you won't be left hanging.

matrix-cat said:
I haven't seen Season 3 yet, but Season 2's were definitely a step down from the first. More cuts, worse camerawork, that kind of thing
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The fight scenes in season 3 are significantly better than the ones in season 2.
 
Dynamite Cop

Dynamite Cop

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,002
California
Into the Badlands had amazing fights the first season. Season 2 got worse, added in too much floaty wire shit. Season 3 was dreadful and I couldn't watch more than 3 episodes. They tried more open space/outdoor fights which just meant people were floating all over the damn place. I'm pretty sure the original fight choreographers were all gone by then.
 
Dervius

Dervius

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,902
UK
Richter1887 said:
Can't believe no one mentioned The Punisher yet.

It has some of the best shootouts on TV.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Came to post this. Some really great gunfighting action in this.

Also I adore Banshee in all its violent pulpy glory, really glad to see it mentioned. I remember seeing the lead guy in an interview saying how the showrunners seemed to have a penchant for putting him up against massive guys hand to hand. He had a point.
 
Rosenkrantz

Rosenkrantz

Member
Jan 17, 2018
4,920
Into the Badlands is the only one that truly stands out I guess. I personally hate wire-fu, and show's mythology, dialogue and most of the acting is really bad.

There's also an MMA themed show called Kingdom, but I haven't seen enough of it to recommend.
 
Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,466
More_Badass said:
Forgot about that show, only saw S1. I recall reading or seeing thread impressions that fights in later seasons weren't as good?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The second season's fight scenes were downgraded pretty hard, but the third season brought the quality back to S1 levels. It has the best fight scenes on TV, bar none.

I'll echo suggestions for The Last Kingdom, too. It's incredibly good — so much better than what Game of Thrones and Vikings have become.

Edit: Oh, and how could I forget Spartacus?! Excellent, campy action.
 
Last edited:
zill pickle

zill pickle

Member
Sep 30, 2018
166
Sterling's Gold said:
Mad Men obviously
When-Lane-Does-What-Everyone-Else-Wanted.gif
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The correct answer lol

But really, I'll cosign Preacher. They're really good at making their fight scenes dynamic - I always finish a scene like "huh, did not see it playing out quite like that". Also Justified had really good standoff scenes, not really like anything I'd seen on TV since Deadwood. If you're craving that western sensibility, Justified all the way.


Lastly, shot in the dark here but Homeland has some really impressive action sequences in the seasons people write off (I'm thinking of Season 4 in particular, which is pretty much standalone).
 
Biestmann

Biestmann

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,412
Viking has the best and rawest action I have seen on screen. Well, it's an incredible show all around. Just be sure to watch the international, not American version if you can. The latter is heavily cut, removing sex scenes and scenes of violence.
 
luca

luca

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,507
I will say that Into the Badlands action in S2 is purely worse because of the camera work and many cuts that S1 didn't have. That said, the plot, characters and everything else was hugely improved in S2. It's well worth watching.

I haven't seen Season 3 yet.

Disclaimer said:
The second season's fight scenes were downgraded pretty hard, but the third season brought the quality back to S1 levels. It has the best fight scenes on TV, bar none.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Oh shit, now I wanna pick up Season 3 next. Is this the general consensus though?
 

Michaelandavinci

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
764
Legend of the Condor Heroes. Think of it as the Lord of the Ring of Asia and written by Jin Yong who is considered to be the J.R.R. Tolkien of Asia . You won't be disappointed with the actions here since the actions choreographers are from Hong Kong.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.