I hate it when I’m on the subway and get hassled by a group of thugs where I am forced to use my particular set of skills to bring the pain… don’t you?
The subway in action movies usually proves to be pretty deadly and filled with all the scum of the Earth in an enclosed space.
Why can’t you just met me live?
Here we have some of my personal favourite moments from action movies which take place on the subway. I know I’ve missed a few but these are the main ones which really stood out.
10. COLLATERAL (2004)
Originally I was going to have the fight between Tony Jaa and Maresse Crump from The Protector 2, but seeing as the film sucked I thought I’d put this far superior film on the list instead. Tom Cruise’s vicious assassin Vincent is after his final target, which just so happens to be the woman Max (Jamie Foxx) kinda fancies. All the events of this one night have led up to this moment but Max isn’t going down without a fight.
9. DEATH WISH (1974)
Charles Bronson takes out two scumbag muggers on the New York subway which never ceases to be thoroughly satisfying. In the middle of the night the train is pretty quiet and they approach Paul Kersey ready to rob him. Unfortunately for said scumbags Kersey’s got other plans. This scene would later be ripped off, sorry homaged in The Brave One starring Jodie Foster.
8. THE MATRIX (1999)
Although this fight scene doesn’t take place on a train, it does happen in a subway station and it does end with Agent Smith being hit by a train; it’s also just a classic fight sequence as Neo (Keanu Reeves) embraces his destiny and decides not to run away from Smith. He faces him and an epic battle begins.
7. BLADE (1998)
Blade remains one of Wesley Snipes’ finest hours and during this sequence, Blade and co are being chase by vampires through a subway system. You’ll notice that one of said vamps is none other than Donal Logue from TV’s Gotham who faces off against the Daywalker in more ways than one.
6. SAFE (2012)
This is one of my favourite scenes from Safe as Statham has rarely been more badass. As some evil goons close in on Mei (Catherine Chan), Luke Wright (Statham) realizes she is in danger and decides to kick nine shades of crap out of the bad guys. Awesome stuff.
5. SPIDER-MAN 2 (2004)
I have to admit I’m not the biggest Spider-Man fan but this sequence in Spider-Man 2 is undoubtedly spectacular with our web-slinger taking on Doc-Ock as the train hurtles out of control. This scene would later be pretty much repeated for the finale of Batman Begins. There is also a subway fight scene in The Amazing Spider-Man but this one is better.
4. PREDATOR 2 (1990)
I absolutely adore Predator 2 and this scene is pretty much one of my all-time favourite action sequences; commuters are on a busy subway and many of them are armed. A certain otherworldly visitor has a problem with this and carnage ensues. Upon watching this recently it got me thinking; is this a not very subtle anti-gun reference? If you don’t have a gun then the Predator won’t attack you essentially saying if you don’t go looking for trouble then it won’t find you.
3. THE RAID 2 (2014)
The Raid 2 is almost comical in how violent it is and this subway scene involving Hammer Girl is hilariously brutal as she takes out a group of victims in ruthless and bloody fashion.
2. NINJA (2009)
We all love Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear but let’s not forget that the 2009 movie Ninja had this awesome subway fight with Scott Adkins using the train itself as a weapon. This is arguably the best scene of the film and really gave us a showcase of Adkins’ fighting talent.
1. SPEED (1995)
One of the best fights on a subway is the climax to the Keanu classic Speed where his hero cop Jack Traven has finally tracked down the psychotic villain Howard Payne, played with glee by the late great Dennis Hopper.