COF Presents: The Top 15 Bathroom Fight Scenes

The bathroom – that one room where you should feel the most safe. Whether it be taking a hot shower at the end of the day, or relieving yourself from the mornings coffee intake, there’s an unwritten rule that we should feel safe in the bathroom. However, that rule doesn’t apply in the world of action movies. Bathrooms are the place where an assassin can sneak up when you least expect it, where shady deals go down, and bullets are calmly fired into each locked cubicle door. Needless to say, if you’re watching an action flick and a scene involves a bathroom, somethings about to go down (and it doesn’t involve flushing).

So what makes a good bathroom fight scene? Personally I look for 2 things – one is the level of collateral damage inflicted. Smashed porcelain and glass is essential (a couple of smashed urinals and a toilet is a healthy ratio). The other is for how the space is utilised, bathrooms can be big or small, but they always tend to fit within the frame of the camera. A lot can be done with space, especially when it involves people trying to beat the living daylights out of each other, and the bathroom is the perfect setting for a choreographer to show off their talents.

2018 has been a particularly good year for the bathroom, with the 6th entry in the Mission: Impossible series and the Korean movie The Outlaws both showcasing the versatility of it being a space to throw down. To celebrate the bathrooms place in the action genre, here at cityonfire we’ve decided to pull together our top 15 favorite bathroom beat downs for your enjoyment. Of course, considering the nature of such a topic, it felt only right to include a turd as well. Check them out below, listed by year of release. Washing your hands is optional.

The Outlaws (2018) – First of all let’s be clear, if you haven’t seen The Outlaws yet, you may want to avoid the below clip, as it’s the finale of a tale which sees grizzled cop Ma Dong-seok on the tail of a ruthless Chinese Korean gangster, played with relsih by Yoon Kye-sang. Taking place in one of Incheon Airport’s bathrooms, Dong-seok finally catches up with Kye-sang after spending most of the movie attempting to hunt him down, and when the two face off it doesn’t disappoint.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) – Tom Cruise and Henry Cavill find out the hard way that stuntman Liang Yang isn’t one to stay unconcious for long, in a sequence that could well be argued to be the action highlight of the 6th entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Say what you want about Tom Cruise, but he always put in 100% when it comes to both his acting and his action performance, and this throwdown is the proof.

The Raid 2 (2014) – We’ve all been there, you retreat to a toilet cubicle for some quiet time and to gather your thoughts, only to be bothered by an unruly mob furiously beating down the door and looking for blood. Such was the scenario Iko Uwais finds himself in during an early scene in The Raid 2, one of the first sequences that answered the question of if the sequel was going to be as brutal as the original. After watching this fight, the answer was a clear yes.

Non-Stop (2014) – This one takes the award for staging the whole fight within the confines of an inflight bathroom. While most scenes involving 2 people in a bathroom 30,000 feet in the air usually involve a clumsy attempt to join the mile high club, here Liam Neeson stars as an air marshal, and in this particular scene confronts Anson Mount suspecting him to be a terrorist. What goes down may involve some awkward fumbling, but it’s definitely not of the friendly variety.

Death Grip (2012) – The StuntPeople’s Eric Jacobus’ sophomore full length feature in the directors chair constantly subverted audiences expecatations in unique and innovative ways, and the bathroom fight scene is a perfect example. When a priceless coin falls into an overly sensitive motion sensored toilet, the ensuing real time slow motion fight scene between Jacobus and Johnny Yong Bosch is a masterpiece of creativity and comic timing.

The Man from Nowhere (2010) – There’s not many Korean film fans out there that haven’t seen The Man from Nowhere, and in this pivotal scene Won Bin’s attempts to track down his kidnapped neighbors daughter finally bring him face to face with those responsible. What he didn’t count on was that they include a Vietnamese enforcer, played by Thai actor Thanayong Wongtrakul, who proves to be a worthy match for Won Bin’s special forces training.

Ninja Assassin (2009) – For some reason this fun and incredibly blood drenched ninja flick got a lot of hate when it was first released, but nobody can deny that the action is freqeuntly brutal. Here a teenage version of our main character, played by Joon Lee, is forced to test out his skills by retrieving a gold watch from a burly British Kingpin, played by Stephen Marcus. The ensuing brawl makes striking use of the red on white color palette, and is viciously entertaining to watch.

Blood and Bone (2009) – Arguably the best showcase for the skills of Michael Jai White, this scene in the prison bathroom establishes Jai White’s no nonsense demeanor from the get go, as he’s confronted by the late Kimbo Slice and his gang. Making quick work of 8 punks in little more than 20 seconds, what the confrontation lacks in length, is more than made up for by the impression it leaves that this guy is not someone to be messed with.

Casino Royale (2006) – If audiences were questioning how James Bond could possilbly be made relevant for a modern audience, then the opening of Casino Royale delivered the answer. Shot in the style of a film noir, new 007 Daniel Craig recalls how he made his first kill, and you guessed it – he made it in a bathroom. The black and white lensing does nothing to take away from the impact of the hard hitting scene, and arguably the subsequent entries have been struggling to match the intensity shown here ever since.

Mercenary for Justice (2006) – Somehow lists like these wouldn’t feel complete without an appearance from Steven Seagal, and sure enough, he secured his entry with the 2006 DTV feature Mercenary for Justice. At this point his career was already in the doldrums, however scenes like this show he was still capable of displaying that good old Seagal brutality when he wanted to. Plus, is there another movie where a character refers to Seagal as a ”poop hole”?

Unleashed (2005) – I’ll be controversal and say that some of Jet Li’s best grounded fight scenes in a contemporary setting are from his English languge flicks, and this is one of the best. With choreography handled by Yuen Wo Ping, this tussle (in an unexpecting residents bathroom) against stuntman Mike Lambert makes superb use of the confined space, and is staged in such a way that you can feel every blow. Both Li and Lambert compliment each others movements well, resutling in the perfect screen fight.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) – T3 may have lost the seriousness of the first 2, opting for a more tongue-in-cheeck approach, however it still delivered some fantastic action sequences in that era just before CGI started to take over. Here Arnie takes on the new T-X, played by Kristanna Loken (sadly now reduced to appearing in Alexandar Nevsky flicks), and their ensuing battle rips through a sleek corporate bathroom in the process. Special mention goes to the usage of a urinal as a baseball bat.

The Matrix (1999) – Yuen Wo Ping makes his second appearance on the list, this time for his work on the movie that essenitially redefined the Hollywood action movie aesthetic for years to come – The Matrix. Here Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus is forced into a fight with the super powered Agent Smith, played by Hugo Weaving, in the bathroom of a dusty old subway station. It’s a skillfully executed showdown, with the choreography reflecting Fishburne’s desperation against an unbeatable opponent.

True Lies (1994) – Yuen Wo Ping isn’t the only one to make two appearances, with Arnie also clocking in a second entry thanks to this bullet riddled bathroom showdown from James Cameron’s 1994 action classic True Lies. This time he’s not an unstoppable machine, but debatably still just as much of an unstoppable secret agent, and in this scene he tackles a couple of burly terrorists bare handed, all thanks to a pair of 007 inspired sunglasses.

Story of Ricky (1992) – The prison bathroom rears its head again for this scene, in Lam Nai Choi’s notorious splatterfest, adapted from the Japanese manga. As the new prisoner on the block, Fan Siu Wong finds himself targeted by the resident tough guys, who’s introduction is a punch to the face that sends him (literally) flying across the room. Clearly unaware of Siu Wong’s powers, his attackers soon regret their decision, with one in particular being on the receiving end of the most literal gut punch ever put onscreen.

The Turd –

Rocky Handsome (2016) – When it comes to shameless remakes, nobody does it quite like Bollywood does it. In 2016 director Nishikant Kamat remade the Korean classic The Man from Nowhere, casting John Abraham in Won Bin’s role, and Kazu Patrick Tang in the role of Thanayong Wongtrakul. A souless retread of its source material, with the added influence of The Raid movies, Rocky Handsome is as fun as a poke in the eye, and the bathroom fight is a stellar showcase of how not bring an ounce of originality.