“Live Free or Die Harder” Bruce Willis brings down a chopper with his car! This was crunching comic-book mayhem at its most delicious: you laugh and gasp at the same time.
“Eastern Promises” A naked Viggo Mortensen, a bath house, and a Russian mobster with a knife: David Cronenberg staged the most original, terrifying fight scene in eons. Ouch!
“Exiled” One great balletic bloodbath after another in Johnny To’s Hong Kong gangster epic. Five assassins unload their arsenals at each other in a cramped apartment-and then sit down to reminisce about the good old days.
“Smokin’ Aces” Gun-toting lesbians, neo-Nazi punks and a blood-stained elevator: decadent, bravura carnage so over the top it’s irresistible.
“We Own the Night” This moody crime story had the year’s most nerve-wracking car chase, tautly staged in a heavy rainstorm, and queasily real.
“Grindhouse” The dueling cars in Quentin Tarantino’s “Death Proof.” No CGI here, just awesome stunt work as Zoe Bell hangs on to the hood for dear life. Bravo.
