Pain don’t hurt, but these punches do: 13 of cinema’s most brutal punches in the face

With the release of Amazon’s MMA-inspired remake of Road House, The A.V. Club is looking at the most brutal, compelling, and consequential punches to the face in cinema. Now, we know what you’re thinking: isn’t Road House known for its throat rips? Yes, and here’s a quick ranking of throat-rip movies: 1) Road House, 2) MacGruber, and 3) Rambo. But throat rips or no throat rips, the punch is still the ace up any action hero’s sleeve and is no doubt an essential part of the Road House experience. For some, it’s even more violent than a throat rip, as evidenced by some of the bloodier jabs in this collection.

Of course, every list is always incomplete. There’s always another sucker punch on the horizon. Nevertheless, this is a great place to start if one wants to get their fill of knuckle-on-jaw action, so get out a bag of frozen peas and prepare to ice that shiner down.

Neo’s slow-motion knockout - The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

The Matrix sequels didn’t always give fans what they wanted, but they did give them what they needed. And what’s a thorough deconstruction of Western storytelling cliches and archetypes without a slow-motion punch to the jaw? Bullet time helped . But when they did weaponize their slo-mo innovations, as in rain-soaked climactic match-up, it hit differently. Neo (Keanu Reeves) cuts through the rain one drop at a time as he leaves a four-knuckle imprint on the jaw of Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving). For a series built on special effects wizardry and martial arts flair, Neo’s final punch fuses both in one bone-shattering clip. Like the best of The Matrix, it is graceful and painful in all the right ways.