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— by Ben Cosgrove
Who doesn't like a good onscreen fight? Fists, guns, knives, chairs, dill pickle spears — whatever the weaponry, there's something gratifying about seeing two, 10 or 1,000 motivated enemies working out their issues together in utterly violent, well-choreographed harmony. Here, then, is this year's crop of nominees in the 2005 MTV Movie Awards' Best Fight category, featuring polyester-clad San Diego dorks, impossibly graceful martial-arts masters, two beautiful blond assassins and a couple of classical Mediterranean bad boys. En garde!
THE NOMINEES
 Battle of the News Teams: "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy"
To call this maelstrom of goofiness a "battle" is a bit like calling Ron Burgundy a "newscaster": technically accurate, but far short of the grander, more complex truth. With a pitch-perfect cameo by Tim Robbins as the tweedy PBS nerd, this is, hands down, the finest depiction of warfare between people who read other people's writing for a living that we're ever likely to see.
Daryl Hannah vs. Uma Thurman: "Kill Bill Vol. 2"
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When two Amazons (one sporting an eye patch) in a trailer home get down to it, directed by Tarantino and choreographed by Woo-ping Yuen — the same fellow who choreographed the fight scenes in "The Matrix" (incidentally, the 2000 winner for Best Fight) — well, it's simply time to sit back, hold tight and enjoy. It just doesn't get much better than this.
Brad Pitt vs. Eric Bana: "Troy"
No stunt doubles, no helmets, no hidden wires to lift Achilles (Pitt) off the ground so that he can soar toward and slash at Hector (Bana). Just two studs who trained like hell for more than a few months for this one scene — and nailed it, by Jove.
Ziyi Zhang vs. the Emperor's Guards: "House of Flying Daggers"
First seen by most of her now-innumerable American fans in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Ziyi Zhang has been acting and fighting in movies for years now — but is not formally trained in any of the martial arts. Could have fooled us. Not that it really matters, as long as she keeps doing that ass-kicking voodoo that she does so well.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2004
Uma Thurman vs. Chiaki Kuriyama: "Kill Bill Vol. 1"
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Uma again, this time battling with one of the wildest actresses to come out of Japan in a long while. A good catfight — if the two cats are a leopard and a cheetah, and each one could eat your head for breakfast without blinking.
2003
Yoda vs. Christopher Lee: "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones"
Either you've already seen this and you know why it's a big deal, or you haven't and you need to get your act together. Like, now.
2002
Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan vs. the Hong Kong Gang: "Rush Hour 2"
One of the better odd-couple teams to come along in years, Tucker and Chan are like Abbott and Costello, but much better dressed and with sex appeal.
2001
Ziyi Zhang vs. the Entire Bar: "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
Ang Lee's beautiful homage to — actually, we have no idea what it's an homage to. But it's a great flick, and this fight is only one of many mind-blowing reasons why.
2000
Keanu Reeves vs. Laurence Fishburne: "The Matrix"
Morpheus and Neo. Fishburne and Keanu. Feet and fists flying and some groovy mumbo-jumbo from Laurence's character about how Neo should just relax and stop thinking so much — just breathe, dude. Advice we'd all do well to heed.
The 2005 MTV Movie Awards, hosted by Jimmy Fallon, airs on Thursday, June 9 at 8:30 p.m. ET. Be sure the catch the MTV News pre-show at 8 p.m.
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Photos: Universal Studios
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