Stylistic Scenes of Hyper Competence
June 22, 2021 3:09 AM

I'm looking for stylishly directed scenes of extreme competence.

Some examples that come to mind are the opening scene from Baby Driver, or some of the fight scenes from Kingsman.

I suspect the majority will be fighting scenes, because of how media works, but non fighting scenes would be nice.
posted by Just this guy, y'know to Media & Arts (54 answers total) 29 users marked this as a favorite
You might need to watch the season to fully get the way it’s put together but the Mad Men carousel pitch scene comes to mind, including lens flare. :)
posted by warriorqueen at 3:25 AM on June 22, 2021


The vault robbing scene in Ocean's Eleven is fun. I watched part of the Netflix movie Silver Skates last night and the pickpocket training and execution scenes were neat.
posted by victoriab at 3:39 AM on June 22, 2021


I don’t know about the “stylishly directed” part but the “eleven pirouettes” scene from White Nights strikes me as a good example of extreme competence.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 3:44 AM on June 22, 2021


Some of the chess scenes in the Queen's Gambit fit the bill here.
posted by sir jective at 4:07 AM on June 22, 2021


In the 1996 movie Shine, the Jeffrey Rush character enters a piano competition and wins it by playing the enormously difficult 3rd Concerto by Rachmaninoff.
posted by alex1965 at 4:21 AM on June 22, 2021


The martial arts scenes in the Matrix, after the expertise has been downloaded to them.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 4:51 AM on June 22, 2021


Also don't know about stylishly directed, but towards the beginning of Morning Glory, there's a great scene in which Rachel McAdam's character is thrown into a job as a television producer and at her first morning meeting, she appears to be set up to fail. Everyone is shouting difficult questions and impossible problems at her. Suddenly, she takes charge and figures everything out with great aplomb.
posted by pangolin party at 4:56 AM on June 22, 2021


The Ok Go music video on the treadmills?
posted by aetg at 5:03 AM on June 22, 2021


I feel like there were many episodes of Sports Night that built up to a final scene of the show being broadcast that invoked everyone's competence (the newsguys, the producer, the camera folks, etc).

Sense8 had various moments when the cluster had figured out how to use their powers well and came together as a team.
posted by kokaku at 5:14 AM on June 22, 2021


The 1955 heist film Rififi, directed by Jules Dassin, has a stunning 30 minute centerpiece depicting the crime in detail, shot in near silence, without dialogue or music, reflecting extreme competence.
posted by ubiquity at 5:15 AM on June 22, 2021


Much of Michael Mann's oeuvre - Heat and Collateral in particular - can plausibly be described as "stylishly directed stories of extreme professional competence."
posted by googly at 5:18 AM on June 22, 2021


Each episode of Leverage has at least one scene of hyper competence - often Eliot's fight scenes, but just as easily tricky thefts or grifts. Cinematography varies, but a certain violin scene in Season 3 especially comes to mind.

Shadow and Bone on Netflix - I suspect we'll get more of them next season, but in the heist team's half of the plot, hyper-compentence abounds. I especially appreciated how the scenes are shot in a way that we don't need repeats to figure out what they're doing; it's not especially flashy, but very elegant.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 5:37 AM on June 22, 2021


The directing is variable, but there are a bunch of these in The West Wing. Two that spring to mind are Josh's interview with a trauma therapist in S2E10 "Noel" and this little clip that gives a flavour of S3E14 "Hartsfield's Landing": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMUFP3x-cno
posted by crocomancer at 6:12 AM on June 22, 2021


Stylishly directed scenes of hyper competence is a great summary of John Wick.
posted by bfranklin at 6:26 AM on June 22, 2021


The barn-raising scene in "Witness"?
posted by runincircles at 6:33 AM on June 22, 2021






This scene (from the otherwise forgettable Sean Connery/Catherine Zeta-Jones vehicle "Entrapment") comes to mind. I suspect other heist movies may have similar components (aka Oceans 11)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX2_LCUkhDs&ab_channel=marco0484

posted by nkknkk at 7:02 AM on June 22, 2021


“So, uh… we got a bump coming up.”
Driving lessons from Jason Bourne
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 7:02 AM on June 22, 2021


The heist scene in Le Cercle Rouge is the first thing that came to mind. Also, the heist scene in Thief.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:14 AM on June 22, 2021


Anything where Cyd Charisse or Gene Kelly dance.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 7:17 AM on June 22, 2021


The Conversation is essentially a whole movie that’s examining this idea about competence & expertise & where they get you. The opening scene where Gene Hackman’s character & his team capture the audio material - and even more, the scene back in his workshop where he’s editing & picking out what he thinks are the key lines - seem to me to be perfect examples. But (spoiler alert) it doesn’t go well.
posted by rd45 at 7:19 AM on June 22, 2021


Maybe not so stylish but the "I had no idea she was this good" scene from Broadcast News.
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:29 AM on June 22, 2021


Near the beginning of Le samourai, as Alain Delon sets up and executes a hit in near-silence.

In Sherlock's first episode, "A Study in Pink," where Sherlock explains, with flashback, how he'd known to ask Watson, "Afghanistan or Iraq?"

In X2, Magneto figures out how to break out of an apparently escape-proof plastic government prison using only a surprise slightly higher level of iron in a guard's blood, and does it with his usual dramatic flair. (Not super-gross, as it's PG-13.)

In Birds of Prey, Harley Quinn escapes most of a city suddenly trying to kill her using her power of basically being a human Warner Brothers cartoon. Her ability to adapt instantly to new situations and seize the initiative with creative "solutions" runs throughout the film, and, if you accept comic-book physics, is one of the rare convincing examples of a chaos muppet executing their "plans" skillfully.
posted by praemunire at 7:51 AM on June 22, 2021


Oh, and Cosmo doing the "Make 'Em Laugh" number in Singin' in the Rain. I'm not sure what to call what he does--stunt dancing?--but if you start paying attention to what he's doing while you're cracking up, it's ridiculous. This may be a little too corn-pone for the vibe you're going for, though.
posted by praemunire at 7:54 AM on June 22, 2021


Anything from James Kingston or Chris Akrigg
posted by flabdablet at 8:20 AM on June 22, 2021


The opening scene for Season 2, Episode 5 of The Mandalorian (no description to avoid spoilers).
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:24 AM on June 22, 2021


All of the cooking in "Big Night"
posted by thivaia at 8:30 AM on June 22, 2021


The first couple of scenes of Pushing Tin show some very competent air traffic control processing.
posted by hwyengr at 9:07 AM on June 22, 2021


Better Call Saul had some montages of Mike doing this sort of thing. The one that most immediately comes to mind is where he creates spikes from a garden hose.
posted by matildatakesovertheworld at 9:44 AM on June 22, 2021


The entirety of Spotlight.
posted by Gadarene at 9:45 AM on June 22, 2021


Michael Mann’s Thief.
posted by porn in the woods at 10:37 AM on June 22, 2021


The car chase from Bullitt -- it's got dash cam!
posted by jabes at 10:43 AM on June 22, 2021


I just watched this video of Scott Hamilton skating with Kurt Browning and others, sort of Improv Team Ice Dance/ Hockey. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Came in to recommend the Amish barn raising scene from the movie Witness, happy to see it already posted. Harrison Ford supported himself as a carpenter while becoming an actor.
posted by theora55 at 10:51 AM on June 22, 2021


I realize the heist montage has been done to death several times over, but if you want stylized on top of it, Cruella has some pretty fun ones.
posted by mykescipark at 11:23 AM on June 22, 2021


Sneakers for the various hacking scenes.

Apollo 13

The Martian

The first Keaton Batman.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:26 AM on June 22, 2021


I'm not sure if this meets your criteria or not, but I just rewatched the scene in The Devil Wears Prada wear Meryl Streep eviscerates Anne Hathaway for not caring about fashion (while simultaneously putting together an outfit for a cover shoot), and it is sublime.
posted by missrachael at 12:18 PM on June 22, 2021


Nearly everything in Easter Parade, but especially Judy Garland and Fred Astaire performing "Couple of Swells," and Ann Miller "Shakin' the Blues Away."

And literally everything in Singin' In The Rain.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:52 PM on June 22, 2021


rififi is brilliant at this
posted by PinkMoose at 1:15 PM on June 22, 2021


The entirety of Inside Man
posted by migurski at 1:34 PM on June 22, 2021


Oh! All of the cooking in Eat Drink Man Woman! It’s been on the tip of my tongue/edge of my brain since you asked this question, I slept and here it is! Wow I should rewatch that movie. I’m specifically thinking of the way he prepares the duck as being particularly impressive.
posted by Mizu at 1:56 PM on June 22, 2021


Maybe some scenes with Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel?
posted by polecat at 2:12 PM on June 22, 2021


It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is an acquired taste, but the entire episode Charlie Work is a masterpiece of looking like everything is on the verge of falling apart while the least competent character on the show elaborately keeps failure at bay for one specific event. You may need some familiarity with the characters to follow, though.
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:31 PM on June 22, 2021


Mr Robot has so many of these scenes. Lots of people being very competent, and the whole thing is stylistically really interestig.
posted by lunasol at 2:36 PM on June 22, 2021


The scenes of Julia Child cooking in "Julie and Julia." Chef's kiss!
posted by Sheydem-tants at 4:13 PM on June 22, 2021


Rosalind Russell writing the news story in His girl Friday
posted by brujita at 4:21 PM on June 22, 2021


Jeeves being Jeeves in the BBC Jeeves and Wooster serial?
posted by kristi at 9:14 PM on June 22, 2021


Mr. and Mrs. Smith has a lot of this in the action scenes, yet a quiet example is when Jane is cleaning the living room while balancing a chair on one leg.

Ronin has a couple different action scenes where the characters are in deadly shootouts or high speed chases but they’re calm and professional.
posted by Monochrome at 11:02 PM on June 22, 2021


Perhaps the stock market scene at the climax of Trading Places is an example. Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy move at a leisurely pace compared to the frenetic throng of traders.
posted by Monochrome at 11:16 PM on June 22, 2021


A funny winking-at-the-audience version could be the virus scene in Office Space. The floppy disk handoff is very simple but it’s shot like an earth-shattering accomplishment.
posted by Monochrome at 11:37 PM on June 22, 2021


Seconding Mike's activities in Better Call Saul. Specifically, there is a fantastic burglary scene in S1E7 ("Bingo") that I still remember years later. But I'd encourage you to watch the preceding six episodes to really get the setup!

Another scene that stands out in my mind for its sheer tension is from Kurosawa's Dersu Uzala, in which the eponymous character and his friend are stranded on an open prairie as a Siberian blizzard bears down on them. They have only a couple of minutes to build an emergency shelter out of prairie grass before visibility drops to zero and they both freeze to death. It's an unexpected and amazing scene.
posted by cubeb at 5:20 AM on June 23, 2021


The Hidden Figures scene where Katharine Johnson, as played by Taraji P. Henson, handily computes a go/no-go calculation on a blackboard in front of a room full of skeptical NASA guys?
posted by bz at 1:55 PM on June 23, 2021


I am not sure if this is what you had in mind, but when I want to watch beautiful filmed scenes of incredible competence at everything from farming to cooking to making furniture and clothing from complete scratch, I check out Li Ziqi's YouTube channel.
posted by helloimjennsco at 6:42 AM on June 24, 2021


not sure how this was overlooked:

TV Tropes -- Competence Porn
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:12 PM on July 12, 2021


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