Serenity Spoilers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoMpau_B2Io
I chose this because it's Summer Glau kicking some major ass, and doing her own stunts.  The fight directors used her dance background and integrated it into the fight sequence, which we can see very clearly. Her stunt double was used in places (specifically a flip and the bit with the stairs), but Summer trained incredibly for the months leading up to shooting Serenity.

Scene: River Tam vs Bar-goers (Serenity 2005)
Actors: Summer Glau, Stuntmen
Stuntmen: All of the Stuntmen! (link to cast list http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast), Summer Glau, Bridgette Riley

In this segment of Serenity, River (the badass) has seen a commercial on the television that was encrypted and broadcasted to trigger the training she'd received through an Alliance organisation while they were playing with her brain, trying to create the perfect assassin.  She whispers, "Miranda," (Spoilers, sweetie) and then starts to tear the bar apart, only to be stopped by the safe word her brother, Simon, recites at the perfect time.

I thought this fight would be interesting to dissect, as her training is triggered (a theme Joss Wedon likes to use, as seen with Mellie in Dollhouse, season one), and she doesn't have a conscious mind around her fighting.  If someone moves near her, she attacks, as seen when the couple is running up the stairs.  When Jayne, her comrade, tries to stop her, she simply attacks back, not giving a second thought as to whom she's whacked upside the head with a serving platter.  The only person she hesitates to attack is her Captain, Mal (but there are reasons and theories behind this, blah blah).  Her training would require her to attack blindly until the safe word is uttered, or until she's near death/dies. She's a living weapon, using any weapons against her to rebuttal and attack the next person.  She, herself, doesn't have motivation beyond the trigger, but the motivation behind the Operative triggering her was to track her down through broadcasting systems and security feeds, as she's incredibly valuable to the Alliance with her intelligence and all of the training, conditioning, and programming they put her through.  That was really the sole purpose of this fight, but it's done in such a way as to startle the audience and let us wonder what the hell really happened to her in the Alliance facility, and to foreshadow for more wicked butt-kicking in the end that is in her control.  (It's badass.) Mal also is brought to question Simon and River (again).

She's all about attacking, and winning.  The Alliance facility scraped out her amygdala, which in her case leaves her able to feel everything, but in the assassin trigger, leaves her feeling nothing but the need to kill and survive no matter the cost.  She's given the opportunities to not have things go her way, of being grappled and hit back, but she comes back up and keeps fighting (as per her training, blah blah blah). 

I also chose this scene over the Reaver scene at the very end, mainly because this one is primarily hand-to-hand, whereas at the end, she has Reaver weapons. Not that she doesn't ever fight with her bare fists there, but I shall refrain from a wordier digression.

An interview with Summer! http://www.summer-glau.net/pdf/03.pdf
And an interview you don't have to read! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOetTqkuNk8

I think this is definitely more of a dramatic and expressionistic fight with all of the dance elements included. It was beautifully choreographed, and the unique styling makes it incredibly enjoyable for me to observe.  Just mute and watch, and it seems almost like a dance more than a brutal fight (especially when put to music. It's quite lovely).