1. Ip Man (2008)
The fight scenes in Ip Man are so devastatingly awesome, you’ll want to start training in Wing Chun as soon as the credits roll. Bruce Lee’s mentor, as played by martial arts great Donnie Yen, is kind and soft-spoken. He’s also fully capable of dismantling a man with his bare hands if he’s given a reason. What makes Ip Man especially interesting as a martial arts movie is the combination of top-tier fight scenes and an historical lens that shows us what life was like in 1930’s Southern China.
2. Hero (2002)
The first thing you’ll notice about the martial arts film Hero is the sheer beauty of Zhang Yimou’s direction—not only in the fight scenes choreographed by Cai Li, Wei Dong, and Jack Wai-Leung, but also in the painterly aesthetic. This is an amazing movie. Yimou is a master, as he’s demonstrated throughout his career, but Hero stands out even among classics like Raise the Red Lantern.
3. Enter the Dragon
Apart from Game of Death, which was technically complete but only using actual cardboard cutouts and footage of Bruce Lee’s actual funeral, there is not a single film in his filmography whose inclusion would not be justified. But Enter the Dragon, Bruce Lee’s last full-length martial arts film before his death in 1973, is easily the best chapter in an all-too-short life. This film embodies Lee’s philosophy of life better than most, and the fight scenes remain the stuff of legends 50 years after its release.RELATED:
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4. Ong-Bak (2003)
Some of the kicks in Ong-Bak land so hard that you’ll check your own jaw to make sure it’s still intact. Tony Jaa has a way of using his whole body like a fulcrum and striking with enough force to shatter his audience’s jaws. The film, which on release gave Muay Thai a showcase on an international stage, remains one of Jaa’s standout projects, and in 2003 marked him as a bright new star in martial arts movies.
5. Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)
“French Film” tends to evoke thoughts of passionate romance and avant-garde pictures that don’t live up to our expectations of what “cinema” can be. (Also: Baguettes.) “Martial arts” probably doesn’t immediately come to mind. Brotherhood of the Wolf isn’t a martial arts movie, but it’s not a martial arts movie either, so who cares? If you haven’t seen it yet, trust us: it’s like nothing you’ve seen before: it combines a strange French story, cool practical effects, Mark Dacascos’s finest hour and the double whammy of Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel, a pair of unreasonably attractive actors who consolidate the genre elements of Christophe Gance with their ardor.
6. 13 Assassins (2010)
Intrigue and strategy, a David vs. Goliath theme, and amazing battles make 13 Assassins a treat for samurai fans, Takashi Miike fans, and heck, movie lovers in general. There’s a lot of scope here that supports the film’s action scenes, plus enough of Miike’s personality as a provocateur to distinguish his approach to the material from Eiichi Kudo’s original 1963 take on the Japanese story. 13 Assassins is loosely – very, very loosely – based on a true story, but that doesn’t really matter considering the extraordinary payoff of Miike’s development in a film that can be considered one of the best martial arts films ever made.
7. The Man From Nowhere (2010)
Sometimes it can be difficult to determine what is a “real” martial arts movie and what is not. What if most of the action involves gunplay, but is supplemented by martial arts? Nowhere Man walks that fine line, but we’re including it on this list for two good reasons: 1) it’s ridiculously cool and 2) the fight scene with the eyeball in a jar. That’s all we’ll say.
8. Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
The best martial arts films don’t always have to be dead serious. To be honest, they don’t have to be serious at all. (See: Jackie Chan. More later.) Kung Fu Hustle is not a Bruce Lee biopic, but Stephen Chow’s personal wish-fulfillment project, an opportunity to play his version of Lee’s character through the lens of his own filmmaking. This is absurd. It’s funny. Sometimes his cruelty is shocking. But it’s ultimately touching. Kung Fu Hustle’s combination of emotion, thrilling action and love of martial arts cinema is irresistible, not to mention Chow’s charm as a star.RELATED:
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9. Once Upon a Time in China (1991)
The first entry in Tsui Hark’s Once Upon a Time in China series served as Jet Li’s introduction to the world in 1991 and still serves that purpose today. There’s a reason the martial arts movie and Lee survive. With a running time of approximately 134 minutes, Once Upon a Time in China requires not only exemplary performances from its star, but also dramatic chops to maintain the integrity of the story between fights. Lee more than delivers. He’s shining.
10. Kill Bill (2003)
How much do you like Kill Bill Vol. Quentin Tarantino’s filmmaking and meticulous attention to detail are always impressive, even when he’s not at his best, and his skill in casting matches his screenwriting skills. Perhaps this film will be remembered more by Uma Thurman than by Tarantino, or even by David Carradine as the charismatic, soft-spoken, good-natured Bill. Either way, it is considered one of the best martial arts films.
11. Iron Monkey (1993)
Think of the Iron Monkey as Robin Hood without the tights. An unknown hero steals from the rich, but when thugs stand in his way, he hits their asses with his fists instead of a bow and arrow. It’s a bit simplistic, but these basic dynamics provide The Iron Monkey with its narrative structure. Iron Monkey is directed by Yuen Woo-Ping, the man responsible for the fights in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and The Matrix, and again stars Donnie Yen, who, frankly, appears in many of the best martial arts movies you can see. could probably make an entire list consisting solely of Yen movies.
12. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a martial arts film whose prestige is well justified. Ang Lee doesn’t bother making films that are simply visually stunning, and the fairytale element here allows him to reach heights that most of his other films cannot due to their genre. Case in point: tree control.
13. The Legend of Drunken Master (1994)
Like Bruce Lee, almost everything Jackie Chan did in his life can be included on this list (provided you add the ban on the number of films he made in the US). Police Story movies work; they show him at his best as the combination martial artist and silent film comedian he aspires to be. But Legend of the Drunken Master features some of the most daring and entertaining fights known in martial arts films, and watching Chan play Blotto is always a good time.
14. Yes, Madam (1985)
Among the Foxes, Chans and Yens, it’s easy to miss the Yeohs, Chengs and Rothrocks. So here’s Corey Yuen’s Yes Madam, where Michelle Yeoh (pre-Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Cynthia Rothrock team up to track down microfilm filled with evidence of a criminal gang’s many atrocities. The final fight scene here should be considered as legendary as any of the best martial arts films starring the Liz, Chains or Yens.RELATED:
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15. The Raid: Redemption (2011)
From the land that gave us Matthew Rhys, rarity and spelling with too many digraphs, comes Gareth Evans, an unfailingly gentlemanly type whose latent bloodlust inspired a niche of ultra-violent martial arts in the 2010s. It’s a miracle, and we don’t say this lightly, that no one died making Evans’ film. (For now.) This is more the case with the sequel The Raid: Redemption, but the sheer brutality of that film’s fighting is still shocking, even nearly 10 years after the worst distributor on Earth, Sony Pictures Classic, unceremoniously dumped it to cinemas at the end of March. .
16. Come Drink With Me (1966)
“Come Have a Drink with Me” doesn’t get enough love and breaks down just as badly. (It’s also half the length of the second and 20 minutes of the first. It’s not the best approach to ranking or prioritizing films, but not everyone can instantly carve out 3 hours even for a film as good as A Touch of Cinema). Zen.) Come Have a Drink with Me is a film in which Hu reinforced the aesthetics of his action scenes by making them dance-like. Each move packs a punch, but there’s a grace and anti-realism to them that has remained a martial arts standard for decades.
17. The Matrix (1999)
Another movie where we must ask: Does this count as a martial arts movie, or is it something else? Whatever it is, it really is something else. You know The Matrix. If you grew up in the 1990s, it’s one of the most significant pop cultural moments of its era, a watershed moment for blockbuster tentpoles that’s been copied and never replicated since hitting theaters and changing the movies as we know them.
18. Zatoichi’s Flashing Sword (1964)
If you like Apple TV+’s post-apocalyptic series See, where the blind fight the blind, do yourself a favor and check out the many Zatoichi films streaming on the Criterion Channel. You won’t be disappointed. You especially won’t be disappointed if you start with this one, which not only showcases the star power of Japanese icon Shintaro Katsu (the man’s comic timing is impeccable) but also includes the ultimate chambara: martial arts fight scene footage. in the dark, illuminated by a candle balancing on Shikomizue Katsu.
19. Furie (2019)
Don’t come between a mother and her kid. Especially don’t come between a mother and her kid if the mother was, at one point in her life, a merciless gangster, and if she can, at this point in her life, still turn your bones to powder with a flick of her wrist. Vietnamese director Lê Văn Kiệt’s Furie dropped in 2019 and was immediately overlooked by all but its core audience; this is a “shame,” but also a “crime,” because movies like Furie (read: martial arts movies starring women) don’t come along often even today, and Kiệt’s lead, Veronica Ngo, is genuinely tougher than many of her contemporaries to boot. Not only is a modern classic in the genre, it might just be one of the best martial arts movies around.
20. The Night Comes For Us (2018)
Remember Gareth Evans? The Night Comes For Us isn’t his movie; it’s the work of Timo Tjahjanto, an Indonesian filmmaker and utter madman who has collaborated with Evans here and there throughout his career (most famously on “Safe Haven,” their contribution to the 2013 horror omnibus V/H/S/2). But The Night Comes For Us belongs to the same family as the Raid films, and even features two of that film’s stars – Iko Uwais and Joe Taslim, whose Mortal Kombat ‘21 co-stars uniformly cited as “too fast” for the camera – in lead roles. Tjahjanto ups the ante on Evans in terms of brutality; the martial arts fights are stellar, but they’re gory on a grindhouse slasher level, too.RELATED:
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