For even the most devoted film fans, martial arts cinema can seem like a daunting world to penetrate. Sure, the starting points are well-known: Enter the Dragon, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Fist of Legend, a handful of Jackie Chan flicks. Starting in the 1970s, the Hong Kong film industry churned out thousands of movies full of mind-bending action scenes and choreographed fight sequences. Sifting out the must-sees can be particularly difficult – and not just because many of them are hard to actually find. More than other genres, martial arts movies are not differentiated not by plotlines but the visual details and physical skills of the stars.
So here are the 20 best martial arts movies ever made.