Each of them fights in a different, animal-based style — Scorpion, Toad, etc. What should be a simple mission turns into a quagmire of intrigue, with plots within plots and dozens of characters conspiring to off each other in imaginative and painful ways.
He holds a town hostage with his reign of fear, but four of his crippled victims train with a wise master in an effort to eliminate the tyrant. This he duly does, and all the glorious mayhem that Lui is so good at is unleashed.
Goofy comedy and incredible fight scenes go hand in hand in this enjoyable romp. Yet another Shaolin Temple vs. Qing Dynasty epic, and yet another film directed by one-man movie industry Chang Cheh. Sharing much of the screen is Zhang Ziyi in not only her best performance but perhaps one of the best on this whole list. Just wait until you see him and Ziyi exchange glances between punches.
Beginning with an opening brawl in the rain and into the smoky rooms of a brothel, Leung throws down in swift, kinetic fights, made all the more stunning thanks to the Oscar-nominated cinematography of Philippe Le Sourd.
A sequence wherein Ziyi steps onto a train platform, dressed in a fur coat, and proceeds to fight with Zhang Jin is cinema at a very special kind of peak. Much in the style of Crouching Tiger , Hero from director Zhang Yimou blends stirring drama with a romanticized version of ancient China — filled with high-flying acrobatics. But Yimou delivers on the spectacle with a far larger sense of grandeur, blending fast-paced fights from performers Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Zhang Ziyi, Tony Leung, and Maggie Cheung , and uses visual effects and sublime choreography to make them all feel larger than life.
Working with cinematographer Christopher Doyle , Yimou breaks up his movie into color-coded acts, making scenes look uniquely gorgeous. A wuxia film that feels truly timeless, the fantastic visuals and fight choreography blends with compelling drama and ample amount of sexiness to weave a stunning, layered tale that never fails to dazzle.
Did you walk away from Shang-Chi loving the array of fantastical creatures, whether they be adorable winged dog things or even massive soul suckers? In a polar opposite role from her Assassin work, Shun Qi is the resident badass who, like Shang-Chi, has her own set of magical, demon-busting rings.
This delightfully madcap flick tells the story of Sing Chow , a deadbeat trying and failing to join the Axe Gang, while kung fu masters secretly existing in a poor apartment complex fight off the gang. But, really, the plot feels like an afterthought, because this movie is so deeply, hilariously bananas. Intense, but many teens will be able to handle it. Kung Fu Hustle. Rowdy martial arts comedy.
Older teens and up. Master Z: Ip Man Legacy. Slick, exciting, but very violent martial arts movie. Superhero vampire film has extreme violence, gore, language.
The Raid: Redemption. The Raid 2. Amazing fights, brutal violence in undercover cop tale. Incredibly violent samurai movie with epic battle scene. Kill Bill: Vol. Visually striking, but also very violent.
Martial arts and melodrama -- not for children. Other great lists from our editors Best Action Movies for Kids. Best Action Games for Kids.
Best International Films for Kids. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print. Personalize your media recommendations. How old is your kid? Army rather than go to prison and finds himself fighting off ninjas on a base in the Philippines. It was followed by four sequels and an unrelated movie called American Samurai from the same director because hey, why the hell not. It feels like the Full House of martial arts films, chock full of positivity, smiling, day-glo colors and life-lessons galore.
The incredibly oily, metrosexual villain Silverio is particularly memorable—I love that the thing to send him into a rage in the final battle is having part of his luxurious, flowing hair cut off by a sword swipe. First is the odd form of kung fu that the hero learns, which takes its cues from the movements of Xiangqi, also called Chinese chess.
Apparently was the year big puffy guys practicing karate won over the hearts of America. A massive box office success, but an equally massive critical failure, Hard To Kill basically solidified Steven Seagal as an inexplicable Hollywood goldmine.
There is absolutely nothing impressive about Steven Seagal as an actor, let alone as a martial artist—there is only weirdness. Relentless, excessive weirdness. And yet—watchability. And one-liners. So many one-liners. A 3D spectacle down to its fat nuts and bolts, Tai Chi Zero recognizes no bounds, no lines, and no walls preventing it from being anything—and everything—it wants to be. A breathless mess of steampunk, underground comics, slapstick, farce, historical romance, and top hats, all duct-taped to a restless skeleton of fantasy cinema, Tai Chi Zero has its precisely placed thumbs in pretty much every proverbial pie.
Stay tuned: his Kickboxer reboot emerges later this year. Set in an alternate universe where the Three Stooges were down-on-their-luck monks and kung fu nothing more than a silly distraction from more lucrative adult matters, Shaolin Soccer somehow—between impromptu dance numbers, confusing body dynamics, self-help homilies, a whole lot of hilarious screaming, and an utter commitment to CGI—tells a warm-hearted tale about how martial arts is so much more than a way to kick your enemies in the face really hard.
As such, Stephen Chow shines, suffusing every shot and every bit of visual minutiae with the unbridled excitement of both those who make action flicks and those who adoringly watch them. Night Shyamalan attempted with The Last Airbender and then failed. This is the first film on the list both directed by prolific kung fu auteur Chang Cheh and starring the Venom Mob , but there will be several more.
Sword Stained With Royal Blood is one of their minor classics, but displays many of the classic trademarks, with beautifully choreographed action sequences, wonderful athleticism and a mix of different physical styles. Expect flying swords and acrobatics galore. As much romance as martial arts, The Bride With White Hair is nonetheless filled with ultra-stylized, gory, head-scratching mayhem.
In some sense, it has a Romeo and Juliet tinge of doomed lovers, if those lovers had the ability to fly and attack people with prehensile hair.
The title character is a young woman who undergoes a terrible transformation when rejected by her lover, using her newfound powers to seek out those who have wronged her. The whole thing is shot in a very gauzy style with cold colors and odd, unnatural lighting that makes it feel like an especially vivid nightmare.
In Equilibrium , Taye Diggs plays a future fascist law enforcement officer named Brandt, and near the climax of the film, Brandt gets his face cut off. But also like his face, the fact that I just gave away a meaty part of the climax should be easily disconnected from whether or not you should still watch Equilibrium. Miyagi, the sensei who trains the bullied Daniel LaRusso in martial arts. It was the sort of feature that defined karate to an entire generation of young kids and must have inspired countless dojo openings and yellow belt ceremonies.
The Cave of Silken Web is technically supposed to be the latter, but wow, is it surreal to watch. The villains are spider demons who take the guise of attractive women and scheme to achieve eternal life by eating the pure flesh of the monk.
Like many other Shaw Brothers films of the period, the production values are actually pretty high and the color photography really pops. A hilariously sincere American cheese-fest, Best of the Best is essentially Cool Runnings , except the stakes are a life-and-death martial arts tournament against that evil foreign superpower we all love so much: Korea. The ending in particular is pure schmaltz: Rather than give in to hate and kill his opponent in the ring, our hero lets Team Korea win to keep his honor.
And then the Koreans apologize, hand the Americans their medals, and everyone hugs it out. With James Earl Jones as the coach who yells stuff! By , Jackie Chan was fairly well known to Hong Kong audiences as an ascendant performer who, along with the likes of Sammo Hung, was introducing a new dimension of comedic martial arts films. An absolutely superior athlete and stunt coordinator, he had already starred in more traditional kung fu comedies such as the original Drunken Master , and was now experimenting with expanding his stunt action sequences in a period setting.
Jason Scott Lee is inherently likable as Bruce, in a story that spans from his childhood to his time in the United States and breakthrough on American television in The Green Hornet. As a style icon and source of one-liners , few can compare. Portrayed by director Lo Lieh, he projects such a perfect sense of menace and sheer invincibility that Liu has to train in multiple new and inventive styles to even stand a chance.
Kung fu movies can sometimes come off as weirdly compartmentalized between humor and really dramatic, serious action. When she commits suicide in an attempt to end the fighting and keep everyone safe, they end up in an epic, knock-down, drag-out kung fu battle that ends with a rather spectacular finishing move—a pro wrestling-style giant swing.
Many of the themes are the same, though—killers for hire, deception, organized crime and revelations about who is really working for whom. Last Hurrah For Chivalry is definitely a film that leans on its stuntwork and choreography rather than any story of particular interest, but lovers of stage combat will certainly appreciate the fast and furious swordplay. Stephen Chow is probably the biggest name in martial arts comedy since the days of Sammo Hung, and Kung Fu Hustle will likely remain one of his most well-regarded films both as a director and performer.
The action has no basis in reality, being closer to a real-world depiction of Looney Tune physics. The plot revolves around two warring clans: the honorable Shaolin fighters and the deplorable Wu Tangs, who use seemingly magical throwing knives that bend the hell out of the laws of aerodynamics.
A convoluted series of alliances and allegiances are forged and tested, leading to a final fight that goes full Hamlet and kills pretty much everybody. Responsible for first bringing the so-called jiangshi subgenre into vogue, Mr. Oh, and you can repel them by holding your breath.
The movie is a cinematic fever dream, which a few seconds of the trailer, with its flying heads and hopping vampires , should make abundantly clear. Imagine him a gruffer cousin to Jean-Claude Van Damme, just as given to finding himself shirtless, but more apt to preserve his mopey loner status—at least until some beautiful upstart maiden enters his life and throws herself at him.
There are tomes to be written and classes to be taught on the perplexing existence of Bloodsport , but perhaps the film is best summarized in one moment: the infamous Scream. Because in these 40 seconds or so, the heart and soul of Bloodsport is bared with little concern for taste, or purpose, or respect for the physically binding laws of reality—in this moment is a burgeoning movie star channeling his best attributes astounding muscles; years of suppressed rage; the juxtaposition of grace and violence that is his well-oiled and cleanly shaven corporeal form to make a go at real-live Hollywood acting.
Schwarzenegger and Stallone? These were beefy mooks that could believably be action stars. Chiba appears in the film in a supporting role instead of as his Terry Tsurugi character from the first two films, but the actual star of the show is Sue Shiomi as Tina, a young woman searching for her missing brother, a drug agent who goes missing while investigating a criminal organization.
All of the classical elements are there—an obnoxious pupil who becomes a fighting machine. A team of literally animal-based martial artists with varying styles. And a secret technique that the hero needs to learn in order to conquer that villain. If you like classical martial arts filmmaking, Kung Fu Panda is probably the most faithful animated twist on the genre that anyone has pulled off so far.
Jet Li was a Hong Kong superstar who came across the sea to America, likely with hopes of a Jackie Chan-like career trajectory in his mind. Kiss of the Dragon brought things back down to Earth a bit, in a John Woo-style feature starring Li as a Chinese intelligence agent hunting for a drug lord in Paris.
The rest of the action is fast-paced and violent, mixing gunplay and a greater than average prevalence of broken necks. Another film directed by Sammo Hung, Prodigal Son reins in the comedy for once to present a unique story about privileged children and the price of true knowledge. Yuen Biao stars as Chang, the son of a wealthy man who believes himself to be a kung fu master.
However, because he lacks any real skill, his father has clandestinely been bribing all of his opponents to lose. When the ruse is revealed, Chang must join up with a traveling circus troupe and its Wing Chun-employing leader to learn true kung fu. With that said, the guy with no eyebrows still sort of creeps me out. Nearly five years in gestation, The Raid 2 feels like the exact kind of movie that Gareth Evans has always dreamed of making.
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