Great Martial Arts Films

[Custard]

I'm quite the novice in this area of cinema. I've seen Enter The Dragon and The Big Boss, both pretty ace.

I've seen and loved both Raid films, and enjoyed Iko Uwais in his other films too, such as Headshot and Merantau. He's pretty much the most exciting action star in the world for me right now.

I've enjoyed Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. And erm...The Karate Kid films.

And, well, that's about it!

Any recommendations for some great films with the martial arts?

[Custard]

Tell a lie, I've seen Ong Bak and the first Ip Man too. Both excellent

[bgmnts]

Anything by Shaw Brothers.


Crippled Avengers, Five Venoms, Five Elements Ninja, Avenging Eagle, Five Shaolin Masters etc etc.


Proper old school martial arts fun. Stupid sound effects for any piece of movement, stupid plots, amazing choreography.

But yeah modern stuff hard to go wrong with Chow Yun Fat or Donnie Yen films. Hitman with Jet Li is a brilliant martial arts film too.

Oh and The Raid as well.

[chveik]

Tsui Hark's films are great: especially The Blade, Seven Swords, Legend of Zu and the Once Upon A Time In China series.
Zhang Yimou is also very good, you should check out Hero and Curse of the Golden Flower.

[phantom_power]

Fist of Legend with Jet Li is fucking amazing

Jackie Chan's stuff from when he was good like Project A and Meals on Wheels is also worth a go

[zomgmouse]

Of those not mentioned:

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is really top notch and it gets into some cool training sequences without getting boring.
Mr. Vampire for comedy horror martial arts.

[greenman]

For more traditional kung fu stuff I still find Sammo Hung's films to be the best...

Warriors Two
The Magnificent Butcher
Spooky Encounters
Prodigal Son
The Victim

A bit less clichéd/po faced than a lot of shaw brothers stuff plus the action tended to be faster and more inventive.

[Default to the negative]

Gonna use this thread to ask a question.

Back in the nineties, Channel 4 used to run martial arts films in the midnight/small hours slot. They would focus a Chinese martial artist and play a bunch of his films in succession, before moving onto another. I remember they showcased this one guy, he was a sort of lithe effeminate fella who specialised in using a staff. His whole shtick was that he minced around and acted like, well, like a fairy, but would then surprise his enemies by bringing out his staff skills. He was pretty good.

I've never been able to find out who this actor was. I've googled around and I just can't seem to identify him. Anyone know who he is?

[sevendaughters]

John Wick and the sequel have some surprisingly realistic judo scenes. A twitter friend of mine, a second dan black belt in judo, loves it.

[ASFTSN]

For Jackie Chan films, the second Drunken Master Film is jaw-dropping.  And has hilariously 'British' bad guys.

[bgmnts]

For Jackie Chan films, the second Drunken Master Film is jaw-dropping.  And has hilariously 'British' bad guys.

Is that the one where it starts out on a packed train?

[Sin Agog]

If you want a demented dark fantasy Kung Fu film (and you do), The Bride With White Hair is a bit of a favourite of mine, even if I haven't seen it in years.

Also, my favourite Shaw Bros film is the least Shaw-like one they did, and easily their strangest, The Boxer's Omen.

[Shit Good Nose]

If you want a demented dark fantasy Kung Fu film (and you do), The Bride With White Hair is a bit of a favourite of mine, even if I haven't seen it in years.

Add to that the Chinese Ghost Story and Mr Vampire film series', Zu Warriors From the Magic Mountain, and Last Hero In China.


The problem with a lot of the Shaw Brothers films - particularly those from what is generally considered to be their peak period - is that once you've seen one of them, you've seen most of them.  They also tend to feature the more traditional martial arts rather than the Peking Opera influenced stuff that was a feature of Golden Harvest's films, the latter being far more cinematic whilst the traditional stuff looks very staid in comparison.

But yeah - pretty much every Jackie Chan film from Snake In the Eagle's Shadow, up to and including First Strike, is worth a go, especially the ones that also featured Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung (best of those being Dragons Forever and the two Project A films).  And Yuen and Sammo did a load of good stuff too - Prodigal Son, Iceman Cometh, Knockabout, Magnificent Butcher, Millionaire's Express, etc.  In fact, it's not a martial arts film, but Yuen Biao starred in probably THE best Hong Kong neo-noir film ever made - the superb On the Run.  An absolutely corking film by anyone's standards.

Liu Chia-Liang (AKA Lau Kar-Leung) did some amazing films - the aforementioned Drunken Master 2/Legend of Drunken Master and 36th Chamber of Shaolin, and Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, the last 20 minutes of which is absolutely jaw dropping (ironically a Shaw Brothers film).

The Blade - Tsui Hark's remake of The One Armed Swordsman - is pretty spiffing and, in my opinion, much better than the original.

The three Swordsman films are good and offer a bit of a different take on things, what with swords and that.  Duel to the Death is another good swordplay film.

Conan Lee's two best films (before he pissed everyone in Hong Kong off and went back to America with his tail between his legs) - Tiger On (the) Beat and Ninja In the Dragon's Den are great fun.

Michelle Yeoh was in some good stuff - Yes Madam (sequels pretty good too), Wing Chun, Magnificent Warriors and Tai Chi Master.

Donnie Yen's done a lot of decent stuff - the Tiger Cage films, Iron Monkey, the aforementioned Ip Man.

Jet Li's early stuff is pretty fucking great too, especially Once Upon A Time In China 1-3.  The subsequent official sequels (without Li) aren't bad, but diminishing returns.

The little seen Scorpion King (no, not that one) isn't an amazing film generally, but it has some absolutely amazing sequences in it, especially if kicking is your bag.


I've not yet seen a really decent Japanese martial arts film, but then I guess they were more interested in kabuki, chanbara and yakuza stuff.


But, I'm sorry to say, once you've seen all of the stuff mentioned in this thread so far, most of Bruce Lee's films start to look a bit lame...

[bgmnts]

Nah Enter The Dragon is still the pinnacle as far as i'm concerned.

Does Jean Claude Van Damme count as martial arts? Like Kickboxer or Bloodsports?

[Shit Good Nose]

Well, if we're going down that road, let's bring in Michael Dudikoff and Billy Blanks whilst we're at it...

Hell, Steven Seagal's a proper dan ain't he!

[Sebastian Cobb]

Fatal flying guillotine.

https://youtu.be/LGSJg8x2CdI

[Shit Good Nose]

Almost as good as BUDDHISS FISSSSSS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHZijxBlyUs


"But it's too late!"  "BUDDHISS FISSSSSS.......BUDDHISS POWAAAAAAHHHHHHH" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jGaqxT9G8g

[phantom_power]

Fuck, how could I forget Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle, ridiculously enjoyable and kick-ass films

[ASFTSN]

Is that the one where it starts out on a packed train?

Yes!

[thecuriousorange]

[greenman]

The problem with a lot of the Shaw Brothers films - particularly those from what is generally considered to be their peak period - is that once you've seen one of them, you've seen most of them.  They also tend to feature the more traditional martial arts rather than the Peking Opera influenced stuff that was a feature of Golden Harvest's films, the latter being far more cinematic whilst the traditional stuff looks very staid in comparison.

Yep that's always been my feeling, 2-3 of the better Shaw Brothers films is really enough due to the lack of variety where as most of the best Golden Harvest/Sammo stuff has something unique to recommend it. The Victim for example is a pretty standard revenge story without an obvious gimmick but ontop of being that much faster manages to throw in a load of pro wrestling moves...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRt8S8B9PrQ

The Blade - Tsui Hark's remake of The One Armed Swordsman - is pretty spiffing and, in my opinion, much better than the original.

Honestly I think that's good enough to stand outside of being a "martial arts film".

[Sebastian Cobb]

I know there's much better Chan films but I always found Rumble in the Bronx pretty fun. More problems should be sorted out by running someone over with a hovercraft I reckon.

[bgmnts]

Yes!

Then I concur, top film.

[zomgmouse]

I always preferred the first Drunken Master to the second, something about its simplicity and cheekiness as compared to the latter. Not that I didn't enjoy the second, just never got the hype of it over the first.

[Shit Good Nose]

I always preferred the first Drunken Master to the second, something about its simplicity and cheekiness as compared to the latter. Not that I didn't enjoy the second, just never got the hype of it over the first.

On balance I agree that the first one is better, but the reverence for the second one is largely down to that last fight in the factory.  One of the greatest fight sequences ever committed to film, that.  It's also much larger in scope and the bigger budget is obvious.

Drunken Master 3 on the other hand...

[BeardFaceMan]

Not a film but a current tv show, Into The Badlands has some pretty good fighting in it, nicely choreographed,  nice mix of fighting styles and weaponry, lovely stuff.

[greenman]

On balance I agree that the first one is better, but the reverence for the second one is largely down to that last fight in the factory.  One of the greatest fight sequences ever committed to film, that.  It's also much larger in scope and the bigger budget is obvious.

Drunken Master 3 on the other hand...

Really the two aren't that similar, the originals traditional kung fu, the sequel is more 80's style kickboxing/stunts, for the latter kind of cinema I'd say Eastern Condors is probably my favourite, as good a finale as any and unlike many the rest of the film lacks a lot like dead weight to it and generally high production values.

[Custard]

Thanking y'all lots for your recommendations. Will be checking these out!