Having watched so many martial art movies with myriad eye catching combat scenes and a lot of punches thrown out you may be left wondering which ones are the best martial art movies. Which martial art movies should you include in your home library that is captivating as well as which ones have you missed out in your whole life?
In attempt to settle this questions we have searched through the internet, reviews,blogs, ebay, postings and bulletins for the best martial arts movies of all time and the reasons why you should check them out as well as the year of production. We have drawn attention to martial art movies directed by Wo-Ping or as the action director and there is a good reason why he is involved in half the list of the best martial arts movies.
- Collection of the best Amazon.com Martial Arts Movies
- Martial Arts 50 Movie Pack Collection (One of the best martial arts movie collection ,only $13.99)
Best martial arts movies:
#1 – Way of the Dragon (1979)
This is the only complete martial art movie directed and produced by Bruce Lee. The other one is Game-of-Death but it is incomplete. There is much to it in terms of plot, characters and combat scenes but the climax is what you really care about where you will watch Bruce Lee battle out Chuck Norris in the final encounter.
#2 – Shaolin Temple (1982)
This is adopted from the wonderful story of the Shaolin Temple the central point of the Chinese Kung fu. Visualize the Shaolin Monks as the good guys, a leading group of fighters and the rest of the Chinese as the oppressed that Star Wars breaks out in a class of people who are afraid of the classical fighters yet desire to dethrone them out of power. This features young Jet Li. Pay attention to “Picture Yoda’s on that one” Define Irony, a movie taken at the site of the Shaolin Temple featuring the fall of the Shaolin Temple that spurs the communal interest and the temple is revived presently after the movie is released.
#3 – Ong Bak (2003)
Tony Jaa comes up with a new martial arts style and hits the screen in a big way with raw martial arts action without wires. Thai Boxing or Muay Thai is hard and direct compared to Chinese styles you check out on Jackie Chanor Bruce Lee. This gives a new outlook on how martial arts movies should be done and more of him is yet expected.
#4 – Iron Monkey (1993)
This is an action packed martial art movie and boils down to a fight between the Iron Monkey that is RobinHood and an ex-Shaolin Monk. Remember that these monks are like the Jedi Knights of Chinese Kung-fu regime. They are the elite group. The Iron monkey is doctor during the day and thug by night. The Iron Monkey is your original Robin Hood meets Kung Fu and is directed by Wo-Ping and is really smart. It does not go for long without an excellent battle scene.
#5 Deadly Venoms (1978)
This martial art movie has no female cast as there is so much blood and action. It does away with the traditional martial art costumes and ushers in the masculine, skin bearing and bloody martial arts styles from its director Chang. Each character is specially trained in martial art that resembles one of the five venomous creatures. This includes the Gecko, toad snake, centipede and the scorpion with the sixth member trained in all the five arts. It involves six martial actors with a lot of action.
#6 – The Seven Samurai (1954)
This is Kurosawa’s best work and the best martial art movie of all times. It depicts some homeless samurai’s down on luck and willing to do anything for sustenance. The village is under attack by bandits and trains such seven Samurai warriors to defend the village. The theme of the movie is the Samurai teaching the villagers how to fight and ends into a great battle between the village and almost fifty bandits. The action is superb and the emotions run wild with the director Kurosawa keeping you in suspense from the beginning to end.
#7 – Legend of Drunken Master (1994)
This martial art movie has the best balance of drama, plot line, comedy and amazing Kung Fu and many will vote for it as one of the greatest martial art movies of all time. It features Jack Chan and probably his best martial arts sequences performance. It is at the last place where you learn what ‘Drunken Master’ is all about. It depicts box splitting, fire splitting craziness and is directed by Lau Kar-leung
#8 – Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000)
This movie plot is based on five books or the Pentalogy, written by Wang Dulu and mostly covers the fourth book. The it sets new standards for martial arts and is claimed to cross the borders with its smart character development, martial art ideals, intricate plot, special effects and swift battle scenes. It features Zhang Ziyi, the female character and a wonderful martial artist who will deliver to you fifty punches to the bags fi you would ask her to go back to the kitchen. It has subtitles in English that transforms this movie to English Kung Fu. It is directed by Ang Lee in collaboration with action director Wo-Ping. It features Chown Yun-fat as the main artist and includes others martial artists Zhang, Michelle,Cheng, Pei pei among others.
#9 – Kill Bill vol. 1 (2003)
This is one martial art movie you do not need to miss out in your home theatre. It features tough, beautiful women battling out each other in a fast paced and action packed movie with as much martial arts as possible. It makes you cut-’em up, gory and cringe as Tarantino skillfully exhausts all camera angles to capture a superfluity of special effects to give you a vivid visual experience that captivates and thrills you from the beginning to the end. It has David Carradine, Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu and Vivica A. Fox in it and delivers an artistic feel that you will love. It is directed by Quentin Tarantino directed being Yuen Wo-Ping.
#10 – Fist of Legend (1994)
Fist of legend is a remake of the Bruce Lee original movie by the name Fist of Fury. It is a classic story of Chinese martial arts crushing against Japanese martial arts. If Bruce Lee is the true James Bond, Pierce Brosnan is Jet Li. He will never be original but the large budgeting and advanced film making brings the entertainment quality just above the original Fist of Fury. The Yuen Brothers have wonderful action style and totally deliver in this martial art movie casting Jet Li.
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These are all different forms of martial arts. The UFC has become extremely big over time. Mixed Martial Arts has overtaken boxing in terms of tickets being sold.I would like to know your opinion on this
I hope you never stop! This is one of the best blogs Ive ever read. Youve got some mad skill here, man. I just hope that you dont lose your style because youre definitely one of the coolest bloggers out there. Please keep it up because the internet needs someone like you spreading the word.
Thanks a lot for sharing these information.The plan picture has also helped a lot.Look forward to your next post.
~~!!!~~~~~~~~when in school i like then ever mach
You’re really a Kungfu movies fans.
nice site
i like bruce lee movies and enter the dragon is not in this list so i am disappointed
I really love Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Bruce Lee… They really good. i love their movie.
Where’s Chocolate!?!?
I’m sorry, but you forgot to include the greatest samurai movie series of ALL TIME. The Samurai Series with Toshiro Mifune. It’s the story of the life of Miyamoto Mushashi, the greatest Samurai in Japanese history. SO MANY of the tropes in martial arts movies have their origin in the real life of Musashi, that it’s hard to believe it was left out. Anyone who has ever read “A Book Of Five Rings” by Musashi needs to see this film.
I would go so far as to say that beyond Shaolin Temples, Musashi is the single greatest source of abilities and characters for all martial arts films. Not to mention the AMAZING rival he had that is shown throughout these three films.
The wild character in the Seven Samurai is largely based after the first part of Musashi’s life (and played by the same actor, Mifune), and in many ways each samurai in the Seven Samurai embody some aspect of Musashi’s character over the course of his lifetime.
Yeah, I know it’s three films, and I know the plot development takes a long time, but consider this:
1) Musashi is strung up in a tree by a Buddhist monk, trying to break him of his wild ways after the entire town and regiment from the local head honcho can’t bring him in. “I punish you with the hand of your parents!” Just awesome.
2) Afer being let down from the tree by his love interest in the films, the same Buddhist monk tricks him into an attic full of Buddhist manuscripts for years to calm him down and teach him something.
You tell me if you don’t get choked up when Musashi FINALLY heads off to the final fight in the third film telling the woman who has waited like 20 years for him to finish his samurai training that “a wife should send her husband off with a smile.” when he’s about to head off maybe to be killed. And she just says “Hai.” demurely in typical Japanese fashion, her long penance rewarded.
3) Musashi gets a disciple by the famous “picking flies out of the air with chopsticks” legend- yes Musashi started that.
4) Pretty much every woman in the film falls in love with him, while he is still trying to do right by everyone, they are out to get him/still in love with him or both throughout.
5) On the way over to the final fight- with the greatest other swordsman in Japan (he’s the teacher to the Emperor himself, in fact), HE CARVES HIS OWN SWORD from wood, and fights not with a sharp blade, but with a wooden practice sword. His main sharp samurai sword is reduced to whittling duty. This is an allusion to the fact that Musashi, out of respect for the relative quality of his opponents, only fought with a wooden sword for the later part of his life.
So, to summarize, he’s only using a wooden sword against his greatest opponent ever, and still wins.
I love kungfu n all kinds of martial arts movies n one of my favorites is ipman u should watch although i dnt think its in english its one of “D” best martial arts movies ever!!
just 1 beef with this list.. 5 deadly venoms.. I don’t know why but I can’t stand shaw brothers movies, they seem like fake power rangers BS. I would say drunken master original or remake kills any shaw brothers kiddy movie hands down.