Martial arts movies are different from boxing movies. Most boxing movies follow the same path. Aspiring boxer gets the big bout. Has ass handed to him. Sulks. Seeks redemption. Trains and trains. Returns to the ring, triumphant.
Both boxing and martial arts are philosophical, but martial arts are a LOT more philosophical. Probably because traditional teachers serve up philosophy as well as technique. Students at Karate West recite this every day:
I promise to develop myself in body, mind, and spirit, and avoid anything that would my limit my mental growth or physical health.
I promise to develop self discipline to bring out the best in myself and those around me.
I promise to use the skills I learn in class constructively and defensively, to never be abusive or offensive.
Many martial arts movies incorporate philosophy. The original Karate Kid and its offspring, Cobra Kai. Enter the Dragon. “"Don't Think, Feel! It Is Like A Finger Pointing Away To The Moon. Don't Concentrate On The Finger Or You Will Miss All That Heavenly Glory." Ip Man #1: “The best thing is not to fight at all.”
Their main appeal is entertainment. Raised on a diet of John Wayne Westerns, wherein the Duke swings a Hulk-sized fist and four antagonists fly out of the frame head first, western audiences were stunned at the precision and excitement afforded by the first wave of kung fu movies. Of course, these had been a staple of Eastern cinema for decades. It took a long time for them to make the crossing, but when they did, they had an impact. First they trickled into televison courtesy of Bruce Lee, who landed the role of Kato in The Green Hornet. The Kung Fu TV show was his idea, but producers were skeered of casting an Asian in the lead so it went to David Carradine. The show debuted in 1972.
One year later, Hong Kong’s Five Fingers of Death premiered in the US. The first bonaroo kung fu movie to show technique. Astonishing technique. There’s a scene where Chao Chih-Hao trains with a ten foot pole with a weight on the end. He must learn to manipulate the pole so that it repeatedly strikes a gong. We see it happen in real time. It’s real technique. Everyone who has seen that movie has thought, “Holy shit! I could never do that.”
Disgusted with Hollywood, Bruce Lee returned to Hong Kong where he was a huge star, and made The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon (which he directed,) finally returning to Hollywood to make Enter the Dragon. Which was filmed in Hong Kong. However flawed these movies are, with their simplistic plots and dialogue, they could not conceal Lee’s electric presence. The floodgates burst.
Here is a list of Eastern martial arts films in the order they appeared: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_martial_arts_films
Yojimbo, 1961. Based on Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest, Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece starred Toshiro Mifune as a Ronin who pits two warring gangs against each other for his own benefit. This story has been done many times, including Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars and Walter Hill’s Last Man Standing.
American cinema returned the favor by adapting Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai into The Magnificent Seven.
1967: The One Armed Swordsman. 1970: The Chinese Boxer. 1971: Billy Jack. Credit Tom Laughlin for being an early adopter. 1974: Black Belt Jones—the glow of Enter the Dragon propelling Jim Kelly into an all-too short career, including Marc Olden’s Black Samurai. 1976: Master of the Flying Guillotine, Jimmy Wang Yu’s sequel to One Armed Boxer. 1978: Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow launches Jackie Chan on a series of kung fu comedies. 1978: Enter the Fat Dragon, starring Jackie Chan’s boyhood pal Sammo Hung, who also appeared in Enter the Dragon. Drunken Master: an early Jackie Chan masterpiece.
I saw them all, and while the martial arts scenes are breathtaking, the narrative is aimed at an Asian audience which has a greater appetite for juvenalia than Americans. This would change. I could write a book about Jackie Chan’s movies. But Ric Meyers already has~ Ric’s Films of Fury is the seminal work on martial arts movies.
I had dinner with Jackie Chan in Hong Kong when I was working on Tony Wong’s kung fu comics. Jackie was funny, expressive, gregarious, spoke very little English and chain-smoked throughout. His English has improved greatly, which we will get to.
https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/04/our-top-10-jackie-chan-movies/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJiS6FleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHm1z1wDm33Kk58cPnvNXp_NVCcvs53U9sU7fgW_TN4ByTAfnyOWe2nnM5Nhc_aem_1DVi-vF17Z7RS-42dB69XQ
1982: Shaolin Temple marking Jet Li’s debut. Jet Li’s movies took a more serious tone than previous Asian films, and shows Shaolin techniques. The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter. Love this one. Based on the technique of describing figure 8’s with a stick.
In 1980, Jackie Chan starred in The Big Brawl, his first American production. Chuck Norris appeared in his second movie, The Octagon, also starring the late, great Richard Norton and Lee Van Cleef, ushering in the age of American martial arts actors. Chuck didn’t bring a lot to the table. He played Chuck Norris. The audience sensed his authenticity. This was the real deal. Most martial arts movies star accomplished martial artists. Chuck made many movies over the years. His best is Code of Silence wherein he plays an honest (and outcast) Chicago police officer.
The Karate Kid appeared in 1984. No professional martial artists, but the debut of some of the most enduring and appealing characters. Witness the many sequels, the Netflix TV show, and the new version which will debut shortly starring Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio. I only wish they could have included William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence, and Martin Kove’s hissable John Kreese.
In 1988, a svelte Steven Seagal debuted in Above the Law. His first four movies were highly entertaining. Hard to Kill. Out For Justice. Marked For Death. There followed an eternity of straight to video product in which the increasingly heavy Seagal used his aikido to stand in one place and throw people around.
Jean Claude Van Damme debuted in 1988 with Bloodsport, allegedly based on the memoirs of underground fighter Frank Dux. Time Cop, a Dark Horse production, is his highest grossing movie.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, appeared in 2000. Directed by Ang Lee, it starred Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Fat. It went heavy on the wire-fu, wherein the stars, or their stunt doubles, fly through the air performing impossible maneuvers, suspended from wires that are erased in the final cut. This is not the most realistic demonstration of martial arts, and a schism exists between those who treasure authenticity, and those who are willing to include a little fantasy for the sake of story.
The House of Flying Daggers debuted in 2004, and while its wire-fu is off-the-charts, there’s no denying its entertainment value and the astonishing skills of its stars, Zhang Ziyi and Zhang Yimou. Jet Li appeared more often. Romeo Must Die and Kiss of the Dragon, directed by Luc Besson. Besson has been churning out popcorn-ready action movies for decades, many with female protagonists. Lucy. Anna. La Femme Nikita. And of course Leon the Professional starring Jean Reno as a fearless hitman who turns into a quivering blob of jelly trying to get Danny Aiello to pay him.
Jet Li’s greatest movies are Fearless and Hero. Jet Li is five feet six inches tall. On screen, he’s ten feet tall. A recurring theme in Chinese martial arts films are British villains, especially if they take place during the early 20th century. After World War II, the Japanese became the bad guys. When we finally get to Donnie Yen’s Ip Man movies, it’s time for the ugly Americans. Ip Man #1, 2008, takes itself seriously. Where Jackie Chan specialized in comedy martial arts, Donnie Yen specialized in serious martial arts. Loosely based on the wing chun master who trained Bruce Lee, it wasn’t until Ip Man #4 that Bruce Lee finally appears. The bad guy is the most despicable, ugly American imaginable, played by Scott Adkins, a rising star in the martial arts universe. His best roles have been villains, as in Ip Man and John Wick 4. Sooner or later he’ll get a great starring vehicle.
Jason Statham is another terrific action star who brings authenticity to a string of mostly mediocre films, mostly directed by Guy Ritchie. Ritchie’s shtick is familiar. Fabulously wealthy criminals dropping bon mots, clever skullduggery, bone-crushing action. The Covenant is his best film because he didn’t write it.
The Foreigner, starring Pierce Brosnan and Jackie Chan, came out in 2017. It’s Jackie Chan’s best movie, not because of the fight choreography, but because of its intelligence and drama.
Dev Patel directed and stars in Monkey Man, an Indian story of violence and retribution. While the contours seem familiar, the milieu and astonishing action sequences elevate it above the ordinary. I have never seen such ferocious scenes of hand to hand combat. Unlike RRR, another brilliant Bollywood production about 19th century British oppression, Monkey Man never breaks into song and dance numbers. Both films are brilliant and over before you know it.
This only covers a tiny percentage of martial arts films. Many of my readers will have seen several. Some may have seen all.
Feel obligated to point out the masterpiece that is Kung Fu Hustle.
Code of Silence is an often overlooked gem. Thanks for highlighting it.