Best Martial Arts Movies

[Hong Kong Pooey]

What do you think are the best movies that represent, heavily feature, or revolve around a particular martial art or style?

I'll kick off with a few, and I mean best overall movie rather than technically authentic:

Boxing - Rocky

Jeet Kune Do - Enter the Dragon

Wing Chun - Ip Man

Taekwondo - Foot Fist Way

Karate - Karate Kid

Bare-knuckle boxing - Any Which Way But Loose

MMA - Here Comes The Boom

 

[Badger1777]

I'm glad Enter the Dragon is in your list. What sort of list would it be without that one

Apart from that, the best martial arts movie I've ever watched, has to be House of Flying Daggers.

Oh, and for different reasons, we can't miss out Kill Bill volume 1.

 

[Xue Sheng]

The One, because it is the only movie I can think of that had a representation of Xingyiquan and Baguazhang in it

 

[Tames D]

Hapkido - Billy Jack
Kenpo - Perfect Weapon

 

[seasoned]

Everyone was Kung Fu fighting after the series with David Carradine of the same name.(Kung Fu)..... Early 70s

 

[Badger1777]

I nearly forgot. Kung Pow: Enter the Fist has to be in there. Its a comedy/spoof, with deliberate massively out of sync bad dubbing, but its brilliant film.

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002) - IMDb

 

[PhotonGuy]

I don't think any of theres any martial art movie that do a good job of representing a martial art because that's not what the movie is supposed to do. Even a movie that supposedly features a specific martial art such as Out for Justice with Stephen Seagal (Aikido) or Perfect Weapon with Jeff Speakman (Kempo) don't do a good job at showing the viewer what the martial art is like because the whole idea of the movie is to look flashy and sell good in Hollywood. If somebody wants to see what a martial art looks like they would be much better off at looking at real footage from a tournament of that martial art rather than watching a movie with all its Hollywood flash and whatnot. I used to think martial arts were much like what I saw in the movies when I was a little child but when I started learning the real stuff I found out its very different. Whenever they make a martial arts movie they always add in lots of fancy stunt work and stuff that is appeasing to the audience and that does well in Hollywood but that isn't anything like the real thing.

 

[K-man]

I don't think any of theres any martial art movie that do a good job of representing a martial art because that's not what the movie is supposed to do. Even a movie that supposedly features a specific martial art such as Out for Justice with Stephen Seagal (Aikido) or Perfect Weapon with Jeff Speakman (Kempo) don't do a good job at showing the viewer what the martial art is like because the whole idea of the movie is to look flashy and sell good in Hollywood. If somebody wants to see what a martial art looks like they would be much better off at looking at real footage from a tournament of that martial art rather than watching a movie with all its Hollywood flash and whatnot. I used to think martial arts were much like what I saw in the movies when I was a little child but when I started learning the real stuff I found out its very different. Whenever they make a martial arts movie they always add in lots of fancy stunt work and stuff that is appeasing to the audience and that does well in Hollywood but that isn't anything like the real thing.

I reckon that Kuro-obi (Black Belt) is a fantastic film and one of the best representing karate.

Another one I liked was Red Belt.
:asian:

 

[Buka]

There's a ton of boxing movies, some of them pretty darn good, but I think Rocky was the best. And a great love story.
Budo, which is a mostly a documentary, is my favorite Martial Arts film.
Enter the Dragon goes on all lists where I come from.

 

[donnaTKD]

how come "never back down" isn't in your list ????? -- mma

also

Ong Bak 1,2 and 3 -- tony Jaa - Mauy Thai Boran

and most movies with Jason Statham in them have a fair bit of MA moves to them

 

[Hong Kong Pooey]

I nearly forgot. Kung Pow: Enter the Fist has to be in there. Its a comedy/spoof, with deliberate massively out of sync bad dubbing, but its brilliant film.

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002) - IMDb

I like it too, so it's added to the list.

Kung Pow - Kung Pow: Enter the Fist

 

[Hong Kong Pooey]

I don't think any of theres any martial art movie that do a good job of representing a martial art because that's not what the movie is supposed to do. Even a movie that supposedly features a specific martial art such as Out for Justice with Stephen Seagal (Aikido) or Perfect Weapon with Jeff Speakman (Kempo) don't do a good job at showing the viewer what the martial art is like because the whole idea of the movie is to look flashy and sell good in Hollywood. If somebody wants to see what a martial art looks like they would be much better off at looking at real footage from a tournament of that martial art rather than watching a movie with all its Hollywood flash and whatnot. I used to think martial arts were much like what I saw in the movies when I was a little child but when I started learning the real stuff I found out its very different. Whenever they make a martial arts movie they always add in lots of fancy stunt work and stuff that is appeasing to the audience and that does well in Hollywood but that isn't anything like the real thing.

If we're gonna have Seagal representing Aikido then I vote for Exit Wounds.

 

[Hong Kong Pooey]

how come "never back down" isn't in your list ????? -- mma Because I prefer Enter the Boom

also

Ong Bak 1,2 and 3 -- tony Jaa - Mauy Thai Boran Good call on the first one, but the law of diminishing returns comes into play on the sequels imo.

and most movies with Jason Statham in them have a fair bit of MA moves to them I too am a fan of his work, but not sure what category he belongs in or how you separate them when he plays virtually the same character in every film

What about Warrior King for MT? A contender or not?

 

[Transk53]

What about Warrior King for MT? A contender or not?

Absoulutely

Boxing. De Niro - Raging Bull

James Marshall, Cuba Gooding Jr - Gladiator

 

[yak sao]

For a boxing movie I would have to throw Cinderella Man into the mix.

 

[Buka]

For a boxing movie I would have to throw Cinderella Man into the mix.

I second that. What a great film, certainly captures the feeling of that time. I love that movie.

 

[donnaTKD]

how about

Bones

Raze

Fight Night

Warrior

 

[Badger1777]

I don't think any of theres any martial art movie that do a good job of representing a martial art because that's not what the movie is supposed to do. Even a movie that supposedly features a specific martial art such as Out for Justice with Stephen Seagal (Aikido) or Perfect Weapon with Jeff Speakman (Kempo) don't do a good job at showing the viewer what the martial art is like because the whole idea of the movie is to look flashy and sell good in Hollywood. If somebody wants to see what a martial art looks like they would be much better off at looking at real footage from a tournament of that martial art rather than watching a movie with all its Hollywood flash and whatnot. I used to think martial arts were much like what I saw in the movies when I was a little child but when I started learning the real stuff I found out its very different. Whenever they make a martial arts movie they always add in lots of fancy stunt work and stuff that is appeasing to the audience and that does well in Hollywood but that isn't anything like the real thing.

I'm sort of inclined to agree, but for two things.

Firstly, I doubt if anyone really expects a movie to be realistic. We watch movies to relax. They are entertainment. Nothing more. I think if you think back to when you were a kid, you'll probably remember that you realised that even back then? I certainly did.

Secondly, movies definitely have some value in martial arts. When I used to do karate many years ago, you could always tell when Karate Kid had been on telly, because we'd get a load of new starters within a few days. When I switched to kung fu, the same happened if Jackie Chan had been on the box. Movies sometimes inspire. Ok, people start and think it is going to be a case of wax on wax off, paint the fence etc for a few weeks and then suddenly they're winning prestigious tournaments. They quickly realise that it is lots of pressups, situps, stretches etc, and lots of very repetitive movement, and a little bit of very unskilled scrapping to attempt to apply it all, and that's all it is for at least the first few months. People then off drift off and stop coming, but some don't. Some keep it up. Some more (like me I guess) leave it alone for years, but never really lose interest, and then go back later once they've matured enough to develop patience and commitment and realistic expectation etc.

I think if as a kid I'd never seen a martial arts film, but had seen some tournaments, I don't think I'd have been that interested. Sure some moves look (and are) really impressive, but the real match is mostly two people dancing around each other for a while, and then a couple of kicks or punches get dodged, and someone wins on points.

 

[Stickgrappler]

Jeet Kune Do - Enter the Dragon

Bare-knuckle boxing - Any Which Way But Loose

As an expression of JKD, I feel Way of the Dragon aka Return of the Dragon was better than EtD! Call it sacrilege or what have you, my fave BL movie is indeed WotD.

BKB - another worthy candidate, Charles Bronson's Hard Times.

 

[Stickgrappler]

The One, because it is the only movie I can think of that had a representation of Xingyiquan and Baguazhang in it

UGH on me, still haven't watched The One ... will mention that Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster represented BGZ pretty well and it had some XYQ in it... throw in a dash of Bajiquan (which I don't believe any film has every depicted - of course I could be wrong)