There are tons of other really cool martial arts films, but if I had to pick the Top 10 for me, these would be it.
10. Once Upon A Time In China 2
Asian audiences have known Jet Li well before his Lethal Weapon 4 western debut. In fact Jet Li is arguably was famous throughout Asia for his role as the legendary folk hero Wong Fei Hong. In OUATC 2 he squares off with another famous martial artist Donnie Yen. It will be years later before the 2 would ever meet again on film in the movie Hero.
Warehouse fight scene between Jet Li and Donnie Yen
9. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Although purists would argue that CTHD wasn’t THAT good of a martial arts movie, we cannot discount it’s importance. It successfully introduced the genre of wuxia to Western audiences weaving high quality production, good script, great special effects, and some amazing wire-fu.
The Green Destiny goes through a lot of weapons.
8. Ong Bak
When people think martial arts flicks, Thailand doesn’t come to mind as a hub of action movies, but it’s slowly becoming one. Martial arts idols of the 90’s and 2000s like Jet Li and Jackie Chan were getting old and the audience was ready for a hero. As people were becoming tired of wire-fu, Ong Bak came out of nowhere show casing no-nonsense down and dirty Muay Boran (a predecessor of Muay Thai). Fighting wasn’t something beautiful and balletic, but as effective simple and deadly. Not only were the fights brutal, but the movie also advertised no wires, all stunts done for real by Tony Jaa. Overnight, he became a celebrity and people were hungry for more.
Muay Boran p’wns other styles.
This is a great list! I just want to reiterate how amazing Tony Jaa is, and I’m glad he made the list twice. While Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and all of the others highlighted in this list, are impressive in many ways, Tony Jaa’s sheer power and control make him stand out as a force to be reckoned with in future martial arts films.