Your favourite Martial Arts films

I really don't like the martial arts films that feature loaRAB of wire work ie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

What's amazing, to me, about martial art films is what the body is capable of. Doing a backflip turned into a kick is incredible but if the characters can fly or balance and fight on a one inch wide bamboo branch, the impressive physicality loses it's impact.

Unsurprisingly the martial arts films I like are a little more on the realistic side.

Rapid Fire - Is a cracking film and was my first proper introduction to the fighting style of Brandon Lee. Like his father I guess, he had a really easy, almost balletic style that seemed the perfect bridge into western media. Such a real shame he passed and for it's time, Rapid Fire has some great scenes in it.

Kiss of the Dragon - Like someone else said, this is for me a very enjoyable film. I wasn't a fan of Jet Li's eastern films and the wire work (apologies if that causes offence) so I liked this tougher, edgier film.

District 13 - Some excellent artistry in here. Both from the free running and also the antics of the blonde haired cop.

Dragon:The Bruce Lee story - I enjoyed this film. It might be simple and some people have said it's hokum but the story is interesting and some of the fights, namely the alley and also in the ice factory are pretty damn good. Kudos to Jason Scott Lee for his performance.

Ong Bak and The Warrior King - Given my non-appreciation of wire work it will come as no surprise that I enjoy the films of Tony Jaa. What an adrenaline shot these films were.

Martial Arts film were becoming boring. PG rated, gravity ignoring, wired-worked, over CGI'd and almost clown like. You went to see a fighting film because you wanted to see fighting. Yet just as the genre was stagnating in its own pomposity, Tony Jaa came along with a brand of refreshing, invigorating martial artistry. Stuff that made you go 'Wow' rather than question whether two people could fight on a bamboo branch, scenes that made you think 'Blimey, that's gotta hurt' and images that made you gasp in their ferocity.

Seeing people fight connects to a deep rooted bloodlust and there is no point in denying this, hence when in Warrior King the bad guys kill something dear to the lead and then stab him you want to see angry, painful retribution. I haven't come to see him sit down and discuss it over tea, I want violence. I want to see someone technically skilled smashing the sh*t out of a collection of bad guys.

Chocolate - In a similar vein to Ong Bak as they were done by the same people, the fighting in this is just as inventive and violent. The lead woman is a sight to behold. Impressive.
 
I hadn't seen any of Jet Li's films, then I got "Kiss Of The Dragon", and thought it was excellent.
It took me a few minutes to realise that "Fist Of Legend" is a remake of Bruce Lee's "Fist Of Fury" !! :o:D
 
Agree with the Matrix trilogy and would add Batman Begins as a kind of Kung Fu film

I'm not a fan of Kung Fu films but loved Hero and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

It is the slow motion sequences that grab me. :)
 
Absolutley.
The rage that the Tony Jaa character was consumed by when he realised the nature of the restaurant was overwhelming.
I bought "Warrior King" for 85p and "Chocolate" for 90p at the same time ! (from Amazon Marketplace)
I haven't seen "Chocolate" yet.
When he was reunited with the baby elephant, the tears came ! :o:D
 
Loved that film! Bruce Leroy, find the glow, and Vanity looked HOT in that film too.

Looks like it will be remade too with Samuel L Jackson playing Sho
 
I watched Project A and Way Of The Dragon last night. Project A was as good as I remember. I remember seeing a documentary about that clock tower scene. The homage to Harold Lloyd and Chan breaking his back (I think).

Unfortunately Way Of The Dragon was baddly dubbed and some of it didn't make sense. Like speaking to a guy in English then getting the other guy to tell him what he said in English :D
It was late at that point in the night (early morning) but I didn't think much of the final fight scene. Maybe we're just spoilt for choice these days.
 
Its one of the reasons I have a multi region DVD player. You just can't get some of these classics over here. :D

And that boy, Taimak....SHOULD have gone on to bigger and better things. I'm as straight as they come, but he was pretty hot and quite the master of his art.....lol........

And who can foreget the badguy, the Showgun of Harlem ". Whos' the meanest "Sho-nuff", who's the baddest "Sho-nuff".......... :D
 
That moment in Warrior King when he sees the Big Elephant's skeleton and he's in shock is wonderful. People are kicking him, pushing him and he's effectively slipped away, thinking of the elephant he grew up with. Then he gets stabbed.
.
.
Suddenly he's snapped back to reality and the retribution he bestows is incredible. An unchecked whirlwind of fury whose deliberate goal is to maim, injure and deliver a level of pain akin to what he is feeling. It really is a tour de force that had me gasping/laughing in the cinema at the awesome ferocity of it all.
 
Has JvD been mentioned yet. I only ask as Kickboxer was on last night. That's ok but BlooRABport was better.

Bolo Yeung must have been in a few classics.
 
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