Haven’t looked in a while.
As oldies, Shaolin Soccer is always a fun watch.
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Kung-fu films:
- Twilight of the Warriors: Walled in (2024) - one of my top films of the year. Just watch it.
- Ip Man 3 (2015}, Ip Man 4 (2019) and Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (2018) - far better than late films in a franchise and a spin-off should be.
- SPL 2 (2015) - the first film has some great seems but the rest of the film isn’t that exciting, the sequel feels a lot more rounded.
- Kung Fu Killer (2015) - Interesting to see Donnie Yen switching styles to suit the character, this time using more of an MMA technique
Martial arts:
- Leo (2023) - heavily inspired by History of Violence if the Cronenberg film started with a man fighting a hyena (for no other reason than to demonstrate that the lead is a badass) and had a musical number in a drugs factory (it’s about how the lead is a badass).
- Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) - straight in as one of my favourite films: it’s funny, weird and has a tonne of heart as well as kick ass fights (thanks to the same team behind Shang-Chi).
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) - a tonne of promise, this could have been one of the best MCU films but it was spoiled by the CGI slugfest in the final act.
- Kung Fury (2015) - daft action comedy that is free to watch on YouTube. If you haven’t seen it, I’ll wait while you go and watch it.
- Yakuza Apocalypse (2015) - I’m still waiting… OK, this is a comedy horror about a vampire yakuza by Takashi Miike, so your mileage might vary depending on your feelings about his enormous output. I’m a fan and liked it but it might not be the best place to star in his filmography.
- Tokyo Tribe (2015) - Sion Sono’s rap musical about gang warfare. His films tend to be out there and can be a bit hit and miss for me but this is a hit.
- The Raid 2 (2014) - the sequel to the classic martial arts movie and it holds up. If you are a fan of the first one, then you’ll probably like this too.
The raid 1 and 2 are pretty awesome if I remember correctly.
Both have awesome fighting choreography. They are on my top 10 (if not top 5) of martial arts movies.
And the camerawork is great too. In one of the movies they dressed a camera operator as a carseat to get a flowing transition into the car without CGI.
Edit:
I didn’t know that. That’s real cool!
Thanks for sharing.
No problem. Do you mind sharing your top 10 martial arts films?
Monkey Man that came out last year. I would say it’s fight scenes are very similar to the raid movies in how realistic they seem and feel plus pacing and crazy things they do. Though unfortunately/fortunately the action scenes are only 1/4 of the movie instead of 3/4, surrounded by a great story. I loved it
Everything, Everywhere, All at Once has some fun fight scenes, especially if you enjoy less traditional ones like Shaolin Soccer’s.
I see you placed a10 year limit on your movies, thus disqualifying my suggestion The Forbidden Kingdom. First on-screen fight between Jet Li and Jackie Chan.
It is a good one indeed, can’t believe it’s older than 10 years
Yeah, had to look before posting. It’s old enough to drive now…!
How recent?
I wouldn’t really count Shaolin Soccer as an “oldie”.
If we are bringing that up, the Kung-fu Hustle is top of my lists.
Recent would be the last 10 years.
Shaolin soccer released in 2001
Recent would be the last 10 years.
Righto, I’ll have a ponder.
Shaolin soccer released in 2001
Still not an oldie though.
I guess there’s a whole spectrum between recent and oldies 😄
It’s old enough to drink now. I’m sorry for your age, but that’s an old movie.
I’d consider The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, for example, to be an older kung-fu movie.
This one was pretty good, if you consider it modern 🤷🏼♀️
Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior, also known as Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior or simply Ong-Bak, is a 2003 Thai martial arts film directed by Prachya Pinkaew and featured action choreography by Panna Rittikrai. It stars Tony Jaa in the lead role, alongside Petchtai Wongkamlao and Pumwaree Yodkamol.
Ong-Bak proved to be Jaa’s breakout film, with the actor hailed internationally as the next major martial arts star.
Everything, Everywhere, All At Once is an absolute gem.
Huge caveat on this one, as I don’t actually remember much of the movie, but the residual impression I have of 2019’s Triple Threat was that it was a good time. Pretty stellar cast, too. Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Scott Adkins, and Michael Jai White are the most notable, though I’m sure the other players present have mountains of stunt / fight experience to their names.
The Night Comes For Us (2018)
Not much of a story but the action choreography is top notch.
The final fight of Julie Estelle’s Operator character is my favourite in recent times.
