Recommend me some martial arts flicks!

Reznik

Hey, I've recently been on a big Jackie Chan kick and have a huge list of his movies to check out. I've been wondering what other martial arts movies I should see.

Movies I have enjoyed:

Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior
The Protector/Tom Yum Goong
Enter the Dragon
The Chinese Connection
Dragons Forever
The Legend of Drunken Master
Rumble in the Bronx
Who Am I?
District B13 (or just B13.. or District 13. I forget what the official translated title is, but it's that French parkour one with David Belle)

Movies I am currently looking for so you do not need to recommend them:

Police Story (all of them including New Police Story)
Project A
Operation Condor/Armor of God I and II
Drunken Master (the first one)
Wheels on Meals


When it comes to martial arts flicks, I'm pretty picky. I like complex stuntwork, NO WIRE-FU, and lots of impact. What I mean by impact is that... well... you -feel- it when that stunt guy gets kicked in the face. Part of the reason I don't like a lot of Jackie Chan's Hollywood movies is that the stunt guys aren't getting kicked around as much, and you don't get that sense of impact. But when you watch something like Ong Bak and you see those stunt guys getting the crap kicked out of them... man, it just sets it apart from the stuff Hollywood tries to do.

Also, I prefer subtitled to dubbed, but I can handle a dub if it's done half-decently (I didn't mind the dubbing in any of the Jackie Chan movies I've seen so far. However, it is down-right awful in Ong-Bak).

DarkPrimus

No wire-fu? Pssh, I dare you to watch the old Yuen brothers films and not enjoy the hell out of them. Wire-fu is crazy, but they have plenty of non-wired antics that are insane.

I've got Shaolin Drunkard, which has a character whose signature fighting style is to light his fists on fire and punch people with them.

Quoth

SPL
Dragon Tiger Gate
House of Fury
Iron Monkey
Returner

Fallingman

Jet Li's 'Fist of Legend'

Seriously. Thats the choreographer that the Wachowski Bro's got for the matrix.

Also - Warrior King as you said you've seen Ong Bak (or is this also the 'protector'?)

Almost any of the old Jackie Chan movies are amazing and far outdo the later Hollywood movies. Mainly because doing that shit is illegal in the states ;-)

His Autobiography and the video/tutorial/doco he did called "My Stunts" is worth a watch too.

EDIT: This seems a good a place as any - anyone seen the Forbidden Kingdom?

CoJoeTheLawyer

Can't go wrong with the Bruce Lee classics

The Big Boss/Fists of Fury
Way of the Dragon/Return of the Dragon
Game of Death

Slagmire

I've heard One Armed Boxer isn't bad, but I love its sequel: Master of the Flying Guillotine.

Sakebomb

Quoth wrote: »

Returner

This.

Regina Fong

Well if you dig humorously awful martial arts flicks, you need to watch Undefeatable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxkr4wS7XqY

This film has brought me great joy.

Chief1138

Look in to anything starring Donnie Yen. Kill Zone was really good, and he had another one just come out called Flash Point

Reznik

Fallingman wrote: »

EDIT: This seems a good a place as any - anyone seen the Forbidden Kingdom?

I saw it. They make it seem like it's going to be a Jet Li and Jackie Chan movie in the previews, but in actuality it's a 'Jet Li and Jackie Chan have one really good fight scene and then the rest of the movie is them trying to teach a dumb American kid kung fu' movie. Wait 'till it's out on DVD and rent it for the one fight scene, I guess.

Also I managed to catch most of 'My Stunts' on youtube, that's what actually got me looking for more Jackie Chan movies. He's just so awesome.

also, hahaha Undefeatable. I've seen that fight scene before. Truly a masterpiece of modern cinema.

Fallingman

jeepguy wrote: »

Well if you dig humorously awful martial arts flicks, you need to watch Undefeatable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxkr4wS7XqY

This film has brought me great joy.

My Eyes... the Awesome has burned them!

Also - Operation Scorpio.

Quoth

Chief1138 wrote: »

Look in to anything starring Donnie Yen. Kill Zone was really good, and he had another one just come out called Flash Point

FYI, Kill Zone is the American title of SPL, which is an abbreviation of Saat Po Long. In case you can't find one, look for the other.

Also, Donnie Yen is in Iron Monkey and Dragon Tiger Gate, which I already mentioned. He was also in Blade II but only briefly, likewise for Hero. He is basically the coolest guy ever.

If you can go for wuxia pian, which is the more fantasy-oriented side of the spectrum, then you might want to check out:

Seven Swords (starring Donnie Yen)
Hero
House of Flying Daggers
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

And if you can tolerate it, check out Heroic Trio, which is a horribly campy flick with approximately the special effects level of Power Rangers. But it stars Michelle Yeoh, who is awesome.

Tofystedeth

CoJoeTheLawyer wrote: »

Can't go wrong with the Bruce Lee classics

The Big Boss/Fists of Fury
Way of the Dragon/Return of the Dragon
Game of Death

Yeah, except for Game of Death, just watch the part at the end. The rest of the movie isn't really a Bruce Lee movie, it's a framework they put around this really awesome fight sequence he filmed before he died because they wanted to use it in something. Even a little bit of the fight has a double. Though it does have Kareem Abdul-Jabbar:^:
Also there is a part in the beginning where they really blatantly put a picture of Bruce Lee's face over the actor standing in for him.

In addition to the above movies, Jet Li's Fearless is really good. Has maybe a little bit of wirework, but most of it just straight goodness.

Tofystedeth

Quoth wrote: »

Hero
House of Flying Daggers
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

These all have a hell of a lot of Wire-fu. Though Hero was really good.
It's a nice trio of Zhang Ziyi awkward sex scenes.

.Tripwire.

Reznik, I would add Mr. Nice Guy to your Looking For list. I think it's from around the end of that Golden Chan Age before he started starring in tamer Hollywood stuff. Definitely shares more vibe with the Bronx and Who Am I films.

Sarcastro

Dunno if Once Upon A Time In China counts as wire-fu. Theres some in it, but theres also plain old beatin's and stuff. 1,2 and 3 in this series were all pretty good, as is The Legend of New Shaolin.

Jet Li. Pretty awesome guy.

DarkPrimus

Fallingman wrote: »

Jet Li's 'Fist of Legend'

Seriously. Thats the choreographer that the Wachowski Bro's got for the matrix.

Yes, one of the Yuen brothers. Who made a ton of movies themselves, as well.

MegaMan001

I don't know if Versus has good kung fu. However, it has zombies, reincarnation, samurai and over the top violence.

Page-

Watched Versus a few months ago. Didn't really live up to the premise and the action was way too Saturday low-budget anime-like; a whole lot of talking and posing, but very little actual fighting.

I'm the same way about martial arts movies. Cannot stand wire-fu.

The last really good martial arts movie I saw was Flash Pointthe newest Donnie Yen movie. Really, really good fights toward the end. There's some MMA-style ground work, which I also hate, but not enough of it to get in the way of the badass final battle. And if you're looking for impact, this is where it's at.

If you're looking for something a little different I'd recommend Throwdown. It's a very strange movie (with a tragic ending that you may not even notice), but the judo scenes are solid. It's also got 100% on RottenTomatoes, if that means anything to you.

Raiden333

While more comical than serious, I've seen Kung-Fu Hustle more times than I can count.

Edit: Nevermind, didn't read the OP too well. Probably wouldn't enjoy this.

Jast

Police Story
Police Story 2

The first one is better, but they're both great. They're both Jackie Chan movies.

DarkPrimus

Here's one of the fights from Shaolin Drunkard, set to Wu-Tang rap music because the uploader is dumb.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iU5_zo8mPwo

It's not that long of a fight scene, but it showcases both of the crazy foes in the film - the guy who fights with fists of fire, and the evil magician who fights with steel rings. The final fight sequence has some insane shit with those rings, let me tell you.

Reznik

So I've got SPL and Dragon Tiger Gate. I just finished SPL (pretty damn kickass) but I haven't gotten to Dragon Tiger Gate yet. I will need to check out more Donnie Yen because he seems like a pretty awesome dude. Also, Sammo Hung rules.

Chen

If you like Yen's performances, Flash Point and his older flicks Iron Monkey 1 & 2 and Once Upon a Time in China 2 have pretty awesome fight scenes. He's a bit of a show off at times, but he knows how to be a badass. Sammo Hung is in a new movie called Fatal Move, which I haven't watched yet.

Quoth

I think Seven Swords might have a modicum of wire-fu, and a bunch of cheesiness, but it has an amazing fight scene that basically takes place in a narrow hallway, with Donnie Yen going up and down the walls.

Toxic Toys

Bruce Lee. You could feel the pain in his movies.

ViolentChemistry

Raiden333 wrote: »

While more comical than serious, I've seen Kung-Fu Hustle more times than I can count.

Edit: Nevermind, didn't read the OP too well. Probably wouldn't enjoy this.

Actually, I think he might. Yes, it's a comedy, but it's also an homage. And they don't seem to use wire-fu so much as actual special-effects for the wire-fu-esque styles (one of which in particular was just fucking sweet) which makes them more tolerable to me since I can't stand wire-fu. There are also plenty of sweet fights that don't involve any wire-fu.

Preacher

If you want to watch a film that has some nastyness try the Street Fighter films (only Street Fighter and Return of the Street Fighter, Sister Street Fighter sucks somethin awful). They are a bit slow at points but they are ultra violent for the time.

Also The Screaming Tiger while a bit corny and the film quality is semi abysmal has a lot of fights, with the culmination of a 10 minute fight on a moving train.

Preacher

Also if you just like a lot of fist fights and such you might want to check out The Rundown. It stars the Rock so it might not be up for your kungfu character, but the fights are pretty solid including one where the rock takes on a bunch of smaller guys using a form of Capoeira (I think thats how its spelled). Just throwing a dark horse pick out there.

The Scribe

Because I took karate lessons as a teenager I know what the martial arts can do, and I know what the martial arts community is like. My complaint against most of the martial arts movies that I have seen is that they are unrealistic. First, they over estimate what one can do with the martial arts. Second, they rarely show the protagonist training. This leads to the misconception that karate or kung fu is something one learns and then knows without practice. The fact is that any martial art is a skill one must practice or it will not work. It is not enough to know how to respond to an attack. One must have the power, speed, and coordination to make the response effective.

The most realistic martial arts movie that I have ever seen is "Never Back Down." It is the story of a boy who transfers to a new high school, gets beat up by a local bully, studies mixed martial arts, and eventually defeats the bully. There is more to the story than that, of course, but the movie convinced me that it could happen in real life.

More recently I watched "Red Belt." The martial arts part of the movie convinced me, but the plot was plodding, and not really enthrawling. An hour after the movie started I was still not sure what the movie was about.

RocketSauce

Fallingman wrote: »

Jet Li's 'Fist of Legend'

Seriously.

I enjoyed this movie. You can tell they speed up the film, but it's good stuff. This may fall more into Samurai movies, but Sword of Doom has some pretty amazing sword fights.

GoodOmens

Raiden333 wrote: »

While more comical than serious, I've seen Kung-Fu Hustle more times than I can count.

Edit: Nevermind, didn't read the OP too well. Probably wouldn't enjoy this.

Anyone who wouldn't enjoy Kung Fu Hustle is a Communist who eats puppies.

Reznik

The Scribe wrote: »

Because I took karate lessons as a teenager I know what the martial arts can do, and I know what the martial arts community is like. My complaint against most of the martial arts movies that I have seen is that they are unrealistic. First, they over estimate what one can do with the martial arts. Second, they rarely show the protagonist training. This leads to the misconception that karate or kung fu is something one learns and then knows without practice. The fact is that any martial art is a skill one must practice or it will not work. It is not enough to know how to respond to an attack. One must have the power, speed, and coordination to make the response effective.

The most realistic martial arts movie that I have ever seen is "Never Back Down." It is the story of a boy who transfers to a new high school, gets beat up by a local bully, studies mixed martial arts, and eventually defeats the bully. There is more to the story than that, of course, but the movie convinced me that it could happen in real life.

More recently I watched "Red Belt." The martial arts part of the movie convinced me, but the plot was plodding, and not really enthrawling. An hour after the movie started I was still not sure what the movie was about.

I took karate as a kid, too, and really if a martial arts movie was set up to be purely realistic either the protagonist would get shot and die five minutes in or it would just be all MMA (which I find boring since they go to the ground all the time). Really, I just want to see Jackie Chan beat up a room full of guys by using a chair with his feet.

I saw a preview for Red Belt and it looks kind of interesting, I guess since it's set up to be about actual MMA competition and not 'plucky Asian hero defeats evil Brits/Americans/Australians and reclaims artifacts/girlfriend/elephant'. I'll give it a shot, at any rate.

----

I'll also track down Kung Fu Hustle. I saw some previews for that and it looked pretty funny. The 'no wire-fu' etc. requirements really only extend to serious movies (see: Crouching Tiger).

By the way, how is Shaolin Soccer?

Page-

Shaolin Soccer > Kung-Fu Hustle. It's an awesome movie, especially if you can find the original Chinese version. There's no actual fighting in it, but the soccer matches in the second half are sublime.

CangoFett

Brazilian Brawl, starring the Machado Brothers. http://youtube.com/watch?v=Esanf07wmaw Aka, "John Machado hip throws and armbars everyone