Martial Art Movies to Watch Again
I recently finished writing The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s. In one section, I listing my twenty favorite films of the '70s before and after I wrote the book. Why? Because afterward watching 600-plus movies during an viii-month stretch, my list had 14 changes. That got me thinking well-nigh what would establish the x movies every martial artist must see and why—hence, this article. The 11 titles listed here—I couldn't narrow it downward to 10—aren't the best martial arts films ever fabricated or even my favorites. Rather, they were chosen for the impact they had on the genre, either by presenting new directions in fight choreography or by bolstering international entreatment. Therefore, they're listed in lodge of release date, not in guild of preference.
Martial Arts Movie #i: Fist of Fury (1972)
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Later the Sino-Japanese State of war (1894-1895), China was a fractured country, its pieces handed out to Nippon and diverse European powers. Japan played a villainous role in Chinese history from that point on. Fifty-fifty after the nation's defeat during World War 2, the fear of economical backlash confronting the Chinese kept Hong Kong and the Republic of China mum about Japanese atrocities committed against the Chinese.
Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury changed all that. His character defiantly defeated Japanese martial artists in 1909 Shanghai, when the city was under strict Japanese dominion. Lee single-handedly crashed through that barrier of silence, giving the Chinese a sense of identity and pride. Although Story of Huang Feihong, Part 1 (1949) ushered in the second genre of Chinese movies known as gong fu pian ("kung fu film," in which heroes fought with realistic skills), Fist legitimized it and brought international prominence to Hong Kong's waning motion picture industry.
Trivia: The scene in which Lee kicks eight attackers in the Japanese dojo is one unedited, wide-angle shot. It forever changed fight choreography.
Martial Arts Movie #2: The 36th Bedchamber of Shaolin (1978)
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In response to the popularity of the kung fu movies Jackie Chan fabricated at Gilded Harvest, rival studio Shaw Brothers countered by having filmmakers Chang Cheh and Liu Chia-liang create a new genre called guo shu pian. Although translated equally "national fine art flick," which implies that the national art is martial arts, guo shu films were designated as neo-hero movies because they focused on a new manner of protagonist.
Directed by Liu and starring his adopted brother Gordon Liu Chia-hui as existent-life hero Monk San De (one of the legendary "x Tigers of Shaolin"), The 36th Chamber of Shaolin signaled the kickoff of the guo shu film. Information technology's also important considering it was the first movie to unveil the secret grooming methods of the ancient Buddhist monastery.
Martial Arts Movie #three: The Shaolin Temple (1982)
The importance of this movie parallels the importance of its star. Jet Li was born during a time when intellectuals and philosophers were persecuted, when the government outlawed martial arts and even destroyed temples and executed monks who refused to enter re-instruction camps. Li broke down those walls and became Communist china's first player to conquer Hollywood. He accomplished that feat past excelling in the cultural contraband of martial arts, philosophy and picture palace.
The Shaolin Temple was China'due south first live-activeness kung fu picture show since the 1949 Communist takeover. Information technology inspired the masses to visit the real temple's remains and forced the paranoid government to warn the public that information technology was unnecessary to learn self-defense force. Information technology was too instrumental in introducing wushu to film fans worldwide.
Martial Arts Movie #iv: Zu: Warriors From the Magic Mount (1983)
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With Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain, Western-trained, new-wave filmmaker Tsui Hark ushered in a fifth martial arts film genre that wasn't officially named until it had run its course. Coined by yours truly, the Fant-Asia genre combined elements of sex, fantasy, sci-fi and horror with high-flight, gravity-defying wire work, far-out sight gags and over-the-top martial arts choreography. The film's action director, Ching Siu-tung (the father of "wire fu"), dared to shoot the fight scenes at 18 frames per second every bit heroes zipped, flipped and flew at the speed of calorie-free among explosions and magic weapons.
Martial Arts Flick #5: Duel to the Decease (1983)
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After the success of Zu, Ching Siu-tung directed Duel to the Death and proved that shooting old-fashioned sword fights at 18 frames per second didn't brand the action look hokey; it fabricated it sing with gleeful, steel-slashing bewitchment. The movie intelligently weaves in the traditions of the classic chivalrous swordsman traveling downwardly his path of martyrdom with a quasi-modern, German expressionistic visual approach that combines the elemental filmmaking sensitivities of Tsui Hark with Michael Curtiz's swashbuckling style. What does all that mean? It'due south a helluva fun film to watch!
Martial Arts Movie #half dozen: Constabulary Story (1985)
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As the kung fu and guo shu films started to lose their luster—due in part to Hong Kong'south copycat mentality, in which the fights were becoming as well repetitive—the 1980s witnessed the birth of the final two genres: Fant-Asia and the one defined by this motion-picture show. At the turn of the decade, Jackie Chan wanted to do something different, so he started to avert period-piece films. His characters moved away from being practitioners of traditional kung fu and became more like farthermost athletes, as seen in Dragon Lord (1982).
With his side by side motion-picture show, Project A (1983), and more officially with Constabulary Story, he created the wu da pian ("fight films using martial arts") genre. It combined athleticism, martial-arts-influenced battles and outrageous stunts wrapped in modern themes and settings. Furthermore, instead of using traditional kung fu movements, the battles incorporated more Western-mode battle with karate-similar kicks. Just about every contemporary-themed martial arts movie shot since is a consequence of Chan's wu da style.
Martial Arts Movie #seven: Drunken Principal Ii (1994)
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Based on fight choreography, Drunken Chief 2 is arguably the best martial arts movie ever made. At the time of its release, Fant-Asia films were at their peak, and other directors were switching to Jackie Chan's wu da style. Yet Chan returned to his kung fu roots to brand a superior sequel. Filled with phenomenally fresh fights, information technology avoided the popular bobbing fashion of choreography used during Chan'southward kung fu film heyday. His martial skills flowed like a waterfall over smooth rocks.
The final sixteen minutes are equally mesmerizing and creative as they are relentless and exhausting. Chan showed Hollywood, which had claimed whatsoever fight that lasted more two or 3 minutes was boring, that a long battle could be heady without having to repeat the same movements over and over.
Martial Arts Flick #eight: The Matrix (1999)
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Although not a martial arts picture, The Matrix was the start mainstream Western pic to successfully blend Hollywood's panache for visual effects with Hong Kong's stylized fight choreography to create what's notwithstanding considered a phenomenon. Matrix is a visual spectacle. Its martial arts gags and imagery have been parodied ad infinitum, and the movie has become an integral function of 20th-century pop culture.
Trivia: Matrix inadvertently launched a ridiculous Hollywood trend. When the directors (the Wachowski brothers) approached Yuen Woo-ping to practice the fights, he didn't want to. He hoped that by asking for an exorbitant fee, he would turn them away. It didn't work, even so. Yuen then figured that by demanding that the main actors practise martial arts with him for four months, he'd be off the hook. Wrong over again. Hollywood assumed that training actors for fighting roles was the standard.
Martial Arts Picture show #9: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
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To die-hard martial arts film fans, this moving-picture show was nothing new, merely to the average American, Crouching Tiger was something never before encountered. Its twang of novelty resonated around the world as it became the first Chinese-linguistic communication wu xia film to be widely accepted by Western audiences. Wu xia was the first genre of Chinese martial arts movie; its name translates as "martial benevolent-hero movie." Originating in Shanghai in the 1920s, such movies were saturated with classical tales, heroic stories and legends of superhuman swordsmen and magical feats.
Directed by Ang Lee and fight-directed by Yuen Woo-ping, Crouching Tiger composite Eastern physical grace and activity with American elements of operation intensity and the subtleties and nuances of European cinema. The movie was Lee's homage to wu xia films, and it started a trend that brought international attention to similar motion pictures by other Chinese directors.
Martial Arts Movie #x: Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (2003)
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Just when you thought good martial arts movies were the sole domain of China and the Usa, the film industry of Thailand received worldwide acclamation. Tony Jaa's Ong-Bak introduced a new and unsafe kind of fight choreography that combined wu da action with a stylized version of muay boran (the progenitor of muay Thai). The highlights of the film are not only Jaa'south bouts with his meth-crazed adversary simply also Jaa'southward outrageous stunts: deadly knee-drib strikes, elbows of fury, far-out burn down kicks and so on.
Jaa reminded usa why we liked Jackie Chan'due south movies from the mid-1980s. More than of import, Jaa's efforts to showcase his nation'southward fighting arts inspired other countries—including Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia—to follow adjust.
Martial Arts Movie #11: Ip Man (2008)
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Not since Drunken Master ii has in that location been such a rip-roaring, old-school, kung fu movie. Ip Man arrived on the heels of those loftier-budget, high-product-value Chinese/American wu xia films shot in China using fancy wire work. It proved that traditional kung fu fight choreography reminiscent of the 1970s never goes out of vogue.
The kung fu is as real as the legitimate martial arts stars that perform the fights, which is no longer the case in most movies that characteristic actors who don't practice or practitioners who are more than into gymnastics than traditional kung fu. Not once does Donnie Yen, who plays Bruce Lee'south teacher Ip Homo (also spelled Yip Man), suspension wing chun course to execute unnecessarily flashy movements to appease viewers who regard wushu-mode fights as the real thing.
(For the past 18 years, Dr. Craig D. Reid has worked equally a writer and martial arts film critic. He estimates that he'southward watched more than 5,000 martial arts movies. He'due south practiced martial arts for 38 years, and since 1979, he's worked off and on as a fight choreographer in Hollywood and Asia. For more martial arts moving picture wisdom, check out his volume, The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s: 500+ Films Loaded With Action, Weapons and Warriors).)
Source: https://blackbeltmag.com/11-movies-every-martial-artist-must-see
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