11 Best Martial Arts Movies to Watch
Key takeaways
- Start with Enter the Dragon for Bruce Lee, Police Story for Jackie Chan’s stunt-driven style, and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin for classic kung fu.
- Choose Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero for stylized wuxia swordplay.
- The Prodigal Son and Ip Man offer Wing Chun-centered screen action, while Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior showcases Muay Thai.
- “Best” depends on the kind of action you want to see.
Table of contents
- 11 Best Martial Arts Movies to Watch
- Key takeaways
- The best martial arts movies
- Kung fu, wuxia, and martial arts action: what’s the difference?
- Where should a beginner start?
The best martial arts movies
The best martial arts movies don’t all look alike. Some build excitement around training and hand-to-hand technique; others turn combat into airborne wuxia spectacle, comic stunt work, or fast, close-quarters action. For a strong starting lineup, try Enter the Dragon for Bruce Lee, Police Story for Jackie Chan’s stunt-driven style, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin for classic kung fu, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for elegant swordplay.
This list balances influence, fight choreography, performance, and variety rather than treating any one critic’s ranking as definitive. The British Film Institute and Time Out offer useful curated selections, but “best” ultimately depends on the kind of action you want to see.
1. Enter the Dragon (1973)
A natural place to begin, Enter the Dragon brings Bruce Lee’s screen presence to a story built around a martial arts tournament. Lee plays a Shaolin-trained fighter recruited by British intelligence to investigate a criminal operation. The American Film Institute’s catalog describes that setup and the film’s central role for Lee.
The movie’s appeal is bigger than its tournament premise: Lee makes each movement feel precise and purposeful, while the mix of martial arts action and espionage gives the fights a clear dramatic frame. It’s a useful first pick if you want to understand why Bruce Lee became so closely associated with martial arts cinema.
Best for: Bruce Lee, tournament stories, and classic screen combat.
2. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)
Also known as Master Killer, this Shaw Brothers classic puts training at the center of the story. Gordon Liu plays a young man who seeks Shaolin instruction after his community is attacked. The film’s memorable appeal comes from watching discipline and technique develop through a series of demanding challenges.
That training structure has influenced how later movies depict martial arts mastery: progress is earned through repetition, not simply revealed in a final showdown. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is a particularly satisfying choice if you enjoy stories where practice and perseverance matter as much as the climactic fight. Time Out places it at the top of its martial arts movie selection.
Best for: Shaolin kung fu, training sequences, and classic genre storytelling.
3. Police Story (1985)
Jackie Chan’s Police Story is a strong pick for viewers who want action with a comic streak. Chan plays a police officer caught up in a case against a crime syndicate, and the film moves between pursuit, physical comedy, and carefully staged fights.
Its style differs from the solemn master-versus-master duel. Chan’s character scrambles, improvises, and uses his surroundings, making the action feel playful as well as dangerous. The result is a showcase for stunt-based choreography and comic timing—an approach that helped distinguish Chan from stars whose screen personas depended on stillness or sheer force.
Best for: Energetic stunts, physical comedy, and action that keeps moving.
4. The Prodigal Son (1981)
If you’re curious about Wing Chun on screen, seek out The Prodigal Son. Sammo Hung directed and co-stars in the film, which features Yuen Biao and centers its action on close-range fighting. The BFI highlights the film for its Wing Chun combat and Biao’s performance.
Rather than relying on long-distance weapons exchanges or elaborate wire-assisted movement, the fights emphasize quick blocks, strikes, and changes of position at close quarters. It’s an especially good recommendation for viewers who want to see a martial arts style shape the choreography, rather than serve merely as background to a generic action plot.
Best for: Wing Chun and compact, close-quarters fight choreography.
5. Drunken Master (1978)
Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master combines kung fu action with physical comedy. Chan plays Wong Fei-hung, a mischievous young man whose training under a demanding teacher leads him toward the film’s distinctive Drunken Boxing style.
The humor is part of the action, not a pause between fights. Chan’s movements shift between awkward-looking comic gestures and sudden bursts of control, so the choreography depends on timing as much as speed. If Police Story appeals to you, this earlier film is a good next step for seeing how Chan’s comic action persona developed.
Best for: Playful kung fu, comic performance, and unusual choreography.
6. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a graceful entry point into wuxia, a tradition of Chinese martial arts storytelling often associated with heroic swordsmen and stylized movement. The film follows characters whose loyalties, desires, and responsibilities become entangled around a stolen sword.
Its fights are not presented as straightforward tests of physical realism. Wire-assisted leaps and gliding movement turn swordplay into a visual language, giving the action a romantic, almost dreamlike quality. That makes it a good choice for viewers drawn to atmosphere and character as much as combat.
Best for: Swordplay, sweeping visuals, and emotionally driven wuxia.
7. Hero (2002)
Zhang Yimou’s Hero offers another striking wuxia experience, this time organized around a warrior’s account of encounters with several assassins. Its action is highly composed, with color, setting, and movement working together to give each section a distinct visual identity.
The film favors elegance and scale over the rough-and-tumble feel of many kung fu comedies. If Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon works for you, Hero is a natural companion: both use stylized martial arts to tell stories about loyalty, sacrifice, and the obligations of power.
Best for: Visually composed sword fights and large-scale wuxia.
8. Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (2003)
For a different national tradition and fighting style, try the Thai action film Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior. Tony Jaa plays a fighter who travels to Bangkok to recover a stolen village Buddha statue. The film’s action centers on Muay Thai and athletic, impact-focused physical performance.
Compared with the floating movement of wuxia, Ong-Bak aims for a more forceful, grounded screen style. That doesn’t make it a documentary record of real fighting: it’s still action cinema, built for dramatic effect. But it offers a change of pace if you want strikes, chases, and physical feats rather than swordplay or extended training scenes.
Best for: Muay Thai action and high-energy physical performance.
9. Ip Man (2008)
Donnie Yen stars as Wing Chun practitioner Ip Man in this Hong Kong action drama directed by Wilson Yip. The movie gives its hero a measured, controlled screen presence, then contrasts that composure with tightly choreographed fights.
It’s a solid choice for viewers who want martial arts action within a character-focused period drama. The film’s presentation is shaped for cinema, so it’s better approached as a dramatized story than as a definitive biography or a guide to Wing Chun history. If The Prodigal Son sparks your interest in Wing Chun, Ip Man offers a more modern screen treatment of the style.
Best for: Modern kung fu drama and Donnie Yen’s screen fighting.
10. The Raid: Redemption (2011)
Gareth Evans’s The Raid: Redemption takes a different route from the traditional master-and-student story. An Indonesian police team enters a heavily fortified apartment block, and the mission quickly becomes a series of escalating confrontations. The film’s action is built around rapid, close-quarters combat and a sustained sense of pressure.
It’s a strong pick for viewers who want a modern action thriller rather than period settings, tournament plots, or comic kung fu. Its fights are intense and tightly staged, but—as with any screen choreography—should be understood as cinematic action, not a practical self-defense demonstration.
Best for: Contemporary action, confined settings, and relentless pacing.
11. The Grandmaster (2013)
Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster approaches martial arts through biography and memory. Tony Leung plays Ip Man, and the film’s measured style gives as much attention to mood and passing time as it does to fighting.
This is not the most direct choice if you want a fight-heavy action movie. Its choreography is striking, but the story is reflective and the pacing more deliberate than in Police Story or The Raid: Redemption. Choose it when you want martial arts cinema with a strong visual and historical-drama sensibility.
Best for: Reflective storytelling, stylized combat, and a slower pace.
Kung fu, wuxia, and martial arts action: what’s the difference?
These labels overlap, but they can help you choose what to watch. Kung fu movies often foreground physical training, fighting technique, and the work of learning a style. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and The Prodigal Son are good examples of that appeal.
Wuxia generally places more emphasis on heroic figures, swordplay, and stylized movement; its action may be deliberately fantastical. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero fit that mode. Meanwhile, films such as Police Story and The Raid: Redemption use martial arts choreography within modern action stories, with very different tones and rhythms.
These are viewing guides, not rigid definitions. A single film can mix traditions, and choreography is staged to serve the story rather than to prove how a real fight would unfold.
Where should a beginner start?
For a broad introduction, watch Enter the Dragon, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Police Story, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Together, they offer four distinct pleasures: Bruce Lee’s screen presence, kung fu training, Jackie Chan’s stunt comedy, and wuxia swordplay.
If you already know which style interests you, follow that thread instead. Choose The Prodigal Son or Ip Man for Wing Chun-centered screen action, Ong-Bak for Muay Thai, or The Raid: Redemption for a modern combat thriller. That approach is more useful than trying to settle on one universally “best” martial arts movie: the genre’s strength is how differently its films turn movement into drama.
