Top 5, Bottom 5 Martial Art Movies

[Kirk]

ROFL! The Last Dragon .. I LOVE that one! hehehe

I shoulda made my username on here "Sho' Nuff"

Am I the prettiest? Am I the badest? Am I the meanest
mo-fo low down around this town?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

[Ronin]

There is a new martial arts movie in the works called "the ronin legend" fromw what i have seen about it it is gonna be cool.

 

[Ronin]

its about an american who trains with the samurai and becomes a great warrior, the tension is few know he is an american. He was trained by a great former samurai who keeps his identity a secret. and when the shogun finds out a gaijin has infiltrated the armies a manhunt begins and out of fear the samurais master bans him. The ronin retreats to the forest and becomes spook story told to kids of japan. sho kosugi may be asked to be in it

 

[Cthulhu]

Rob, if you like the Seven Samurai, check out Yojimbo and/or Sanjuro. For some nasty Japanese siege action, check out Ran. These are all Akira Kurosawa flicks.

Cthulhu

 

[Stickboxer]

MY FAVORITES:

Bloodsport
Only The Strong
The Perfect Weapon
Rapid Fire
Marked For Death
Mortal Kombat (the FIRST one)
Best Of The Best 1 & 2
Anything with Bruce Lee
And as a product of the Ninja era, I really enjoyed “Enter The Ninja,” which I rented only because I couldn’t find what I had been advised to get because it was considered the greatest MA film, “Enter The Dragon.”


MY ALL-TIME WORST:

Bloodsport
Only The Strong
The Perfect Weapon
Rapid Fire
Marked For Death
Mortal Kombat (the FIRST one)
Best Of The Best 1 & 2
Anything with Bruce Lee
And as a product of the Ninja era, I really enjoyed “Enter The Ninja,” which I rented only because I couldn’t find what I had been advised to get because it was considered the greatest MA film, “Enter The Dragon.”


Like most films of the genre, these can be both wonderful and terrible, depending on the people, sometimes simultaneously.

While I love them, many people around me laugh at them. That includes martial artists and non-practictioners.

Flawlessly good film:
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; mainstreamed, so non-martial artists can like it.

Amazingly awful film:
The Quest!!!

 

[Kirk]

Anyone here like American Ninja ??

 

[fist of fury]

Originally posted by Kirk

Anyone here like American Ninja ??

No I think beverly hills ninja was better

 

[Stickboxer]

Now that I think about it, "American Ninja" was one of those films that naturally intrigued a young teenage boy like myself growing up during the craze in the early 80's. So yes, "American Ninja" remains a guilty pleasure I'm embarrassed to admit I like. Then again, I feel that way only about the first one, not the sequels...

It may not really be a movie, but a very interesting and entertaining tape I loved to watch was an old Bruce Lee documentary, with behind-the-scene outtakes of Lee goofing around on the "Game of Death" set...

 

[Kirk]

Originally posted by Stickboxer

Then again, I feel that way only about the first one, not the sequels...

Amen to that one! The sequels "stunk to high heaven"

 

[Andi]

Originally posted by Stickboxer

MY FAVORITES:
Best Of The Best 1 & 2

MY ALL-TIME WORST:
Best Of The Best 1 & 2

Like most films of the genre, these can be both wonderful and terrible, depending on the people, sometimes simultaneously.

While I love them, many people around me laugh at them. That includes martial artists and non-practictioners.

Amazingly awful film:
The Quest!!!

Stickboxer mate, I'm quite amazed that you're the only one mentioning the Best of the Best series here. Don't you just love 3 & 4 as well? Brilliant stuff. No, honestly. :wink:

The Quest was great! Well it made me laugh anyway!
(was that the point?)


Andi

 

[Ty K. Doe]

My all time favorites

1. The Karate Kid
2. Best of the Best
3. The Last Dragon
4. Fists of Legend
5. Bloodsport

5 worst in no particular order

No Retreat No Surrender
Legend of the Red Dragon
American Ninja
Mortal Kombat Annihilation
On Deadly Ground

 

[arnisador]

Although I've never seen the whole thing, The Next Karate Kid seems to be particularly bad.

 

[Kirk]

Originally posted by arnisador

Although I've never seen the whole thing, The Next Karate Kid seems to be particularly bad.

I agree. I'd also lump part 3 in with it ... stinkamundo!

 

[Ronin]

The greatest Martial Arts movie was "They call me Bruce" with Johnny Yune

 

[Stickboxer]

How could anyone not love “No Retreat, No Surrender”?! After all, who wouldn’t embrace a pro-Chinese film where the instructor is referred to by a Japanese title... or the fact that the Bruce Lee look-alike in the film looked nothing like him!

While I’m at it, “No Retreat” and “Lethal Weapon 4” have something in common: the so-called heroes were such selfish, annoying, and outright bullying jerks that I was yelling for the villain to kill them! Was anyone else bothered by how much of a bully Mel Gibson was in the last version of his increasingly weakening “Weapon” series?


As far as the point of “The Quest,” it had two good things going for it: one, the plot of the mildly successful “Bloodsport” (although “The Quest” was much more realistic!), and two, some impressively handsome Capoeria work.

 

[bdparsons]

5 Best: (in no particular order)

Enter the Dragon; The Perfect Weapon; Crouching Tiger; Hidden Dragon; Return of the Dragon; Kill the Golden Goose

(Kill the Golden Goose was also re-released as Kill the Golden Ninja. It stars Bong Soo Han as the good guy and Ed Parker as the bad guy. The climactic fight scene in the warehouse is not to be missed! It shows off the best of both Hapkido and Kenpo)

5 Worst (stay away from these in any order)

No Retreat, No Surrender; Any Karate Kid sequel; Any of the Van Damme movies (I'm sorry I tried but couldn't stand any of them); Best of the Best 2; Flaming Fists of Shaolin (no, really, their fists would burst into flames, it was horrible)

Disclaimer: Any reccomendations given are based on martial arts sequences only and have nothing to do with the acting, which is really why we watch them right?

Later,
Bill Parsons

 

[Rainman]

5 best

game of death
perfect weapon
18 bronzeman.
above the law
drunken master

5 worst

gym kata
the expert
street knight
kick boxer 4
the little dragon


:asian:

 

[Stickboxer]

Disclaimer: Any reccomendations given are based on martial arts sequences only and have nothing to do with the acting, which is really why we watch them right?
Bill Parsons


If a cool combative sequence is all that matters, then I nominate the group stickfighting scene in "Martial Law 1" and the other group stickfighting scene in "Mission of Justice." I think either are way better than the group stickfighting scene in "Kiss Of The Dragon." (Can anyone tell that I'm into the Filipino arts?)

On the other hand, if you look for more than fight scenes to make a movie enjoyable, then I nominate "Showtown in Little Tokyo." The cheesy acting, bad writing, and hilarious lines are hardly enough to outweigh the incredible talents of a newly-acting Brandon Lee, but then again, they don't have to... they add to the guilty pleasures of the film!

 

[Seig]

My Top 5 in no particular order:
Perfect Weapon
Only the Strong
Showdown in Little Tokyo
Blind Fury
The Octagon

The Worst:
No Retreat, No Surrender
Road House(Loved the Movie, laughed my butt off at the fights)
Anything with Jean Fraud von Don't
Revenge of the Pink Panther(It made SGM Parker look like a fool)
The entire KickBoxer series

 

[Kirk]

Originally posted by Seig

The entire KickBoxer series

I liked the first one!