Good and Bad Martial Arts Movies

I was watching the Karate Kid last night on ABC Family and I thought, this movie is going on 25 years old but it is still a good movie.  I will admit there is some cheese to it.  But at its core the movie is a story about a student and a teacher.  The rest of the movie is a bit bland and sterotypical in its story about the evil martial arts school, stealing the antagonist’s girlfriend, and the protagonist trying to fit into a society that he doesn’t feel he fits into.  The teacher student parts of the movie are what moves the story because it is the story.  I think where the Karate Kid succeeds is where other martial arts movies fail.  Most martial arts movies are about martial arts and fight choreography, where the Karate Kid is about a story first and Karate/ martial arts second.  That is why this movie works after 20+ years, it is a good story.

 Other good martial arts movies, in my opinion:

The Good

1.  Rocky – The story of the underdog given one shot to make his mark.  It is a great story and a great movie.  Unfortunately the movies get worse as time goes on Rocky 2 is fine, three is bad, four is awful, 5 is unwatchable and I didn’t see the last installment even though part of it was filmed in the building I work in.  However, this first film really does a great job of sucking you in.

2.  Raging Bull/ The Contender -  Both good boxing stories and worth the time.

3.  Million Dollar Baby – Unusual story of a woman boxer.  The movie stars Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman and Hillary Swank – that is enough to take the two hours out of your day.  This follows a Karate Kid format in that it is a story about a teacher and a student in which boxing happens happen. 

4.  Chushingura – story of the 47 Ronin.  The movie is visually stunning and the story is happens to be the national story of Japan.  It is like the battle of Thermopylae for the Greeks, it is part of their cultural identity.  I own this one and like it a lot.

5. Seven Samurai – This is one of the classics.  We are all familiar with it and I feel bad taking up an entry spot but it deserves a spot on the list.

 6.  Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon – Now here is the formula film makers should look to in making a martial arts movie, start with good actors.  Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun Fat are good actors and their performances made this movie.  The stunning visuals helped alot and even though there was a lot of wire work in the movie it seemed to fit.  This movie engages you start to finish and the fight sequences are great.

7.  Gladiator – Now some might look at this funny, but it is a martial arts movie and a good one.  Russell Crowe may be an idiot who throws phones at people in real life but he can act.  This is a good movie about a Roman general who finds himself turned gladiator.  The combat sequences are simply stunning.  Great stuff.  Again, good story with good actors.

8.  Star Wars – Star Wars is a kung fu movie in space.  The main protagonists practice a mystical martial art complete with samurai style sword fighting.  This comes complete with warrior-esque codes of conduct and a good versus evil dichotomy.  Some may say space opera but I know a kung fu movie when I see one.

The Bad – these are the movies that offer some good martial arts but poor stories making an over all bad movie

1.  Anything with Tony Jaa.  Tony Jaa is a great Thai martial artist and his movies are stunning in terms of his martial arts prowess.  But are they good movies in their own right?, not so much.  They are stupid and poorly conceived films in terms of their stories, they just are an excuse to watch Tony Jaa break some skulls in dramatic fashion.  This is similar to most Jett Li movies.   Jett Li has given us some good stuff but not great stuff and I am not sure if I am willing to sit through much of his stuff a second time.  But I do give a nod to Hero as being decent.

2.  Chuck Norris/ Stephen Segal- Two names that don’t usually go together.  Chuck Norris may have a fist behind his beard but he can’t act.  He knows it and says so.  His movies have huge unintentional humor factors.  Some of his fight sequences are good but the movies have poor stories, this is the same with Stephen Segal.  Good action, poor stories (usually very bad).  The only saving grace these days is that he goes direct to DVD so I don’t have to be forced to watch previews.  It is sad because Segal showed such promise early on.

3.  Jean Claude Van Damme -  The amount of van dammage that this man has done can’t be overstated.  He has made some miserable movies.  Terrible stories with predictable fight sequences.  Here is the part where he does a split and punches the guy in the groin, I think he did this in every movie (it may have just seemed that way). 

The Ugly – these are the movies with poor stories and poor martial arts that are dung heaps of movies.

1.  Gymkata – this may the worst movie ever made in any genre.  Strong words I know, but if you ever saw it you might agree (but if you haven’t seen it don’t, you can’t get that time back).  It is Olympic gymnast Kurt Thomas turned martial artist on a secret mission for the U.S. government.  It is laughable.  At one point he is being chased by a bunch of crazies in a walled off town and what does he find in the middle of the town a pommel horse.  Remarkable.  The unintentional humor value is extreme.

2. Street Fighter – Raul Julia was a good actor it is unfortunate this was his last movie.  Any movie based on a video game is running uphill from day one.  When you cast Jean Claude Van Damme in it there is one extra obstacle.  This movie was based on a fighting video game and the martial arts in it were terrible.  Just bad, start to finish.  At least there was no tease of it being any good.

3.  The Quest -  Jean Claude Van Damme in a quasi- Blood Sport remake with Roger Moore looking for a last paycheck.  This was terrible and near unwatchable.