Martial Arts Films
What is genuinely fought on screen — and what is cinematic shorthand
A former judoka who has drunk his way to the bottom gets a chance to return to the mat.
In 1930s Shanghai, a petty crook is caught between the Axe Gang and a slum where hidden masters live.
Young Korean Choi Bae-dal fights for recognition as a karateka in post-war Japan. Loosely based on the life of Masutatsu Oyama.
An ageing trainer takes on a waitress who wants to box and guides her to title fights.
An American officer captured in 19th-century Japan is drawn into a samurai rebellion.
A villager named Ting travels to Bangkok to recover the stolen head of a Buddha statue.
A former assassin wakes from a coma and begins taking revenge on her old team.
A biography of Thai boxer Nong Toom, who entered the ring wearing make-up and transitioned after her career.
A blind masseur and swordsman arrives in a town controlled by two gangs.
A low-ranking samurai in a declining era cares for his daughters and ailing mother and tries to avoid duels.
A man pulled from the sea without memory finds he can do things he cannot explain.
A nameless warrior tells the Qin emperor how he defeated three assassins. Each version of the story has its own colour.
Master Li Mu-bai wants to retire, but a young aristocrat with plans of her own steals his sword.
A documentary following Rickson Gracie as he prepares for the Vale Tudo Japan tournament.
A grown Wong Fei-hung tries to avoid drunken boxing, but stopping the export of Chinese antiquities leaves him no choice.
A masked folk physician robs corrupt officials to help the poor; the father of young Wong Fei-hung joins him.
A former soldier teaches capoeira at a troubled high school in Miami.
A biopic of Bruce Lee based on the memoir of his wife, Linda Lee Cadwell.
Two brothers from the Shaolin monastery part ways; one joins the army, the other discovers tai chi.
A ship's cook and former special forces operator single-handedly takes on the hijackers of a battleship.
Members of a failing university sumo club must enter competition to save it from closure.
In late-19th-century Canton, Wong Fei-hung faces colonial pressure and the collapse of the traditional world.
An old tai chi master moves in with his son in New York and cannot settle in with his American daughter-in-law.
An American comes to Thailand to avenge his brother, crippled by a Thai champion, and trains in Muay Thai under master Xian.
The American taekwondo national team prepares for a match against Korea.
An American soldier enters a secret no-rules Kumite tournament in Hong Kong.
A Chicago cop with a CIA past uncovers a conspiracy reaching into his own ranks.
Daniel accompanies Miyagi to Okinawa, where his teacher confronts an old quarrel from his youth.
An American soldier stationed overseas discovers a ninja army behind the attacks on his unit.
Daniel, a teenage newcomer to California, learns karate from handyman Mr Miyagi to stand up to a local gang.