Somemartial arts moviescan be defined by a single thrilling battle that carries the entire experience, essentially making the film as well known as it may be. Many of thebest martial arts movie battlescome from films packed with action, but sometimes a single amazing fight scene can be the difference between success and obscurity.
It’s clear when a martial arts film is carried by a single fight scene, as the former can never come up in conversation without mention of the latter. That’s not to say that these movies have nothing to offer outside of their standout scene, but it’s clear where the majority of their appeal comes from.
10Ip Man Vs. 10 Black Belts
Ip Man
Donnie Yen’sIp Manseriesis only a small portion of many kung fu movies centered on the life and times of its titular wing chun master. While the grandiose drama of the films and its themes of cultural warfare give it depth far beyond most kung fu movies, it’s the stunning 10 vs 1 fight scene that remains talked about to this day.
Here, Yen’s Ip Man proves the superiority of wing chun when he takes down 10 black belts in karate at once. The spectacle is drenched in emotion as Ip is still reeling from witnessing the execution of his fellow kung fu master Liu, marking it the only time in the film he truly loses his cool and goes all out, decimating his opponents with uncharacteristic cruelty.
9Nameless Vs. Long Sky
Hero
Another Donnie Yen masterpiece thanks to one scene, 2002’sHerois a wuxia epic that outdoes itself entirely with a key fight that mostly takes place in the mind. Yen stars as the nameless protagonist, who regales the emperor with tales of how he defeated a variety of deadly fighters, with his battle against the spear-wielding Long Sky being a particular nailbiter.
The graceful movements and delicate wirework of this scene are lovingly rendered in slow motion, only for the entire fight to be cleverly revealed as a mental simulation run by Nameless before any weapons are actually drawn. Snapping back into reality, Nameless ends the duel in a single decisive strike, putting his opponent’s hypothetical skill to waste.
8Jackie Chan Vs. Benny “The Jet” Urquidez
Wheels On Meals
Wheels on Mealsmight be the one movie out ofJackie Chan’s illustrious careercharacterized by a single fight more than any others. All the better that it stars Jackie Chan’s character, Thomas, go up against a nameless thug played by real-life professional kickboxer extraordinaire, Benny “The Jet” Urquidez.
While most of Chan’s fights are characterized by slapstick comedy, Urquidez wakes him up with an unrelenting barrage of blows, forcing him to literally take a breather at one point. Watching Chan call out Urquidez’s feints is almost as satisfying as seeing him extinguish dinner candles with the sheer force of his strikes.
7The Kitchen Fight
The Raid 2
The Raid 2had some big shoes to fill going into the success of its progenitor, but it managed to exceed all expectation off of the strength of one frantic fight alone. Here, the Indonesian supercop Rama finds himself face-to-face with a deadly assassin in a dense kitchen.
The battle makes great use of the kitchen settingas Rama and the assassin roll off of counter tops, flight serving trays, and take the fight to a wine cellar filled with glass. When the assassin draws two karambit daggers, things only get more intense, leading up to the bloody conclusion.
6Bruce Lee Vs. Chuck Norris
The Way Of The Dragon
As one of the few films in Bruce Lee’s coveted canonical five, it says a lot that crossing fists with the famed martial arts star once was inThe Way of the Dragonwas enough to make the career of Chuck Norris. Here, Lee’s Tang Lung goes up against Chuck Norris' Colt against the gorgeous backdrop of the Roman colosseum.
Seeing a young, hungry Norris go up against the legendary Bruce Lee outdoes anything else in the film up to that point, as the two assault one another by roundhouse kicking, trading brutal punches to the face, and even ripping out chest hair. The back-alley feel of the fight can be attributed to the fact thatLee and Norris illegally filmed in Romewithout permission.
5Tae-sik Gets Revenge
The Man From Nowhere
2010’sThe Man from Nowhereis more of a noir action movie than a martial arts film, strictly speaking, but it still stands out the most for the brutal final confrontation between protagonist Tae-sik and the vile criminal organization that kidnapped his innocent young neighbor. While the battle begins with gun fu, an intimate final knife fight marks the end of the conflict.
Watching Tae-sik tear through the deplorable gang members in melee combat after exhausting them of their guns is nothing short of exhilarating. But the true showstopper is the intimate, voluntary knife fight between him and the gang’s leader. Viciously jarring with no music and first-person camera perspectives, this fight immortalizesThe Man from Nowhere.
4The Bride Vs. The Crazy 88s
Kill Bill: Vol 1
The spectacularlybloody violence of Quentin Tarantino’s careeris perhaps realized better nowhere than in the last act ofKill Bill: Vol 1, which is essentially one big gauntlet of battles as Beatrix Kiddo carves through O-ren Ishii’s gang, the Crazy 88s. With her trademark katana and yellow suit, the bloodshed here is absurd in all the best ways.
Seeing the bride cut through scores of gang members by herself is great enough, but the standout fight with the giggly Gogo Yubari and her meteor hammer could have carried the film on its own. Of course, the fateful final swordfight between Beatrix and O-Ren herself is one of the most legendary ever put to film.
3The Club Fight Scene
Ong-Bak
The film to popularize both Muay Thai as a fighting system in movies and Tony Jaa’s career,Ong-Bakdeserves no end of credit. However,it’s hard not to act like everything else in the film isn’t outshone by the fight club sequence, in which Jaa’s Ting is forced to compete in an underground fighting ring.
The scene sees Jaa come up against all flavors of international opponents, from the boisterous English-speaking brute of a champion he defeats in only a few blows to the wily spiky-haired punk who hits the splits. The battles culminate in Ting chasing thugs through the tournaments back rooms, kicking one of them through a wall with a refrigerator.
2The Ice Factory Fight
Chocolate
Another Thai film demonstrating the power offemale martial artists, 2008’sChocolatecenters on Zen, a young autistic woman whose eerie prodigal level of skill in martial arts is used to collect money to pay for her mother’s cancer treatment. The film is ruled by a single amazing fight scene taking place in a unique location, an ice manufacturing plant.
There’s a lot to adore about this scene, from the slipping and sliding on the ice itself to Zen’s clear mimicry of Bruce Lee as she imitates his trademark wails and nose wipe. Her opponents might not provide much of a challenge, with Zen even sending one of them through an ice-carving machine with a kick, but the battle is still a clear standout of the film.
1The Hallway Hammer Fight
Oldboy
Hallway fights have become something of a trope in recent years, with long, single-take shots tracking brutal hand-to-hand combat gaining popularity in TV shows likeDaredeviland movies likeGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.But it wasOldboythat first perfected and refined this idea, resulting in a brutal martial arts drama defined by one particular fight.
Here,Oh Dae-su fights a massive horde of thugs in a claustrophobic hallway, brutally dismantling with a clawhammer in one long take that tracks him from side to side.Oldboymight be far from a traditionalmartial arts film, but the impact this scene has made on the genre is nothing short of iconic.
