There are many types of great, exciting action scenes found within the action genre. Car chases are fast and often nerve-racking, shootouts are loud and overwhelming in the best way possible, and huge explosions hardly ever get boring to look at. At the end of the day, though, hand-to-hand action might be the most exciting and awe-inspiring, as there's something visceral and impactful about seeing two (or more) skilled fighters battling up close and personal.

No sub-genre provides great hand-to-hand combat the same way martial arts movies do. For well over 50 years, martial arts has been a popular style of combat to feature in action movies, with the following films being among the best martial arts movies of all time. All have an average IMDb score of 7.4/10 or higher, and are ranked below from lowest to highest.

12 'Dragon Inn' (1967)

IMDb Rating: 7.4/10

Dragon Inn - 1967

King Hu was a Chinese director who was a pioneer within the martial arts genre, directing numerous early classic movies in the 1960s and 1970s. While Dragon Inn wasn't his very first movie, it was arguably his first great martial arts film, and holds up today as an early classic of the genre, delivering exciting action despite being over half a century old.

Like many martial arts films, Dragon Inn's plot is simple and designed to allow numerous action scenes to be stringed together. It largely takes place in and around the Inn Of Dragon's Gate, and involves scores of assassins trying to eliminate the two surviving children of a recently betrayed army commander. It's a classy and no-nonsense martial arts film, and also boasts fantastic visuals and a memorable atmosphere beyond its fun action scenes.

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11 'The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter' (1984)

IMDb Rating: 7.4/10

Eight Diagram Pole Fighter - 1984
Image via Shaw Brothers Studio

Like many classic martial arts films, The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter is set in China during historical times. When a powerful family is almost entirely slaughtered in battle, the two survivors need to go on the run, with the film mostly following one young man, Yang Wu-lang, who seeks refuge in a monastery and becomes a Buddhist monk. Eventually, circumstances force him to become a brutal warrior once more.

The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter is one of those glorious action movies where each action sequence is better than the last. It culminates in a spectacular, lengthy, and absolutely brutal fight scene that would have to be one of the best in film history. It was produced by the iconic Shaw Brothers - a production company that financed many martial arts classics - and also stars Gordon Liu, one of the best martial arts actors of all time.

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10 'A Touch of Zen' (1971)

IMDb Rating: 7.5/10

A Touch of Zen - 1971

Dragon Inn may have established that King Hu was one of the greats when it came to directing martial arts movies, but A Touch of Zen solidified such a claim. This is a true epic that runs over three hours, and follows the story of a young woman who hides out in a small village while on the run from corrupt (and deadly) government officials.

The film eventually becomes a prolonged fight for survival, but before its second half, it's not as much of a martial arts movie. A Touch of Zen is quiet, contemplative, and spiritual, all while expertly building to an extended climax that offers awe-inspiring fight after awe-inspiring fight. It's a great epic drama and a fantastic martial arts film all in one, and while a 7.5/10 rating on IMDb is nothing to sneeze at, it really should be higher.

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9 'The Legend of Drunken Master' (1994)

IMDb Rating: 7.5/10

Drunken Master 2

You could fill a whole list (or two) of great martial arts movies starring the legendary Jackie Chan. He's been in the business for close to 50 years at this point, and before transitioning to Hollywood in the mid to late 1990s, made some of the best and wildest action movies of all time. Some combined martial arts with more modern-day action set pieces, like car chases and shootouts, while some were all focused on the hand-to-hand stuff.

The Legend of Drunken Master is one of those purely martial arts movies, and perhaps the greatest he ever made. Also serving as a swansong to his Hong Kong era as a whole, this film about family drama, stealing priceless artifacts, and drunken martial arts contains some of the best action scenes of all time. It needs to be seen by every single action movie fan, regardless of how they usually feel about martial arts.

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8 'Police Story' (1985)

IMDb Rating: 7.5/10

Police Story (1985)

The other Jackie Chan martial arts classic worth highlighting among the very best of all time is Police Story, an excellent blend of action, crime, and thriller genres. Narratively, it's about a police officer who gets framed for a particularly violent crime, and so ends up on the run while trying to prove his innocence. The story's decently told, but honestly is mostly just there to provide a series of spectacular action sequences, which is what most people come to a Jackie Chan movie for.

He was also responsible for directing Police Story, and his perfectionist qualities as a filmmaker do shine through in how intricate and perfectly designed the large-scale set pieces tend to get. It seems like the kind of movie that would've been tremendously arduous to make, but the end results speak for themselves, with Police Story being right up there as one of Jackie Chan's very best efforts.

Police Story
PG-13

Release Date
December 14, 1985
Director
Jackie Chan
Cast
Jackie Chan , Brigitte Lin , Maggie Cheung , Kwok-Hung Lam , Bill Tung , Yuen Chor
Runtime
100 minutes

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7 'The 36th Chamber of Shaolin' (1978)

IMDb Rating: 7.6/10

Gordon Liu training in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
Image Via Shaw Brothers Studio

Training montages and preparing for climactic showdowns are things that show up in numerous classic martial arts movies, with The 36th Chamber of Shaolin deservedly being one of the best-known of these. It follows a young yet inexperienced man who's wronged by corrupt members of the government, leading to him training at the famed Shaolin Temple so that he'll one day have the skills to fight back and seek vengeance.

Structurally, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is very straightforward and doesn't exactly offer many twists and turns from a narrative perspective. However, the film doesn't need to surprise in these areas, because the simplicity of the story here is what makes it so great. On top of this, the build towards the final act - as well as the satisfaction of seeing an underdog hero grow stronger and stronger - is executed immaculately.

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6 'Enter the Dragon' (1973)

IMDb Rating: 7.6/10

Bruce Lee, Enter The Dragon
Image via Warner Bros.

Bruce Lee's career as a martial arts star was cut tragically short by his passing in 1973. Enter the Dragon, therefore, became his final complete film, and was released at the end of July 1973, just a few days after Lee passed away. The film was a legendary one, and is up there with the very best movies of the 1970s.

He was already on his way to becoming a huge action star, but Enter the Dragon solidified Lee as an icon, making it all the more unfortunate that this was his last proper film (1978's Game of Death would incorporate some fight sequences featuring Lee, but all the stuff without him is borderline unwatchable). Enter the Dragon's premise about an elaborate martial arts tournament on a strange island is packed to the brim with great action, with Lee being charismatic as an actor, as well as fierce and utterly convincing as a fighter.

Enter the Dragon (1973)
R

Release Date
August 19, 1973
Director
Robert Clouse
Cast
Bruce Lee , John Saxon , Jim Kelly , Ahna Capri
Runtime
102 minutes

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5 'The Raid' (2011)

IMDb Rating: 7.6/10

The Raid 2011

Few action movies can claim to be as simple, satisfying, and bone-crunchingly brutal as The Raid. This low-budget Indonesian film sees a squad of highly-trained but outnumbered S.W.A.T. team members trapped in a high-rise building run by a crime lord who puts a bounty on their heads. After this setup, The Raid becomes a fight for survival, with the police needing to fight their way out of the building.

Come for the violent martial arts, and stay for the violent martial arts, because there's not a whole lot else to The Raid. Yet its bluntness is its greatest strength, as few martial arts movies can claim to be this straightforward and so viscerally exciting, with some spectacular action that's wonderfully brutal and simultaneously over-the-top and intense.

The Raid: Redemption
R

Release Date
April 13, 2012
Director
Gareth Evans
Cast
Iko Uwais , Joe Taslim , Doni Alamsyah , Yayan Ruhian , Pierre Gruno , Ray Sahetapy
Runtime
101 minutes

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4 'The Raid 2' (2014)

IMDb Rating: 7.9/10

The Raid 2

The Raid 2 currently boasts a slightly higher rating on IMDb than its predecessor (7.6/10 compared to 7.9/10). It has a more complicated storyline, with various criminal gangs struggling for power, plenty of betrayals, and a setting that goes far beyond just one apartment building.

The complexity may leave some viewers wishing for the directness of the first movie, but ultimately, The Raid 2 is one of those sequels that's better than the first. Its action is more ambitious, it's filmed in a more cinematic way, and the one-on-one fight scenes are even better. It's just a shame we'll probably never get a third Raid movie. At least The Raid still birthed one of the greatest movie sequels of all time, and it's safe to call The Raid 2 not just a great martial arts movie, but a great action movie full-stop.

The Raid 2
R

Release Date
April 11, 2014
Director
Gareth Evans
Cast
Iko Uwais , Julie Estelle , Yayan Ruhian , Doni Alamsyah , Arifin Putra , Oka Antara
Runtime
150 minutes

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3 'Hero' (2002)

IMDb Rating: 7.9/10

Hero 2002

While Hero is not Yimou Zhang's only martial arts movie, it's probably the legendary Chinese director's best. It's a staggeringly beautiful movie that tells an epic story in under two hours, with the main plot being about a lone warrior tasked with eliminating three notorious assassins before they can make a move on China's king.

The action is on a truly breathtaking scale here, and the use of color is unparalleled. Beyond being a great-looking and sounding movie, it has some of the best on-screen sword fights in recent memory, which it expertly combines into its martial arts combat scenes. Hero is certainly one of 2002's greatest films, and offers stunning visuals alongside an emotional storyline and some unique action that proves hard to forget, once seen.

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2 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' (2000)

IMDb Rating: 7.9/10

A woman holds a sword and points it at someone in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

A movie so iconic most won't likely realize it was originally a novel, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of the most famous martial arts movies of all time. Directed by Ang Lee, it's a little more fantastical than most martial arts movies, with a group of people all after a mythical sword possessing fighting abilities that go beyond what reality might otherwise allow.

It gives the film a unique feeling, both in its story and in its memorable (and beautiful) action scenes. It's the kind of movie that you don't have to be a martial arts fan to appreciate it; its appeal is truly wide-reaching. It offers a grand and epic adventure alongside its exciting action, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon also works extremely well as a compelling romantic film, being one of the most striking and awe-inspiring movies of the entire 2000s.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
PG-13

Release Date
December 8, 2000
Director
Ang Lee
Cast
Chow Yun-Fat , Michelle Yeoh , Zhang Ziyi , Chang Chen , Lang Sihung , Cheng Pei-pei
Runtime
120 Minutes

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1 'Kill Bill Vol. 1' (2003)

IMDb Rating: 8.2/10

Uma Thurman facing off against a group of armed henchmen in Kill Bill Vol. 1
Image Via Miramax

Assessing both volumes together, there's a good argument to be made that Quentin Tarantino's revenge epic Kill Bill is his greatest film. While Vol. 2 has less action, and feels almost like a Western, Kill Bill Vol. 1 is an action-packed martial arts homage through and through. Fittingly, that makes it one of Tarantino's most violent and death-heavy films, which is really saying something.

Some may question whether a homage/pastiche deserves to have an 8.2/10 IMDb rating, which puts it above other classics from decades past. But then there's the argument to be made that Tarantino does make something here that feels unique, exciting, and unparalleled, simply because he was influenced by so many other films. This in turn makes Kill Bill Vol. 1 both a great martial arts homage and a great martial arts movie.

Kill Bill Vol. 1
R

Release Date
October 10, 2003
Runtime
111 minutes

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