The Silent Flute (1978)
Zen Quest
Bizarre Bruce Lee conceived conceived martial arts film, a bizarre allegorical work of philosophy steeped in inscrutable Zen epigrams
Martial Arts
Martial Arts cinema was a genre that began in Hong Kong in the late 1960s, featuring people using forms of unarmed combat such as karate and kung fu. In recent years, kickboxing and MMA combat have been added to the mix.
The martial arts film gained a huge boost with the hit of Enter the Dragon (1973), which made a star out of Bruce Lee. Lee died at the height of his fame but there was a large body of imitators. The genre has produced other stars such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li.
Martial arts entered the American Action Film soon after and made stars out of names like Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson and others. The video action film of the 1990s readily mixed martial arts with killer cyborgs, time travel and post-apocalyptic action. The genre gained a whole new popularity after the massive hit of The Matrix (1999).
Silent Rage (1982)
Action Film/Resurrected Psycho
A Chuck Norris horror film! One of his earlier films where Chuck is pitted against a psycho who is resurrected from the dead and becomes a near-invincible killing machine
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021)
Martial Arts/Action Film
Part of the attempt to reboot the G.I. Joe film series into a shared universe, this is a kinetically driven martial arts film
The Spy Next Door (2010)
Spy Plays Babysitter Comedy
The further slide downwards of Jackie Chan’s career after being discovered by Hollywood. Here he is a spy left to look after a group of kids with excruciatingly unfunny results
The Storm Riders (1998)
Flying Swordsmen Fantasy
A solid variant on the Hong Kong flying swordsman genre that contains some epic plotting This is the point where the Wu Xia film discovered CGI effects
Storm Warriors (2009)
Flying Swordsmen Fantasy
The Pang Brothers are some of the most exciting genre directors in the world. Here they take on the Wu Xia film and make a sequel to The Storm Riders that feels fuelled by too many viewings of 300
Story of Ricky (1991)
Gonzo Splatter/Ultra-Tough Future Prison
An outrageous Hong Kong prison film that comes filled with mind-bogglingly over-the-top splatter effects
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009)
Videogame Adaptation
Sequel to the 1994 Street Fighter film based on the videogame, this provides the wall-to-wall action that the first film needed but falls down with a wimpily miscast heroine
Swordsman (1990)
Hong Kong Flying Swordsmen Fantasy
The first in a highly enjoyable series of flying swordsman films produced by Tsui Hark. The series hit its peak with the second film but this is an enjoyably energetic and busy effort in its own
Swordsman II (1992)
Hong Kong Flying Swordsmen Fantasy
Sensational example of the Hong Kong Wu Xia/Flying Swordsman film. Ching Siu-Tung delivers an amazing series of martial arts battles with fantastical moves that are quite out of this world
Swordsman III: The East is Red (1993)
Hong Kong Flying Swordsmen Fantasy
The third in the Hong Kong Wu Xia/flying swordsman series. After a sensational second entry, this one figures it has to top it, resulting in some utterly whacko scenes even by the usually OTT, anything-goes standards of Hong Kong fantasy
The Tai Chi Master (1993)
Hong Kong Martial Arts
Hong Kong action choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping directs a masterpiece of martial arts cinema, featuring some of the sensational fight sequences ever put on film
Taichi Hero (2012)
Wu Xia Film
Sequel to Stephen Fung’s Taichi Zero. The first film was distractingly self-conscious and hyper-active; by contrast, this is much less so, allowing it to settle down and start being the fantastic martial arts film it sets out to be. Even so, classic Wu Xia directors leave everything Fung does for dead
Taichi Zero (2012)
Wu Xia Film
From the high-profile release this had, I was expecting it to be a Wu Xia epic – instead we get what feels like a martial arts film by way of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World where instead of amazing us with the fight scenes the director seems in love with self-conscious cuteness of his own visuals
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
Comic-Book Superheroes
The first live-action spinoff of the comic-book and animated series still holds up well two decades later. Little of the manic barrage of pop culture has dated, there are some excellent animatronics that allow the Turtles to engage in a series of high-energy fights and more importantly emerge as distinctive characters
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
Comic-Book Superheroes
This reboot of the pop culture icons of 80s/90s is an ugly failure on almost every level. The Turtles I remember were hip, funky and bubbled with boyish enthusiasm; these Turtles seem sinister oversized creations, while the film’s adrenalised over-production and emphasis on grit seems to have missed the essential element of fun
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)
Comic-Book Superheroes
The second live-action Turtles film is a disappointment. The Turtles are infectiously enjoyable characters but the script has an indifferent laziness, while parental concerns over violence have mandated that the fight scenes be watered down to an absurd level
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)
Comic-Book Superheroes in Feudal Japan
The third of the original live-action Turtles films is a lazily conceived affair that transplants the Turtles back in time to feudal Japan in a plot that rips off The Seven Samurai
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)
Animation/Comic-Book Superheroes
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were the pop culture phenomenon of the 1980s. They have not fared so well in the 2000s but this new animated film written by Seth Rogen is a promising start
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)
Comic-Book Superheroes
Nobody has good things to say about the 2014 reboot of the Turtles. This sequel is stuck with its legacy – giant over-sized Turtles that lacked the cuteness of the originals; bitchy non-acting Megan Fox – but comes out winningly by doing one thing – emulating the spirit of the original cartoon series
TMNT (2007)
Comic-Book Superheroes/Animation
Animated revival of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which brings them back to the screen with a satisfyingly gritty edge and a series of kinetic action sequences
Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997)
Teen Power-Suit Superheroes
The second of the film spinoffs from tv’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. More inane silliness played with shrieking OTT excess
The Tuxedo (2002)
Spy Supersuit Comedy
Part of the sad depths that Jackie Chan’s career sank to after he was discovered by Hollywood. This is a spy film parody where he is a cabbie who places on a hi-tech tuxedo that turns him into a super-agent
Virtual Combat (1995)
Virtual Characters Come to Life/Action
Completely ridiculous martial arts SF film with Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson as a future cop fighting a videogame character incarnated in the real world
Volcano High (2001)
High School Fantastical Martial Arts
Energetic South Korean attempt to employ the Wu Xia action moves popularised by The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in a high school setting
Warriors of Virtue (1997)
Fantasy Otherworld
Fantasy film set in a magical otherworld defended by martial arts wielding kangaroos
The Warrior’s Way (2010)
South Korean Wu Xia/Western
Korean-made Wu Xia/Western crossover that imports Hollywood names and is shot in New Zealand, resulting in a bizarre oddity cross-cultural fusion. The plot elements are paper thin but the film comes to life during the stylised action scenes
Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006)
Teenage Girl Martial Arts Warrior
Disney Channel film where a modern teenager finds she is the reincarnation of a martial arts warrior
Wu Dang (2012)
Martial Arts/Wu Xia Fantasy
Martial Arts/Wu Xia fantasy with various people involved in a competition while hunting for a fabled sword
Yakuza Apocalypse (2015)
Gonzo Yakuza Vampire Film
Japan’s Takashi Miike gained a cult with a series of films that went to extremes or crossed way over taboo lines; his films from the mid-2000s have become more experiments that produce a head-scratching “huh?”. Case in point being this Yakuza vampire film that frequently feels like much of it was being made up on the spot
Zu Warriors (2001)
Wu Xia Film
Tsui Hark’s follow-up to Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain the film that popularised Wu Xia cinema. The point where Tsui discovered CGI and latches onto it to do more than just show flying swordsmen but create an exquisitely dreamy world of pure fantastique imagination
Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983)
Wu Xia Film
The modern beginnings of Wu Xia and the flying swordsman film. Tsui Hark creates a totally nutso film filled with wild martial arts battles with demonic forces. The results are out of this world