The 1990s was a peak time formartial arts movies, with a distinctive ’90s' fusion of old-school kung fu choreography, hyper-dynamic action sequences, anddifferent martial arts stylesthat thrilled global audiences. Martial arts cinema was making a distinct change at this timeas more classic Hollywood elements were being used throughout filmsas their popularity grew. The best films of this era used those elements while remaining true to Eastern martial arts traditions that focused on stories of honor and redemption to make films that were both exciting and emotionally satisfying.
The 1990s weaving of acrobatic fight sequences with larger-than-life characters made the decade a golden age forperformances in martial arts films. Jet Li’s Chen Zhen inFist of Legend(1996) and Jackie Chan’s Wong Fei-hung inDrunken Master II(1994) both had incredible charisma and depth in their onscreen roles, making the martial arts more than mere action and combat. Their impact extended both east and west and is still felt today. It was the decade of superstars who combined comedy, action, and drama, leaving a legacy of performances that will be remembered in some impeccable martial arts films.
Lionheart
Cast
Lionheart is an action drama film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as Lyon Gaultier, a deserter from the French Foreign Legion who enters the world of underground fighting to raise money for his deceased brother’s family. Directed by Sheldon Lettich, the film depicts Lyon’s journey through a series of intense battles, highlighting themes of sacrifice and resilience as he seeks justice and financial security for his loved ones.
Jean-Claude Van Damme plays Lyon Gaultier, a French Foreign Legionnaire who deserts his post to help his brother’s family in the US.Lyon starts earning money by fighting in the bloody and gruesome underground circuit, where he struggles against giant thugs in back-alley pitfights. In this brotherly action adventure, one ofJean-Claude Van Damme’s most underrated films, his gravity-defying martial arts style is nearing the peak of its powers.
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Lionheartis an excellent example of Van Damme’s infamous signature moves: his flying kicks and splits and his plucky, underdog persona make him a compelling hero. Although the plot is relatively rudimentary, the fight choreography is stellar, andthe chemistry between the cast is fantastic, particularly between Lyon and his niece, which elevates the film’s emotional arc and adds weight to every single one of Lyon’s fights.Lionheartbecame a quick cult classic among fans of ’90s action and martial arts cinema.
Rumble In the Bronx
Rumble in the Bronx follows Hong Kong native Keong as he visits New York for his uncle’s wedding. While helping at his uncle’s Bronx market, Keong befriends a local child and confronts a gang causing trouble, unknowingly getting involved in a criminal conflict.
Shot in New York,Rumble in the Bronxfeatures Jackie Chan as Ma Hon Keung, a Hong Kong cop visiting his uncle who gets caught up in a battle between local gangs over territory. It’s an adrenaline-pumping ride of a film with incredible stunt work, includingChan’s iconic jump off a bridge foundation and onto a moving hovercraft. The movie cemented Chan’s status with Western audiences as one of the most gifted and physical actors of his generation.
The stunt work is also noteworthy and this is largely because Chan performed many of the most perilous stunts himself, including the director using the take in which he literally broke his foot when landing on the hovercraft.
One of the reasonsRumble in the Bronxstands out is for the use of martial arts proficiency in physical comedy, a trademark of Chan’s style. The stunt work is also noteworthy, and this is largely because Chan performed many of the most perilous stunts himself, including the directorusing the take in which he literally broke his foot when landing on the hovercraft. The balance of action and humor demonstrated byRumble In The Bronxmakes it a standout 90s martial arts film and one of the most rewatchable.
Police Story 3
Police Story 3 (2011) is a Chinese-Hong Kong action film directed by Benny Chan. The film stars Jackie Chan as a daredevil police officer who teams up with his partner to dismantle a drug syndicate. Featuring high-octane action sequences and signature martial arts stunts, the movie continues the legacy of the Police Story series with a blend of suspense and thrilling cinematography.
InPolice Story 3: Supercop, Jackie Chan returns as the Hong Kong police officer ‘Kevin’ Chan Ka-Kui and partners with Inspector Jessica Yang (Michelle Yeoh) to infiltrate and take down a drug syndicate. The film features some of Chan’s most death-defying stunts,including a truly exhilarating chase sequence with a helicopter hurtling towards a speeding train. Yeoh’s role as a competent, powerful counterpart to Chan is a welcome addition to the usual action formula.
Police Story 3: Supercopwas the first Jackie Chan film from Hong Kong to use sync sound, allowing all the actors' voices to be recorded in the scene as they actually spoke, rather than dubbed over later.
The chemistry between Chan and Yeoh and the elaborate action sequences (directed by Chan himself) are what makePolice Story 3: Supercopso distinctive, with its heady mash-up of martial arts and high-risk,Hollywood-style stunts that genuinely feel like they have life or death stakes. The mixture of big-budget set pieces, witty interplay, and hand-to-hand combat is becoming his characteristic and a high point of Chan’s filmography.
Once Upon a Time in China (1991)
Starring Jet Li as the real-life Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung,Once Upon a Time in Chinais Tsui Hark’s cinematic depiction of Wong’s attempts to protect his community from foreign infiltration and local government corruption.With some of the most intricate and stylish set-piece fight sequences of the era, Hark’s film is as entertaining as it is historically evocative. Li’s Wong Fei-hung became famous for his stoic discipline, as well as his jaw-dropping martial arts prowess, which Li possesses in abundance.
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The film’s combination of historical drama and stunning action helped redefine the martial arts genre for the 1990s. The fight scenes, especially those involving traditional weapons, arechoreographed to perfection, and such scenes as the opera theatre are intense and graphically realistic. Li’s fierce screen persona helped to make the character an icon, and the combination of martial arts and patriotism ensured the film’s success at the Asian box office and become one of the most influential martial arts films ever.
6Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)
Starring Jason Scott Lee And Lauren Holly
An incredible film that chronicles the life of the late martial arts legend, from his early attempts to break into Hollywood to his personal struggles and his ultimate rise to international superstardom. Played with searing charisma and intensity by Jason Scott Lee,this biopic pays homage to the late martial arts iconwith hard-hitting action scenes and dramatic scenes, highlighting the life story of Bruce Lee as a heart-wrenching tale; one of a romantic tragedy.
The primary source for the screenplay adaption is the 1975 biographyBruce Lee: The Man Only I Knewby Linda Lee Cadwell (Bruce Lee’s wife).
Co-written and directed by Rob Cohen, the 1993 movie has a deep emotional resonance and shows Lee’s struggle for success and recognition.Dragon: The Bruce Lee Storyis such a great life-and-times drama, making it more than just a martial arts thrill ride.It contains elements of mysticism and lore to dramatize the fighting sequences and honor the almost god-like standingBruce Lee has in the martial arts world. The film honors and pays homage to both his combat skills and his cultural reach, and in doing so, it makes a beautifully poignant film about the man behind the legend.
Tai Chi Master
Two friends grow up together in the Shaolin Temple and become great fighters. However, they end up running away from the temple because of their unruly attitudes. Having to live outside the temple, the two friends adapt to the new reality, the financial problems and the tyranny of the exploitative government.
Tai-Chi Masterstars Jet Li and Chin Siu-ho as two boys turned brothers who attend a Shaolin temple to study martial arts. After getting expelled from the school, they get into numerous misadventures and fights before following different paths and parting ways.One becomes a leader of rebels, while the other becomes a Tai Chi master. Directed by Yuen Woo-ping, the film has impressive fight choreography (as expected in a Jet Li film), and the titular Tai Chi is used as a form of meditation and a philosophical plot point throughout the film.
10 Best Martial Arts Movies From The 90s On This List:
6.2/10
Rumble in the Bronx(1995)
6.8/10
7.0/10
7.2/10
7.5/10
Fist Of Legend(1994)
The main attraction of the movie is its extraordinary fight scenes, which are choreographed in a fluid style that combines power and grace. Jet Li’s Tai Chi skills are showcased to great effect, offering fans an alternative to the more aggressive kung fu genre. The sequences are particularly inventive, with an early shot of the boysfighting in the laundry room with wet, twisted monk robescoming back to play off later in the film. The fusion of spiritual themes with fast-paced action makesTai-Chi Masterthe perfect film for martial arts lovers.
Armour of God 2: Operation Condor
Armour Of God 2: Operation Condor is an action-adventure film starring Jackie Chan as Asian Hawk, a treasure hunter on a mission to retrieve Nazi gold from a North African desert. Directed by Jackie Chan and released in 1991, the film features a blend of martial arts, comedy, and thrilling stunts, as Hawk faces various obstacles and adversaries along the way.
Back as adventurer-treasure hunter Jackie (the same character he played inArmour of God), Chan has to find a treasure trove of Nazi gold buried in the Sahara Desert. Like the firstArmour of God,Operation Condorfeatures slickmartial arts action, slapstick humor, and globe-trotting adventure, with Chan performing stunts that defy death in both the desert car chase and the fight in a wind tunnel, with Chan’s impressive physical work coming to the forefront yet again.
According to Jackie Chan in his autobiography,I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action, while filming the underground chase sequences, Chan was supposed to swing to a platform, but he lost grip and balance and fell to the ground, dislocating his sternum.
Chan’s slapstick style and his impeccable sense of comedic timing, coupled with the intricate fight choreography, madeOperation Condorsome of his funniest and most engaging work The perfect blend of big-budgetIndiana Jones-like action with his own brand of martial stuntsmade it one of his biggest hits. The success of theArmour Of Godfranchise launched Jackie’s stardom to new heights and ensured his status as an international action star was scarcely in doubt.
Drunken Master II
Drunken Master II is a martial arts film directed by Lau Kar-leung and starring Jackie Chan as Wong Fei-hung. Set in early 20th century China, the story follows Wong Fei-hung as he employs his unique style of drunken boxing to combat corrupt officials and foreign agents smuggling valuable artifacts. The film is renowned for its intricate choreography and traditional kung fu elements.
In this sequel to the classic 1978 filmDrunken Master, Jackie Chan reprises the role of Wong Fei-hung, who must stop a gang of crooked officials from smuggling precious Chinese antiques abroad. The film, considered by many to be one of Chan’s best, features some of his best fight scenes, including the final iconic battle in a steel mill, where Chan’s drunken boxing style is fully showcased to its most hilarious and maximum effect.
What makesDrunken Master IIone of Chan’s most beloved films, though, is a remarkable synthesis of comedy, choreography, and ever-evolving narrative. The physical comedy is married with the stunt work to perfection, and the martial arts are shot in a way that feels comedic yet natural,as Chan’s humor never fully gets in the way of the believability of his action. He plays Wong Fei-hung as a comic character but also as a hero, making it a celebrated smash-hit and named in the top 100 best films of all time by Time Magazine.
Iron Monkey(1993)
Directed by Yuen Woo-ping (Once Upon a Time in China), Iron Monkey is about a masked vigilante battling to save the poor from another town’s corrupt governor. It is set during the Qin Dynasty, with Donnie Yen playing Wong Kei-ying, and the titular Iron Monkey played by Yu Rongguang.The stunts and wire work action are fast-paced and blend expertlywith the traditional martial arts to create stunning sequences brimming with visual chaos.
Donnie Yen’s fluid and powerful martial arts skills really bring the action shots to life, and the Robin Hood-like story adds a levity to the film that makes it more than just a martial arts flick.
Iron Monkeyis a movie well known for its excellent fight choreography and for its impeccable performances. Donnie Yen’s fluid and powerful martial arts skills really bring the action shots to life, andthe Robin Hood-like story adds a levity to the film that makes it more than just a martial arts flick. The film has many iconic comedy moments, such as Iron Monkey and Miss Orchid perfectly imitating the Imperial official before they show themselves. The climactic fight scene and the always-watchable Yen make it one of the very best martial arts films of the ’90s.
Fist Of Legend
Fist of Legend follows Chen Zhen, a Chinese engineering student in 1937, who navigates tensions between Chinese and Japanese factions upon returning to Shanghai after the death of his kung-fu master, challenging the socio-political dynamics of Japanese-occupied China.
Fist of Legend, the remake of Bruce Lee’sFist of Fury, with Jet Li as Chen Zhen. During the Japanese occupation of China, Chen avenges his master’s murder and turns his attention to the racial tension and oppression he is experiencing.The fight choreography by the legendary Yuen Woo-ping is some of the best in martial arts cinema, and Li’s speed, power, and precision are truly astonishing and ground the sequences into something wildly incredible yet incredibly real.
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Widely considered Li’s (and anybody else involved) finest hour, a film packed with emotional depth and a genuinely heartfelt story as well as relentless action, gorgeously choreographed in a genuine, flowing style. There are many memorable scenes, including Li’s fight with Mitsuko’s uncle, Fumio Funakoshi (Yasuaki Kurata), which is a special moment in martial arts cinema. Its political subtext adds seriousness and depth and means that,in addition to being an action classic, it’s also a powerful story about resistance and honor, making it a multi-layered, iconic piece of cinema and the best martial arts film of the ’90s.
