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While it’s obviously great to see plenty of fight scenes in any given martial arts movie, fighting is not all this genre has to offer. Some martial arts movies quite bravely choose to go in slightly different directions stylistically and when it comes to pacing, centering on character drama, the exploration of philosophical ideas, or other genres altogether over showcasing constant action.
All the following movies do still have fight sequences, but perhaps not as many as one might expect. Still, these films are all of high quality nonetheless, so such titles being highlighted here is intended to showcase the versatility of the martial arts genre, rather than criticize a bunch of movies for being “light” on action. Such martial arts films – some quite unconventional – are ranked below, starting with the ones that still have a moderate amount of action and ending with the ones that use action most sparsely.
10 ‘The 36th Chamber of Shaolin’ (1978)
Director: Lau Kar-leung
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is an interesting example of a martial arts movie, because while it’s one of the best the genre has to offer, it is a little unconventional with its action. This comes about because the main character – who’s seeking vengeance – spends so long honing his skills to take revenge that The 36th Chamber of Shaolin ends up being more about training than fighting.
Sure, lots of martial arts movies have that kind of premise and structure, but The 36th Chamber of Shaolin takes its quirky approach to narrative and action further by having the protagonist obliterate his enemies once his training’s complete. It’s satisfying to watch, for sure, but anyone hoping for less training – or for the villains to put up more of a fight in the final act – might come away a little surprised (but hopefully not disappointed, because the movie is a genuinely great one).
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
The anti-Ching patriots, under the guidance of Ho Kuang-han, have secretly set up their base in Canton, disguised as school masters. During a brutal Manchu attack, Lui manages to escape, and devotes himself to learning the martial arts in order to seek revenge.
9 ‘The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires’ (1974)
Directors: Roy Ward Baker, Chang Cheh
While it does live up to its wild title to some extent, those after pure action might find The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires a little bit of a letdown, because it’s probably more of a Hammer Horror film. And, sure, it’s supposed to balance that Hammer style of horror with Shaw Brothers martial arts, but as far as crossovers go, this does feel like one that emphasizes one half over the other.
The martial arts stuff is sort of sprinkled on top of a movie about stopping Dracula and his band of vampire warriors, but there is a novelty in seeing worlds collide: Hammer and Shaw Brothers in the same film. It might not be as wild or as action-packed as one might expect, but it’s novel enough to be worth seeking out for anyone intrigued.
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8 ‘The Grandmaster’ (2013)
Director: Wong Kar-wai
Being about what you’d expect a martial arts movie directed by Wong Kar-wai to be, The Grandmaster sees the master filmmaker inching out of his comfort zone somewhat and making a very much arthouse-flavored action movie. The lead character here will be familiar to anyone who’s seen films from the Ip Man series, but those are a little more fast-paced, generally speaking, and perhaps more generous with their action.
Still, The Grandmaster has some dazzling action here and there, definitely impressing when it needs to in that regard. Also, the story is relatively interesting; certainly enough so that when punches and kicks aren’t being thrown, there’s still a pretty good chance you’ll remain feeling invested in what’s going on (so long as you avoid the shortened American cut, which makes certain events and time jumps rather confusing, all for the sake of telling the narrative needlessly fast).
The Grandmaster
- Release Date
- January 10, 2013
- Director
- Kar Wai Wong
- Cast
- Ziyi Zhang , Tony Leung Chiu Wai , Hye-kyo Song , Cung Le , Chen Chang , Woo-ping Yuen
- Runtime
- 130 minutes
7 ‘The Big Boss’ (1971)
Director: Lo Wei
A Bruce Lee film that isn’t constant action might sound like a strange thing to witness, but The Big Boss is that… well, kind of. It stands out among the other martial arts movies Lee starred in because his character spends a good portion of the film going out of his way to avoid violence, having made a vow to not get into any fights.
However, this vow gets challenged more and more as The Big Boss goes on, with the main character’s loved ones being targeted by the corrupt boss of an ice factory, with some of them even disappearing. At a point, the main character snaps, and then viewers will get the Bruce Lee action they’re likely expecting. Still, it does take a somewhat surprising amount of time for The Big Boss to reach that section of the overall story.
The Big Boss
Cheng is a young Chinese mainlander who moves in with his expatriate cousins to work at an ice factory in Thailand. He does this with a family promise never to get involved in any fights. However, when members of his family begin disappearing after meeting the management of the factory, the resulting mystery and pressures force him to break that vow and take on the villainy of the Big Boss.
6 ‘A Touch of Zen’ (1971)
Director: King Hu
King Hu didn’t make a ton of films during his directorial career, but all are interesting, and some proved very influential for the wuxia genre. Perhaps his most epic film was A Touch of Zen, which is far more than just a martial arts movie, even if it does eventually deliver some spectacular sequences of action in its second half.
That being said, A Touch of Zen is about three hours long, so until that final half rolls around (or maybe even the final of the three acts), action scenes prove to be pretty sparse. This is by no means a bad thing, as A Touch of Zen is beautiful to look at and tells a quietly tense story about a woman on the run, and the conflict that unfolds once oppressors from her past eventually catch up to her.
5 ‘House of Flying Daggers’ (2004)
Director: Zhang Yimou
Serving as a romance film, a sprawling adventure movie, and a drama, all on top of also having some bold action scenes, House of Flying Daggers is an ambitious film that mostly succeeds in doing all it tries to do at once. It follows a warrior breaking another rebel out of prison, hoping she’ll join his cause in the fight against a corrupt government, but things change when it becomes apparent the prisoner might be harboring some secrets.
Things unfold patiently over the course of House of Flying Daggers; “slowly” might not be the right word in this instance. It does feel somewhat in the same wheelhouse genre-wise as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but perhaps de-emphasizes action a little more than that 2000 film (which, admittedly, already has perhaps a little less fighting than most old-school martial arts movies).
House of Flying Daggers (2004)
- Release Date
- May 19, 2004
- Director
- Yimou Zhang
- Cast
- Takeshi Kaneshiro , Andy Lau , Ziyi Zhang , Dandan Song , Hongfei Zhao , Jun Guo
- Runtime
- 119
- Main Genre
- Action
4 ‘The Valiant Ones’ (1975)
Director: King Hu
Several years on from A Touch of Zen, King Hu directed The Valiant Ones, which feels a little underrated and overshadowed by other martial arts films of its decade (there were many that came out in the 1970s, so such things happen). Like with A Touch of Zen, most of the action is saved until near the end of The Valiant Ones, though it takes things a step further than that 1971 movie by withholding most of it until the final 15 minutes.
The Valiant Ones is only 102 minutes long, so it doesn’t feel like it’s cheating viewers out of seeing action too much, but such scenes aren’t really the star attraction for most of the film’s runtime. It sees a husband and wife team trying to defend China from certain groups, firstly through more diplomatic measures and, when that eventually seems to fail, through more forceful/violent means.
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3 ‘Shadow’ (2018)
Director: Zhang Yimou
Shadow is another winning film from director Zhang Yimou, who was also behind the aforementioned House of Flying Daggers. Yimou mostly directed dramas throughout the 1990s, achieving some level of fame from those before establishing his prowess as a martial arts movie director with 2002’s Hero. To date, that one’s probably his most action-packed film in the genre, but by no means is it the only one worth checking out.
Both House of Flying Daggers and 2018’s Shadow are pretty great, albeit for different reasons, with each one willing to buck martial arts movie trends in varying ways. Shadow spends a good deal of time on political intrigue and planning, being something of a slow burn until all the tension’s been milked, and things explode into action. Whether it’s featuring fighting or not, it’s a consistently beautiful-looking and visually bold movie throughout; it’s definitely got that going for it.
2 ‘The Assassin’ (2015)
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Speaking of beautiful-looking movies that technically belong in the martial arts genre, but aren’t too heavy on the fight scenes, 2015’s The Assassin scratches a similar itch to Shadow, but is even slower and more methodical. The titular assassin is a woman who’s immensely skilled at what she does, but she finds herself questioning the lifestyle she lives, especially when she begins having potentially romantic feelings toward someone she’s supposed to kill.
It’s the sort of film where the story and the action scenes almost don’t matter too much, simply because the visuals pack such a punch. Outside of how gorgeous The Assassin looks, it does still tell a simple yet relatively interesting story, but what it offers by way of action is slim, so anyone looking for non-stop fighting and wall-to-wall bombast might want to look elsewhere.
The Assassin (2015)
A female assassin during the Tang Dynasty begins to question her loyalties when she falls in love with one of her targets.
1 ‘Raining in the Mountain’ (1979)
Director: King Hu
One final King Hu movie worth highlighting is Raining in the Mountain, which could well be the least action-packed movie that “technically” – or perhaps just “arguably” – belongs in the martial arts genre. This is really a historical drama film through and through, containing the set-up for potential fight sequences, but never quite delivering them the way one might expect.
Whether this frustrates or intrigues will probably depend on how much viewers get swept up in the story here, which is pretty much all about an abbot at a Buddhist monastery needing to pick a successor, all the while certain shady characters are after a valuable parchment at the same monastery. Honestly, most of the “action” scenes feature characters sneaking around, avoiding adversaries, rather than physically clashing with them. There are interesting ideas explored throughout the narrative of Raining in the Mountain, and the film packs a punch visually, but doesn’t really pack a punch when it comes to… well, characters punching.
This article was originally published on collider.com