For the uninitiated, martial arts cinema can seem overwhelming. The starting points are well-known: Enter the Dragon; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Kill Bill; a handful of Jackie Chan flicks… or God help us, Steven Seagal. But delving deeper is an intimidating prospect. For decades, beginning in the 1970s, Hong Kong produced thousands of movies full of eye-popping, mind-blowing action scenes. Figuring out which are truly worth seeking out can require some guidance.
Consider this your road map. To help steer the kung-fu curious past the basics, we’ve ignored some of the more obvious choices to focus on the genre’s deeper cuts. Here are 25 of the most kick-ass martial arts movies ever made.
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