It was the other day when I popped in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for the first time in seemingly years. I was totally blown away by it again, mostly because of the AWESOME Hong Kong action sequences.

I want to find more movies that have this great kind of action. I will be picking up Iron Monkey in the next couple of days, and I was wondering if you guys know any other great Hong Kong action movies that you could recommend.

Iron Monkey frickin' rocks. I also like 'Enter the Dragon' for some strange reason.

Did I mention 'Iron Monkey' rocks? Just be sure to skip the sequel.

I love it all: old school Hong Kong chop sockey, Bruce Lee, Sonny Chiba, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Hopping Vampire, Woo Gun Fu, old school Wire Fu, Hark Fu and his New Wave, and the ubiquitious Yuen Wo Ping's work. It's all good!

The Chinese Connection
Enter the Dragon
Five Deadly Venoms
Project A
Drunken Master 2
Fist of Legend
Mr. Vampire
Duel to the Death
Anything by John Woo while in Hong Kong
Anything with Jet Li and "China" or "Hero" in the title
Almost anything with Tsui Hark or Yuen Wo Ping in the credits

Just head to your nearest video rental joint and start looking at the martial arts section. Eventually a fellow fan will show up and start a conversation with you.

I saw "Drunken Master 2" when I was in high school, on a badly garbled vhs tape made from an imported laserdisc. It completely blew my mind.

I enjoyed the effects in Once Upon a Time in China.

get the street fighter (no its not the van damm verison, its the sonny chiba version). and be sure to see kill bill when it comes out in oct and jan

Drunken Master II is among the best. Really great.

"Martial arts" is a very dubious category. Crouching Tiger is a wuxia film, and as such has little in common with the Jackie Chan-type martial arts films.

My favorite wuxia film is, hands-down, "Ashes of Time".

my favorites
Iron Monkey
Shaolin Master Killer (AKA 36th chamber of shaolin)
Once Upon a Time in China series (Jet Li)
Drunken Master 1 & 2
Wing Chun

Master of the Flying Guillotine is a must, it blew me away. Also, Fist of Fury, Bruce Lee at his finest.

Five Deadly Venoms

The Karate Kid (avoid the sequels)

A few of my favourites:

Drunken Master II
Fong Sai Yuk
Fist of Legend
Project A
Ghoul Sex Squad

I can't believe no one mentioned Police Story, which is imho, Jackie Chan's best movie

Another favorites list:

Shaolin and Wu Tang
Fist of Fury
Fist of Legend
Chinese Super Ninjas
Drunken Master 1 & 2 (I like 1 a lot better tho)
Master of the Flying Guillotine
Once upon a Time in China 2
The Magnificent Butcher
Master Killer
Iron Monkey

Still haven't seen HERO yet

An incredible action film, no doubt. But not a lot of "martial arts" in it.

The Matrix.

Enter the Dragon and The Chinese Connection.


'Nuff said.

Wheels on Meals
Operation Scorpion (Highly recommended)

Plus movies of Jackie Chan, Samo Hung, Yuen Biao.

To me the term "martial arts" indicate a way of fighting that can be done in real life by a human being with enough training. Most of the movies listed fail because of wire work. Movies that IMO qualify are the Bruce Lee movies(Return of the Dragon, Fist of Fury, Chinese Connection, Enter the Dragon). Shaolin Master Killer. The Drunken Master(I and II). Movies like CTHD are fantasy films and not really martial arts movies(IMO).

Besides some of the titles mentioned above, I enjoyed:

Hero
Legend of Zu
A Man Called Hero
Stormriders

I highly recommend this one as well. Fantastic fight scenes.

Favorite Chinese Kung-Fu Movies:

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Fist of Legend
The Prodigal Son <---I can't believe this hasn't been mentioned yet!
Drunken Master 2
Iron Monkey

other notables:

Twin Warriors
Supercop (Jackie Chan's 'A Police Story 3'?)
Once Upon A Time In China (Trilogy)
New Legend of Shaolin (i think that's what it's called..Jet Li movie)
Fong Sai Yuk (Jet Li's The Swordsman)

As far as one DVD recommendation, I would have to say Magnificent Butcher, for the following reasons:

1. Sammo Hung at the absolute peak of his skill. Probably the most accomplished artist to come out of HK action cinema: actor, screen fighter, stuntman, fight choreographer, director, writer.

2. Yuen Woo Ping directing.

3. Yuen Biao, who's skills rival Sammo and Jackie's

4. Tons of great fight scenes

5. Great looking widescreen anamorphic print

6. $9.99 at Best Buy

And to join the nit-picky argument over terminology , I think the term "martial arts" pretty much covers the bulk of HK period-piece action movies.

I think Wuxia translates to "martial chivalry", while Kungfu translates to "skill acquired through hard work".

These two styles were kind of distinct in the 60's and 70's, but I think the lines started to blur in the 90's. IMO they both fall under the category of "martial arts".

For what it's worth, I thought Drive (1997, with Mark Dacascos) and some pretty slick action scenes. Especially for something so low-key.

Time and Tide, while not straight martial arts, is also a film that does some neat things.