The best martial arts movies of all time
The top 3 according to 643 votes from people: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) · Enter the Dragon (1973) · The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978). (Updated May 26, 2026.)
From Bruce Lee to The Raid: the kung fu, wuxia and fight films that top critics' lists (Paste, Collider, The Week).
Top 12
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1
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Ang Lee's wuxia, Oscar for best foreign language film.
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2
Enter the Dragon (1973)
Bruce Lee's most famous film, the mirror room fight.
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3
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)
Gordon Liu trains through the Shaolin chambers.
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4
The Raid (2011)
Iko Uwais fights his way up a tower block.
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5
Drunken Master II (1994)
Jackie Chan's drunken boxing at its peak.
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6
Ip Man (2008)
Donnie Yen as Bruce Lee's Wing Chun master.
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7
Police Story (1985)
Jackie Chan's stunts at full speed.
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8
Fist of Legend (1994)
Jet Li in the remake of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury.
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9
Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
Stephen Chow's cartoonish kung fu comedy.
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10
Iron Monkey (1993)
Yuen Woo-ping's Robin Hood of kung fu.
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11
Hero (2002)
Zhang Yimou's colour-coded wuxia with Jet Li.
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12
Ong-Bak (2003)
Tony Jaa and Muay Thai without wires.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (11)
Ip Man's 'I want to fight ten' scene, legendary.
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is the best training movie ever made.
Enter the Dragon at #1, Bruce Lee is the reason this genre exists worldwide.
Where's Fist of Fury or The Way of the Dragon? Bruce vs Chuck Norris!
Kung Fu Hustle is a comedy masterpiece with real kung fu.
Ong-Bak, no wires, no CGI, Tony Jaa was a human highlight reel.
Iron Monkey deserves more fans, Yuen Woo-ping's choreography is insane.
Drunken Master II's final fight is the greatest fight scene ever filmed.
Better than The Raid's hallway fights? Tough call.
Crouching Tiger is beautiful but it's more drama than fight film.
The bamboo forest fight though!