10 Martial Arts Movie Moments That Must Be Seen To Be Believed

Over the years, several films in the martial arts genre have offered some truly incredible action sequences. While some of the best martial arts films opt for realism, exaggerated moves that would be impossible to pull off in real life have long become a staple of the genre. They may seem silly in certain cases, but when handled correctly, they can add extra levels of excitement to the action.

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These moves are particularly common in traditional kung fu films that were produced by studios such as Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers in the 1970s and 1980s. They are often associated with the careers of martial arts stars such as Jackie Chan, Gordon Liu and Alexander Fu Sheng. Sometimes they can lead to a moment of brevity, and in other cases they can be used to execute an epic ending to an intense fight scene.

10 The Ten Tigers of Kwantung – Phillip Kwok Rips Off a Bad Guy’s Head

The ten tigers of Kwantung was a 1980s kung fu movie that brought together several of the Shaw Brothers’ biggest stars to form an Avengers-style team. It culminated in a final battle where the villain, after killing one of the heroes, was quickly intercepted by Phillip Kwok’s character. After launching the villain into the air and leaving his feet trapped in the ceiling, the hero jumped into the air and literally ripped his opponent’s head off.

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9 The Eight-Diagram Pole Wrestler: A Monk Knocks Out Two Men’s Teeth

In The fighter with eight diagram polesone of Gordon Liu’s best films, the main character has to convince some peaceful monks to fight their attackers. Unwilling to take a human life, they engage using the same tactics they use against wolves; removing their teeth. A shot of several bloody teeth stuck to a monk’s staff was one of the most memorable moments in a Shaw Brothers film.

8 Police story: Jackie Chan slides down a light pole

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Dangerous stunts are intertwined with Jackie Chan’s identity as a martial arts movie star, and Police Story is one of the films that helped create that image for him. In the Hong Kong kung fu classic, there was a scene where Jackie Chan’s character had to slide down a pole. The distance it had to travel alone made it impressive, but what really made this moment so extraordinary was the number of lights attached to the pole. Chan broke each one of them on his way down, clearly taking a big risk with this real-life trick.

7 Tom Yum Goong – Tony Jaa kicks a lamppost

In a moment that paid homage to a Bruce Lee scene in Dragon PathTony Jaa performed an incredible kick on Tom Yum Goong. To intimidate a bully, Jaa jumped into the air and broke the light from a lamp post, one that was hanging directly above him. How far the light was from where he was standing, not to mention the angle, is a testament to the Thai actor’s talent.

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6 Bloodsport: Jean-Claude Van Damme Splits In The Air

Jean-Claude Van Damme has performed his signature move, the splits, on numerous occasions in his martial arts films, and one of the most impressive instances comes at the end of blood sport. In the middle of his epic showdown with Bolo Yeung’s Chong Li, Van Damme’s Frank Dux separated in the air to dodge an attack and hit his opponent with a devastating attack.

5 Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao kick two thugs off their motorcycles

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Jackie Chan and his frequent co-star Yuen Biao (an actor equally known for his acrobatic skills) performed an exciting stunt together in Wheels about meals their characters confronted a pair of thugs on motorcycles. At the same time, Chan and Yuen jumped and launched flying kicks, successfully knocking their opponents off their motorcycles.

4 Fist of Fury: Bruce Lee takes on an entire dojo

Fights in which one person defends himself against more than a dozen enemies are quite common in martial arts films, but the battle that took place in the Japanese dojo in fist of fury occupies a special place in the history of the genre. The speed with which Lee’s Chen Zhen tore through the karate students cemented his status as one of Bruce Lee’s best fight scenes.

3 Masked Avengers: Chiang Sheng and Phillip Kwok kill the main villain with four spears

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masked avengersone of several films starring the team of actors who made The five deadly poisonsended with an act that defied gravity. In a two-on-two spear fight, the villain grabbed four spears and threw them into the air, one by one. Somehow, none of them fell until the two heroes, played by Phillip Kwok and Chiang Sheng, caught him with their weapons, allowing all four spears to descend on him at once.

2 Flying guillotine: The flying guillotine cuts off people’s heads and places them in baskets

One of the most incredible killer moves comes courtesy of the Flying Guillotine, a weapon designed for the purpose of execution. Thrown like a frisbee, the blade catches the target’s head, decapitating him, and leaving his head in a basket. The sinister performance of the Flying Guillotine has caused some of the bloodiest deaths in kung fu film history, a pattern that began in 1975. Flying guillotine.

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1 White Lotus Clan – Gordon Liu defeats Pai Mei of Lo Lieh by stabbing him in the hand

Shaw Brothers produced one of the best kung fu films of the 1970s when they produced The White Lotus Clan, which told a story in which Gordon Liu’s character had to find the weakness of the seemingly invincible Pai Mei, who was so powerful that he could even ignore attacks to the groin. At the end of the film, the hero turned to acupuncture as his best possible weapon against Pai Mei and carefully placed needles all over her body. Pai Mei surprisingly forced them out of her body, only to die when one pierced her palm, which turned out to be her true weak point.

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