Martial arts films are a subgenre of

action films Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include lif ...

that feature numerous

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expression and development. Martial arts are frequently featured in training scenes and other sequences in addition to fights. Martial arts films commonly include

hand-to-hand combat Hand-to-hand combat (sometimes abbreviated as HTH or H2H) is a physical confrontation between two or more persons at short range (grappling distance or within the physical reach of a handheld weapon) that does not involve the use of weapons.Huns ...

along with other types of action, such as

stunt A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat or an act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually on television, theaters, or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Before computer generated imagery spec ...

work, chases, and gunfights. Sub-genres of martial arts films include kung fu films, wuxia,

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

films, and martial arts action comedy films, while related genres include gun fu, jidaigeki and samurai films.

History

Asian films are known to have a more minimalist approach to film based on their culture. Some martial arts films have only a minimal plot and amount of character development and focus almost exclusively on the action, while others have more creative and complex plots and characters along with action scenes. Films of the latter type are generally considered to be artistically superior films, but many films of the former type are commercially successful and well received by fans of the genre. One of the earliest Hollywood movies to employ the use of martial arts was the 1955 film '' Bad Day at Black Rock'', though the scenes of Spencer Tracy performed barely any realistic fight sequences, but composed mostly of soft knifehand strikes. Akira Kurosawa pioneered the martial arts film genre with his 1943 directorial debut, Sugata Sanshiro. The film is about a young man learning Judo and fighting against various Jujitsu practitioners. Kurosawa also directed a sequel in 1945 titled Sugata Sanshiro, Part Two. It features fights with boxers and karate practitioners, maybe the first depiction of karate in cinema. Martial arts films contain many characters who are martial artists and these roles are often played by actors who are real martial artists. If not, actors frequently train in preparation for their roles or the action director may rely more on stylized action or film making tricks like camera angles, editing, doubles,

undercranking Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus ...

wire work Filigree (also less commonly spelled ''filagree'', and formerly written ''filigrann'' or ''filigrene'') is a form of intricate metalwork used in jewellery and other small forms of metalwork. In jewellery, it is usually of gold and silver, ma ...

and

computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the use of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, and visual effects in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. The images may ...

. Trampolines and springboards used to be used to increase the height of jumps. The minimalist style employs smaller sets and little space for improvised but explosive fight scenes, as seen by Jackie Chan's films. These techniques are sometimes used by real martial artists as well, depending on the style of action in the film. During the 1970s and 1980s, the most visible presence of martial arts films was the hundreds of English-dubbed kung fu and ninja films produced by the

Shaw Brothers Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd. () was the largest film production company in Hong Kong, and operated from 1925 to 2011. In 1925, three Shaw brothers— Runje, Runme, and Runde—founded Tianyi Film Company (also called "Unique") in Shangh ...

Godfrey Ho Godfrey Ho (Chinese language: 何志强 or 何致强, born 1948) is a former Hong Kong-based prolific film director and screenwriter, sometimes considered the Ed Wood of Hong Kong cinema. Ho is believed to have directed more than one hundred film ...

and other Hong Kong producers. These films were widely broadcast on North American television on weekend timeslots that were often colloquially known as ''Kung Fu Theater'', ''Black Belt Theater'' or variations thereof. Inclusive in this list of films are commercial classics like '' The Big Boss'', '' Drunken Master'' and '' One Armed Boxer''. Martial arts films have been produced all over the world, but the genre has been dominated by

Hong Kong action cinema Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese and Hong Kong cultures including Chinese opera, storytelling and aesthetic traditions, which Hong Ko ...

, peaking from 1971 with the rise of

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...

until the mid-1990s with a general decline in the industry, till it was revived close to the 2000s. Other notable figures in the genre include Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and Donnie Yen. Sonny Chiba, Etsuko Shihomi, and Hiroyuki Sanada starred in numerous

and jidaigeki films from Japan during the 1970s and early 1980s.

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

has also participated in the genre with actors such as Chuck Norris,

Sho Kosugi is a Japanese actor with extensive training in Shindō jinen-ryū Karate, Kendo, Judo, Iaido, Kobudo, Aikido and Ninjutsu. A former All Japan Karate Champion, he gained popularity as an actor during the 1980s, often playing ninjas. He starred ...

, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Brandon Lee (son of Bruce Lee), Wesley Snipes, Gary Daniels, Mark Dacascos and Jason Statham. In the 2000s, Thailand's film industry became an international force in the genre with the films of

Tony Jaa Tatchakorn Yeerum ( th, ทัชชกร ยีรัมย์, , ; formerly Phanom Yeerum ( th, พนม ยีรัมย์, ); born 5 February 1976), better known internationally as Tony Jaa and in Thailand as Jaa Phanom ( th, จา � ...

and the

cinema of Vietnam The cinema of Vietnam originates in the 1920s and has largely been shaped by wars that have been fought in the country from the 1940s to the 1970s. The better known Vietnamese language-films include '' Cyclo'', '' The Scent of Green Papaya'' and '' ...

followed suit with '' The Rebel'' and '' Clash''. In more recent years, the

Indonesian film Cinema of Indonesia is film that is produced domestically in Indonesia. The Indonesian Film Agency or BPI defines Indonesian film as "movies that are made with Indonesian resources, and wholly or partly Intellectual Property is owned by Indones ...

industry has offered ''

Merantau ''Merantau'', released in some countries as ''Merantau Warrior'', is a 2009 Indonesian martial arts action film written, directed and edited by Gareth Huw Evans, and starring Iko Uwais. The film, which marks Uwais' debut as an actor, is the f ...

'' (2009) and '' The Raid: Redemption'' (2011). Women have also played key roles in the genre, including such actresses as Michelle Yeoh,

Angela Mao use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates ...

and Cynthia Rothrock. In addition, western animation has ventured into the genre with the most successful effort being the internationally hailed

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...

film franchise, '' Kung Fu Panda'', starring

Jack Black Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his acting roles in the films '' High Fidelity'' (2000), ''Shallow Hal'' (2001), ''Orange County'' (2002), '' School of Rock'' (2003), ''E ...

and Angelina Jolie. '' The Matrix'' is considered revolutionary in American cinema for raising the standard of fight scenes in western cinema.

Subgenres

In the Chinese-speaking world, martial arts films are commonly divided into two subcategories: the '' wuxia'' period films (武俠片), and the more modern kung fu films (功夫片, best epitomized in the films of

). Also Chanbara Samurai sword fighting films many set in Feudal Japan. Kung fu films are a significant movie genre in themselves. Like westerns for Americans, they have become an identity of Chinese cinema. As the most prestigious movie type in Chinese film history, kung fu movies were among the first Chinese films produced and the '' wuxia'' period films (武俠片) are the original form of Chinese kung fu films. The wuxia period films came into vogue due to the thousands of years popularity of wuxia novels (武俠小說). For example, the wuxia novels of

Jin Yong Louis Cha Leung-yung (; 10 March 1924 – 30 October 2018), better known by his pen name Jin Yong (), pronounced "Gum Yoong" in Cantonese, was a Chinese wuxia (" martial arts and chivalry") novelist and essayist who co-founded the Hong Kong d ...

and Gu Long directly led to the prevalence of wuxia period films. Outside of the Chinese speaking world the most famous wuxia film made was the Ang Lee film ''

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' is a 2000 wuxia film directed by Ang Lee and written for the screen by Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus, and Tsai Kuo-jung . The film features a cast of actors of Chinese people, Chinese ethnicity, including Ch ...

'', which was based on the Wang Dulu series of wuxia novels: it earned four Academy Awards, including one for Best Foreign Film. Martial arts westerns are usually American films inexpensively filmed in

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...

locations, transposing martial arts themes into an "old west" setting; e.g., ''

Red Sun ''Red Sun'' (french: Soleil rouge, it, Sole rosso) is a 1971 Franco-Italian international co-production Spaghetti Western film directed by Terence Young and starring Charles Bronson, Toshirō Mifune, Alain Delon, Ursula Andress, and Capucine. I ...

'' with

Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and war ...

and

Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and '' ...

History

Subgenres

See also

References

External links