So I was just curious to see which martial arts movies or martial arts actors everyone liked best? I'm a HUGE martial arts movie buff... love the foreign martial arts films, but I HATE watching things that have been dubbed... most of the time, the voice-overs are terrible >.< I always prefer subtitles.

My current favorites are:
1) Ip Man 1 & 2 (AMAZING movies, the first is obviously a little better than the second). About the life of Ip Man (Bruce Lee's teacher) and his struggles during the Japanese occupation of his home-town (1st movie), and the Westernization of Shanghai (2nd movie). The action in these movies is so exciting and well choreographed. And Donnie Yen stars as Ip Man (He's a great actor). These movies also have a lot of emotion and the actors do a great job. If you haven't seen these movies and you like martial arts films... you MUST watch ASAP. They are both available on Netflix instant play currently.

2) Any of the more recent Thai martial arts movies with Tony Jaa starring in them (all the Ong Bak movies, The Protector)... Ok, yes... some of the fight scenes in the movies are kind of outrageous (lots of bone-crunching), but to see what this man can make his body do... It's jaw-dropping!

3) Jet Li's Fearless- not as good as Ip Man, but very similar theme to it (Martial Arts master loses his school/faces tragedy, must fight in competitions against foreigners to gain respect for China). I love the story line. I love Jet Li. And the choreography isn't too shabby :-)

How about you??

I Stongly believe ONG Bok Changed all the rules. Stunts that went beyond jackie chan and Tony jaa's ability to free run is still unbelievable. It was gritty yet uplifting, But partially tragic like the old Bruce lee movies.

I agree with you Warrow, I need to have my martial arts movies subbed rather than dubbed. There's little poetic bits that are lost when they get translated. Also, I'm loving the list you've put out and agree that they're really good movies. I kind of thought Ong Bak 3 was a little meh though unfortunately. Hope you got around to seeing Ip Man 0 (3?) already. It's a prequel and even though it doesn't have Donnie Yen playing the role of Ip Man, it's still really good.

When I think of great, there's far too many good movies that play around in my head. This is going to take a while, but I think you'll like the list. There's no ranking, they're just amazing movies. I don't know if I'll ever be able to pick a favorite martial artist because they all bring something unique to the genre, but if I had to pick, I think Donnie Yen would be my choice with Sammo Hung at a very close second.

Heroes of the East - An amazing classic that is star studded with the greats in martial arts. The story is basically about a major misunderstanding because of differing cultures over which martial art is best between the Chinese and Japanese. It's a Shaw Brothers movie, so hurry up and give it a shot! :)

Drunken Master 1 - The great classic from Jackie Chan who created the movie style version of Drunken Boxing. Incredible fights and one of the movies where you can see Jackie Chan in his prime.

Drunken Master 2 - Please, please watch this in it's original language. The dubbing isn't bad, but you haven't lived until you hear Jackie go on a drunken rage in Cantonese during the last fight against Ken Lo.

Ninja Hunter - This is just a hilarious movie about Shaolin surviving against Wu Dang. It's not hilarious because of the actual story, but because of it's crazy editing and dubbing. I don't think you can find it subbed anywhere, but the fights were still really good, and it's just a fun watch.

Bad Blood - A modern day criminal story that's pretty sad, but the fights are pretty impressive. Not one of my top favorites, but it's great if you just want to look over the fights.

City Hunter (Sing si lip yan) - Jackie Chan playing the role of City Hunter. This is the movie that has the infamous street fighter scene where he's dressed up as E. Honda and Chun Li. Seriously.

Iron Monkey - If you can find the original version (the version without Tarentino's changes), that would be stellar. They changed some music and cut out little bits and pieces. Some call it an improvement, I didn't feel as such. This movie is basically Robin Hood in Kung Fu form and it's just great.

Dragon Tiger Gate - Based off of the Jademan comic series is mainly about two brothers who have to come together to defeat a common foe. Decent plot, but great fights a plenty. It also had a pretty nice soundtrack as well. Some of those fights pump you up as you watch.

True Legend - The story about the creation of Drunken Boxing because of madness and revenge. I wasn't too into the plot, but the Drunken Boxing was fun to worth watching.

Dragons Forever - It has Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao in it. Just go see it and be amazed by the great fights and how it still holds up to today's movies.

Hitman - An older movie starring Jet Li about him trying to be an honest killer. The fights were good and I really liked the story.

Who Am I - The plot is pretty meh, but everyone who watched the movie watches it for the last fight scene against the two guys in suits. It makes the movie. Trust me.

Gorgeous - All right, the movie is only on this list because of the final fight between Brad Allen and Jackie Chan. Brad Allen also doubled the kicking guy in parts on Who Am I.

Project A 1&2 - A continuing story where Jackie Chan is a sailor. Insane stunts and fun story. Need I say more?

Killzone (Sha po lang) - It's a crime story that's pretty sad, but everyone remembers the fight between Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung. Pretty gritty film, but ultimately worth watching.

Scorpion King - Decent story about a kid wanting to learn martial arts. Silly styles are shown, but the villain is a kicking legend by the name of Won Jin. Watch his stuff online and be amazed (or laugh your ass off at his scorpion style).

Fist of Legend - If I recall right, it's Jet Li's take on Fist of Fury? It still has a great story and really good fights overall.

I really liked Kung Fu Hustle, it threw me off when they killed the three main martial artist right in the beggining.