The Top 10 Best Fighting Tournament Movies
5 Jet Li’s Fearless
Jet Li earned his fame starring in martial arts period films (most notably Once Upon a Time in China). That apparently got a little old, because he announced retirement from the subgenre with Fearless. In it, he plays Huo Yuanjia, a martial artist from China who offered a standing challenge to foreign fighters in order to rebuild China’s nationalism in the face of British Imperialism. Racism caused all the white people to chuckle at the idea of a “China Man” being able to defeat them in good old fashioned fisticuffs. However, it quickly became clear that their fighters were outmatched no matter what weapons or style they chose. Directed by Ronny Yu, Fearless features impressive fight scenes with plenty of cool characters stepping into the ring. Jet Li certainly gave a fond send off to the subgenre that made him a superstar.
4. Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior
Tony Jaa exploded onto the big screen in her first starring role with Ong Bak. When a rural village’s sacred statue is stolen, their resident badass, Ting, goes looking for it in the big city. No one takes a country bumpkin like him seriously until they realize that he’s actually a hell of a fighter. Hoping to gain more information and make enough money to pay rent while he looks for the statue, Ting enters a series of underground fights. He’s pitted against tough guys from all over the world, but, of course, Muay Thai is the best martial art in the world. So, he manages to come out on top each time. Turns out the head of the fight ring stole the statue and after seeing Ting in action, he decides to run for the hills. Can’t say I blame him. Ong Bak spawned two sequels and is definitely one of the best fighting tournament movies of all time.
3. Warrior
Time for a little ground and pound on this list of fighting tournament movies. Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy play two estranged brothers with a history of brawling who find themselves in worldwide MMA tournament. The twist is that they’re not exactly in each other’s corners. In fact, there’s enough bad blood between them that they just might rip one another’s heads off given the chance. That’s a bridge they’ll have to cross when they get to it because, between them, stand the most dangerous MMA fighters on the planet. Warrior puts a cinematic twist on one of the most popular sports on the planet as these brawlers clash in fights that would make ancient gladiators wince. Of course, the two brothers eventually make their way to each other in an almost biblical showdown.
2. Bloodsport
Hey, look! It’s JCVD again. You couldn’t possibly put together a list of the best fighting movies of all time and forget to include Bloodsport on it. I mean, the Kumite is iconic. How many times have movies or shows joked about it over the years? So it’s no wonder that this film is sitting pretty near the top of the list. This time JCVD plays trades in Muay Thai for Ninjitsu as he enters one of the most brutal tournaments ever to appear on the silver screen. Despite seeing his friend beaten at the hands of the champion, JCVD is determined to win at any cost. The thing is that the Kumite doesn’t exactly have a firm no killing policy and the current champion is a mountain of a man (Bolo Yeung). Despite having the odds stacked against him, you can probably guess how this film turns out.
1. Enter the Dragon
When it comes to big-screen martial artists none have had as big of an impact on the world as Bruce Lee. One can only imagine what he might have accomplished if not for his untimely death at the age of 32. Still, before his tragic passing, he was able to complete the greatest fighting tournament of all time, Enter the Dragon. The film follows master martial artist Lee, who is invited to a mysterious island to take place in a tournament. Lee isn’t just there to prove he’s the best though. In actuality, he’s been tasked to investigate the tournament hosts’ criminal activities. Plus, he’s got his eyes set on avenging his sister’s death at the hands of one of the host’s goons. The film features Lee side by side with other 70s martial artists like Jim Kelly, John Saxon, and Bolo Yueng. Without question, Enter the Dragon is the champion when it comes to fighting tournament movies.
Honorable Mention: The Karate Kid
Some people might believe that The Karate Kid deserves a spot among the top 10. However, the actual tournament was more or less just tacked onto the end. Plus, I’m not a fan of movies where the bad guy wins in the end. It might be a great martial arts film, but it’s definitely not one of the best fighting tournament movies.
Those are my picks for the best fighting tournament movies of all time. There are a lot of them out there, especially ones that were released straight to video. If you think I missed any great ones or just have a few you think I should check out, leave a comment below. As always, I’ll be updating this list as more fighting tournament movies hit the big screen (hopefully there will be more soon). So, be sure to check back from time to time to see how the rankings might change.