Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature martial arts 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 along with other types of action, such as stuntwork, chases, and gunfights. Sub-genres of martial arts films include kung fu films, wuxia, karate films, and martial arts action comedy films, while related genres include gun fu, jidaigeki and samurai films.
Samuel "Sammo" Hung Kam-bo is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and director, known for his work in martial arts films, Hong Kong action cinema, and as a fight choreographer for other actors such as Jackie Chan.
Chan Kong-sang, known professionally as Jackie Chan, is a Hong Kong actor, director, writer, producer, martial artist, and stuntman known for his slapstick acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and innovative stunts, which he typically performs himself. Before entering the film industry, he was one of the Seven Little Fortunes from the China Drama Academy at the Peking Opera School, where he studied acrobatics, martial arts, and acting. Chan has been acting since the 1960s, performing in more than 150 films. He is one of the most influential action film stars of all time.
Yuen Biao is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist and stuntman. He specialises in acrobatics and Chinese martial arts and has also worked on over 80 films as actor, stuntman and action choreographer. He was one of the Seven Little Fortunes from the China Drama Academy at the Peking Opera School along with his "brothers" Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan. Yuen Biao has appeared in over 130 films. He has played roles in eight television series for the Hong Kong channel TVB.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to martial arts:
Corey Yuen Kwai is a Hong Kong film director, film producer, action choreographer, and former actor.
Donnie Yen Ji-dan is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and action director best known for his martial arts films. He is one of the highest paid actors in Asia.
Stanley Tong is a Hong Kong film director, producer, stunt choreographer, screenwriter, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Kung fu film is a subgenre of martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema set in the contemporary period and featuring realistic martial arts. It lacks the fantasy elements seen in wuxia, a related martial arts genre that uses historical settings based on ancient China. Swordplay is also less common in kung-fu films than in wuxia and fighting is done through unarmed combat.
Jackie Chan began his film career as an extra child actor in the 1962 film Big and Little Wong Tin Bar. Ten years later, he was a stuntman opposite Bruce Lee in 1972's Fist of Fury and 1973's Enter the Dragon. He then had starring roles in several kung fu films, such as 1973's Little Tiger of Canton and 1976's New Fist of Fury. His first major breakthrough was the 1978 kung fu action comedy film Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, which was shot while he was loaned to Seasonal Film Corporation under a two-picture deal. He then enjoyed huge success with similar kung fu action comedy films such as 1978's Drunken Master and 1980's The Young Master. Jackie Chan began experimenting with elaborate stunt action sequences in The Young Master and especially Dragon Lord (1982).
Scott Edward Adkins is a British actor and martial artist. He gained prominence with his villainous portrayal of the Russian prison fighter Yuri Boyka in the American martial arts film Undisputed II: Last Man Standing (2006), a role he reprised in its sequels Undisputed III: Redemption (2010) and Boyka: Undisputed (2017). He has since made films in a variety of genres, such as crime dramas, martial arts movies, war films, action thrillers, sci-fi actioners and action comedies, mostly as the lead.
Dante Lam Chiu-yin is a Hong Kong filmmaker, actor and action choreographer.
Police Story is a Hong Kong action film series created by and starring Jackie Chan. It comprises seven films, variously directed by Jackie Chan, Stanley Tong, Benny Chan, and Ding Sheng, and produced by Raymond Chow, Leonard Ho, Jackie Chan, Barbie Tung, Willie Chan, Solon So and Yang Du. The first film Police Story was released on 14 December 1985. The film's success led to three sequels, one spin-off, and two reboots.
1911, is a 2011 Chinese historical drama film about the 1911 Revolution in China, produced to commemorate the revolution's 100th anniversary. Directed by Jackie Chan and Zhang Li, the film stars Chan in his 100th film as an actor, alongside an ensemble cast that includes Winston Chao, Li Bingbing, Joan Chen, Hu Ge, and Chan's son Jaycee Chan. It was released on 23 September 2011 in mainland China and on 29 September in Hong Kong; it also opened on the 24th Tokyo International Film Festival later in October.
Wolf Warrior is a 2015 Chinese war film written and directed by Wu Jing. It stars Wu Jing along with Scott Adkins, Yu Nan and Kevin Lee. It was released on 2 April 2015. A sequel, titled Wolf Warrior 2, was released in China in 2017 and became the all-time highest-grossing film in China.
Wu Jing, also known as Jacky Wu, is a Chinese actor, director and martial artist best known for his roles in various martial arts films such as Tai Chi Boxer, Fatal Contact, the Sha Po Lang films, and as Leng Feng in Wolf Warrior, its sequel Wolf Warrior 2, and most recently The Battle at Lake Changjin. Wu Jing is one of the most profitable actors in China and his movies are often the highest grossed films in China. Wu ranked first on the Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2019 and 23rd in 2020.
Zhang Li is a Chinese director and cinematographer best known for his directorial works Towards the Republic (2001), Ming Dynasty in 1566 (2006), Memories In China (2007), The Road We Have Taken (2008), and Young Marshal (2014).
The Climbers is a 2019 Chinese adventure drama film directed by Daniel Lee and written by Alai. The film stars Wu Jing, Zhang Ziyi, Zhang Yi, Jing Boran, and Hu Ge. The film tells the real-life expedition of two generations of Chinese mountaineers to ascend Mount Everest from the perilous north side in 1960 and 1975. The film released in China, the United Kingdom and North America on September 30, 2019.
The Battle at Lake Changjin is a 2021 Chinese war drama film co-produced and co-directed by Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam, written by Lan Xiaolong and Huang Jianxin, and starring Wu Jing and Jackson Yee. It was commissioned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party as part of the Party's 100th anniversary celebrations. The film depicts the story of the North Korea-allied Chinese People's Volunteer Army, forcing U.S. forces to withdraw in a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War.
My Country, My Parents is a 2021 Chinese three-part anthology drama film, consisting of four segments directed by four directors, Wu Jing, Zhang Ziyi, Xu Zheng, and Shen Teng. The four directors also star in their own stories, each covering a different genre and taking place in different periods from the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1942 to a futuristic world in 2050. The film became the third installment in a series that celebrates the founding of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949, with two prequels, My People, My Country and My People, My Homeland, released in 2019 and 2020, respectively. The film was released in China on September 30, 2021, to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China.
