Martial Arts Movies of 2010: The Best, and the Rest

Last year was a good year for martial arts movies. With more than two dozen releases to theater and DVD, few people will have the time and interest to screen them all–myself included! Rather than writing a review for each, I have decided to simply list those you cannot afford to miss.

The Best


Bodyguards and Assassins
Winner: 2010 Hong Kong Film Award, Best Film

Bodyguards and Assassins [IMDB rating: 6.9/10]
Starring Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Cung Le

14 Blades [IMDB rating: 6.3/10]
Starring Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, Zhao Wei

Ip Man 2 [IMDB rating: 7.6/10]
Starring Donnie Yen, Darren Shahlavi, Sammo Hung


Ip Man 2

Ong Bak 3 [Amazon Blu-ray, DVD] [Netflix] [IMDB rating: 4.4/10]
Starring Tony Jaa

Reign of Assassins [IMDB rating: 7.0/10]
Starring Michelle Yeoh

Black Dynamite [Amazon] [Netflix] [IMDB rating: 7.4/10]
Starring Michael Jai White, Arsenio Hall


Black Dynamite

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen [IMDB rating: 6.2/10]
Starring Donnie Yen, Shu Qi

True Legend [IMDB rating: 6.3/10]
Starring Man Cheuk Chiu, Michelle Yeoh

The Karate Kid [Amazon Blu-ray, DVD] [Netflix] [IMDB rating: 6.2/10]
Starring Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith

The Rest

And these are some of the martial arts films I didn’t see, mixed in with a few I do not care to recommend…

Which of these was your favorite?

6 comments

  1. I totally thought The Karate Kid remake was going to stink, but it ended up being really, really good. This goes to show that you can’t judge a movie from its trailer or your prior expectations.

  2. Bodyguards and Assassins looks pretty good to me. Have not seen Cung Le in a movie. Will give Black Dynamite a miss. Cannot get my head around martial arts and comedy together.

  3. Black Dynamite is a brilliant parody of classic blaxploitation kung fu movies: Black Belt Jones, Dolemite, Velvet Smooth, etc.

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