Martial arts movieprotagonists are usually well-equipped when it comes to combat, but it can be quite entertaining to watch them learn to fight for the first time over the course of a story. For the most part, the characters ofmartial arts movie legendslike Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan start their stories already well-versed in kung fu or other fighting styles. But some films take the opposite approach, taking the time to describe how their heroes learned to defend themselves before facing off against some impressive foe.
Thetraining montageis a classic trope commonly relied upon for the genre, which sometimes makes entire stories out of the concept.It can be quite compelling to watch a given protagonist go from completely useless in a fight to an adept martial artist, inspiring legions of viewers to do the same. Some of the best martial arts movies ever made actually wind up being quite focused on the learning journey, with their heroes not being impressively skilled until the final act.
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
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The 36th Chamber of Shaolin follows Lui, a young man who escapes a Manchu attack and seeks martial arts training to avenge his fallen comrades. Set against the backdrop of anti-Ching resistance, Lui’s journey leads him to the Shaolin Monastery, where he undergoes rigorous training.
Many of the iconic 70sfilms produced by the Shaw brothershad a strong focus on training, withThe 36th Chamber of Shaolineasily being the most recognizable.A period piece, the film centers on a young man, Liu Yude, drawn to an activist movement acting against the tyrannical Manchu government in China thanks to the teachings of his mentor. When a brutal General violently quells his community’s latest rebellion, Liu Yude vows revenge, deciding to study kung fu at an infamous shaolin temple.
The titular 36 chambers refer to a grueling gauntlet of physical challenges Liu and other prospective students must endure over the course of their training.Indeed, almost the entire film is an extended training sequence that emphasizes various tenets of shaolin kung fu. In the end, Liu becomes a master and creates the titular 36th chamber, a section of the temple dedicated to teaching commoners how to defend themselves against oppression.
Drunken Master
Drunken Master is a martial arts film featuring Jackie Chan as a mischievous young man who is sent to train under a rigorously unorthodox old beggar. Released in 1978, it follows his journey to mastering the Drunken Fist fighting style amidst comedic and action-packed encounters.
Considering how synonymous Jackie Chan’s name is with the martial arts genre and kung fu as a whole, its difficult to picture him playing a character that isn’t already proficient.That being said, one of his best films posits him as a total martial arts novice, slowly morphing him into the titularDrunken Master.Not to be confused withDrunken Master II,which was confusingly billed under the same title as the first film in the United States,Drunken Masterstarts Chan’s Wong Fei-hung is a mischievous troublemaker prone to getting in fights he can’t finish.
Assigned to the infamously cruel trainer Beggar So by his frustrated father, Wong soon finds a martial arts style that perfectly suits his tricky personality in drunken boxing.Soon, Wong finds himself facing down a tremendously powerful opponent called Thunderfoot, known for his thunderous kicks. Watching Jackie Chan go through Beggar So’s humiliating training only to give his later opponents the runaround with technical martial arts is a rare treat among his filmography.
The Karate Kid
Released in 1984, The Karate Kid follows the story of Daniel LaRusso on his unexpected journey to becoming a Karate expert under the tutelage of a martial arts master. Recently relocated from New Jersey to Los Angeles, Daniel and his mother are trying to adapt to their new home. Unfortunately, Daniel becomes the target of a gang of Cobra Kai dojo students. When his handyman, Mr. Miyagi, saves him with expert Karate skills, Daniel convinces him to teach him his Karate to defend himself, and put his bullies in their place.
Bearing one of the most famous training montages of all time,The Karate Kidis the definitive American movie revolving around martial arts training.Daniel LaRusso is a meek high schooler who consistently gets his rear end handed to him by a depraved gang of bullies operating under the Cobra Kai karate dojo, an infamous school known for its brutal practitioners. To get payback, Daniel enlists the help of the esteemed karate master, Mr. Miyagi, who trains him in a home-grown program in order to compete against the Cobra Kai in a prestigious tournament.
Set to the tune of Joe “Bean” Esposito’sYou’re The Best, Daniel’s training montage inThe Karate Kidis the stuff of cinematic legend, having been parodied and homaged countless times in other media.The ending shot of him practicingthe iconic crane kickagainst the sunset goes on to be reflected in his incredible win against opponents that should be outclassing him. An iconic underdog story, it’s no wonderThe Karate Kidspawned so many sequels and spin-offs.
The Forbidden Kingdom
A discovery made by an American teenager obsessed with kung fu sends him on an adventure to China, where he joins a band of martial arts warriors to free the Monkey King.
A classic fish-out-of-water story that blends American sensibilities with powerful Chinese martial arts,The Forbidden Kingdomhas the rare honor of being Jackie Chan and Jet Li’s first time sharing the screen with one another.The film posits both of them as Old Hop and Silent Monk, respectively, two rivals who are forced to work together in order to prevent the evil Jade Emperor from obtaining the powerful staff of the Monkey King. Thrown into the mix is the modern Boston teen Jason, who is a fan of martial arts movies but has no skills of his own.
However, by the time he returns to his original time and place, his two mentor’s skills have clearly begun to rub off on him, allowing him to effortlessly deal with the bullies that had previously plauged him.
In truth, Jason is still quite a novice by the time he reaches the end credits, supporting Old Hop and Silent Monk with less than impressive non-combat support. However, by the time he returns to his original time and place, his two mentor’s skills have clearly begun to rub off on him, allowing him to effortlessly deal with the bullies that had previously plauged him.Jason’s journey as a protégé is admittedly the least interesting thing aboutTheForbidden Kingdom, but it’s still quite the heartwarming arc.
Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda is an animated martial arts comedy directed by Mark Osborne and John Stevenson. Set in ancient China, it follows Po, an overweight and clumsy panda voiced by Jack Black, who dreams of becoming a kung fu master. When an evil snow leopard named Tai Lung threatens the Valley of Peace, Po is unexpectedly chosen as the Dragon Warrior.
It may seem silly to lump in a children’s animated picture with pulpy martial arts movies, butKung Fu Pandaproves itself as a worthy entry in the genre with incredibly-animated fight choreography and a stacked cast of martial arts movie regulars. Jack Black stars as Po, an oafish, clumsy Panda that is chosen to be China’s next prophesied “Dragon Warrior” seemingly by mistake. Beholden to ancient tradition, Po is reluctantly trained in the art of kung fu by Master Shifu and the Furious Five, an elite fighting force of various animal warriors.
Seeing Po slowly win over his compatriots from most lovable to the coldest-hearted is quite the endearing journey, with the bumbling panda clearly giving his training his all.
There’s a lot of fun to be had out of the creative ways Shifu uses food to motivate Po’s training, with chopstick battles for dumplings being almost as exciting as the fight scenes themselves.Po’s final battle against the ferocious Tai Lung is also one of thebest fights in theKung Fu Pandaseries, a victory made all the sweeter by his long efforts training in the first entry.
Circle of Iron
Circle of Iron follows martial artist Cord, who, despite losing a contest to win the powerful Book of All Knowledge, embarks on the journey himself. Assisted by a mysterious blind man, Cord encounters numerous adversaries, gaining self-discovery as he advances toward the book’s guardian, the villainous wizard Zetan.
A story written by Bruce Lee originally intended to star the iconic martial arts movie legend himself before his tragic passing in 1973,Circle of Ironis a fascinating glimpse into Lee’s training philosophy.The fantasy martial arts adventure centers on Cord, a ferocious but unrefined barbarian who wins fights with dirty tricks. In a quest for the wisdom of a famous wizard,Cord finds himself meeting with all manner of different martial artists and philosophers, all of whom impart their own lessons on his strange journey.
Circle of Ironis interesting as far as training-centered martial arts movies go due to its lack of a single adhering master for the hapless Cord to follow.It’s quite satisfying to see him refine both his worldview and fighting style more and more with each bizarre encounter, leading up to his eventual discovery of the wizard’s knowledge. Hilariously enough, the final reveal ofCircle of Ironactually mirrors that ofKung Fu Pandaquite closely, suggesting that an animated Dreamworks movie may have been closer to Bruce Lee’s actual ethos than many other films.
The Matrix
The Matrix, released in 1999, is set in the 22nd century and follows a computer hacker, Neo, portrayed by Keanu Reeves. He joins a group of underground insurgents led by Morpheus to combat the domineering computers that control the earth, in a battle that blurs the lines between reality and illusion.
For all its gunfights, computer hacking, and harrowing spaceship chases featuring enraged robotic squids,The Matrixis fundamentally a martial arts movie at its action core.In a story that has since been immortalized in Hollywood thanks to a plethora of subsequentMatrixfilms of wildly varying quality, Keanu Reeves' Neo is a gifted computer hacker who soon learns that the world as he knows it is not what it seems. Breaking free from the simulation of the Matrix, Neo joins humanity’s fight against the artificial intelligence that has enslaved them.
Admittedly, Neo’s actual martial arts training inThe Matrixis comically brief, with a lifetime’s worth of kung fu knowledge suddenly jammed into his brain with all the effort of downloading a new file.That being said, Neo has a lot to learn about the real world and how to interact with the Matrix through his newfound skills, putting them to the test against insidious programs like Agent Smith. Essentially a perfect hero’s journey,The Matrixdeserves more credit as a martial arts movie and a training sequence.
Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 is the sequel to Quentin Tarantino’s martial arts action film, continuing the story of The Bride as she seeks vengeance against the assassins who betrayed her. The narrative follows her quest for retribution, culminating in a confrontation with her former mentor, Bill.
Considering that Beatrix Kiddo is already a deadly assassin at the start ofKill Bill: Volume 1, it shouldn’t make much sense for the second installment to suddenly be a training-oriented movie.However, thanks to some key flashbacks, The Bride’s journey from an unassuming, normal woman to one of the most dangerous killers on the planet is able to be chronicled inKill Bill: Vol 2.Here, her brutal tutelage under the notorious kung fu master, Pai Mei, takes up a majority of the runtime.
The techniques Beatrix learns from Pai Mei end up proving invaluable in the present story, using them to free herself from a coffin and ultimately fulfill the promise of the duology’s title.
Pai Mei is a returning character from Shaw brothers classics likeExecutioners from ShaolinandClan of the White Lotus, and it’s thrilling to see him undertake the training of a modern action star, and a female fighter at that. The techniques Beatrix learns from Pai Mei end up proving invaluable in the present story, using them to free herself from a coffin and ultimately fulfill the promise of the duology’s title.Under Pai Mei’s watchful gaze, The Bride’s hands are turned into powerful weapons in their own right.
Bloodsport
Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in the martial arts movie Bloodsport as a fictional version of the real-life Frank Dux, a U.S. Army officer who participated in a secret underground martial arts tournament in Hong Kong. Directed by Newt Arnold, the 1988 action film helped establish Van Damme as a Hollywood star.
The training element of Jean-Claude Van Damme’sBloodsportmay be brief, but it is certainly an integral aspect of the story.Bloodsportbegins with Van Damme’s Frank Dux training in the art of ninjutsu under his sensei, Senzo Tanaka. While he may not have exactly been a slough in the combat department previously, being a decorated U.S. Army Captain, Dux soon hones his combat skills to a razor’s edge in order to participate in the Kumite, an illegal deathmatch tournament held in Hong Kong.
The death of Tanka’s son further ingratiates Frank Dux into his master’s clan, involving him in the Kumite in the first place.Even if much of the training happens off-screen, seeing Van Damme’s character ingratiate himself into the world of underground unarmed combat is a feast for the eyes. His ultimate progression from practicing to taking on a fearsome opponent in Bolo Yeung’s Chong Li with a brilliant flying kick, one ofVan Damme’s signature moves, is a powerful arc.
New Fist of Fury
New Fist of Fury, directed by Lo Wei, follows a brother and sister fleeing Japanese-occupied Shanghai to their grandfather’s Kung Fu school in Taiwan. There, they face a Japanese martial arts master intent on dominating the island’s schools, leading to conflict and resistance.
New Fist of Furywas Jackie Chan’s first leading role to be given a major theatrical release, marking a huge moment in the martial arts movie icon’s career. Fittingly enough, this is also one of the few pictures to give him a character to pilot that needs to learn the ropes of kung fu before jumping in feet-first. Here, Chan plays a young thief who joins his sister in protecting their grandfather’s traditional kung fu dojo from the menace of a Japanese karate master.
Jackie Chan’s plucky debut lead is a great exercise in heroic martial arts storytelling, depicting the ability of kung fu systems to raise up a population from underneath the boot heel of its oppressors. Even if strong liberties have to be taken with the degree of natural talent Jackie Chan’s character has, it’s incredibly satisfying to see him stand up to an imperialistic occupying force. Summarizing the power ofmartial artsin an occupied environment,New Fist of Furydeserves more credit as a fantastic kung fu training movie.
