Martial arts films have been produced all over the world, but the genre has been dominated by Hong Kong action cinema, peaking from 1971 with the rise of Bruce Lee until the mid-1990s with a general decline in the industry, till it was revived close to the 2000s. Inclusive in this list of films are commercial classics like The Big Boss, Drunken Master and One Armed Boxer. These films were widely broadcast on North American television on weekend timeslots that were often colloquially known as Kung Fu Theater, Black Belt Theater or variations thereof. ĭuring the 1970s and 1980s, the most visible presence of martial arts films was the hundreds of English-dubbed kung fu and ninja films produced by the Shaw Brothers, Godfrey Ho and other Hong Kong producers. These techniques are sometimes used by real martial artists as well, depending on the style of action in the film. The minimalist style employs smaller sets and little space for improvised but explosive fight scenes, as seen by Jackie Chan's films. Trampolines and springboards used to be used to increase the height of jumps. If not, actors frequently train in preparation for their roles or the action director may rely more on stylized action or film making tricks like camera angles, editing, doubles, undercranking, wire work and computer-generated imagery. Martial arts films contain many characters who are martial artists and these roles are often played by actors who are real martial artists. It features fights with boxers and karate practitioners, maybe the first depiction of karate in cinema. Kurosawa also directed a sequel in 1945 titled Sugata Sanshiro, Part Two. The film is about a young man learning Judo and fighting against various Jujitsu practitioners. Īkira Kurosawa pioneered the martial arts film genre with his 1943 directorial debut, Sugata Sanshiro. One of the earliest Hollywood movies to employ the use of martial arts was the 1955 film Bad Day at Black Rock, though the scenes of Spencer Tracy performed barely any realistic fight sequences, but composed mostly of soft knifehand strikes.
Films of the latter type are generally considered to be artistically superior films, but many films of the former type are commercially successful and well received by fans of the genre. As with other action films, martial arts films are dominated by action to varying degrees, using only wire work at best many martial arts films have only a minimal plot and amount of character development and focus almost exclusively on the action, while others have more creative and complex plots and characters along with action scenes. Asian films are known to have a more minimalist approach to film based on their culture.