Every Michelle Yeoh Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

Michelle Yeoh, born Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng in Malaysia, is a beloved screen icon with both English-language and Chinese audiences. Yeoh won the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant at the age of 21 in her home country before relocating to Hong Kong for a career in film. Within the Hong Kong film industry, Yeoh was initially cast for her beauty but rose to greater stardom by proving her astounding martial arts abilities. Yeoh's background as an expertly trained ballerina took the place of any official martial arts training, but she proved to be a quick study, picking up different fighting styles and absorbing complex choreography. She stood out from her contemporaries and became a bonafide action hero in Hong Kong before eventually expanding her reach to foreign audiences.

Yeoh successfully navigated the difficult transition to Hollywood filmmaking, proving her ability to perform in multiple languages. She continues to showcase her martial arts skills, performing demanding action sequences even at the age of 60. These days, Yeoh has established herself as a talented thespian, capable of helming complex dramatic roles regardless of whether or not the part demands top-notch fighting abilities. With minor roles, cameos, and vocal performances taken out of consideration, these are all of Michelle Yeoh's movies ranked from worst to best according to their aggregated critic scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

Michelle Yeoh's worst movie according to Rotten Tomatoes was the ill-fated "Babylon A.D." from 2008. The film received universally negative reviews, and critics have left the movie with an abysmal single-digit score.

Vin Diesel stars in "Babylon A.D." as a mercenary who is hired to protect and transport a young woman and her adult guardian — played by the duo of Mélanie Thierry and Michelle Yeoh — on the long and dangerous journey from Kazakhstan to New York in a dystopian future. The story was adapted from the novel "Babylon Babies" written by French author Maurice G. Dantec. Charlotte Rampling, Gérard Depardieu, and Mark Strong are all big names in the supporting cast, but their acting talents weren't able to save this disaster of a film. In a harshly negative review for the Austin Chronicle, critic Marc Savlov singled Michelle Yeoh out as the film's only real strength, writing "Yeoh is the most serious aspect of a decidedly silly movie ... She drips class like other action stars sweat testosterone."

After the major success of the first "The Mummy" movie starring Brendan Fraser, sequels and spinoffs soon followed. After a several-year-long gap in the series, "Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" was released in 2008 as the third and final main series entry, and the fourth movie in the franchise overall after the "Scorpion King" spinoff was released in 2002.

Brendan Fraser reprised his leading role as Rick O'Connell, while Maria Bello was recast in the role of his wife Evelyn, previously played by Rachel Weisz in "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns." Michelle Yeoh was a new addition to the cast of this sequel as an immortal sorceress who teams up with the good guys to help stop the titular Dragon Emperor, who she tricked and imprisoned centuries earlier. The Dragon Emperor was played by Jet Li, who — just like Michelle Yeoh — first rose to stardom as a martial arts action hero within the Hong Kong film industry before successfully branching into Hollywood moviemaking. Back in Hong Kong, Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh first appeared on screen together in 1993's "The Tai Chi Master."

Though it wasn't received well by critics or general audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" was still a major financial success, raking in over $400 million off of its $145 million budget, with most of its earnings coming from the international box office (via Box Office Mojo).

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny" was the long-awaited sequel to one of Michelle Yeoh's most highly-acclaimed films, the original "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" from 2000. Unfortunately, Rotten Tomatoes critics agreed that "Sword of Destiny" suffered from a huge decline in quality when compared to the first film. This sequel was thought by most to be too little, too late.

Though it wound up being a misfire, "Sword of Destiny" had plenty of potential to be a worthy follow-up to the Oscar-winning original. Michelle Yeoh reprised her role as Yu Shu Lien and although Chow-Yun Fat's character was not involved in the sequel, his role was replaced by acclaimed martial arts superstar Donnie Yen. Legendary kung fu choreographer and director Yuen Woo-Ping took over directing duties from Ang Lee. Yuen Woo-Ping was involved in the fight scenes in Hollywood productions like "The Matrix" and "Kill Bill" as well as Hong Kong action classics like "Drunken Master" and "Iron Monkey," but he wasn't able to recapture the magic of the first "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," and much of the film is marred by distracting CGI.

"Mechanic: Resurrection" is a 2016 sequel to the first "The Mechanic" from 2011 starring Jason Statham, which was itself a remake of the Charles Bronson action movie of the same name from the 1970s. The original Bronson film was also rather poorly received and never got its own sequel. Without source material to adapt this time, "Mechanic: Resurrection" forged ahead with an original story that found Statham's returning hitman character forced out of retirement to assassinate three targets and make their deaths look like accidents.

Michelle Yeoh co-stars as an old friend of the main character who gives him a place to stay when he flees to Thailand. Also of note in the cast are Jessica Alba as Statham's kidnapped love interest and Tommy Lee Jones as one of Statham's three targets. In a review for The New York Times, critic Andy Webster suggested "Mechanic: Resurrection" was below Michelle Yeoh's standards, and that she was completely squandered in her role.

"The Children of Huang Shi" is the first movie on this list to earn a fresh score from general audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, though critics still saddled it with a rotten score way down in the low 30s. Set in the 1930s during the Japanese occupation of China, "The Children of Huang Shi" tells the true story of a joint effort between a British journalist, an American nurse, and a Chinese political figure to save an orphanage from the devastating effects of the ongoing war. The cast is notable for reuniting Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh for the first and only time since the critically acclaimed "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" eight years prior.

The film was directed by British filmmaker Roger Spottiswoode, who worked with Yeoh in the James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies." Chinese director of photography Xiaoding Zhao — who also shot stunning movies like "House of Flying Daggers" and "Shadow" — provided the film's cinematography and earned much acclaim for his work, even from many critics who disliked the overall film. Many critics appreciated the film's cinematography and the performances of Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh, but the script, Spottiswoode's direction, and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers' lead performance all drew an abundance of criticism. "The Children of Huang Shi" also drew a great deal of derision for playing fast and loose with the facts of the true story. In a review for The Sydney Morning Herald, Paul Byrnes called out the film's historical inaccuracy, suggesting it went beyond simply taking "artistic license" and veered heavily into "blatant misrepresentation."

"Memoirs of a Geisha" represents a major rift in reception between Rotten Tomatoes critics, who gave the film a rotten score, and general audiences, who loved the movie. The film begins in the 1920s when a young girl is sold into servitude at a geisha house where she is trained for several years to become a valuable commodity for it's clientele. The film also delves into the outbreak of World War II and the ramifications it has on the characters. Ziyi Zhang plays the lead geisha as an adult, and "Memoirs of a Geisha" was the only subsequent collaboration between Zhang and co-star Michelle Yeoh after the massive success of their earlier film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Also of note in the cast are Ken Watanabe, Mako, Togo Igawa, Gong Li, Tsai Chin, and Kôji Yakusho, amongst others.

"Memoirs of a Geisha" was an international production with somewhat of a cultural divide between the onscreen and offscreen talent. Set in Japan, the film features a cast of actors from Japan, China, and Malaysia, while being led behind the camera primarily by Americans. Steven Spielberg produced the film, there was an original score composed by John Williams, and an adapted screenplay written by Robin Swicord — who earlier wrote movies like "Practical Magic" and "Matilda." American Rob Marshall was in the director's chair, and had directed only one previous film, the musical "Chicago." Additionally, the story of the film was adapted from the fiction novel of the same name written by American author Arthur Golden.

Though Michelle Yeoh and French filmmaker Luc Besson are both known and loved for their work within the action genre, their only collaboration defied expectations by being a historical biopic instead of an action film. "The Lady" tells the true story of Aung San Suu Kyi, played by Michelle Yeoh. Together with her husband, played by British actor David Thewlis, Aung San Suu Kyi works to spearhead the rise of democracy in the country of Burma (now Myanmar) in the 1940s. The film is a love story between its two leads just as much as it is a story of politics.

As covered by the BBC, the real Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and "was once seen as a beacon for human rights." This period of her life is covered within "The Lady," but her reputation did not remain in such high esteem after the film's release. In recent years, Aung San Suu Kyi lost face on the international stage after refusing to condemn the genocide of the Rohingya Muslim population of Myanmar while she was still in power in 2017. At the time of its release in 2011, "The Lady" was already drawing criticism from Rotten Tomatoes critics for presenting its heroine as too perfect. Given the developments since the film's release, that point of critique has only been exacerbated over time.

"Morgan" is a sci-fi thriller with a surprising dose of action from 2016. Anya Taylor-Joy plays Morgan, who is essentially a science experiment grown in a lab. Morgan ages faster and has vastly superior intellect when compared to the average person, but her lab begins to feel more like a prison. Kate Mara plays an outsider who comes into the lab with an ulterior motive, while Michelle Yeoh, Boyd Holbrook, Jennifer Jason-Leigh, Paul Giamatti, Toby Jones, Rose Leslie, and Brian Cox make up the rest of the people in Morgan's orbit.

The plot of "Morgan" bears striking similarities to "Ex Machina" from just two years earlier, right down to the set design. Critic Robert Kojder of Flickering Myth called the movie "Ex Machina for dummies" and went on to compare them further, writing "all sense of subtlety and stimulating subtext on the always profound and captivating theme of man playing God is lost and disowned."

Some viewers may have also felt betrayed by the movie's misleading marketing. The trailer for "Morgan" depicts its titular character as having telekinetic powers, going so far as to include a doctored shot that shows Paul Giamatti launched away from a table by an invisible force. This was a blatant misrepresentation of the actual movie, where Morgan has no supernatural powers and simply jumps across the table to physically attack him, tricking audiences into expecting a vastly different type of movie.

"Last Christmas" is one of Michelle Yeoh's most recent films. Emilia Clarke stars as a woman who works at a Christmas shop in London and falls in love with a mysterious stranger played by Henry Golding. The supporting cast features the recognizable names of regulars in British film and television such as Peter Serafinowicz, Rob Delaney, and Sue Perkins, plus Michelle Yeoh in the inspired casting choice of Santa Claus. Oscar-winner Emma Thompson plays a key supporting role and also co-wrote the screenplay, taking inspiration from "Last Christmas" by George Michael. "Last Christmas" reunited Michelle Yeoh and Henry Golding after the two played mother and son in the hugely successful "Crazy Rich Asians" in 2018.

With dozens of Christmas-themed romcoms released every year, "Last Christmas" didn't do enough to set itself apart from the pack. Even with a talented cast and a big-name director like Paul Feig — the man behind movies like "Bridesmaids" and the 2016 "Ghostbusters" reboot — "Last Christmas" blended into the sea of similar Christmas romcoms after receiving middling reviews from Rotten Tomatoes critics. Many critics called it bland and dull yet inoffensive, while others were more harsh, such as Charlotte O'Sullivan of the London Evening Standard, who called the movie "patronising, illogical and silly."

1993's "Butterfly and Sword" was an important movie early in Michelle Yeoh's acting career. The film is an adaptation of the novel "Meteor, Butterfly, Sword," and fits within the Chinese Wuxia genre. "Butterfly and Sword" mixes action with a complicated love square between the titular Butterfly (Joey Wang), the leader of an assassin guild known as Happy Forest (Michelle Yeoh), and two assassins within the group, played by Tony Leung and Donnie Yen. This was the first collaboration between Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen, who would go on to act opposite each other in multiple other films, most recently in 2016's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny."

The plot of "Butterfly and Sword" is undeniably messy, but allows plenty of room for romance and copious action sequences. The film stands out a bit from similar Wuxia films by being surprisingly graphic and gory in its sword fights, a point highlighted in a review for Far East Films by critic Andrew Skeates, who wrote "while never fully successful in its amalgamation of hyper-violent wuxia action, political plotting and trite (nooo!!) melodrama, is nevertheless a full throttle fun example of golden era Hong Kong fantasy action."

Michelle Yeoh entered the iconic James Bond franchise with the 1997 entry in the series, "Tomorrow Never Dies." This was during the Pierce Brosnan era of the "Bond" franchise, his second spin in the tuxedo after 1995's "GoldenEye." "Tomorrow Never Dies" was met with a mixed reception from critics and general audiences on Rotten Tomatoes and was saddled with marginally rotten scores from both parties. The muddled critical reaction wasn't reflected in the film's box office return, however, as it was one of the highest-grossing entries in the series, even outdoing its predecessor, "GoldenEye."

Yeoh plays a Ministry of State agent for China who teams up with Bond to stop the devious Elliot Carver, played by Jonathan Pryce, who plans to orchestrate a catastrophic war between China and the United Kingdom. Yeoh ostensibly fits into the old-fashioned "Bond girl" archetype of the series but brings considerably more to the table. "Tomorrow Never Dies" is notable for being one of Michelle Yeoh's first English-language films, helping her break into the international movie-making business.

With an unusual, attention-grabbing title and a strong cast, "Gunpowder Milkshake" is an action thriller that sought to cash in on the "John Wick" craze that revitalized the mid-budget action movie. Released in 2021 as a Netflix original, the film received mixed reviews from critics and audiences, just barely falling short of a fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. Nevertheless, a sequel was greenlit before the first movie even debuted on Netflix.

Karen Gillan and Lena Headey star as a pair of estranged mother-daughter assassins who go up against an entire organization of hired guns. Michelle Yeoh, Carla Gugino, and Angela Bassett comprise a trio of ex-hitwomen who team up with the mother-daughter duo to help them exact revenge. Though the film employs a primarily female cast and wears a veneer of feminism, "Gunpowder Milkshake" drew some criticism for being an empty gesture or a cynical cash-in on hot-button sexism. A review for The Telegraph called out the movie as inauthentic and "faux-feminist." Critic Tim Robey questioned the film's intentions, writing that it "grasped at the opportunity of post-#MeToo feminism, to a degree that's practically hilarious, with grubby male fingers," pointing to the fact that the movie was written and directed by two men.

The title of "Supercop 2" can be a bit confusing. While it is a direct sequel to "Supercop," in which Jackie Chan starred alongside Michelle Yeoh, "Supercop" itself was also the third movie in Chan's long-running "Police Story" series, making "Supercop 2" either a spin-off, the second movie, or the fourth movie in a series, depending on how you look at it. Michelle Yeoh reprises her role in "Supercop" as Inspector Jessica Yang, taking center stage to lead her own story. Jackie Chan's Ka Kui character returns as well and remains in the equation, but his prominence was reduced for the sequel to have more of a focus on Yeoh.

Released just one year after "Supercop," the plot of "Supercop 2" finds Michelle Yeoh's character going undercover and attempting to take down a dangerous gang of thieves almost single-handedly. Hong Kong stuntman, action coordinator, and fight choreographer Stanley Tong was at the helm of "Supercop 2." Tong also directed the first "Supercop" and other Jackie Chan movies like "Rumble in the Bronx." "Supercop 2" is the first Michelle Yeoh movie to land a fresh score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

"Yes, Madam" might not have a critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, but general audiences have given it a fresh score, and it was an important film early in the career of Michelle Yeoh. After small roles in "The Owl vs. Bumbo" and "Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars" — which was her first time working with the legendary Jackie Chan — "Yes, Madam" was Michelle Yeoh's first starring role. It proved to be a breakout performance, and the film helped rocket her to stardom in the Hong Kong film scene.

The story of "Yes, Madam" found Michelle Yeoh teaming up with American martial arts world champion Cynthia Rothrock, who plays a Scotland Yard inspector, to investigate a murder case that lands them in violent conflict with the Chinese Triad gang. The director of "Yes, Madam," Corey Yuen, is another Hong Kong action legend who splits his time between acting and the roles of director, action coordinator, and fight choreographer. Yuen was also in the director's chair for action classics like "Dragons Forever," "The Legend," and even the English-language "The Transporter."

"Yes, Madam" put Michelle Yeoh on the map as an action star within the Hong Kong film industry and helped lead her to more starring action roles in the future.

"True Legend" is a Wuxia film from 2010 set in 1860s China during the Qing dynasty. Vincent Zhao stars as a wealthy retired general who attempts to open a martial arts school, but is stabbed in the back by his adopted brother, played by Andy On, and is left on the brink of death. Michelle Yeoh plays the doctor who patches him up and takes him in while he trains for vengeance.

The story is a re-telling and semi-prequel to the classic legend of the King of Beggars, a figure who has been brought to the big screen numerous times over the years, perhaps most famously in the Gordan Chan film "King of Beggars," starring Stephen Chow. The movie caused a bit of a stir amongst kung fu fans for being the first modern Hong Kong martial arts movie released in 3D. "True Legend" was also highly anticipated as the first film directed by Hong Kong action master Yuen Woo-Ping since "Tai Chi II" was released 14 years earlier. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes found enough to enjoy in the film's action sequences to give it a fresh score, even though the visual effects and 3D were often more of a hindrance than a benefit.

Set in ancient China, "Reign of Assassins" is an action revenge tale full of swordplay. Michelle Yeoh stars as Drizzle, a former assassin turned humble shopkeeper who is forced back into a life of violence when old figures from her destructive past return seeking the remains of a Buddhist Monk, which are thought to contain a supernatural power. Rather than hand over the remains, Drizzle is determined to give them a proper burial, much to the chagrin of her former associates.

"Reign of Assassins" is the only collaboration between Michelle Yeoh and action filmmaking legend John Woo. Though Woo is best known as the maestro of Hong Kong bullet operas like "Hard Boiled" and "The Killer" and of Hollywood shoot 'em up films such as "Hard Target" and "Face/Off," he also occasionally dabbled in other types of action as well, notably the swordplay in his "Red Cliff" series. Woo co-directed "Reign of Assassins" with Taiwanese filmmaker Chao-Bin Su, who has not directed another movie since.

"Wing Chun" is another important martial arts film from early in the career of Michelle Yeoh. At the time "Wing Chun" was released in 1994, Yeoh had already established herself as one of the top women action heroes in the Hong Kong film industry, hot off of her prominent and impressive roles in the likes of "Tai Chi Master," "Supercop," and the two "Heroic Trio" movies. The early 90s were an exceptionally busy time for Michelle Yeoh. In the span of just two years, 1993 and 1994, Yeoh starred in nine different action movies.

Michelle Yeoh plays the titular Wing Chun, a young woman who defends her village from a pair of notorious bandits named Flying Monkey and Flying Chimpanzee. Her fighting prowess is seen as unladylike and condemned by her family, who want her to lead a quiet, married life and work in their tofu shop. Donnie Yen co-stars as another skilled fighter, and he and Yeoh share a romance that transcends the social impropriety of Wing Chun's fighting predilections.

The main character shares her name with the Wing Chun fighting style, which was famously used by Donnie Yen's most iconic character, Ip Man, as well as part of the basis for Bruce Lee's personal fighting style, Jeet Kune Do.

"Boss Level" is an action comedy released as a Hulu original in 2021. Frank Grillo stars as an ex-special forces agent trapped in a time loop that finds him reliving the same day repeatedly. A government conspiracy is responsible, and in order to break the loop, he must track down and kill the program's head, played by Mel Gibson, while surviving an onslaught of soldiers and assassins determined to stop him. Michelle Yeoh is part of a supporting cast that also features Ken Jeong, Will Sasso, Annabelle Wallis, Naomi Watts, and pro-MMA fighters Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson and Rashad Evans.

Time loop movies have seen a major resurgence recently with movies like "Edge of Tomorrow," "Happy Death Day," and "Palm Springs" effectively turning the "Groundhog Day" premise into its own subgenre, and "Boss Level" fits comfortably into that category. "Boss Level" was directed by Joe Carnahan, who previously made action movies like "Smokin' Aces," "The Grey," and "The A-Team." The film received generally favorable scores from critics and audiences alike on Rotten Tomatoes.

"Sunshine" is a science-fiction thriller from 2007 directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland. Garland and Boyle also collaborated as writer and director on "28 Days Later" and "The Beach," with Garland going on to become a director himself with films like "Ex Machina," "Annihilation," and "Men." Michelle Yeoh, Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Benedict Wong, Mark Strong, and Chris Evans play a group of astronauts tasked with transporting a nuclear bomb to the sun in hopes of reigniting it before it burns out, with disastrous results.

Made for a budget of $40 million, "Sunshine" was a major financial bomb, bringing in less than $4 million at the domestic box office (via The Numbers). The film fared better internationally but still failed to earn back its budget. Though it was initially considered a failure, the consensus around "Sunshine" has grown more favorable over time, with both critics and audiences coming around to it. "Sunshine" is the first Michelle Yeoh movie on this list to earn the coveted Certified Fresh badge from Rotten Tomatoes critics.

A superhero action-adventure movie from 1993, "The Heroic Trio" is comprised of Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, and Anita Mui, who were three of the Hong Kong film industry's top women action stars. Yeoh, Cheung, and Mui play Ching, Chat, and Tung, respectively, who also go by their super-powered alter-egos of the Invisible Woman, the Thief Catcher, and Wonder Woman. Michelle Yeoh's Invisible Woman actually begins the first "Heroic Trio" movie as a villain who has been stealing babies from all over the city on behalf of the nefarious supervillain known as Evil Master, played by Yee Kwan Yan. The other two members of the heroic trio, one of whom is her sister, help sway the Invisible Woman to their side, and together they take on the Evil Master.

Acclaimed Hong Kong action maestro Johnnie To was at the helm for "The Heroic Trio" and its sequel. To is known for his high volume of output, often releasing four or more movies in any given year. The same year he put out "The Heroic Trio," he released three additional movies, including the sequel "Heroic Trio 2: Executioners."

1993's superhero action film "Heroic Trio 2: Executioners" is a sequel to the first "The Heroic Trio" movie released earlier that same year. This sequel jumps forward in time from the ending of the first film, with the city that the heroic trio protects suffering from the devastating effects of nuclear war. Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, and Anita Mui all reprised their roles as the titular heroes. This time around, they are tasked with finding clean drinking water for the city's population while also preventing a coup d'état and keeping the president safe.

Johnnie To returned to the director's chair but was joined by Siu-Tung Ching as his co-director this time around. Sandy Shaw, who wrote the first movie, provided the story for the sequel, but the actual script was written by Susanne Chan, earning the only screenwriting credit of her career.

In the arctic tundra of "Far North," Michelle Yeoh and her adopted daughter, played by Michelle Krusiec, are indigenous women who live an isolated life together outside the society that shunned them. When she was born, a shaman labeled Yeoh's character as cursed and evil, and she has been exiled from her tribe ever since. Their quiet life is cast into disarray when a Soviet soldier on the verge of death, played by Sean Bean, stumbles upon them in search of help. They aid in his recovery, but darkness awaits, as it turns out there may be some truth to the Shaman's proclamations.

With extremely low reach, "Far North" didn't leave behind much of a footprint. It earned less than $100,000 at the worldwide box office (via Box Office Mojo) and came and went without attracting much attention. However, the few critics who did cover the film, such as Rich Cline, found a lot to enjoy. Cline praised the movie's "breathtaking cinematography and earthy performances" and said that it felt "utterly timeless." The director of "Far North," Asif Kapadia, went on to find much greater success later in his career after shifting to a focus on documentary filmmaking. His documentaries "Senna" and "Amy" both won the best documentary BAFTA, and the latter took home an Oscar as well.

Long before they appeared together in "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," and even before they acted opposite each other in "Fearless," Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh starred in 1993's "Tai Chi Master." The story of "Tai Chi Master" begins when two Shaolin monks, played by Jet Li and Chin Siu Ho, are expelled from their temple and sent adrift into the unfamiliar outside world. The two friends take opposite paths, with Chin Siu Ho joining the ranks of a corrupt army and Jet Li working with a group of rebels to fight against them. Michelle Yeoh plays one of the rebels who forms a relationship with Jet Li before being captured and used as bait. She also helps Li train and recover from a debilitating mental injury after she has been rescued.

"The Tai Chi Master" was the first collaboration between Michelle Yeoh and martial arts master Yuen Woo-Ping. The two would go on to collaborate several additional times over the years on projects like "Wing Chun," "Fearless," and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." A sequel was made three years later titled "Tai Chi II," also known as "Tai Chi Boxer." Yuen Woo-Ping returned to direct alongside Chang Hsin-Yen, but the sequel has little to do with the original and features an entirely different cast with an unrelated story.

"Master Z: Ip Man Legacy" is a spin-off movie connected to the larger Donnie Yen-led "Ip Man" series. "Master Z" follows the further exploits of Cheung Tin-chi, played by Jin Zhang, who is also frequently credited as Max Zhang. The Cheung Tin-chi character was first introduced as one of the main antagonists of "Ip Man 3." Without Donnie Yen's central character involved this time around, Cheung Tin-chi has to navigate the difficult transition from antagonist to protagonist, and the result is a major success.

In order to improve his reputation, protect his son, and avenge a friend who was killed via an overdose, Cheung Tin-chi finds himself going up against three key enemies, played by Michelle Yeoh, Thai martial artist Tony Jaa, and American ex-professional wrestler Dave Bautista. Yeoh proves she hasn't lost any of her action skills with age and performs the film's standout fight scene with an impossibly sharp sword in hand.

"Crazy Rich Asians" is a rom-com about an NYU professor, played by Constance Wu, who heads to a wedding in Singapore with her long-term boyfriend, played by Henry Golding. But along the way, she learns that he is part of an absurdly wealthy family, and is in high demand as an eligible bachelor. Michelle Yeoh plays Henry Golding's mother, the domineering matriarch of the family and the main source of conflict throughout the film. The large cast also includes the talents of Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Ken Jeong, Ronny Chieng, Sonoya Mizuno, Lisa Lu, Jimmy O. Yang, Nico Santos, and more. This gathering of talent proved to be an exceptionally charismatic ensemble, earning a number of award nominations for their work together.

"Crazy Rich Asians" was one of the most popular movies of 2018 and made it into the top 20 highest-grossing movies of the year, even outdoing blockbusters like "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" and "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald." The movie was directed by Jon M. Chu, who had previously made a name for himself as a director of films such as "G.I. Joe Retaliation" and the "Step Up" series. The story for "Crazy Rich Asians" was adapted from the novel of the same name written by Kevin Kwan — it's the first in a trilogy, and is followed up by "China Rich Girlfriend" and "Rich People Problems." Both sequel books have been greenlit for big-screen adaptations as well.

Michelle Yeoh joined the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe for the second time with "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings." She is one of very few actors to play multiple characters within the MCU, as she previously made a small appearance in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" as Aleta Ogord.

Simu Liu stars as the titular Shang-Chi, a master fighter who abandons his life of violence in the 10 Rings Organization in favor of a quiet, ordinary life. After successfully living discreetly for many years, Shang-Chi is forced to return to his roots and confront his past, which means going head-to-head with his immortal father, played by Tony Leung. Michelle Yeoh co-stars as Shang-Chi's aunt, and is reunited with her "Crazy Rich Asians" co-star Awkwafina. Also in the cast are Sir Ben Kingsley and Benedict Wong as recurring MCU characters, as well as a bunch of new actors making their MCU debuts such as Meng'er Zhang, Fala Chen, and Florian Munteanu. 

"Shang-Chi" was a huge leap forward in terms of scope and budget for director Destin Daniel Cretton, who had earlier directed small, successful dramas like "Short Term 12" and "Just Mercy." Destin has two upcoming MCU movies in the works, a "Shang-Chi" sequel and an "Avengers" sequel titled "The Kang Dynasty."

"Supercop" is a martial arts classic that pairs the world-class talents of Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh with phenomenal results. Though it mostly functions as a stand-alone action movie, "Supercop" is actually the third movie in Jackie Chan's "Police Story" series. Just like the two previous movies in the series, "Supercop" finds Jackie Chan's Ka Kui character in over his head taking down a vast criminal conspiracy. But, for the first time, he isn't doing it single-handedly: Michelle Yeoh plays a police inspector who teams up with Ka Kui to bring the criminals to justice at any cost.

In addition to the numerous impressive fight scenes, "Supercop" also features top-of-the-line, death-defying stunt work. Some of the movie's standout stunts involve Jackie Chan crashing through billboards while hanging from a rope ladder suspended from a helicopter, and Michelle Yeoh jumping a motorcycle onto a speeding train from a cliffside. These jaw-dropping stunts and fights didn't come without a cost, however, and there was plenty of real danger on set. Michelle Yeoh even came close to dying during one of the film's stunts involving a leap onto the hood of a speeding car. 

Michelle Yeoh's latest movie is also one of her absolute best. From the Daniels, the filmmaking duo of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert behind 2016's "Swiss Army Man," "Everything Everywhere All at Once" is a fantasy epic that spans the multiverse. Yeoh stars as Evelyn, a humble laundromat proprietor who is thrust into a fight to save existence that finds her leaping through different realities, accruing new skills along the way.

The genre-bending (and mind-bending) nature of "Everything Everywhere All at Once" fared exceptionally well with both critics and general audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was universally praised for its story, characters, action, sense of humor, and wild, unadulterated originality. Considering the scale of the spectacle within "Everything Everywhere All at Once," it is even more impressive that the Daniels were able to execute their uncompromised vision for the relatively low budget of $25 million, via The Numbers. Michelle Yeoh earned praise for her performance, including from her co-star Jamie Lee Curtis, who said of Yeoh in an interview with Town & Country, "Her facility to switch between comedy and martial arts and then real emotion... I challenge anybody to come up with a better performance."

It's fitting that Michelle Yeoh's highest-rated movie according to Rotten Tomatoes critics is also the film that helped her break out with international audiences. As a martial arts epic in the Wuxia tradition, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" enjoyed unprecedented success and wider appeal than the vast majority of martial arts films ever hope to achieve. The film is a rare example of a Mandarin-language movie becoming a massive success at the U.S. box office. Additionally, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" pulled off the feat of being an action film that received Academy Awards attention, winning Oscars in the cinematography, music, and art direction categories, as well as best foreign language film.

The story swirls with romance and action, revolving primarily around the theft of a legendary sword. The breathtaking fight sequences are a highlight of the film, with Michelle Yeoh taking center-stage in a number of the best action sequences, despite suffering a grievous injury midway through shooting that saw her tear ligaments in her knee, requiring surgery and a lengthy recovery. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" allowed Yeoh to showcase not just her incredible martial arts skills, but also her acting talents, leading to more varied roles for her and laying the groundwork for her to find success amongst international audiences.