The 5 Best Martial Art Movie Fights In The Last 5 Years, Ranked

From some of the most underrated martial arts movies to all-time classics every film buff knows, the world of moving pictures is full of iconic moments where skilled fighters clash with each other. There are so many great martial arts scenes that even the most dedicated fighting movie aficionado might have a hard time keeping track of them all. For each of the most epic Bruce Lee fight scenes ever, there are countless gems that people might not remember when discussing quality martial arts movie moments.

This rings even truer when it comes to recent years. Even the most casual martial arts film fan can probably pinpoint genre gems like "Bloodsport" or "Ip Man," but it's easy to draw a blank with movies and individual fight scenes that simply haven't been out long enough to build that kind of cultural legacy. With this in mind, here's a look at five particularly stunning martial arts fight scenes from the last five years.

As far as pure martial arts movie pedigree goes, it's hard to top the cultural capital of "Triple Threat" — a 2019 film that's essentially "The Expendables" for some of the brightest stars in the martial arts world. The film tells the story of Payu (Tony Jaa) and Long Fei (Tiger Chen). They become associated with a shady guy called Devereaux (Michael Jai White), who's on a secret mission to extract the evil Collins (Scott Adkins) from prison. Because of this unknowing brush with villainy, they also make a mortal enemy of Jaka (Iko Uwais). 

As you can probably guess from a cast that features stars from "Ong Bak," "The Raid: Redemption," "John Wick: Chapter 4," "Undisputed II," and many others, this is a movie where martial arts icons fight martial arts icons. Fortunately, "Triple Threat" knows what it is, and delivers several truly excellent fights where fans can see how the actors fare against each other — with some added bonuses, such as the real-life UFC star Michael Bisping in a sizable henchman role. 

"Triple Threat" is one of those movies where every viewer can probably choose their own favorite battle. Still, as dream scenario matchups go, it's difficult to beat the climactic battle between the now reconciled Payu and Jaka and the villainous Collins. Since Jaka gets his own moment in the limelight earlier in the film when he beats Devereaux, Payu and Collins get the lion's share of the action. Still, seeing Jaa and Uwais fight Adkins with all three men unleashing some of the greatest hits of their signature styles is a truly wild ride. The scene would make "Triple Threat" a must-watch for any martial arts movie buff even if all the other fights weren't any good. Fortunately, they all are pretty great.

The best fight scenes in "John Wick: Chapter 4" are creative demonstrations of utter mayhem where John Wick (Keanu Reeves) plows his way through countless minions. The Dragon's Breath shotgun battle plays out like a video game level, and as gun fights go, it's hard to beat the lengthy battle at the Sacré-Cœur stairs. Wick's first fight scene against Caine (Donnie Yen) is also an all-timer. Yet, in terms of sheer martial arts brilliance, the Baba Yaga's pre-Caine battle in the same Osaka Continental antiques room takes the cake. Namely, the nunchuck-wielding part of said fight. 

John Wick can be an elegant combatant when he wants to be, but he vastly prefers pragmatism. When he gets a blunt instrument in his hands, he treats it as such and uses it to break faces as rapidly and efficiently as possible. As such, when he grabs a pair of nunchucks, there's initially no Bruce Lee-style spinning and flamboyant attacks. He wields the weapon like a club or a baseball bat, wailing at his opponents like there's no tomorrow. However, when his foes are temporarily incapacitated, he realizes what he has in his hand, and gives the weapon a couple of tentative whirls to get a handle on its balance. From this point on, the rule of cool fully takes over, and Wick continues the fight with the melee weapon in one hand and a gun in another, using various offensive weapons as things progress, but liberally using the nunchucks until Caine steps in and forces him to change gears.

Wick rarely fights entirely without a firearm if he can help it, and since he technically cheats by using guns on multiple occasions, this sequence can't make it higher than this on a list of martial arts scenes. Still, despite the fight's hybrid nature, it's highly entertaining to see the iconic Mr. Wick wield one of the most iconic martial arts weapons of all time and give it his own particular spin (pun not intended). 

"Everything Everywhere All at Once" is many things, but when it decides to be a martial arts movie, it's an absolutely amazing martial arts movie. The film has more than one memorable moment that could be in the discussion for a list like this, from Waymond Wang's (Ke Huy Quan) tightly choreographed fanny pack fight scene to Evelyn Wang's (Michelle Yeoh) sign-spinning battle. When it comes to pure inventive martial arts entertainment, though, the auditing trophy fight is the clear winner. 

The multiverse-hopping characters of the 2022 sci-fi comedy-drama can dip into the skill pool of their various alternate selves by performing strange actions. In the trophy fight scene, Evelyn fights a jumper (Andy Le) from Jobu Tupaki's (Stephanie Hsu) Alphaverse. When they simultaneously run out of alternate-universe fight juice, they lose all combat ability, and the situation devolves into a hapless slap-fest. The man soon gets orders for a new power-up action: shoving Deirdre Beaubeirdre's (Jamie Lee Curtis) conveniently-shaped auditing award where the sun doesn't shine. As the jumper clumsily tries to reach the award and Evelyn desperately attempts to stop him, another jumper (Brian Le) literally jumps into the fray and successfully performs the necessary action. Evelyn gets her own power-up, the first jumper locates a plunger, and the rest of the fight becomes an intricate martial arts sequence that just so happens to feature two guys with foreign objects sticking out of their nether regions. 

As ridiculous as all of this is to read, it doesn't scratch the surface of watching the whole thing unfold in real time. From the creeping realization of what's about to happen to the absurdity of it actually taking place, the fight needs to be seen to be believed. The fact that it also manages to be a stellar martial arts fight is a testament to the abilities of everyone involved — and things like the moment where Evelyn and her first opponent helplessly flail at each other and the alternate-universe Evelyns taking hits as the fight progresses add important context to how jumper powers work. 

The original 1995 live-action adaptation of "Mortal Kombat" isn't a subtle movie, and the best and worst scenes in 2021's "Mortal Kombat" similarly embrace the video game series' over-the-top nature. The movie has a surprising amount of plot and world-building, but as any fan of the franchise knows, brutal fights are the whole reason "Mortal Kombat" exists. There's no shortage of such scenes in the 2021 film, but only one of them manages to include arguably the three most prominent characters and tie the movie's plot lines together with a neat bow — while also delivering the flick's most creative fight scene. 

The climactic fight between Cole Young (Lewis Tan) and Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim) starts out as an icy curb-stomp battle, but when the latter's fallen nemesis Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada) joins the fray as the demonic Scorpion, all bets are off. The whole sequence plays out as a massive highlight reel that showcases the two masked characters' power sets, from Sub-Zero's deadly ice powers to Scorpion's iconic "Get over here!" harpoon taunt and fire breath fatality. With Cole effectively getting the Scorpion stamp of approval as they fight side by side, the fight also does wonders to establish the newcomer protagonist as an instrumental part of the "Mortal Kombat" lore. 

The fight is easily the film's most narratively impactful battle, as it settles the conflict set up by Sub-Zero's annihilation of Hanzo's clan — as well as provides closure to Hanzo when he understands that Cole is keeping his bloodline alive. The choreography is excellent and Sub-Zero gets to uses his ice powers in some horribly creative ways. "Mortal Kombat" is filled to the brim with awe-inspiring fight scenes, but there's a reason this is the climactic one. 

Rooted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as it may be, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" is one beautiful martial arts movie. The 2021 superhero film might suffer from the classic MCU issue of ending in a gigantic CGI fest, but the fights that come before the Dweller-in-Darkness and the Great Protector dragons appear are all intricately choreographed and beautiful. For instance, Shang-Chi's (Simu Liu) bus fight with Razor Fist (Florian Munteanu) and his goons is a masterclass in combining martial arts action with the surrounding environment. However, the movie's finest fight scene doesn't feature the protagonist at all.

All of Xu Wenwu's (Tony Leung) fights are a love letter to the actor's physicality and sheer gravitas, but when you combine Leung's intensity and mastery of the craft with an adversary with particular finesse and a gorgeous Wuxia-inspired environment, the end result is the best martial arts fight in the last five years. Wenwu's fight with Ta Lo's guardian Ying Li (Fala Chen) is a well-paced, swooping, beautiful thing where two radically different opponents leap and whirl, slowly falling in love as the fight proceeds. 

What unfolds is as much a dance as it is a battle, so skillfully choreographed that pausing it is liable to provide a still image that wouldn't be out of place in a romantic period drama. It also gives the audience the first hint that Wenwu is far more than a bloodthirsty one-note villain, and provides stealthy insight into his later antagonistic actions by illustrating the sheer emotion that drives him forward. The MCU has produced many fight scenes that are far more explosive and bombastic, but nothing remotely as elegant and touching as this martial arts sequence.