Can’t wait for Mortal Kombat? The 10 best fighting tournament movies you must see
- The movie genre has an enduring legacy, separate from traditional sports dramas like Rocky or Raging Bull, and often features a fight to the death
- Jean Claude Van Damme, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Keanu Reeves are among the stars in our list of 10 favourites
Mortal Kombat, a long-awaited reboot of the film franchise based on the hugely successful video game series, finally opens this week in several territories around the world.
The fight tournament movie genre has an enduring legacy, separate from traditional sports dramas like Rocky or Raging Bull. The action often throws down behind closed doors, and can even mean a fight to the death.
Below are 10 of our favourites.
10. Man of Tai Chi (2013)
Too many people are unaware that Keanu Reeves directed a kung fu movie in China, in which he plays the villainous orchestrator of a deadly martial arts tournament.
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Eager to create a starring vehicle for long-time collaborator Tiger Chen, Reeves cast him in the lead of his long-gestating directorial debut that sees Karen Mok Man-wai and Simon Yam Tat-wah play Hong Kong cops looking to shut down his underground octagon, while Chen’s mild-mannered tai chi practitioner is corrupted by the temptations of money and bloodlust.
Iko Uwais also stars in this affectionately old-fashioned romp.
9. Bloodsport (1988)
Jean Claude Van Damme has starred in dozens of tournament movies, but none can stand its ground opposite this ludicrous high-camp classic.
Purportedly based on the real-life exploits of martial artist Frank Dux, JCVD plays a US Army captain trained in ninjutsu, who goes AWOL to compete in the Kumite, an illegal martial arts tournament in Hong Kong’s Walled City in Kowloon.
The plot, characters and dialogue are often more painful to watch than the action, but the fight sequences are hugely entertaining, Bolo Yeung is a formidable bad guy, and the Hong Kong locations are affectionately preserved.
8. The Karate Kid (1984)
The teenage troubles of new kid Danny LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) are so ingrained into the psyches of anyone who lived through the 1980s that it’s easy to forget how little actual karate there is in The Karate Kid.
The pivotal tournament, in which Danny finally squares off against high school bully Johnny Lawrence and the rest of the Cobra Kai, accounts for barely 15 minutes of screen time, which is otherwise monopolised by Mr Miyagi (an Oscar-nominated Pat Morita) and his endless recitations of “wax on, wax off”. Nevertheless, Danny’s climactic crane move remains iconic in the pantheon of martial arts stand-offs.
7. The Running Man (1987)
Stephen King’s science fiction novel about a televised nationwide manhunt is transformed into a dystopian game show spectacular for this mid-’80s Arnold Schwarzenegger actioner.
In a futuristic society, manipulated by the media, Arnie’s renegade cop is condemned to appear in a gladiatorial contest that pits him against deadly warriors like Buzz-Saw, Sub-Zero and Captain Freedom in a variety of deadly showdowns.
Tongue-in-cheek yet uncannily prescient, The Running Man sees Schwarzenegger at his wisecracking best, fighting for his life and inciting a nationwide revolution to topple an Orwellian regime, all while sporting a skintight gold jumpsuit.
6. Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976)
In this sequel to 1971’s The One-Armed Boxer, Kang Chin’s blind assassin sets out to avenge the deaths of his two students, killed in the previous film. Wielding the ludicrous decapitation weapon of the title, he heads to a martial arts tournament, vowing to murder every one-armed man he finds.
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5. Undisputed III: Redemption (2010)
Coerced into an underground tournament that promises clemency for the winner, Boyka squares off against adversaries Mykel Shannon Jenkins and Chilean Marko Zaror.
That these actors can also fight enables Florentine to film in exhilarating long takes, and stage some of the most impressive unbroken beatdowns ever committed to film.
4. Crying Fist (2005)
Nobody does bruised masculinity better than the Koreans, and Ryoo Seung-wan’s 2005 drama is a brilliant portrait of fractured machismo and hard-earned redemption.
Choi Min-sik plays a former silver-medal-winning boxer, now busking as a human punching bag on the streets of Seoul. Ryoo Seung-bum, meanwhile, is the hot-headed hoodlum whose frustrations have landed him in jail.
In a desperate last-ditch effort to find salvation, both are steered towards an upcoming amateur boxing tournament, and an inevitable final showdown against each other that will have audiences battling with themselves to choose a side.
3. Battle Royale (2000)
Hardly your traditional tournament film, but the stakes could not be higher than in Kinji Fukasaku’s dystopian cult classic, and forerunner of The Hunger Games.
2. Enter the Dragon (1973)
The film itself is a delightfully camp spy caper in the James Bond mould (and a direct influence on The Man with the Golden Gun), as Lee is sent by British intelligence to infiltrate an illegal martial arts tournament.
On screen, Lee’s speed, agility and invention were unprecedented, while the tournament format has since become a staple of the action genre.
1. Warrior (2011)
When it comes to realism and emotional investment, nothing can lay a finger on Gavin O’Connor’s exhilarating mixed martial arts drama.
Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton are both heartbreaking as the estranged brothers – one a tortured war veteran, the other a struggling family man – who are forcefully reunited in opposite corners of the UFC octagon.
Nick Nolte earned an Oscar nomination for his performance as the alcoholic father responsible for destroying their childhoods, but O’Connor deserves most credit for crafting a film that succeeds as a nail-biting tournament film, while delivering a sucker-punch of suppressed catharsis.
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