Favorite Movie Martial Artist

[Al-Dog]

At their peak, who is/was your favorite screen martial artist? Which movie or scene is your favorite?

A couple of names to get you started; Jackie Chan, Tony Jaa, Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Wesley Snipes, Jean Claude van Damme.

[colmatrix]

Growing up in my house, there was only one martial artist...Michael Dudikoff baby! After him it was Jeff Speakman, Van Damme and Segal. We really enjoyed the b-actors in my house.

[neglet]

Originally Posted by Al-Dog

At their peak, who is/was your favorite screen martial artist? Which movie or scene is your favorite?

A couple of names to get you started; Jackie Chan, Tony Jaa, Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Wesley Snipes, Jean Claude van Damme.

What, you couldn't throw some chicks in there? Ziyi Zhang and Michelle Yeoh, for instance. I think the noodle house scene in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," where Zhang spanks the entire clientele, is pretty awesome.

Otherwise I like Jackie Chan for his gracefulness, and Jet Li for his Jetliness. I hear Tony Jaa rocks, but I haven't seen his work yet ... I'm kinda slow to get to the backlog of R-rated martial arts films, Neg Jr. is only now old enough to take to some of those first run.

[Al-Dog]

I didn’t mean to exclude the ladies. I also forgot my new favorite Zoe Bell, the stunt women from Kill Bill and Death Proof.

[Metuzalem]

It's all about the Jaa baby.

He's the natural succesor to Jackie Chan. I love the bit in Warrior King (The Protector) when they bump into each other in Sydney airport

[Deacon]

Apparently that was a Chan lookalike.

I was hugely disappointed by "Warrior King". "Ong Bak" has its flaws (certainly), but the action scenes in that movie are fantastic. The only scene in "Warrior" that delivers is the one-take deal through the restaurant. All the others are drowned in hyper-kinetic editing (the boat chase is a particular tragedy).

Jaa's the real deal - I just hope he can find a script that at least comes up with a better structure to hang the action on (and a less frenetic editor).

[Metuzalem]

Awww man how can you say that? What about the fight in the church with the Capoeira player? That was amazing. You're right though, all the Jaa films suffer from being written really badly. But then the people that write really good martial arts films seem to have a wire-fu love affair. I don't know, we'll have to see what they come up with next.

Another name to thrown onto the list - Stephen Chow.

[Al-Dog]

Jaa’s awesome. I can’t wait until someone puts him a movie that’s worthy of his talent.

[Droogie]

Well if any of you love the "B" actors then you really need to check out Cynthia Rothrock, the queen of "B" chop socky.

[Metuzalem]

You wanna talk B movies then we need to talk about Seagal
His films are almost as entertaining as the box covers. Every one I can remember features him holding at least one gun and looking moody.

Possibly with some explosions in the background.

And Nic Cage riding on top of a Stealth fighter whilst playing a guitar.