Jackie Chan is one of the leading icons of martial arts cinema, helping to define the genre since the 1970s and promoting genuine real-life techniques in his films. Chan has developed the unique ability to combine complex fighting moves with slapstick humor, becoming a trademark of his most iconic filmS. He earned a legendary reputation for his insistence on performing his own dangerous stunts and, combined with his unique style and comedic timing, made him an international superstar.
Most of Chan’s most hilarious and exciting fight scenes are a mix of creativity, athleticism, and surprise that keep the audience in suspense, never knowing what might happen next. Its ability to uses everyday objects and its surroundings are incomparableto fight with wooden clogs in Who am I? to avoid industrial saw machines in Sir nice guy. Chan is an expert at balancing the humor and intensity of the action, utilizing his physicality and genuine martial arts skill to create some of the greatest loud moments in all of action cinema.
10
City Hunter (1993) – The Chun-Li fight
Starring Jackie Chan as Ryo Saeba
Shinjuku City Hunter Private Detectives
In Hong Kong action comedy City HunterJackie Chan stars as Ryo Saeba, a womanizing private detective who is hired by a wealthy business tycoon to locate his missing daughter. During his adventure, his partner and love interest, Kaori, ends up facing a gang of various attackers before ending up on a cruise ship that has been taken over and hijacked by terrorists. The film’s most memorable scene comes when Saeba ends up with a electric shock and ends up hallucinating that he is Chun-Li of street fighter video game franchise.
On the surface, the concept of this fight is hilarious, with Chan in costume and makeup as Chun-Li. Chan imitates his moves perfectly, complete with the iconic multi-kicks and vibrant sound effects that helped make street fighter famous. His mannerisms and fighting style are on pointwith momentary laughs, and the fact that it takes place inside a hallucination in an arcade makes everything even more surreal. The scene is definitely the action sequence that stands out from City Hunter and the funniest moment in the entire film.
9
Project A (1983) – The bicycle chase fight
Starring Jackie Chan as Sergeant Dragon Ma
In Project AChan stars as Sergeant Dragon Ma alongside his two martial arts film ‘brothers’, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. The story follows Ma as a coast guard who fights seafaring pirates who import and sell weapons. A film known worldwide for one of Jackie Chan’s most incredible stunts, hanging and falling from the hand of a clock tower about 18 meters high, it also features one of the most intricate and complex bike chase fights of all time.
Dragon Ma steals a bicycle from the Hong Kong police captain and embarks on a chase sequence through the alleys as the entire police force tries to catch him. The scene is funny in many ways, Chan’s skill and theatrics on the bike are incredible to watch, and the variety of tools and techniques he uses to escape, including jousting with a clothes stickknocking on doors to open in front of his attackers and using his bicycle as a catapult and weapon. Chan’s creativity and humor are on full display in this perfectly choreographed sequence.
8
Who am I? (1998) – The fight of the wooden clogs
Starring Jackie Chan as Jackie Chan
Who am I? is a spy action comedy starring Chan as part of a multinational military Special Forces Unit. It tells the story of a secret group of CIA agents who are experimenting with a new energy source before being betrayed by one of their own, causing a helicopter crash with the intention of killing everyone involved. When Chan’s character wakes up in a remote tribal village with no memory of who he is or how he got there, he must put his previous life back together and avoid a series of assassins who, in one scene, chase him toward a market full of tents.
In a nearly five-minute action sequence, Chan faces off against a series of enemies after they chase him down a street lined with market stalls, with hilarity ensuing. Chan hits a wooden clog and knocks dozens to the ground; he sees it as a weapon, not an inconvenience. He puts two clogs on his feet and goes to work, throwing, kicking and stepping. with great comic effect. The hand-to-hand combat is beautifully choreographed, with Chan literally kicking their asses, and the general slapstick and surreal nature of the clogs make for a brilliant fight sequence.
7
Drunken Master II (1994) – The fight in the outdoor courtyard
Starring Jackie Chan as Wong Fei-Hung
In one of Jackie Chan’s best old school Kung Fu films, Drunk Master II he reprises his role as the eccentric and hilarious Wong Fei-Hung. Following the original, he continues his journey, learning and using the kung fu style of drunk boxing to disarm a mob of henchmen after he and his family became involved in a plot by the British consul in China, trying to secretly smuggle Chinese artefacts into Britain.
In the film’s most comical scene, Wong must fight a gang of goons in an outdoor courtyard surrounded by local bleachers. Using his drunken boxing style, Chan sloppily but accurately dispatches everyone who comes before him. Chan’s facial expressions and vocals are beautiful to watchwith one sequence seeing him attacked with a small table, but reversing it back at his attacker before briefly using it to rest mid-fight. The slapstick nature of the fighting technique and Chan’s incredible athleticism make this one of his best comedic fight scenes.
6
The Accidental Spy (2001) – The Naked Market Fight
Starring Jackie Chan as Buck Yuen
Chan stars as Buck Yuen, a frustrated and less-than-successful fitness equipment salesman who longs for more adventure and excitement in his mundane life. One day, Yuen, following a hunch about two suspicious-looking men, inadvertently ends up preventing a bank robbery and gains public attention for his heroism. Because of this, he is involved in an international criminal conspiracy involving a spy network, the CIA, and a new biological weapon, Anthrax II.
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The 9 Jackie Chan films on this list: |
IMDb rating: |
|---|---|
|
City Hunter (1993) |
6.3/10 |
|
Project A (1983) |
7.2/10 |
|
Who am I? (1998) |
6.8/10 |
|
Drunk Master II (1994) |
7.5/10 |
|
The accidental spy (2001) |
5.8/10 |
|
The tuxedo (2002) |
5.4/10 |
|
Rush hour (1998) |
7.0/10 |
|
Sir nice guy (1997) |
6.2/10 |
|
The Myth (2005) |
6.1/10 |
While visiting a Turkish bath, Yuen is approached by a group of bandits who want to rob him. Yuen escapes the shower wearing only a towel, but is quickly forced to change into his birthday suit. Chan fighting naked is extremely entertaining, but the genuine embarrassment he portrays is truly hysterical. Chan uses various dishes, robes, and items to cover himself while also fighting back. The best part is probably when it comes back down two piles of spices of different colorsforced to continue fighting with two different colored cheeks while displaying impressive technique throughout his escape.
5
Rush Hour (1998) – The massage parlor fight
Starring Jackie Chan as Chief Inspector Lee
In one of Chan’s most famous roles of all time, he plays Chief Inspector Lee in Rush hourdirected by Brett Ratner. Lee, a dedicated and meticulous detective, who is forced to team up with the brash and loud LAPD detective James Carter (Chris Tucker). when a Chinese diplomat’s daughter is kidnapped in Los Angeles. The two form an unlikely but memorable partnership in this buddy cop comedy featuring fast-paced action sequences and hilarious dialogue.
Chan and Tucker’s chemistry in the massage parlor fight sequence is electric, with the two facing off against dozens of goons, all dressed in a variety of delicately tied robes. Tucker drops a series of brilliant one-liners throughout the sequence, and the two flow together as perfectly as a ballet recitationI. The action is gripping, with the main source of humor coming from Tucker’s dialogue and the innovative use of the chairs and towels around them to help gain the upper hand, before a cut shows them forced to run naked through the streets in search of safety. .
4
The Smoking (2002) – The Fight in the Hotel Room
Starring Jackie Chan as Jimmy Tong
In The tuxedoChan plays a unique taxi driver, Jimmy Tong, who can take his customers to any location in the shortest possible time. With his reputation, he gets a job as a personal driver for the wealthy Clark Devlin, who, unbeknownst to Jimmy, is an international spy. After Clark is murdered, his new confidant locates his watch and tuxedo, which grants the wearer superhuman abilities when wearing it, and the the best scene in the film involves a fight scene in a hotel as Jimmy is still trying to get used to his new discovery.
In one of Chan’s most brilliant fight sequence concepts, he is cornered in a hotel room while trying to put on his life-saving pants. Chan spins around the hotel room floor like a top, trying to avoid blows as he gets dressed. Once zipped with Chan’s unparalleled comedic timing, the pants take on a life of their own, easily dispatching the bad guys in a series of gravity-defying stunts. Chan’s facial expressions and nonchalant attitude as the pants fight are comical and perfectly timed, making it one of the funniest fight sequences of his career.
3
Rush Hour (1998) – The Priceless Vase Fight
Starring Jackie Chan as Chief Inspector Lee
Continuing with the massage parlor fight scene, Rush hour is a film with many of Chan’s most hilarious and well-choreographed fight sequences. Most sequences involve a variety of escapes and slapstick moments that are interspersed with dynamic martial arts blitzes. This one, however, is a little different from the norm, taking place in a very close and isolated situation, with a difficult situation and an outcome that is absolutely played to perfection in one of the most important films of Jackie Chan’s career.
Set in a Chinese art exhibition, Chan is struggling with priceless vases everywhere. As the men beat them, Chan does everything he can to keep them standing while he fights for his life. Physical ability and comic timing make you feel like you’re witnessing Chan at his absolute peakwith him balancing the priceless vase between landing strikes. Chan is truly a master at subverting expectations and creating a combination of grace and brutality. Chan defeats the enemies and saves the vase; Relieved, he walks away as a stray bullet shatters the vase in the background.
2
Good Lord (1997) – The Fight at the Construction Site
Starring Jackie Chan as Jackie
In the action and comedy film Sir nice guyDirected by Sammo Hung, Chan stars as Jackie, a TV chef who inadvertently becomes involved in a war between the Mafia and a street gang called The Demons. A TV journalist records a cocaine deal gone wrong between rival crews with Giancarlo, the mafia boss, killing the leader of the Demons. After discovering her recording, they pursue her, and the journalist finds Jackie, who helps her escape, but not before accidentally switching the tapes, causing Jackie to become the Mafia’s new target.
In one of the most chaotic, creative and hilarious fight scenes of Chan’s career, the characters end up at a construction site, with Chan standing next to many dangerous mechanical tools. Chan is a master at using the environment, with some slapstick elements including almost getting his genitals stuck in a circular saw or forcing an attacker into a rotating concrete mixer. The scene and equipment almost become characters, with wooden planks, rollers and pipes all playing a role. Chan’s unique athletic ability, combined with his comedic timing in stunts, results in one of his funniest fights.
1
The Myth (2005) – The Struggle of the Sticky Conveyor Belt
Starring Jackie Chan as Meng Yi
The Myth is a Chinese martial arts fantasy film starring Chan as Meng Yi; While it’s an epic, expansive narrative with many iconic, large-scale battle scenes, sometimes it’s the simplest, most creatively structured fight scenes that are the most memorable. When Meng Yi finds Samantha and tries to help her evade capture by the approaching henchman, they find themselves in a mouse glue paper factory, with the most incredible and fun fight scene throughout Chan’s filmography.
Chan again subverts all expectations, with a fight that generally guarantees dynamic, fast-paced action, with constant and fluid movements, but with incredible creativity, he does exactly the opposite. Chan and his attackers land on a conveyor belt made of mouse glue paper. When something hits, it sticks, so the fight scene is a series of awkward landings, intricate moves, expertly used props and costumesand various evasive means to knock your enemies to the ground. In a game of ‘the floor is lava’, Chan outwits his opponents and creates one of the funniest and most memorable fight scenes in cinema history.