The best Jackie Chan fights of all time
Jackie Chan. A name that many would associate with the title of the greatest action star who ever lived acknowledged by the likes of Sylvester Stallone. His resume is quite extensive spanning six decades and delivering an insane amount of work with physically impressive performances: Drunken Master (1978), Project A (1983), Wheels on Meals (1984), Police Story (1985), Armor of God (1986), Miracles (1989), Operation Condor (1991), Drunken Master 2 (1994), and Rumble in the Bronx (1995) are a few examples of his action versatility. Between the 80s and the 90s, the man was chucking out superb content like no other, masquerading simple (and occasionally blunt) storylines into Buster Keaton vehicles full of inventive physical comedy, extraordinary stunts, and sensational street-style fighting.
Critical reception
Budget and box office
This unique blend of eastern (e.g., martial arts) and western (e.g., stunts) elements demonstrated a multi-talented individual willing to put his life on the line for the sake of entertainment and cinematic immortality. Good looking, immensely likeable (at least on screen), and gifted with pitch perfect comedic timing due to his insistence of playing goofballs who mostly react to fighting instead of seeking glory through it, Chan became a globally famous brand. He has always been the underdog who has been swallowed up by work shenanigans at the expense of his romantic life. As the last decade of the old millennium started, he abandoned the portrayal of original characters and began playing himself (Mr. Nice Guy (1997), Gorgeous (1999)). Only after the 2000s, he moved towards more challenging material like New Police Story (2004), The Shinjuku Incident (2009), and The Foreigner (2017) (his best acting work to date).
Nevertheless, his contribution to cinema is undeniable, especially in the fusion of action/comedy. He conceived and delivered rapid, flawless fight sequences under painful body contact, terrifying injuries, needy girlfriends, and hilarious pantomime antics. Yet, considering the sheer scale of his resume, which of his films have the best square-offs? Are his face-offs with fellow martial arts superstars Donnie Yen and Jet Li worthy of any praise? How about all the knock out moments involving him fending off several goons at once across a plethora of environments that range from automobile and rope factories, and shopping malls, to tea houses, playgrounds, Japanese ghost rides and yachts? These are the best Jackie Chan fights!
10.The Accidental Spy (2001) - Istanbul bazaar chase
MVP: Chan. He sells every moment during his desperate attempts to cover his manhood with every means necessary.
A forgotten flick in Jackie Chan’s extensive filmography, The Accidental Spy is a lot of fun despite being a standard spy action comedy full of the typical Chan traits. While it does not hold a candle against his more serious (and slick) outputs, it boasts enough energy and charisma to keep you occupied. Easily the movie’s highlight is a hybrid foot chase/fight scene in Istanbul’s grand bazaar. Chan’s clueless hero tries to escape from a Turkish bath after a group of thugs who desire “the thing” attack him. Consequently, he is forced to run buck naked through the bazaar attempting to cover his privates with all sorts of items scattered throughout. The choreography here though is not about kicking and punching but more about the ingenious ways Chan tries to cover himself. From bed sheets and metal trays to spice bowls, and newspapers, all are being introduced in clever visuals and are quickly taken away by his pursuers in pitch-perfect timing that echoes the tactics of Charlie Chaplin. It might not be as stunt-heavy or as dangerous as other entries in this list but it is an absolute blast.
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Best moment: Trays of colorful spices do not stop Chan from achieving his objective.
9.Shanghai Knights (2003) - Umbrella fight
MVP: Chan. He is able to use an every day item like an umbrella in creatively defensive manner.
Chan’s US outputs really toned down his ability to create awesome fight sequences with the possible exception of Shanghai Noon’s (2000) sequel, Shanghai Knights. Bigger, way funnier, and ultra inventive in its unique blend of historical figures and nifty set pieces, it wastes no time including a face-off against British punks in a traditional street market. What elevates this scene is the extensive use of the environment as Chan’s ally to comically dispatch his opponents. There is jumping on tents - a moment straight out of a cartoon, squirting lemons, and since we are in Britain, an umbrella. A master at crafting memorable cinema, the flying kicks and hidden punches are accompanied by a fantastic homage to Gene Kelly’s Singin’ in the Rain (1952). Under superb choreography that is more dancing than fighting, Chan holds an umbrella and seamlessly avoids all types of obstacles and thrown items, giving us a mini Victorian musical segment with an Asian lead at its center. Pure cinema.
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Best moment: The aforementioned umbrella scene.
8.The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) - Jackie Chan vs. Jet Li
MVP: Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Who else? They bring gravitas to roles that could have been easily reduced to action stereotypes.
Trying to be a Chinese Lord of the Rings (2001-2003), The Forbidden Kingdom boasts high production value and plenty of fighting courtesy of the movie’s legendary choreographer Yuen Woo-ping (The Matrix (1999), Kill Bill (2003-2004), Kung Fu Hustle (2004)). Despite featuring several martial arts sequences, the most memorable one happens halfway through: Jackie Chan’s Drunken Immortal attempts to get the Monkey King’s stuff back from Jet Li’s silent monk. First, The Forbidden Kingdom made cinematic history by having two giants of Hong Kong cinema sharing the big screen together. Second, director Rob Minkoff puts up an extensive face-off between these two icons who employ a variety of kung fu styles in order to turn the scales of the battle in their favor while performing impressive physical feats while over 40 years old. The small comedic touches are awesome and the camera does not favor one fighter for another, giving Jet and Jackie the opportunity of a lifetime to compile a complicated dance of a thousand moves for our entertainment.
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Best moment: “What kind of monk are you? Huh? Stealing from travelers. Ah... a silent one I see. Or deaf.” Chan’s perfect delivery.
7.Miracles (1989) - Rope factory skirmish
MVP: On repeat: Jackie Chan; Jackie Chan; Jackie Chan.
Having established his star power with his Police Story (1985-2013) and Project A (1983-1987) series, Chan inexplicably decided to re-adapt Frank Capra’s Lady for a Day (1933) and Pocketful of Miracles (1961). Interestingly, his take works well, bringing hilarious segments of misunderstandings and, of course, his trademark style to a variety of locations. One of the most … peculiar settings is a rope factory and Chan’s country boy has to fend off several opponents across multiple levels, obstacles, and a whole lotta rope leading to spectacular stunt work. Chan plays jumping rope on two wooden pillars, narrowly avoids a rope barrel, jumps from ladder to ladder, falls from platform to platform all the while kicking, punching, and ingeniously using the manmade landscape around him to put an end to the fighting. It is jaw-dropping action shot impeccably and, most importantly, clearly shot, demonstrating Chan’s ability at creating action moments with the rhythm and precision of a dance.
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Best moment: Chan avoids a rope barrel while dangling from a wooden platform.
6.Rumble in the Bronx (1995) - Gang hideout fight
MVP: The Jackie Chan/Stanley Tong duo managed to deliver great action set pieces with high production values.
A classic, for the Western audiences, Rumble in the Bronx boasts a big budget, bad guys in immediate need of ass-whooping, the hilarious Anita Mui, and the gorgeous Francois Yip. After Mui’s grocery store has been smashed to pieces, Jackie goes berserk against the culprits: a dangerous Bronx gang. By far the most memorable thing in a movie featuring a hovercraft chase (!), Jackie brings the fight to their hideout. In typical Jackie Chan fashion where comedy and action are blended to perfection, it is the setting that makes the most compelling character and quickly becomes our hero’s greatest ally. Chan uses anything he can get his hands on: shop trolleys, fridges (!), stools, bottles, skis, and pinball machines, are among the several items used to incapacitate a never-ending number of gang members. This scene is one of his best 90s outputs and a strong example of how to set and direct an action segment in an era where Hollywood was slowly punching left and right.
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Best moment: “You are all garbage!”. Chan means business in the fight’s opening cue.
5. Wheels on Meals (1984) - Jackie Chan vs. Benny “the Jet” Urquidez
MVP: Benny the Jet. His lighting fast moves are truly a sight to behold.
Having already established his own school of action filmmaking, Sammo Hung was quite a prolific director, having produced a lot of movies that starred his fellow dragons (Biao, Chan). His Wheels on Meals is less of a martial arts flick and more of an adventure of international flair. Boasting 80s charm, this contained flick places the trio of Hong Kong’s acting dragons (Hung, Biao, Chan) to Barcelona. During the final confrontation inside a Spanish castle, Jackie scuffles against worldwide kickboxing champion Benny “The Jet” Urquidez. While there are the traditional aspects of Jackie Chan’s style on display, this sequence is raw, visceral, and less kung-fuy. With clever visual storytelling, zero wires, and pure sportsmanship, Chan holds his own against a beast of a martial artist and fighter. The blows are swift and there is real impact to them, laying out the groundwork for the Hong Kong action cinema as well as for a rematch in Hung’s Dragons Forever (1988).
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Best moment: Benny’s spinning hook kick is so fast that it extinguished a set of table candles.
4.Drunken Master II (1994) - Market fight
MVP: Jackie Chan Stunt Team: they managed to take the blows and create a martial arts achievement for Jackie.
Jackie Chan has fought many people over his six-decade-long career but his showmanship of the drunken boxing style remains a peak showmanship of physical prowess. Sporting incredible athletics, and an unkillable determination together with director Liu Chia-Liang, they create and execute sensational fights. One of them takes place in a market (where else?) after the villains attempted to steal what they thought was an ancient Chinese seal. Following his stepmom’s commands (a delightful Anita Mui again) to get drunk, kick ass, and popularised their style, what ensues is a dazzling set of fluent moves designed to illustrate a fighting style that resembles a drunken fool. Chan has a blast at pretending to be smashed while performing physically impossible feats: from somersaults to spins, backflips, front flips and more, it is all part of the theatrical staging of drunken boxing style, and dare we say, cinematic history for action films. It is simply one of the most creative things put on the big screen and a testament to the iron will of the beloved action star.
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Best moment: Chan front-flips onto an unfortunate extra while still drinking-and keeps holding the mid-air pose even after the extra slips out from under him, leaving Chan suspended in the air.
3.Police Story 2 (1988) - Playground skirmish
MVP: Jackie, of course. The man starred in, wrote, directed, and produced awesome flicks in the 80s that are action classics.
Police Story 2 does not get much love. It is a bit slower and more meandering than its tight (and way funnier) predecessor. However, that does not mean it still does not punch above its weight. Amidst its slow pace, there is a sensational scuffle segment in a playground. Ambushed by a gang of thugs while enjoying a night walk with his adorable girlfriend (Maggie Cheung), Ka-Kui moves the fight in a playground, making the most of jungle gyms, slides, and monkey bars to evade and quickly knock them out. It is extremely painful to watch all these stuntmen flying around and hitting parts of the playground. Deprived of celluloid trickery, Chan showcases in-your-face body contact, imaginative choreography with flipping, dodging, and mostly playing at defense. This particular set piece is not only among the best brawls of Chan’s career but among the best ones of all time. Nobody has done anything like it four decades later which raises questions about Hong Kong’s movie-making madness and its surprisingly lack of human fatalities.
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Best moment: Chan’s uses so quickly a metal bar to hit people in one take that has to be seen to be believed.
2.Police Story (1985) - Shopping mall destruction
MVP: Jackie due to the damage sustained (2nd-degree burns, dislocated pelvis, damage/fractures to the 7th/8th vertebrae, laceration on forearm, fractured finger) from his pole sliding stunt. Legend.
Glass, glass everywhere. The iconic and most famous fight of Chan’s career is the all-out-brawl inside a shopping mall. With villainous individuals chasing Brigitte Lin’s Salina Fong, it is up to Ka-Kui to stop them and save the maiden. Nevertheless, this gang of bozos don’t take things lightly, resulting in a magnificent skirmish that destroys most of the mall’s decor; pretty much every single glass surface is smashed under extraordinary, hold-your-breath stunt work. With real stakes, this fight lacks Chan’s earnest humor or the pleasantly goofy Charlie Chaplin antics. It is visceral, super-fast-paced, and nasty. The actor himself does incredible and courageous things in front of the camera, such as spinning on top of a clothing rail and having his head smacked into a glass panel. Bearing a sentiment of people actually trying to hit you than delivering obviously choreographed blows, all the extras have to be commended for doing scary plunges and enduring real hits. The scene climaxes in Chan sliding down a metal pole wrapped in strings of electric light bulbs before crashing through a glass-paned roof structure in a single unbroken shot which will have you questioning his sanity.
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Best moment: The aforementioned pole sliding. Nobody has even done this since then.
1.Drunken Master II (1994) - Chan vs. Ken Lo and Ho-sung Pak
MVP: The duo of Jackie/Ken Lo. Their fight is inconceivable to the human imagination.
Before the AI slop started generating lame fights, one man used his imagination to design and develop such a complex fight sequence that to this day remains unsurpassed. The market and tea house skirmishes were just the appetizer for what Chan created with Drunken Master II’s finale. This extravagant almost twenty-minute final act sees Wong Fei-hung going against the typical goon squad, a bulky westerner, and the Ken Lo and Pak Ho-Sung duo. Described as jaw-dropping is not enough to detail what occurs on the big screen. Under choreography levels that will not be experienced until Gareth Evans’ The Raid in 2011, Chan created an almost comically ludicrous fight which blends together elements of Taekwondo (Lo) and kung fu/wushu (Pak) against Chan’s chaotic drunken boxing. It is an excessive display of outrageous martial arts moves in dire need of multiple viewings in order to understand or capture the complexity and the intensity of his moves.
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Best moment: Wong drinks industrial alcohol. Fun is about to get started.