The Karate Kid(1984) vs. Jet Li's Fearless
- Fearless (75%, 18 Votes)
- The Karate Kid(1984) (25%, 6 Votes)
Total Voters: 24
Loading ...Voting will close on May 8, 2019, at 6 pm EDT.
Okay, round one has determined, by your poll results, the 8 greatest martial arts films of all time! In this showdown, we have two expected winners with the #7 seeded Jet Li’s Fearless vs the #2 seed The Karate Kid (1984). You can read the initial reviews at the preceding the links. This matchup faces off with the movie that drove martial arts into the hearts of kids and moms everywhere vs. the semi-biopic of Huo Yuan Jia, the creator of with Jing Wu academy. Let’s take a quick look at what these two martial arts movies have to offer up for the competition.
The Karate Kid (1984)
This is the movie that first sent droves of students into dojo across America, and maybe the world. Bruce Lee broke the idea of martial arts into popular culture, but it was The Karate Kid that showed everyone the non-fighting side of martial arts. Many of the names and catchphrases have become part of the American pop culture vernacular. “Wax On, Wax Off,” or even just “Daniel-San” are common, recognizable phrases. It was such a good movie that it spawned several sequels and now has a Youtube series entitled Cobra Kai which our editor in charge Scott Bolon has been diligently documenting. It was so important of a movie that it was remade with Jackie Chan in 2010. How many martial arts movies are ever remade because they are so good?
Jet Li’s Fearless
This movie takes a different tact on martial arts films. In the English title, it is actually called “Jet Li’s Fearless.” It was obviously meant to showcase the amazing skills, and now pretty good acting talent of martial arts superstar Jet Li. And it does so pretty well. The unusual part of this movie is the character. Jet Li made his first big splash playing Chen Zhen in the movie Fist of Legend. Chen has to return from Japan, back to China to investigate the death of his master, Huo Yuan Jia. In Fearless, we get the story of the master as he fights off challengers from multiple countries, including a nice quick bit against master swordsman Anthony DeLongis. He eventually fights a Japanese martial artist where he is poisoned. This makes it a weird case where Fearless is almost a prequel to Fist of Legend.
Jet Li’s martial arts skills are definitely on display as he shows multiple empty-hand and weapons scenes. An underrated part of this movie is the acting. Martial arts movies, in general, are not known for their Oscar-caliber acting. Jet Li clearly has come into his own here.
Vote!
So let us know which movie will move on to the next round. Will Mr. Miyagi’s words of wisdom teach Daniel-san how to crane-kick his way past the martial arts Wuxia majesty of Jet Li’s best movie? You decide!
- Review of The Ankō Itosu Biography - September 13, 2021
- Suparinpei-The Last Kata of Goju-Ryu Karate - July 12, 2021
- Swords Are Cool…That’s All I’ve Got - March 4, 2021
Goddam it, man, I wish you could have mentioned the spoiler for the end of Fearless!
*as in- mentioned that you were about to spoil the ending before you did