As far as martial arts movie subgenres go, I think my favorite of all time might be the tournament movie. I think the main reason for this is that, as a kid, my gateway martial arts movie was the greatest of them all — Enter the Dragon — plus the constant re-runs of Bloodsport on TV, and the fact that my two favorite video games were Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II. It didn’t hurt that I was also taking karate classes at the time and would occasionally participate in tournaments (not that I did particularly well). But to me, it’s always been the most exciting example of the martial arts genre, as you could always see a variety of fighters and styles on display, making the matchups all the more exciting.
Sadly, martial arts tournament movies have become more the domain of low-budget DTV movies rather than higher-profile films. One of the most annoying things was that whenever Street Fighter was adapted into a movie, they dropped the tournament aspect (although that’s being rectified in the new film coming this fall). Yet tournament movies seem to be making a bit of a comeback, with Mortal Kombat II making bank this weekend, while there’s also buzz that A24 is going to be rebooting Bloodsport, so maybe we’ll see more fight movies in theaters within the next few years.
With that in mind, we want to know what your favorite martial arts tournament movie is. Enter the Dragon is the top of the heap for me, but I also have a huge soft spot for a lot of other movies on this list, including Bloodsport, Best of the Best, Warrior, and of course The Karate Kid (only the first movie is really a classic “tournament” movie, although Cobra Kai fits that bill nicely). Let us know what your pick is by taking the poll below!
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