So You Wanna Fight, eh? The Five Best Fighting Films Ever Made.

In honor of the upcoming film Fighting we reveal our top fighting movies.
Sylvester Stallone and Talia Shire in 'Rocky'
Sylvester Stallone and Talia Shire in 'Rocky' - United Artists
C. Robert Cargill

So you wanna fight, eh? Getting your excitement up for this week's Fighting? Well, I got yer fisticuffs right here, pal. Come get some.

Rocky. The boxing movie. Like I have to tell you that. While this isn't a nonstop action extravaganza, it still stands as one of the greatest fighting films ever made. Rather than being a series of fights (like many of the others on this list), it is a film about gearing up for the single most important fight of your life. It's about finding something to fight for. It's about winning, even when you lose. And as much fun as the three follow-ups are, I feel the only true sequel was the recent Rocky Balboa. It's the only one to truly capture the spirit of the Rocky films.

Enter the DragonEnter The Dragon. This legendary epic was Hollywood's first foray into big budget martial arts filmmaking. It's hard for many to imagine a time when the studios didn't pump money behind a movie about a really awesome guy (Bruce Lee) kicking the crap out of slightly less awesome guys. But there was. And this is the film that broke that trend. This movie is so incredibly cool that it still holds up gloriously today.

BloodsportBloodsport. The one truly great Jean Claude Van Damme film. While Van Damme made a number of fun, campy action flicks in the late '80s/early '90s, this was the film that made him a star and is clearly the best of the lot. The true story of Frank Dux, the first American to ever win the Kumite -- an illegal martial arts tournament where participants are regularly maimed and killed. Despite its run-ins with the law, the Kumite is held in secret every few years, and this is the true story of the American underdog who flew in the face of tradition. A great, fun martial arts film.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon



Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The single most epic, beautiful, and enchanting martial arts film ever made. How good? Academy Award-winning good. While Enter the Dragon lit the torch, and people like Van Damme carried it, this was the film that made martial arts films an accepted (and regular) part of the American film watching diet. It legitimized the whole thing, not to mention it was the first subtitled film to ever make more than $100 million domestically.

Fight Club



Fight Club. A no-brainer for this article, the fighting -- while brutal and beautifully filmed -- takes backseat to a bizarre plot involving mental breakdown, consumerism, and what it takes to be a man. No film quite captures the ennui and general malaise of my generation pre-9/11 as this film did. We had no wars. No politics. No one to fight and nothing to fight for. Fight Club nailed that and reminded us that to be a man was to care about something. And it also meant occasionally kicking the crap out of something just to prove that you can. Yeah. It's a special film.




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