30 Greatest Action Movie Fight Scenes Of All Time

16. Wong Fei-hung Vs. Iron Robe Yim - Once Upon A Time In China (1991)

Chinese martial artist and wushu champion Jet Li first reached superstar status with his 1991 box-office smash Once Upon a Time in China (sometimes called Wong Fei-Hong). The film was also a milestone for director Tsui Hark, often called Hong Kong's Steven Spielberg. If you watch this film today it will remind you that the scenes that made audiences gasp in The Matrix and Crouching Tiger were mere offshoots of Hong Kong's long-standing action tradition. Set in late 19th century Canton, Once Upon A Time In China depicts the stance taken by the legendary martial arts hero Wong Fei-Hung (Li) against foreign forces' (English, French and American) plundering of the film's titular country. Aside from a plot involving slave trading and a vicious gang, the story is centered almost entirely around the conflict between new and old, and later the conflict between Wong Fei Hung and Iron Robe Yim (Yee Kwan Yan). When these two finally face off it is essentially one long protracted duel, with a small intermission in the middle, which uses ladders to take the fight vertically as well as horizontally. The fight is the perfect combination of natural psychical prowess and newer wire methods - quite impressive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JmQalZxuuw