By Mark Pollard | Published January 21, 2008

Training sequences are a staple of martial arts movies and for obvious reasons. Regardless of what country they comes from, martial arts represent fighting and/or defense systems that require varying degrees of balance, body conditioning, concentration, precision, and restraint. These things do not come without practice or determination.

Movies do not accurately represent the best martial arts training. If they did, we would be put asleep long before the hero or heroine ever got a chance to try out their improved fighting skills. The job of filmmakers intent on showing training scenes is to draw the audience in by condensing the learning down to easy to follow, entertaining and creative sequences. That still leaves a lot of room for wildly diverse scenes ranging from superhuman feats of absurdity to fairly realistic struggles to push the body to its maximum capability.

The following pages contain a list of the top 10 training scenes in action movies with video clips and descriptions. Picking the top 10 wasn’t easy and not everyone may agree on the choices. There were several films not represented that arguably should have been, one of them being LEGEND OF A FIGHTER.

Update: Videos have been temporarily removed.

10. Ninja: The Final Duel

For epic lunacy, nothing compares to Robert Tai’s outrageous depiction of ninja training as seen in NINJA: THE FINAL DUEL. Reminiscent of an educational or promotional film reel, Tai constructs a mind-blowing presentation of the most ludicrous ninja fighting techniques ever committed to film, ranging from formation aquatic attacks on giant water spiders to human tunneling at speeds that would make Bugs Bunny’s head spin.

The entire film represents the unfettered expression of Tai’s distinctive action style that was nurtured during his years working under director Chang Cheh, chiefly on his Venoms Mob kung fu movies such as THE FIVE VENOMS and THE KID WITH THE GOLDEN ARM. The primary tools of his trade were gaudy visual trappings, acrobatic stunts, fast and frequent zooms and constant undercranking to keep the fighting momentum high.

No martial arts training sequence in feature film can claim to be 100% accurate or effective. The ninja training sequence in NINJA: THE FINAL DUEL is about 0.1% accurate and unapologetically so. Therein lays its warped genius, for it goes to fantastic extremes unlikely to ever be reproduced again, for better or worse.

9. The Matrix

It’s the armchair martial artist’s ultimate dream come true. In THE MATRIX, Neo (Keanu Reeves) has all the head knowledge of multiple martial arts techniques downloaded directly to his brain so that he can immediately compete with Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne). Yet this is where his real training begins because unlike the real world, the Matrix has its own set of rules where a fighter can bend reality to his will. It’s really just another way of displaying how a fighter might learn to use the “Force” or qi energy to his advantage.

Choreographed by Yuen Wo-ping, the match pits Neo versus Morpheus in a classic sparring session. The two start out with conventional attacks and gradually move into the realm of superhuman abilities that Neo is discovering he is capable of unlocking. In terms of Chinese martial arts movies, this is nothing new and is certainly old territory for Master Yuen. Wuxia films have been showing fighters harnessing qi power to fly and perform superhuman fighting since the silent film era. However, the Wachowski brothers deserve credit for successfully repackaging the same concepts in a sci-fi setting for modern audiences.

8. Invincible Shaolin

No top 10 list of training scenes is complete without a Chang Cheh movie. INVINCIBLE SHAOLIN is full of fantastic kung fu training sequences featuring members of Chang’s Venoms Mob. Of these stars, it is the charismatic and ripped Lo Meng who stands out with his entertaining Mantis kung fu training under the guidance of his sifu, played by veteran actor Wong Chin-ho. In the film, his training is juxtaposed with that of his martial brother, played by Wei Pak. Both are training to compete against three fellow Venoms members, all Northern Chinese kung fu experts.

The film was released in 1978 and by then traditional kung fu training had already been widely depicted onscreen, particularly by action director Lau Kar-leung. For INVINCIBLE SHAOLIN, action directors Lu Feng, Robert Tai and Leung Ting had to get creative. Lo Meng’s training also had to emphasize his strengths; his physique, implied overall strength and upper-body technique. So we end up with a series of memorable conditioning exercises involving eggs, boulders, spinning wooden dummies, and surgical tubing to strengthen Lo’s arms. Unlike Lau Kar-leung’s emphasis in his films, this training is almost purely external and largely omits nuanced references to specific forms, breathing control, sparring, precision, or philosophy.

The Venoms films had a great way of boiling down kung fu fighting to a visually appealing, simple and easily digestible form with clear emphasis on a particular facet. Lo Meng’s training in INVINCIBLE SHAOLIN is an excellent example. If nothing else, it provides an opportunity to witness one of the most chiseled screen fighters in the martial arts genre to show off in grand Shaw Brothers style.

7. Rocky 4

The fourth installment in the ROCKY series has long been criticized for being the biggest and most brainless commercial sellout of all the sequels to Sylvester Stallone’s triumphant, Oscar-winning 1976 film. After a decade and three box office hits, the Italian Stallion was transforming before our very eyes into a boxing superhero fighting a Soviet supervillain. It’s true that ROCKY 4 is virtually an unintentional parody of itself yet it remains one of the most gratuitously entertaining films in the franchise, in part for its dynamic spin on the classic training montage featured in each of the previous films. By contrasting Rocky’s old-school training regime in the snow-covered Russian countryside with the high-tech, steroid-enhanced training of his rival Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), the film redefines Rocky’s underdog status with even greater clarity and makes his eventual win all the sweeter.

The setup is that Rocky’s close friend Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) is killed in the ring by Drago. Feeling partially responsible for his friend’s death, Rocky travels to Soviet Russia to challenge the arrogant Drago on his own turf. With a Commissar watching their every move, Rocky, Adrian and Creed’s former trainer are dumped out in the middle of nowhere with few amenities during a cold Russian winter to await the coming fight. Undaunted, Rocky uses the harsh environment to his advantage to prepare his body by running through snow, lifting rocks and pulling a weighted ox plow. This is brilliantly contrasted by the ruthlessly efficient and robotic training that Drago is subjected to within a computerized facility with every high-tech piece of gym equipment known to man. The two montages that display Rocky’s unorthodox fight training are a perfect extension of the character as continue to define his spirit in a new way. Stallone could not have continued to show his iconic training sequences without getting creative and showing audiences something different, even if it was more sensational. The original training sequence in ROCKY that peaks with his dash up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art will always be the most iconic among boxing films but ROCKY 4′s training is definitely the most entertaining.

6. The 18 Bronzemen

There have been many depictions of the legendary trials students of Shaolin supposedly once faced in order to graduate and proudly bear the scars of twin dragons burned into their forearms, marking them as true Shaolin monks. Lau Kar-leung offered a slightly more realistic version in several of his films. It was independent filmmaker Joseph Kuo who chucked realism completely out the window and went with a highly imaginative obstacle course of deadly encounters incorporating hidden projectiles and gold-armored guardians.

Carter Wong is one of several pupils who trains from a young age to master Shaolin’s martial arts. Together, they enter into the final test of their skills by entering a labyrinth of stone hallways and chambers all filled with traps, tests of endurance and fighting adversaries for them to overcome. In the edited sequence provided, Wong is featured as he struggles to overcome these obstacles.

The inspiration for such outlandish training could be traced to descriptions of hidden chambers and elaborate traps found within the heroic tales of Chinese wuxia literature. Similar concepts frequently populate vintage wuxia films, including some of the early swordplay actioners from Shaw Brothers. While myths about fighting wooden men (likely Wing Chun dummies) abound in Shaolin lore, there is little precedent for the kind of fantasy action in this film’s training sequences. Still, viewers will be hard-pressed to find a more creative or fun filmic representation of such fictionalized Chinese martial arts training.

5. Fighter in the Wind

This hard-biting sequence is a powerfully dramatized depiction of a supposedly real-life event in the colorful life of Kyokushin karate founder Masutatsu Oyama. A Korean by birth, Oyama (Yang Dong-kun) has wandered into the wilderness of Japan after surviving racially-charged attacks on the local Korean minority community by karate-trained yakuza thugs. His friend, played by action director Jung Doo-hong, has been murdered but not before passing on to Oyama the influential teachings of Japan’s most famous warrior Miyamoto Musashi. This is an important factor as it is Musashi’s individualism and self determination to better himself that inspires Oyama to do battle with nature itself and become strong enough to stand up to injustice and win.

Sonny Chiba, once a student of Oyama, had earlier portrayed him in three martial arts movies yet neglected to show this part of Oyama’s struggles. Even with his skills at the time, it’s doubtful he could have come up with a more powerful training montage than what director Yang Yun-ho and Jung produced. What makes this training stand out from most others is how graphically it shows the inner struggle to overcome external forces that have nothing to do with some villain or human opponent. Oyama’s doesn’t measure himself up to his fellow man but rather nature and his ability to overcome its harshest conditions and surfaces. In real life Oyama would later become famous for fighting bulls, which is arguably further evidence that his standards were set higher than your average martial artist.

4. The Prodigal Son

In the late 1970s, Hong Kong action master Sammo Hung became absorbed in Wing Chun and directed several films prominently featuring the close-range fighting art for Golden Harvest studios, perhaps in answer to Lau Kar-leung’s Hung Gar training sequences at Shaw Brothers. Sammo’s first major Wing Chun training sequence appeared in the kung fu classic WARRIORS TWO in 1978. After dabbling with a variety of kung fu comedy conventions for three years, Sammo again focused exclusively on Wing Chun training with even greater clarity in THE PRODIGAL SON.

Yuen Biao is the student and both Lam Ching-ying and Sammo are the instructors. In the story, Lam was until recently a Peking opera star. He survived an attack on his traveling troupe and now is in hiding with Yuen Biao. He seeks out his friend Sammo, a reclusive Wing Chun master living with his daughter. Knowing Sammo’s superior skill level yet reluctance to take on a student, Lam stokes up a rivalry and in no time Sammo is tricked into teaching Yuen Biao his Wing Chun secrets.

Despite the comedy, exaggerated flourishes and obvious undercranking, Sammo unveils one of the most authentic screen representations of core principles behind a Chinese martial art yet seen. This is also a brilliant example of the screen fighting mastery of all three stars. An excellent companion piece and honorary mention is the brief sparring session between Yuen Biao and Jackie Chan at the start of WHEELS ON MEALS.

3. The Karate Kid

The film that defined martial arts for a whole generation of American kids was THE KARATE KID and its depiction of an ordinary Jersey youth (Ralph Macchio) in Southern California, challenged to face up to bullies by training in karate with the sage Japanese-American, Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), to face them in a tournament.

The film contains a variety of memorable training scenes largely due to Miyagi’s lack of teaching and tournament experience. This gives him license to use the unorthodox training methods of car waxing, sanding, painting, and even crane kung fu techniques to prepare Daniel for his matches. It’s a terrific gimmick that brilliantly illustrates for both Daniel and the audience a higher level of understanding when what looks like useless movements suddenly transform into effective blocking techniques. In addition, it’s the unlikely bond formed by two completely different people and the notion of training to avoid conflict and earn respect by standing up for oneself combined with the unusual methods that make the training sequences in this film such a success.

2. Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow

Having endured humiliation at a kung fu school with instructors of dubious skill, Jackie Chan becomes the pupil of a kung fu master (Simon Yuen) posing as a wandering beggar and is taught Snake-Fist kung fu, which he later uses to battle his master’s enemy (Hwang Jang-lee). This film and its comedy-tinged training sequence became the prototype for dozens of kung fu comedies including Chan’s even more successful follow up, DRUNKEN MASTER. The formula rehashed time and again sees a usually mischievous peasant hero having to perform a series of unusual exercises under the watchful eyes of an aged master. The master generally represents folk heroes of Southern China forced to take their fighting arts underground as the Qing Dynasty saw many of these fighters as rebels. What tools or exercises were used was determined not so much by real martial traditions as by the limits of the action director’s creativity. The training sequences in this film come from the minds of Peking opera veterans including Chan, action director Yuen Wo-ping and his father and co-star Simon Yuen. They were also a showcase for Chan’s well-rounded physical prowess and comedic sensibilities. Simon was also a long-time veteran of the Hong Kong film industry and yet this character, a drunken beggar, became his most enduring. His onscreen antics with Chan make this sequence the enjoyable success that it is. Chan and Yuen Wo-ping both went on to craft even more unusual training and action sequences independent of one another but this is where the magic began.

1. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

In this elaborate montage from Lau Kar-leung’s kung fu masterpiece, San Te (Gordon Liu) is fully immersed in the rigorous combat training of Shaolin Temple after having previously endured demanding physical conditioning to prepare his mind and body. Shaolin training practices as described in popular folklore provided the basis for Lau to craft the highly imaginative training sequences that fill up a large portion of this film. The entire film depicts San Te’s transformation from an anguished youth caught up in the conflict between a newly established Manchu government and rebels still loyal to the fallen Ming Dynasty to an enlightened Shaolin monk well equipped to handle the perils that wait outside the walls of the temple.

Techniques such as kicking apart clay pots through flaming hoops are no doubt fanciful exaggerations of 17th-century Shaolin kung fu practices intended to entertain filmgoers. That said, Lau was himself a student of Hung Ga, a martial arts whose roots were founded in the Southern Shaolin Temple. One his chief intentions with this and many of his other self-directed kung fu movies was to celebrate the core values of his martial heritage, notably the importance of diligence and determination to reshape one’s mind and body through hard work, patience and humility.

This film earns the top spot for being the ultimate martial arts training film. It has what all the others possess in part; historical significance, philosophy, real and exaggerated technique, creative exercises, brilliant performances, and outstanding action sequences.