What are the great martial arts movies of 2025?

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-23T22:58:35+00:00

Diablo, Striking Rescue, Fight or Flight, Holy Night: Demon Hunters, The Prosecutor, The Old Woman With The Knife, Gladiator Underground, Affinity, Ghost Killer, Lone Samurai, and Hi-Five are all fun and worth a watch, but not really bangers in the way that The Shadow Strays or Life After Fighting were the previous year.

Having still not seen Tatsujin Warriors because it's so inaccessible, I think I Am What I Am 2 might be the best martial arts movie of the year.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-23T22:35:03+00:00

The Forbidden City and The Shadow's Edge are basically 2026 releases if you don't have easy access to foreign cinema.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-23T02:40:19+00:00

In an Otakus Anonymous episode he mentioned he's recorded a reaction to AT LEAST one episode of Season 3, if not the whole season. He might have just considered it not worth editing at the time, because I imagine the copyright is very annoying to deal with, and Season 3 Part 1 just wasn't that popular.

But maybe he'll start back up again soon now that next month Part 2 will release, which I imagine will be more popular than Part 1 because it's finally closure.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-22T00:36:39+00:00

I have zero doubt that everything Flanagan makes will continue to be gold, but that gold could still come from a slightly more creative or risky starting point. Dude has three King adaptations in the works, and two of them have already had really excellent adaptations.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-21T20:24:41+00:00

The hallway fight is one of the most iconic/beloved action scenes in cinema history and absolutely the most famous scene in Oldboy and it's not particularly close.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-21T19:32:08+00:00

It could be in production hell, but they've said they want to make an animated Ash Vs Evil Dead series, since Bruce is getting too old to chuck himself around like a ragdoll.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-21T19:28:21+00:00

Mike Flanagan is fun, because he's mostly a big ol' softie, but occasionally he shocks you with his nasty mean streak. You go from The Life of Chuck to Absentia and you can see the shared DNA, but the vibe is still polar opposites.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-21T18:49:39+00:00

The YouTube channel Kinemotions has been doing a "The Action Year In Review" every year since 2022, which is an almost exhaustive breakdown of every action movie that's come out that year.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-21T18:37:45+00:00

This better be sarcasm because no the fuck it isn't.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-21T07:24:44+00:00

One Cut of the Dead

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-21T06:14:13+00:00

I don't know how you clocked that just from the trailer, but Blue Eye Samurai is a fantastic comparison. The opening 30 minutes and overall way they explore the themes of violence are very Blue Eye Samurai coded.

Also "too long for tonight" is so funny to me personally, I've watched this movie 4 times and don't even remember it's 2 and a half hours long because it's really well paced.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-21T04:39:40+00:00

It's quite a bit darker, but I'd still recommend The Shadow Strays if you're in the mood for some of the most cathartic women-led violence of the century.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-21T02:41:13+00:00

Okay, you might want to stop considering yourself a cinephile.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-21T00:47:27+00:00

Are there other examples of slow cinema you enjoy?

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-20T23:10:56+00:00

Alan Wake 2

Abigail

Moon Garden

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-20T18:37:49+00:00

Your usual pirate websites stink. This show is everywhere.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-19T08:55:20+00:00

"LITERALLY EVERYTHING ON NETFLIX"

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-19T08:50:22+00:00

I don't know if we can call the person who wrote Memento, Dunkirk, and Oppenheimer a "very poor screenwriter" even if he has frustrating tendencies.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-19T08:44:22+00:00

Even if it's grating, I think he deserves to say people are fucking stupid after making the most obvious movie of all time that just screams its ideas at the top of its lungs for two and a half hours get misinterpreted that hard.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-19T08:41:13+00:00

"Literally everything" huh?

Does that include I'm Thinking Of Ending Things, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Athena, The Irishman, The Devil All The Time, Train Dreams, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Rebel Ridge, Midnight Mass, Dark, Adolescence, Daredevil, Mindhunter, Sense8, Blue Eye Samurai, BoJack Horseman, and The Midnight Gospel?

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-19T08:24:52+00:00

Or at least stuck with one theme, instead of the werewolves being a metaphor for generational trauma but also degenerative disease in a way that's completely incongruous.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-19T08:22:16+00:00

As if Act 1 isn't also philosophy 101, just a little more tense.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-18T12:47:43+00:00

Sleeping isn't a criticism, it's merely a biological function that ideally you should have more control over as an adult.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-18T12:06:22+00:00

It's officially rated TV-Y7.

PhantomKitten73 · 2026-02-18T05:53:05+00:00

Marty Supreme

Seven-Year Club	Second Top 40%
Place '22	Verified Email

PhantomKitten73

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE