Multiple old-school kung fu movie franchises make for excellent binge-watches. Like some of the best American martial arts movies ever made, old-school kung fu flicks from Hong Kong’s movie industry have seen their fair share of sequels, loosely connected follow-ups, reboots, remakes, and sometimes, even crossovers.
Some of these movie franchises, made and finished decades ago, are available in their entirety on streaming services, such as Prime Video. Quite a few were born from some of the best old-school kung fu movies ever made.
While their sequels are admittedly much less iconic, they can still provide hours of entertainment, especially when experienced in conjunction with their original movies, allowing for a fun, action-packed binge-watch.
The Shaolin Temple Trilogy
The movie that launched Jet Li’s career as a martial arts star was Shaolin Temple, a 1982 period piece that explores a conflict between the monks of the Shaolin Temple and the evil Emperor Chang. The film, known today for its brilliant, first-ever showcase of Jet Li’s martial arts expertise, features a thrilling tale of one monk’s rise as he leads his allies to victory.
Jet Li’s Shaolin Temple movie is not to be confused with the 1976 Shaw Brothers epic of the same name.
The success of Shaolin Temple led not only to more roles for Jet Li, but two direct follow-ups to the movie, both with the actor in the starring role. The first, Shaolin Temple 2: Kids from Shaolin, reimagined the basic premise of the first movie, but in a different time period and with a new supporting cast for Li.
The third movie, Martial Arts of Shaolin, is a unique, must-watch entry in Jet Li’s filmography, in that it marks the actor’s only opportunity to make a kung fu movie with Shaw Brothers, which, due to its incredibly choreographed fight scenes and high production values, has one of the most well-respected brands of martial arts in the genre.
The 36th Chamber Trilogy
With one of the greatest martial arts movie directors of all time in Lau Kar-leung at the helm, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin became one of the greatest kung fu movies of the 1970s. The 1976 martial arts masterpiece is remembered for its top-notch training sequences which make up the majority of the movie, not to mention its thrilling final showdown between Gordon Liu and Lo Lieh.
After the film’s release, Gordon Liu starred in a sequel, Return to the 36th Chamber, which revisits the concepts of the first film but with new characters. The third and final installment, Disciples of the 36th Chamber, sees Gordon Liu return to his role from the first movie, but introduces a new generation of fighters, allowing Liu’s hero to take on a mentor role.
The Brave Archer Series
Kicking off in 1977, the Brave Archer trilogy has a sense of scale and spectacle to it that makes it feel like the old-school kung fu movie version of The Lord of the Rings. Utilizing a mᴀssive cast of recognizable martial arts stars led by Alexander Fu Sheng, the Brave Archer series tells a three-movie saga that chronicles the journeys of Chinese literary hero Kwee Ceng and the multiple figures in his life.
The many characters introduced in the Brave Archer movies recur throughout the trilogy, but, unfortunately, the series is not always consistent with who plays who, which can be a cause of confusion in certain instances.
Building a vibrant fantasy world based on the wuxia novels of Jin Yong, The Brave Archer movies give tremendous focus to its storytelling, creating multiple branching narratives that carry over from film to film, complete with cliffhangers to urge the audience to watch the next entry in the series.
Shaw Brothers seemingly pulled out all the stops when it came to making the Brave Archer series feel as epic as possible. The movies are packed with several of the studio’s biggest stars, including Ti Lung, all five members of the Venom Mob, and Kara Hui.
The Sentimental Swordsman Movies
One of Shaw Brothers’ top stars, Ti Lung, starred opposite Derek Yee as the тιтular lead in The Sentimental Swordsman, a wuxia team-up movie that sees its two heroes get roped into a wide-reaching conflict that encompᴀsses multiple martial arts clans. Over the course of the story, they meet a slew of interesting figures and get caught up in a series of intense battles.
Return of the Sentimental Swordsman continues the stories of Ti Lung and Derek Yee’s characters, but initially puts them on separate journeys. However, it ultimately brings them back together, as a second team-up is needed in order for the two to defeat the movie’s villains.
In 1982, Shaw Brothers made a third movie boasting the Sentimental Swordsman moniker, The Perils of the Sentimental Swordsman, but it’s actually less connected to that franchise and actually fits into a different martial arts movie series, also with Ti Lung as the star.
The Chu Liuxiang Series
Due to its misleading тιтle, it’s not immediately obvious that Perils of the Sentimental Swordsman is the third part of another Ti Lung-led trilogy. The series of films, which also consists of Clans of Intrigue and Legend of the Bat, centers on the adventures of Ti Lung’s Chu Luixiang, a popular hero created by wuxia novelist Gu Long.
Each of the three Chu Luixiang movies is basically a detective story infused with martial arts. All three are filled to the brim with convoluted plot twists, more-than-meets-the-eye characters with ulterior motives, and complex mysteries for Chu Luixang to solve.
Of course, kung fu and sword-fighting action permeates through all three movies, with Ti Lung getting plenty of elegantly crafted fight scenes, just as one would expect from movies made by Shaw Brothers.
The Chu Luixiang movies don’t have quite the same level of star power as Shaw Brothers’ Brave Archer series, but it does include appearances from multiple actors who may be familiar to fans of the genre, including Lo Lieh, Nora Miao, Ku Feng, and Derek Yee from Ti Lung’s Sentimental Swordsman movies.
The One-Armed Swordsman
One of the most enjoyable movie trilogies pertains to a film counted among the most influential martial arts movies of all time. Before movies in the genre started relying heavily on hand-to-hand combat, swords were the focus of most of their action sequences. One of the pioneers of this phase in the genre’s history was The One-Armed Swordsman.
The One-Armed Swordsman saw Jimmy Wang Yu step into the role of a hero who gets his arm chopped off by a jilted woman, and has to go through rigorous training to compensate for the loss. After an attempt to rebuild his life is ruined by the movie’s villains, he goes on a bloody crusade for revenge.
The One-Armed Swordsman was followed by Return of the One-Armed Swordsman, a sequel that saw Jimmy Wang Yu play the character a second time. It wasn’t as groundbreaking as the original, but featured some great sword-fighting sequences and another entertaining story for Wang Yu’s hero.
The third movie, The New One-Armed Swordsman, pᴀssed the torch to a new hero. Jimmy Wang Yu was replaced with David Chiang, who played a new version of the тιтular protagonist, who received his own origin story and mission of vengeance.
That was technically the end of the franchise, but Jimmy Wang Yu starred in two unofficial One-Armed Swordsman movies in the 1970s, One-Armed Swordsman Against Nine Killers and Zatoichi and the One-Armed Swordsman.
