Streaming services like Prime Video and Tubi can be the perfect source of weekend entertainment for fans of the martial arts movie genre. Both streamers offer mᴀssive libraries of films based in the martial arts medium, so whether you’re a Prime member or watch movies elsewhere, there’s no shortage of solid options.

Both streamers have access to movies from the filmographies of many of the best martial arts stars, including Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, and even Bruce Lee. Plus, they have films from studios famous for their great martial arts movies, such as Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest.

The nature of these movies vary, given that the genre is wide-ranging in and of itself. It comprises multiple subgenres, from old-school kung fu films to martial arts cop movies, to comedies that kung fu and comedy.

In other words, they have movies across all eras and types in the martial arts movie’s genre’s history, ranging from its golden age in the early 1970s to modern hits like Ip Man.

Lionheart (Prime Video & Tubi)

Bloodsport isn’t the only great martial arts tournament movie that Jean-Claude Van Damme made in his career. He made two others, The Quest and Lionheart, with the latter now streaming on Prime Video (along with Bloodsport.)

In the 1990 film, Van Damme plays Lyon Gautlier, a soldier in French Foreign Legion who becomes a deserter to go see his dying brother in Los Angeles. His arrival sets off his involvement in an underground martial arts tournament. Meanwhile, he has to evade capture by the French Foreign Legion, with both of these elements making the story eerily similar to Bloodsport.

But with Bloodsport being the quintessential Jean-Claude Van Damme movie and one of the best martial arts movies of the 1980s, following the same formula doesn’t necessarily feel like a mistake; it may not offer anything particularly new, but it has more than its fair share of incredible Van Damme fight scenes and an imposing villain for the hero to fight at the end.

Drunken Master (Tubi)

Before 1978, Jackie Chan was making traditional, serious, old-school kung fu movies, some of which being films that treated him as if he were the Bruce Lee. Two of Chan’s 1978 movies roles – Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow and Drunken Master – effectively put an end to that failed period in his career.

Both movies, but Drunken Master especially, finally showed Jackie Chan’s true talents by allowing him to infuse comedy into his acting style. The fact that it helped launch the actor to stardom speaks volumes about how Drunken Master was, blending great martial arts action with slapstick humor that soon became integral to Jackie Chan’s onscreen image.

Drunken Master has all the hallmarks of an outstanding, old-school kung fu flick, with Jackie Chan’s martial arts skills and persona making it even better.

Of course, Jackie Chan alone doesn’t make it special; Yuen Siu-tien’s role as the drunken beggar who trains Chan’s character was received so well that it paved the way for the actor to portray him again in several unofficial Drunken Master spinoffs.

There’s also Hwang Jang-Lee, whose spectacular kicking skills combined with Chan’s martial arts expertise to create one of the best one-on-one showdowns in the martial arts genre.

The Beach Of The War Gods (Tubi)

An obscure yet entertaining martial arts gem deserving of some attention is The Beach of the War Gods, one of several Jimmy Wang Yu movies you can find on Tubi. Released in 1973, The Beach of the War Gods was directed by Jimmy Wang Yu, one of the pioneers of the genre.

In addition to directing, Wang Yu stars in The Beach of the Gods as a wandering swordsman who enters a fishing village about to be hit by an invasive force of Japanese pirates. The story is essentially the martial arts movie version of Seven Samurai, the film that inspired The Magnificent Seven.

In The Beach of the War Gods, Wang Yu’s hero has to unite several warriors – each with their own unique skillset – in time for a large-scale batttle that lasts approximately 45 minutes and utilizies a variety of weapons.

The epic nature of the finale in The Beach of the War Gods has even been acknowledged by critically-acclaimed director Quentin Tarantino, who once said that Beach of the War Gods‘ ending is “one of the great battles of all time.“

The Protector (Prime Video)

The mid-2000s saw a handful of movies elevate the profile of Tony Jaa, who went to be recognized as one of the best leading martial arts actors over the next decade. That trend began with Ong Bak: Muay Thai Warrior, and bled into The Protector, a 2006 modern-day martial arts movie and a fish-out-water story about a tribal warrior who comes to Australia to save an elephant captured by poachers.

The plot is admittedly thin, but story has little to do with the appeal of The Protector, which stacks together a slew of brutal, well-choreographed fight scenes that showcase the lead character’s relentless efforts to save the elephant.

Some of the acrobatic moves that Tony Jaa uses in the movie have to be seen to be believed, and are made even more impressive by the fact that it avoided special effects and wire work. The long takes and sheer amount of moving parts in The Protector is reminiscent of a bygone era in the genre, one where incredibly long fight scenes likes the ones in Shaw Brothers’ movies were the norm.

Crippled Avengers (Prime Video)

Shaw Brothers may not have had Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan in their stable of actors, but didn’t need either to produce some of the best kung fu movies ever made. Unfortunately, the bulk of their library isn’t available to watch online, with both Tubi and Prime Video only getting a small portion of their contributions to the genre.

One Shaw Brothers film that can be watched on Prime Video is Crippled Avengers, which represents a series of martial arts movies that starred five actors collectively known as the Venom Mob. This Venom Mob classic sees four of the five actors portray men who team to right their own personal injustices after each one is wronged by the film’s villains.

Every member of the тιтular group faces sort of injury or obstacle that hinders their ability to fight, and therefore has to train in an effort to compensate. This formula sets up several great training sequences – one for each main character – and that segues into a martial arts team-up of epic proportions.