John Wick raised the bar for modern action, but it was not the last word on great fight scenes. Several films have matched or surpassed its best moments by leaning into martial arts, stylized choreography, and bigger cinematic ambition.
From gritty close-quarters brawls to highly stylized duels, these movies show why action fans keep chasing the next benchmark. www.cbr.com points to five titles that stand out not just for spectacle, but for how fully they commit to their own combat styles.
The Transporter Set The Template For Hard-Hitting Action
Jason Statham became a full-fledged action star in The Transporter, where he plays elite courier Frank Martin. The character gets pulled into a human trafficking plot after breaking one of his “packages” free, leading to gunfights and hand-to-hand battles against waves of henchmen.
The film’s fight scenes blend gritty close combat with improvised martial arts, and the bus fight remains one of its defining moments. Add in its driving sequences, and The Transporter feels like a more varied showcase than John Wick.
The Raid Still Defines Intensity
Gareth Evans’ The Raid follows an elite SWAT team sent into a Jakarta apartment building to arrest a ruthless gang leader. When Sgt. Rama is separated from the group, he has to survive by fighting through an army of henchmen floor by floor.
The movie moves with the momentum of a video game, shifting from close-range brawls to martial arts exchanges as the danger escalates. It may have reached mainstream attention later, but its influence on Hollywood action has been impossible to ignore.
Kill Bill Turned Combat Into Pure Cinema
Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill brought together decades of Japanese and Chinese martial arts influence for American audiences. The story follows the Bride, a former assassin who wakes from a coma and starts hunting down the people responsible for her suffering.
Its choreography is cinematic in scope, and even the training sequences carry tension. The House of Blue Leaves showdown remains a standout example of how far stylized action can go when a film fully commits to its visual language.
Ip Man Made Every Strike Feel Meaningful
Ip Man is set in 1930s Foshan and centers on a Wing Chun master whose peaceful life is shattered by the Japanese invasion of China. When a brutal officer forces the local martial artists into competition, Ip Man steps forward as the city’s champion.
Donnie Yen leads a film that treats Wing Chun as both combat and character expression. From the early matches to the finale, Ip Man delivers fast-paced martial arts action that stands comfortably alongside the best of any Hollywood production.
The Matrix Changed What Action Could Look Like
The Wachowskis’ The Matrix reshaped sci-fi action in 1999 by introducing Neo, a hacker who learns his reality is an illusion controlled by machines. As he joins Morpheus and begins fighting the Agents, the film turns its ideas into a high-impact action engine.
Keanu Reeves’ earlier role as Neo combined martial arts, close-quarter combat, and shooting sequences with a distinctive slow-motion style. Even years after John Wick, the movie still stands as a major benchmark for what action cinema can do.
