Donnie Yen is back with his third leading action role for 2014 since "The Monkey King" and "Iceman" via a contemporary martial-arts movie called, "Kung Fu Jungle". Reuniting with "Bodyguards And Assassins" director Teddy Chen and "Iceman" co-star Wang Baoqiang, "Kung Fu Jungle" stars Donnie Yen as Hahou Mo, a martial arts instructor who ended up in prison after killing someone in a fight. When a vicious martial arts killer named Fung Yu-Sae (Wang Baoqiang) starts killing top martial arts masters one by one, Hahou offers to help the police to track him down in return for his freedom. We think this movie kicks ass and features some of Yen's best moves, so looking back, here's our best selected fight scenes throughout his career. 1. Donnie Yen vs. Jet Li in "Once Upon A Time In China II" (1992)
Thanks to the engaging presence of Donnie Yen in Tsui Hark's "Once Upon A Time In China II", he made a perfect foil to Jet Li in a memorable final fight scene. It was a rousing action set-piece that showcased their amazing martial arts skills and tremendous physicality. Donnie Yen was particularly impressive when he used a makeshift cloth as a staff to challenge against Jet Li's wooden staff.
2. Donnie Yen vs. Wu Jing in "SPL" (2005)
Although SPL wasn't exactly an action-packed movie in a traditional sense, the climactic finale was certainly worth the wait that showcased Donnie Yen in his full-on fighting mode. Here, Donnie Yen uses an extendable baton to battle against Wu Jing's amazing knife-fighting skill. Using the narrow back alley as a setting, the particular fight scene has a claustrophobic feel in it as we witnesses both Donnie Yen and Wu Jing's incredible speed of movements with their respective use of weapons.
3. Donnie Yen vs. Collin Chou in "Flash Point" (2007)
The successful collaboration between Donnie Yen and director Wilson Yip in SPL wasn't a fluke after all, when they reunited with another contemporary action movie, "Flash Point". During the final fight scene between Donnie Yen and Collin Chou in the abandoned village, Yen brilliantly incorporating MMA (mixed martial arts) technique that combines with Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, judo, karate and taekwondo for a unique mix of grappling moves and Yen's own trademark fighting style.
4. Donnie Yen vs. 10 Japanese Black Belt Fighters in "Ip Man" (2008)
After Donnie Yen had successfully brought MMA as one of the major spotlights for today's martial-arts genre, he made another breakthrough again with the Wing Chun fighting style in "Ip Man". This hugely-popular movie was of course, famous for its centrepiece fight sequence where Donnie Yen single-handedly took down 10 Japanese black-belt fighters. In this particular scene, he beats some of them good with a Wing Chun "chain punch" or "straight blast" technique which actually involves a tremendous degree of hand speed and quick punches against the opponent.
5. Donnie Yen vs. Sammo Hung in "Ip Man 2" (2010)
In this equally successful sequel to "Ip Man", Donnie Yen has once again proved his worth as an amazing Wing Chun fighter when he battles against Sammo Hung. Best of all, the setup for this particular scene involved them fighting atop a round table with limited space between them. The result was genuinely claustrophobic and thrilling as we watch Yen and Hung flailing arms and fists against each other with such graceful speed and precision.
"Kung Fu Jungle" in now showing in cinemas.