The Best Recent American Martial Arts Movies
Drive, Guyver 2, US Seals 2
America knows how to make good action movies. Unfortunately America knows very little of making effective martial arts action movies. Sure there are a lot of martial arts choreography like in movies like Matrix, Daredevil, etc.. but not very many that are primarily a martial arts movie. I know there are the Rush Hour and Shanghai series with Jackie Chan; but besides those, these 3 movies are the best examples i could find of quality martial arts from an american director or production team.
Drive and Guyver 2 are both from director Steve Wang. He has a great handle on Hong Kong style choregoraphy and editing. Drive is by far the best of these 3 and in general one of my favorite martial arts movies overall. It stars Kadeem Hardison and Mark Dacascos in a buddy team up picture. Mark's character has a bio-energy module in him that makes him have super strength. The army is after him and all he wants to do is get rid of it. I knew Mark had skill after watching Brotherhood of the Wolf but i didnt know it was on that level. He fights, spins, kicks, flips on par with Jet and Jackie. He also has a great charisma too him which is similar to the great late Brandon Lee. Kareem and Mark's chemistry is great and the female lead in the movie is none other than a very young and bubbly Brittany Murphy. I dont want to spoil too much but if you like martial arts, buddy movies or the rush hour series then i definitely recommend this highly.
Guyver 2 is a sequel to Steve Wang's Guyver 1 which is a far inferior film even though it does have some intersting moments. Its basically some kid that obtains an alien bio armor called the Guyver. Once he transform into the Guyver he obtains super human strength and speed. These alien creatures want the Guyver for themselves and he has to battle them and try to stop them from uncovering his space craft at an archaeological dig. The creatures are basically dudes in suits like in the power ranger shows. The choreography is once again excellent. The movie is good as a stand alone and has a lot of flashbacks to the original so you wont be lost. Its a fun dumb movie with some awesome fighting.
Last on this list is U.S. Seals 2. I dont think i would have ever watched it if it wasnt recommeded to me by someone else. It has your standard generic straight to dvd cover. This movie is pure action. If you want realism or good acting and plot then look elsewhere. Its your basic madman wanting to hold the government for ransom plotline. It does include some over the top cheesy sound effects. There is some great choreography, great pacing and i definitely recommend checking it out if you need an action fix.
Heres a clip of Mark D from Drive