Rank These Famous Action Movie Martial Artists

[Jason]

I will present the most popular candidates in the action/martial arts genre, and I am curious to see how everyone interprets their martial arts skills. Rank them from greatest martial artist to least greatest martial artist. Bonus rankings of your favorites regardless of skill will be cool, too.

The candidates in alphabetical order:
Jackie Chan
Bruce Lee
Chuck Norris
Steven Seagal
Jean-Claude Van Damme

[zombie]

why didn't you include jet li at least? there are others you missed, but i'll just leave it at him.

[Jason]

Star power.

But feel free to rank anybody you feel is missing.

[zombie]

does chuck norris have more starpower than jet li? i guess it's debatable. but i don't wanna rank them. i wanna stay out of anything where bruce lee is involved, at least in this crowd.

[Jason]

My ranking:

1) JCVD
2) Chuck Norris
3) Bruce Lee
4) Jackie Chan
5) Steven Seagal

[DancesWithWerewolves]

For me:

1. JCVD (his shit was and is real, dammit, and only learned ballet to improve his flexibility. His split kicks are the coolest cinematic martial maneuver I've seen (without the use of special fx either)
2. Jackie Chan (very close though, but his stunts have been more cinematic than his martial arts, hence the edge I give to JCVD)
3. Tony Jaa (inverse of Jackie, where his martial arts overpower his stuntwork, and he's pretty brutal...but has a huge lack of star power compared to pretty much everyone else on this list)
4. Bruce Lee (overrated, but star power was pretty undeniable)
5. Jet Li (pretty damn impressive, but for some reason I never became I die hard fan)

I was never into Chuck Norris' movies.

[zombie]

For me:

1. JCVD (his shit was and is real, dammit, and only learned ballet to improve his flexibility. His split kicks are the coolest cinematic martial maneuver I've seen (without the use of special fx either)
2. Jackie Chan (very close though, but his stunts have been more cinematic than his martial arts, hence the edge I give to JCVD)
3. Tony Jaa (inverse of Jackie, where his martial arts overpower his stuntwork, and he's pretty brutal...but has a huge lack of star power compared to pretty much everyone else on this list)
4. Bruce Lee (overrated, but star power was pretty undeniable)
5. Jet Li (pretty damn impressive, but for some reason I never became I die hard fan)

I was never into Chuck Norris' movies.

seagal didn't even warrant a mention at all. i think that's pretty awesome.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

For me:

1. JCVD (his shit was and is real, dammit, and only learned ballet to improve his flexibility. His split kicks are the coolest cinematic martial maneuver I've seen (without the use of special fx either)
2. Jackie Chan (very close though, but his stunts have been more cinematic than his martial arts, hence the edge I give to JCVD)
3. Tony Jaa (inverse of Jackie, where his martial arts overpower his stuntwork, and he's pretty brutal...but has a huge lack of star power compared to pretty much everyone else on this list)
4. Bruce Lee (overrated, but star power was pretty undeniable)
5. Jet Li (pretty damn impressive, but for some reason I never became I die hard fan)

I was never into Chuck Norris' movies.

seagal didn't even warrant a mention at all. i think that's pretty awesome.

[Foo]

For me, it is about tiers, and I tend to like the guys who show me something different:

Also, not gonna put any asians on my list

tier 1:
Kurt Thomas (Gymkata)
Jeff Speakman (The Perfect Weapon)
Seagal (Marked For Death)
JCVD (Blood Sport)

Tier 2:
Michael Jai White (Tyson)
Cynthia Rothrock (China O'Brien)
Gina Carano (DeadPool)
Chuck (Lone Wolf McQuade)

[Jason]

In terms of skill, Michael Jai White is probably legitimately the greatest martial artist mentioned in this thread. Even above JCVD and Norris.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Dolph Lungren is no slouch himself, but for some reason, doesn't do a lot of movies showing his skills off.

Skin Trade though...him, Tony Jaa and Michael Jai White all in the same movie...pretty awesome.

[Tiggnutz]

1. Chuck Norris (Lone Wolf Mcquade)
2. Steven Seagal (Marked for Death)
3. JCVD (Bloodsport)
4. Bruce Lee (Enter the Dragon)
5. Jackie Chan (Drunken Master)

[Reign in Blood]

Get straight the fuck outta here with Seagal above Van Dammage in anything.

Tier 1:

JCVD

Tier 2:

Norris
Lundgren

Tier 3:

Jai White
Seagal
Jaa
Dacascos (the fuck DomD?)
Jet Li
Chan

Tier 4:

Lee

[Jason]

Realistically in terms of skill Michael Jai White is probably #1.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Get straight the fuck outta here with Seagal above Van Dammage in anything.
Dacascos (the fuck DomD?)

lol, I only limited myself to 5, and pretty quickly. He was an oversight, and I'd still rank higher than Norris and especially Seagal.

[Reign in Blood]

I ranked mine with the combination of real martial arts prowess, star power and enjoyment of flicks. Van Dammage is the only one to get A's across the board. : p

And this fucking Seagal shit from those two marks above, first off, his best movie hands down is Under Siege, Marked for Death is 2nd. If you wanna say he was more of a bad ass in MFD, fine, I'll buy that for a dollar. But what does he do that's so different? Bash and break bones? Wow, he took a prosthetic arm and cracked it over his shoulder real fast! Motherfucker couldn't even cook, couldn't even get his pies out the oven! And that's a good metaphor for all things rapey/creepy Seagal.

[Reign in Blood]

Get straight the fuck outta here with Seagal above Van Dammage in anything.
Dacascos (the fuck DomD?)

lol, I only limited myself to 5, and pretty quickly. He was an oversight, and I'd still rank higher than Norris and especially Seagal.

Fair enough. My man!

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Get straight the fuck outta here with Seagal above Van Dammage in anything.
Dacascos (the fuck DomD?)

lol, I only limited myself to 5, and pretty quickly. He was an oversight, and I'd still rank higher than Norris and especially Seagal.

Fair enough. My man!

He posted some pics not too long ago all bruised up after filming John Wick 3. Can't fucking wait.

[Reign in Blood]

Norris always holds a special place in my heart, as before my grandpa died, he really got me into two bad asses the tandem of him and my dad never did growing up,those they did really pander to were the obvious of John Waynes, Steve McQueen, Lee Marvin, Borgnine, Clint, you name it. Grandpa sat me down one day in the summer and we binged some Death Wish and Charlie Bronson shit, and then Chuck. Lone Wolf, Missing in Action, Delta Force, and I'm always a sucker for Sidekicks. But my favorite has always been Firewalker, Chuck and Louis Gossett Jr, just mucking it up, good sweet love.

[showa58taro]

Steven Seagal







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