Great Action/Combat/Fight Scenes
These dramas/movies might not be great, but they have pretty good and action scenes - no flimsy sword fighting, no aimlessly swinging their swords, no slow motion spinning/twirling, no fancy CGI to master actual fight scenes and no weak punches or hand combat. Description is taken from my reviews or notes I wrote down.
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1. Fei Hu Wai Zhuan
Chinese Drama - 2022, 40 episodes
BEST wuxia dramas of late with incredible fight choreography, extended and fast-paced fight scenes, many hand-to-hand combat and not just sword fighting. Fight scenes are frequent and throughout the whole drama from start to finish.
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2. Love Like the Galaxy: Part 2
Chinese Drama - 2022, 29 episodes
I applaud Leo Wu for his effort in all the fight scenes. You can see him and others are not just swinging their swords aimlessly. These are hard fought battles and the drama doesn’t shy away from some of the more torturous and bloody scenes. But what I don’t like is the slow motion
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3. The Mystic Nine
Chinese Drama - 2016, 48 episodes
Although this is not a wuxia drama, I find the fight scenes pretty good. Yes, they did have the slow-motion sequences and over-the-top spinning, but for the most part, we did not have chopped up scenes. You can see continuous fighting, especially by our main male lead, Zhang Qi Shan. William Chan played his character well and you can see he put in effort to fight (and looks damn good in doing so). It was also fun to see Hu Yun Hao as Chen Pi, uses his chain-weapon (I don’t know what it’s called).
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4. Glory of the Special Forces
Chinese Drama - 2022, 45 episodes
I really enjoyed all the physical fight scenes, and there are quite a few in this drama. They are hardcore fights which seemed to be shot in one frame (not piece together fake fights with wide angle shots). I like the fights here more than in some wuxia dramas.
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5. Monarch Industry
Chinese Drama - 2021, 68 episodes
I am most impressed with the war and battle scenes. You can see that they spend money in hiring extras to be in these battles. When they say it's a big battle, you see a big battle and not CGI fake people or comics (looking at you "The Long Ballad"). The Mount Lianyu battle is especially amazing and greatly shot. That battle is one of my favorite events - from the white horse running to the black horse and towards the enemies, to the tragic death and self-sacrifice of the general, and the black horse kneeling down to get our male lead on its back. Everything is perfect.
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6. The Longest Day in Chang'an
Chinese Drama - 2019, 48 episodes
I enjoy the gritty, realistic fight scenes. They are gruesome and harsh, but each time a fight broke out between our ML and a bad guy or his former comrade, I can feel the ML's emotions. There are no weak punches by anyone. Every single actor gives it 100% when fighting. And, how badass is our lady assassin!
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7. Noble Aspirations
Chinese Drama - 2016, 58 episodes
I am quite satisfied with the fight scenes in the first half of the drama, esp. when the leads are still students. Even though there are quite a few zoomed out fight scenes and you know those were body doubles and stunt(wo)men, the overall visuals and choreography are good. However, in the second half, the use of magic and CGI increases and the actual fight scenes diminish. We got a few more good fighting towards the end of the drama.
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8. Love Your Bones Forever 2
Chinese Drama - 2021, 24 episodes
I am pleasantly surprised that I enjoy the fight choreography and scenes in this drama. There is no slow-mo spinning or close-up of the actors' faces. No useless posing in front of the camera in the middle of the fight. The fights scenes are better than some I've seen in wuxia dramas.
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9. The Four
Chinese Drama - 2015, 48 episodes
I enjoy the fight scenes as they are more of the traditional wuxia fighting than the modern xianxia fighting with slow motion and spinning.
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10. Tian Ya Ke
Chinese Drama - 2021, 36 episodes
The fight scenes are good and even though they have the customary slow-motion fight scenes, they didn't seem too slow, compared to "The Untamed". I quite enjoy those fight scenes.
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11. The K2
Korean Drama - 2016, 16 episodes
His fight scenes are good, though, they seem a little long.
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12. Vincenzo
Korean Drama - 2021, 20 episodes
There's a surprisingly good number of violent scenes and fight scenes, and they were all pretty well done.
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13. Six Flying Dragons
Korean Drama - 2015, 50 episodes
Ep 18 - great fight scenes, better than many wuxia c-drama. Just plain sword fighting without cgi - reminds me of Kenshin.
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14. Rurouni Kenshin
Japanese Movie - 2012
All Kenshin Movies
Excellent sword fighting scenes - great duals and group fights
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15. The Crown Princess
Thai Drama - 2018, 12 episodes
I actually quite like the amount of action scenes in this drama between gun shooting and hand-to-hand combat. However, I am not sure if this is what Thai dramas usually are, I find it hilarious that the leads would be choreographed in a way that they’re switching poses when shooting their guns. There are some interesting acrobatic moves mixed in the fights. It’s over-the-top and funny at the same time.
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16. Ancient Detective
Chinese Drama - 2020, 24 episodes
The fight scenes were surprisingly above average.
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17. Ever Night
Chinese Drama - 2018, 60 episodes
Haven't watched this yet but the general consensus is that the fight scenes are great.
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18. My Name
Korean Drama - 2021, 8 episodes
Many good hardcore fight scenes esp. by FL - quite violent and bloody.