Putting art into genres is always a messy business, but we've all found it fairly easy to draw a hard line between an action movie and a martial arts movie. There are tons of films about people beating each other up, but certain techniques set the more skillful concepts apart. Even within the borders of martial arts cinema, the tone of each story radically changes the genre.
Most martial arts movies exist as a showcase for a particular combat system or a specific group of practitioners. The film bends around the persona of the performers or the unique forms of the fighting style. That's why movies in the same genre can feel like they came from different worlds.
If there's one film that encapsulates the entire modern direction of martial arts movies, it's unquestionably Gareth Evans' 2011 instant classic The Raid. The extremely straightforward story follows a group of cops attempting to apprehend a powerful drug lord from his base in a Jakarta high-rise. The film is a non-stop thrill ride. It's overwhelmingly intense for its entire 101-minute runtime. Evans created the film, along with his 2009 film Merantu, as a showcase for the traditional Indonesian martial art pencak silat. The film was the world debut of Iko Uwais, who immediately became a massive star of the genre. It's a great film, the sequel expands the concept while maintaining the masterful direction, and it's been incredibly influential. When a film attains that level of success and cultural impact, its influence can be too powerful.
The Raid movies, the Ip Man franchise, Triple Threat, Headshot, The Night Comes for Us and many more martial arts films have become popular in the modern era. Almost every one of them is excellent, but they're also all extremely grim experiences. Most of them are about violent gang members slaughtering each other with whatever sharp objects they have to hand. There are very few redeemable characters and most of the cast dies horribly. It's a spectacle of brutal physical violence, but there's not a lot of levity to go around. If anything in one of these films does make people laugh, it's probably unintentional. There are exceptions, but most modern martial arts movies are closer to Gangs of New York than Kung Fu Hustle. There's room in the genre for both and mixing things up could be a lot of fun.
Looking back at the golden era of martial arts movies, there are just as many slapstick comedies as there are sincere action films. Jackie Chan was the hero of martial arts comedy for decades. His classic 1978 epic Drunken Master is hilarious and compelling. It's an examination of a real traditional Chinese fighting style that also depicts Chan throwing himself around like a rag doll. Wheels on Meals follows food truck workers as they interact with wacky characters and features the bout between Chan and Benny "The Jet" Urquidez that many still call the best fight scene ever. Police Story is a near-perfect image of what The Raid would be like with a sillier tone. Jackie Chan's excellent body of work still holds up today, but there isn't a successor to his throne.
The same era put out tons of great parodies of martial arts cinema. The genre can be a bit formulaic, so making fun of it became easy. Kung Pow! Enter the Fist turned bits and pieces of an existing martial arts movie into a parody of the entire Hong Kong action genre. The Last Dragon combined martial arts with other genres to make something charming and fun. Tons of other films in the genre work as deconstructions of the tropes. That technique hasn't gone away, but it isn't as popular as it used to be.
Among modern martial arts movies, one name stands out as the defender of absurd comedy. Everything Everywhere All at Once, directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, features some of the finest martial arts set pieces in cinema history. It also features an anarchic sense of humor that seems to unravel the boundaries of what is possible on the big screen. It's hilarious, packed with bizarre gags and surreal punchlines. The film is willing to plumb the depths of the emotions of its characters and build layered comedy sketches into its fight scenes. It's also willing to use slapstick that would feel right at home in a Jackie Chan film. EEAaO is a strong argument for more movies like it and a bold demonstration of what could be achieved with the medium.
Everyone loves grim serious action movies like Headshot, but it doesn't have to be the default state of the genre. There's room for jokes, emotional depth, and thrilling fight scenes. The films that inspired most of the creators who work today knew that the genre should be making people laugh as often as it makes them pump their fists.