10 Best Jet Li Movies Ranked

This might surprise you, but Jet Li’s Western films — ones shot primarily in English — have grossed basically the same amount as Jackie Chan’s (not counting Chan’s voiceover work in animated films). Each of them have brought in just over two billion dollars with their English-language releases, but the odds are pretty good that regular moviegoers will recognize Chan far more often than they do Li. Why? That’s a good question, and the answer probably has something to do with Chan’s ubiquitous presence and those aforementioned family-friendly animated films.

Longtime action fans know that Li has delivered just as many absolute bangers as Chan, but while the latter made his name with comedy and a creative use of his environment, Li secured a spot in the action hall of fame based almost solely on his blisteringly fast skills. A fantastic fighter and athlete, as at home on the ground as he is flying through the air on (or off) wires, Li shot to stardom bringing real-life martial artists from China’s history to the screen with a stoic charm and wicked fighting skills. He may be small in stature, but he’s as big as they come when it comes to his fighting chops.

As with any list ranking art, this one is subjective meaning your own favorite Li movie may or may not have made the cut. Now keep reading for the ten best Jet Li movies, and if your pick isn’t here, just imagine it’s number eleven.

Two years after losing his wife and a school bus filled with children to a madman, Kit Li has retired from the force and become a bodyguard and stunt double for a popular action/comedy star named Frankie. He’s about to cross paths with the killer once again.

If I’m going to lose any readers, it’s probably going to happen with Wong Jing’s “High Risk” (aka “Meltdown”) landing the first spot here based purely on its abundant entertainment value. It’s not held in the highest of regards, and it’s a fair criticism to say that Jet Li isn’t in enough of it, but the fights, stunts, and comedy all combine into a film that will have you smiling, gasping (in disbelief), and laughing along with the madness. Li gets numerous fights against big bads and multiple enemies, and the encounters make great use of bloody squibs and breakable glass, furniture, and bones.

It’s never shy about its “Die Hard” inspiration and quite brazenly lifts little beats here and there during its high-rise heist, but while that brings some laughs, the bulk of the comedy comes from the director’s apparent desire to take the wind out of Jackie Chan’s sails. Wong has directed over 300 films but only one with legendary action star Chan in the lead, and it came shortly before “High Risk.” Frankie is basically Jackie, and Wong is utterly merciless making the star look like a spoiled, egotistical jerk. Fun stuff!

Danny lives like an animal, a guard dog owned by a sadistic gangster who unleashes him when he needs someone beaten or killed. With only the vaguest memories of his mother, this reality has become all he knows of family. That changes, though, after a chance encounter with a blind piano tuner and his adopted daughter.

While there’s probably a bit more talking in this action movie than you’re wanting, it’s easily forgiven seeing as Jet Li is joined by two heavy-hitter actors doing much of the pontificating. Bob Hoskins plays Danny’s snarling, spittle-prone “owner” whose interests lay solely with what Danny can do for him, while the endlessly reliable and recognizable Morgan Freeman is the kindly stranger who takes Danny in and nourishes both his body and soul. Both actors elevate this brawl-filled film into more dramatic heights and act as counterweights to some iffy writing and logic jumps.

Of course, it’s an action movie at the end of the day, and on that front, “Unleashed” (aka “Danny the Dog”) delivers thanks to Li’s mad skills, Yuen Woo-ping’s sharp choreography, and a bevy of baddies dead set on taking Danny down. Half the fights are underground matches that Danny’s entered into, so Hoskins’ gangster can win a fat prize bag, and one three-on-one brawl even features an early appearance by the great Scott Adkins. The rest of the fights are more about survival as Danny fights to protect his new family, and it’s both shmaltzy and satisfying.

Kung-wei is a Chinese cop trying to balance his family life and his undercover work that sees him labeled as a common crook by those who know his son and wife. The two halves merge, though, when he finds himself in deep with a vicious gang only to see his young son fall into things beside him. Good thing his kid is almost as good a fighter as he is.

“My Father Is a Hero” (aka “The Enforcer”) is another pairing of drama and blistering action, and once again, the latter more than makes up for the former’s shortfalls. The always reliable Corey Yuen directs, ensuring the action beats deliver with both thrills and some degree of silliness, and that’s nowhere more evident than in the fights that see Jet Li double-teaming baddies with his son, the pint-sized but terrifically talented Xie Miao. He uses the kid as a weapon, they mirror moves, and they’re just a dynamite duo who we thankfully get to see together in two movies — the second of which is directly below.

While Li and Xie are the headliners here — seriously, the kid is legit and shines even in his stand-alone fights — they’re joined by two charismatic Hong Kong stalwarts. The late Anita Mui plays a cop meddling her way into things to the point that she’s the one who gets Li’s son involved, and Yu Rongguang delivers a gleefully over the top turn as the big bad.

A man returns home to discover his family and friends have been slaughtered leaving only his toddler son alive. The pair set off with government forces on their trail, but after years on the run, they decide it’s time to face their past. This, of course, is bad news for the men pursuing them.

The wildly prolific and even more inconsistent Wong Jing directed this action/comedy, and the idea of him “remaking” 1972’s classic “Lone Wolf and Cub” (which has influenced popular titles like “The Mandalorian”) seems far from promising on its face. If you’re on his wavelength, though, and picking up what he’s putting down, you’re pretty much guaranteed to have a very good time with “The New Legend of Shaolin” (aka “Legend of the Red Dragon.”) While not oppressively comedic, the film is unafraid to get goofy. Jet Li and young Xie Miao are playing things straight, while the villains go big and supporting players go broad. It’s a fun time!

Happily, for those of you lacking a sense of humor, the film also brings the heat with plenty of terrific action sequences courtesy of choreography by the late, great Cory Yuen. An opening brawl unfolds against large fires, a teahouse fight thrills, and the film’s final thirty minutes features a steady series of exciting action sequences. The big bad ups the ante even further with a monstrous appearance and a weirdly anachronistic metal “car.” Like I said, it’s a fun time.

A Chinese police officer is sent to Paris to aid in a sting operation against a Chinese official, but the mission goes sideways when the local cops are revealed to be dirty as hell. They frame Liu Jian for the whole mess, but they’re not prepared when this fish out of water unleashes some extremely deadly skills.

A memorable supporting turn in 1998’s “Lethal Weapon 4” introduced Jet Li to western audiences in a big way, which resulted in a steady string of English-language films in the early 2000s putting Li front and center. “Romeo Must Die,” “The One,” “Cradle 2 the Grave,” “War” — everyone has their favorite among them, but action fans would be hard-pressed not to recognize Chris Nahon’s “Kiss of the Dragon” as the best of the bunch. Bridget Fonda co-stars (in one of her final roles, as it turns out) as a down on her luck but kind-hearted prostitute, while Tcheky Karyo dials his villainous French detective all the way up to eleven.

Hong Kong regular Corey Yuen handles fight choreography duties, and the result is a series of highly entertaining encounters between Li and seemingly the entire Parisian police department. We get plenty of one-on-one fights, but it’s the brawls where he’s outnumbered that really thrill, including one where he faces blond twins, another where he takes on a roomful of cops in martial arts class, and a stellar fight against knife-wielding officers atop a river boat.

Huo Juanjia was one of China’s greatest martial arts masters, but his journey towards becoming a beloved icon was filled with life lessons taking a vengeful and arrogant man and turning him into a legend.

Our number one pick below sees Jet Li play a fighter named Chen Zhen who returns to China to avenge his master’s death, and here, Li plays that master. Don’t look at that as a spoiler, though, as “Fearless” is a film about the journey, not the destination. Ronny Yu’s film follows Huo from his early years all the way until his death, and it’s a life lived to its fullest, if not always to its best. The director’s cut is the ideal version to watch as it allows for more detail and depth with the character, and Li gives one of his strongest performances as a man who turns his desire to win into a need to share the beauty and power of wushu.

Li took that message to heart in some ways and intended this 2006 feature to be his final wushu film. He continued making action films, of course, but the themes and ideas regarding the use of honor and love to “defeat” your enemy, instead of violence, pretty much stopped here. That’s not to imply that the action suffers, though, as Li, Yu, and choreographer Yuen Woo-ping deliver some thrilling battles using various weapons and styles ensuring that fight fans are very well served.

China is a nation bristling from within as foreign visitors result in a wide array of responses. Some, like legendary martial artist Wong Fei-hung, respect the balance of maintaining a Chinese identity while welcoming outside ideas. Others, though, see their own xenophobia turn quickly towards violence.

If the first film in the franchise explores the idea of holding onto your national identity, “Once Upon a Time in China II” sets its sights on those who aim do so at all costs. The White Lotus Society are fiercely nationalistic bullies loudly proclaiming that they’re God’s chosen people, but their love for China is as false and flimsy as their god. This might sound familiar to anyone paying attention to recent history, and it works to create a broadly recognizable antagonist out of these fundamentalists. Xiong Xinxin plays the group’s blowhard leader, who gives Wong a spectacular final fight…

Well, it would be the final fight in any other movie, but here we’re gifted with an early turn by Donnie Yen, who manages to be the first performer — that’s performer, not character — in this franchise to give Li a run for his money when it comes to speed, mobility, and all-around awesomeness. Their fight moves from a bamboo warehouse to a tight alleyway and delivers a masterclass in choreography, camerawork, and editing. Poles, splinters, and, wait, is Yen using a giant damp towel like a frat boy in a dormitory bathroom? He sure is.

China is a nation divided into seven regions, each with its own leader and claim of independence, but only one king has infuriated the rest with his plans to unite them all into a single country. A visiting prefect arrives with news that he’s killed the assassins seeking to take the king’s life, but all is not quite what it seems.

Zhang Yimou’s filmography is filled with beautiful movies — both visually and thematically — rich in the history, cultures, and the people of China, and he even claimed three spots on our Best Kung Fu Movies list. “Hero” is no different, and it’s all the stronger for what amounts to a genre mashup blending elaborately staged fights with a deep introspection and affection for Zhang’s homeland. It’s a dense and thoughtful approach that also finds time for a soul-stirring love story challenged by the idea of sacrifice. There’s arguably too much here for its 100-minute running time, but that’s a good problem to have.

It’s an ensemble piece with Jet Li’s Nameless at its center, and his journey to the king is brought to life through Zhang’s direction and Christopher Doyle’s sumptuous cinematography. The always impressive Donnie Yen plays the first assassin in a fight tied beautifully to music, but the bulk is dedicated to a pair of assassins and their trainee played by the emotionally charged, calligraphy-centric, and utterly stunning trio of Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, and Zhang Ziyi. This is a film you immerse yourself into.

Wong Fei-hung is a martial arts legend among his fellow Chinese, but the ways of life they all share are under a simmering, slow burn attack by foreign interests and looming imperialism. While he’d prefer peace, Wong’s hands and feet are forced into one confrontation after another as he defends China from villains both foreign and domestic.

Wong Fei-hung was a real person, a legend to many, and he’s been brought to life in over a hundred films with the most notable being the dozens starring Kwan Tak-hing, the far more comedic “Drunken Master” films with Jackie Chan, and the six-film “Once Upon a Time in China” franchise. Li stars in four of the six, and this first entry remains the high-water mark for the series thanks to engaging characters, a rich visual tapestry, Tsui Hark’s electrifying direction, and Yuen Woo-ping’s increasingly elaborate fight choreography.

There’s a lot going on here as Hark and his fellow writers deliver an action spectacle in the form of something far bigger. It’s a tale exploring China’s historical reticence towards outsiders, particularly in the form of Western interference, but it’s far from a condemnation of those outsiders and in fact stands as a subtle commentary on the impending (at the time) British handover of Hong Kong back to China. Still, while all of it engages, all of it pales beside the action including the insane beauty of that ladder fight.

Chen Zhen is a Chinese student studying abroad in Japan during the latter’s occupation of parts of his homeland. He leaves his studies behind and returns to China after hearing news that not only has his old martial arts master died — but that he was likely murdered.

Jet Li is no stranger to playing familiar characters, as evidenced by his numerous turns as Wong Fei-hung, but it’s his take on Bruce Lee’s “Fist of Fury” and the character of Chen Zhen that secures the top spot on our list. (Donnie Yen would also go on to play the character in 2010’s equally fantastic “Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen.”) It’s a familiar character and storyline — the master is killed, time to avenge the master — but Li, director Gordon Chan, and action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping ensure that every beat feels engaging and every beatdown absolutely thrills.

Similarly, it’s common to see the Japanese occupation presented as merciless, but here, we’re given a pair of sympathetic Japanese characters. One is a love interest leading to an interesting throughline about racism from both sides, and the other is an older kung fu master who shares a terrific fight with Li. While that encounter is mostly friendly, though, most of the fights in “Fist of Legend” are blistering, brutal, and wildly satisfying as Chen Zhen fights for his people, his homeland, and our shared desire to see Billy Chow’s big bad villain suffer.