It’s that time of year again – the annual Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast End of Year Show returns for its eighth year!
Featuring the author of Life of Action Vol. 1 and 2, Mike Fury, we unpack our martial arts movie highlights of the year, discuss the news that has been hitting the headlines, and – because it’s the festive season – we also unwrap some martial arts-themed Christmas presents.
2024 has been a particularly strong year for fight-centric action films. We saw the return of many fan favourites – Po the panda returned in Kung Fu Panda 4, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine returned for Deadpool & Wolverine – and many of the legends of martial arts cinema released multiple films this year, from Jean-Claude Van Damme to Cynthia Rothrock, Jackie Chan to Scott Adkins. But which movies will make the cut in our personal top five of the year – and which film will be crowned the best of 2024?
We also read out messages from you – the loyal Fu followers – who have been submitting your opinions on your favourite fight films from the year. And if you want to play along at home, we’ve put together a list below of the major martial arts movies released in the UK this year (according to IMDb). A huge thank you for your ongoing support in 2024, and wherever you are in the world, have a very happy new year!
2024 fight-centric action movies: Agent Recon; Art of Eight Limbs; Bangkok Dog; Boy Kills World; City Hunter; Customs Frontline; Darkness of Man; Hounds of War; Kill; Kill ’em All 2; The Killer’s Game; Kung Fu Games; Kung Fu Panda 4; Lady Scorpions; The Last Kumite; A Legend; Life After Fighting; Lights Out; The Lockdown; Monkey Man; Officer Black Belt; 100 Yards; One More Shot; Operation Black-Ops; Panda Plan; Road House; The Shadow Strays; 60 Minutes; Stuntman; Striking Rescue; Take Cover; The Tiger’s Apprentice; Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In; White Snake: Afloat; The Wild Blade of Strangers.
Listen to our previous End of Year Shows
- End of Year Show 2023 – Part Two
- End of Year Show 2023 – Part One
- End of Year Show 2022 – Part Two
- End of Year Show 2022 – Part One
- End of Year Show 2021 – Part Two
- End of Year Show 2021 – Part One
- End of Year Show 2020
- End of Year Show 2019
- End of Year Show 2018
- End of Year Show 2017
Life After Fighting is good and has an amazing last twenty minutes.
My favorite fight film of 2024 was by far Monkey Man. Dev Patel has put his body on the line to make this great tribute to Korean and Indian cinema in his directorial debut. The fact that I’ve seen it in theaters helped a lot, but it’s my favorite movie of the year regardless of the genre.
Also, I made a letterboxd list of all the movies mentionned above for those who are interrested: https://letterboxd.com/bendufresne/list/kung-fu-movie-guide-2024/by/name/