Over the course of its lengthy historical past, the martial arts style has seen greater than its fair proportion of memorable franchises, lots of which comprising a trilogy of adventures. From The thirty sixth Chamber of Shaolin to Jet Li’s Shaolin Temple to The Karate Child, there is not any scarcity of enjoyable martial arts trilogies to dive into.
Sadly, not all are available to observe on streaming, significantly if the objective is to observe your entire story in its entirety. Some solely have sure entries listed on streaming providers. Nevertheless, there are a number of examples the place the complete saga of three movies is accessible – and multi functional place.
This may be an effective way to rewatch or try for the primary time an iconic character journey like that of Daniel LaRusso’s, or maybe discover an under-the-radar story by following the exploits of martial arts rivals Shao Yi Fai and Shao Ying Wai.
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Secret Rivals
All 3 Motion pictures Are Streaming On Tubi
Secret Rivals is a lesser recognized martial arts film trilogy from the late Nineteen Seventies and early Nineteen Eighties. Secret Rivals was an old-school kung fu film about two martial artists – John Liu’s Shao Yi Fai and Tino Wong’s Shao Ying Wai – who get recruited to affix a kung fu competitors organized by a person trying to discover a fighter robust sufficient to remove his enemy.
Nevertheless, what he would not know is that the 2 males have secretive pasts and agendas of their very own. Additionally at play right here was the heated rivalry that developed between them. This dynamic advanced because the collection continued, with each actors reprising their roles for a direct sequel, Secret Rivals Half 2, which targeted on the results of the primary movie’s action-packed ending.
The third film changed one half of the unique duo and gave Liu’s Shao Yi Fai a brand new kung fu rival to combat – and ultimately team-up with.
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Swordsman
All 3 Motion pictures Are Streaming On Tubi
Jet Li was concerned in a handful of martial arts film franchises all through his profession, together with Swordsman. Swordsman consisted of a trilogy of movies: The Swordsman, Swordsman II, and Swordsman III: The East is Crimson. Jet Li held a starring position within the second of the three wuxia movies.
An adaptation of Louis Cha’s The Smiling, Proud Wanderer novel, the primary film revolved a narrative of romance and martial arts that centered on the adventures of the sword-wielding fighter, Linghui Chong (Sam Hui). The second film, which changed Sam Hui with Jet Li as Linghui Chong, added Brigitte Lin within the scene-stealing position of Dongfeng Bubai.
Brigitte Lin’s anti-hero character developed a lot reputation that Dongfeng Bubai wound up being elevated to the principle protagonist for the third and closing chapter of the story, which, at this level, had grown past Louis Cha’s unique novel.
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A Chinese language Ghost Story
All 3 Motion pictures Are Streaming On Tubi
A wuxia movie with a supernatural twist, 1987’s A Chinese language Ghost Story adopted a younger scholar who spent the evening at a haunted home the place he fell in love with a stupendous feminine ghost, unaware at first of her true identification. Assembly her roped him right into a battle together with her household of conniving, evil spirits.
A Chinese language Ghost Story created an ideal, supernatural fantasy world for its characters to inhabit. It constructed on that lore additional with a sequel that continued the tales of its two lead characters (Joey Wong’s Nip Sui-sin and Leslie Chung’s Ning Choi-san) and pit them in opposition to extra ghosts and demons.
The concluding movie within the trilogy, A Chinese language Ghost Story III, began from scratch by telling an identical model of the primary film’s story with a brand new forged of characters, and with Joey Wong enjoying one other imprisoned ghost being compelled to make use of her powers of seduction to lure males into her haunted dwelling.
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The Karate Child
All 3 Motion pictures Are Streaming On Netflix
In complete, there are six films in The Karate Child franchise, plus a Netflix TV collection. The primary three films made up a trilogy about Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi. After the long-lasting coming-of-age basic from 1984 the place Daniel acquired his now-legendary end in opposition to Johnny Lawrence within the All-Valley Karate Match, The Karate Child Half II provided an fascinating probability of surroundings by taking Daniel and his mentor to Okinawa, Japan.
Following an epic battle with considerably raised stakes together with his enemy (and future Cobra Kai ally), Chozen, Daniel discovered himself again in battle with Cobra Kai and in rivalry for a repeat because the All Valley Karate Match champion in The Karate Child Half III.
It is a frequent notion that the second and third films undergo from a drop-off in high quality when in comparison with The Karate Child. Sadly, that is troublesome to disclaim, however that is partially as a result of The Karate Child is without doubt one of the greatest martial arts films of the Nineteen Eighties. The opposite two could not meet the identical bar, however they profit from some entertaining motion sequences and comedies. However neither story must be taken too severely.
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Ong-Bak
All 3 Motion pictures Are Streaming On Tubi
Tony Jaa’s unique declare to fame, Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior was a fish-out-of-water story dressed up as a modern-day martial arts motion movie. Within the 2003 film, Tony Jaa performed a tribal warrior from Thailand who traveled to Bangkok to retrieve a statue revered by his folks. To get it again, he needed to combat by legions of gangsters, unleashing some wonderful martial arts strikes.
Ong Bak’s success prompted a two-part follow-up within the type of Ong Bak 2 and Ong Bak 3. However regardless of what their titles counsel, neither are direct sequels to the primary film. Relatively, they perform as prequels, with the 2 films putting Jaa within the position of a brand new character set in historic Thailand, versus the modern-day setting of their predecessor.
Their tales are totally different, however they carried over Tony Jaa’s distinctive, acrobatic strategy to the combat sequences, together with the primary film’s emphasis on real looking combating that did not depend on wirework.