The Coolest Weapons in Bruce Lee's Martial Arts Films

Martial arts movies contain some of the coolest fight scenes along with some of the coolest weapons ever in film. Recent hits like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,Hero and Jet Li's Fearless wow us with tightly choreographed dance like fighting along with incredibly designed weapons.

Before the current crop of dazzling fight fests were the Asian martial mayhem classics. Jackie Chan, Sonny Chiba and of course the legendary Bruce Lee super punched, high kicked and beat opponents into silly submission. They also employed decidedly nifty weapons.

In scores of martial arts movies, there's many weapons to admire: swords, clubs, staffs, whips and many which defy simple description. From all these though, one stands out amongst the rest for speed, flash and overall cool factor - the Nunchaku or commonly called nunchucks.

Nunchaku

Bruce Lee's Nunchucks from Enter The Dragon remain one of the most iconic weapons in film history. He dispatched foes quicker than a Jedi & didn't worry about recharging! Besides ushering in the modern martial arts film with his explosive Hollywood debut, Lee's hypnotic use of this ancient weapon originating from Okinawan rice farmers caused kung-fu wannabees across the world to emulate his legendary style.

Return Of the Dragon (1973)

Lee dispatches a group of thugs behind his Uncle's Chinese restaurant with his trusty Nunchucks. Not only is this a gritty depiction of the weapon's effectiveness, but when a chubby villain picks up one of Lee's chucks and tries to use them on Lee it's a classic comic moment. The beefy brute only succeeds in hurting himself with the weapon and it shows the viewer just how complex a weapon the nunchaku can be to properly control.

Enter The Dragon (1973)

This was Bruce Lee's Hollywood film debut, since all his prior films were low budget Chinese productions. It plays like a comic book version of James Bond, but then of course James Bond plays pretty much like a comic book itself. Fast forward through some of the ok moments to soak in Lee's Nunchaku stylings which splash onto the screen with such raw fierceness it's simply mind blowing. Lee was in top form here, so it's shocking he'd die shortly thereafter and never enjoy the opening of his masterwork.

Game Of Death (1978)

Sadly, Lee never completed this - filming about 45 minutes before his untimely death. What's most compelling about the nunchaku fight here is Lee's opponent. Danny Inosanto was not only a good friend of Bruce Lee's, but also one of his most trusted sparring partners in real life. Together, they worked on what would eventually become a new style of martial arts - Jeet Kune Do. The color coordinated clothing and weapons between Lee and Inosanto added lots of fun to the scene and fans only wish Lee could have finished this one and gone on to even better films.

Nunchaku may lack the pure destructive force of a sword or the reach of a staff, but when used by a true master like Bruce Lee, they not only serve to dazzle us with intense speed, but provide a complex alternative to the run of the mill weapons seen over and over again.