6 Lesser-Known Jackie Chan Movies You Should Watch On Prime Video

For Jackie Chan fans, there's no shortage of great options when it comes to finding quality martial arts films on streaming. Prime Video in particular hosts a large selection of the actor's filmography, which makes up a modest portion of the best kung fu movies in the streaming service's library.

On Prime Video, you can watch Jackie Chan team up with Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung in what is today regarded as one of the greatest martial arts movies of the 1980s - Wheels on Meals. Also in its lineup are The Foreigner, which is arguably the best movie the actor has made in recent years, and Police Story: Lockdown, the most recent entry in the highly successful Police Story franchise.

But not every Jackie Chan film on Prime Video is particularly noteworthy or a hit. The Protector and Battle Creek Brawl were failed efforts to launch the actor to stardom in Hollywood, and City Hunter was a lackluster manga adaptation. That said, some of the lesser-known Jackie Chan movies on the streamer were solid outings for the star worth checking out.

6 Shaolin Wooden Men

Released in 1976, Shaolin Wooden Men was only Jackie Chan's second time playing the lead character in a martial arts film. In the movie, Jackie Chan plays a supposedly mute novice at the Shaolin Temple who goes through rigorous training in the hopes of gaining the training needed to take revenge on the villain who murdered his father.

The film contrasts significantly with the image Jackie Chan later cultivated, and that's largely because it was the product of a different era. Shaolin Wooden Men was one of a handful of films that Jackie Chan made with Lo Wei, the same director who made Bruce Lee a star in the early 1970s. As Chan himself has explained, Lo Wei was interested in making Jackie Chan "Bruce Lee the Second," hence the film's serious tone and the lack of Chan's signature slapstick style of action.

For that reason, Shaolin Wooden Men doesn't possess the same level of charm shared by his later work and feels more like The 36th Chamber of Shaolin than a true Jackie Chan film. But while that's certainly true, that doesn't take away from the notion that it's a fun, old-school kung fu movie, containing excellent martial arts choreography and a revenge narrative that manages to entertain for an hour and a half.

5 Rob-B-Hood

Rob-B-Hood is a 2008 Hong Kong film that sees Jackie Chan star as one half of a duo of thieves who kidnap a baby and wind up having to protect it from harm. Over the course of the story, the two characters find themselves growing attached to the child. It's a story that's admittedly been done multiple times before in other genres, but Rob-B-Hood adds something interesting to the premise by combining it with the formula of a Jackie Chan movie.

The dynamics between the two lead characters as they argue with one another while also struggling over their new dilemma brings out numerous laughs, thanks in large part to Chan's humorous antics. Rob-B-Hood also maintains a fast pace in terms of the action, constantly throwing Chan and Louis Koo's characters into new shenanigans as they try to stay one step ahead of the police.

4 Ride On

A 2023 movie about a bond between an aging stuntman and his deformed horse, Ride On balances comedy with both action and drama. Jackie Chan's character wrestles with the possibility of losing his beloved campaign in a court battle while also fighting off a group of debt collectors.

Much like the vast majority of Jackie Chan's recent movies, Ride On didn't have a theatrical release in the United States, and has therefore flown under the radar in the West. It's deserving of attention though, as it checks all the right boxes for a Jackie Chan movie; well-choreographed and engaging action sequences, family-friendly fun, and a main character who's easy to root for.

Chan was almost 70 years old when he made Ride On, and though he's not doing the same intense level of fighting seen in the likes of Project A and Police Story, Ride On is actually able to lean into that fact quite effectively, having the actor play a stuntman who's well beyond his prime. In the process, Ride On has fun paying tribute to some of Jackie Chan's most famous movies via scenes that resemble the stunts he built his legacy from.

3 Little Big Soldier

In 2010, Jackie Chan starred opposite Leehom Wang in Little Big Soldier, an action comedy set during China's Zhou Dynasty. Chan and Wang play a soldier and a general respectively, who are the only survivors of a massive battle, but they represent the opposing sides of the conflict. Chan's character takes the general captive and takes him on a journey back home, resulting in a story that feels like a brilliant combination of a road trip movie and a historical war film.

Little Big Soldier is light on kung fu, but it makes up for it through a great performance from Jackie Chan where he gets to utilize both his comedic and dramatic chops. The soldier dragging the general along lends the movie plenty of funny moments reminiscent of Chan's older films, but there's an emotional heart to it as well.

2 To Kill With Intrigue

To Kill With Intrigue places Jackie Chan in the role of a martial artist on the hunt for revenge against the evil clan that slaughtered his family and kidnapped the woman he loves. Complicating matters is a forbidden romance storyline, in which the female clan leader falls in love with the hero deadset on defeating her. It's an interesting twist on one of the most commonly used plots in old-school kung fu movies.

Directed by Lo Wei, To Kill With Intrigue stems from the same phase of Jackie Chan's career as Shaolin Wooden Men. Unfortunately, all of these movies aren't well-percieved - even by Chan himself - simply because they're standard, admittedly forgettable martial arts movies made before the actor had found his footing in Hong Kong. But they weren't necessarily "bad" films, an assessment echoed by acclaimed Hollywood filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, who has gone as far as to call it his "favorite" of Chan's work.

1 Dragon Fist

One of the last collaborations between Lo Wei and Jackie Chan was Dragon Fist, a 1979 hidden gem that, similar to To Kill With Intrigue, delivers a compelling spin on the kung fu revenge movie. Like so many other martial arts heroes, Chan's character sets off to avenge his teacher.

But Dragon Fist makes a surprising break from the tried-and-tested martial arts movie formula by having his enemy seek redemption. By taking this course, Dragon Fist is able to feature a team-up between the hero and the very kung fu master who murdered his teacher. Considering that it's a direction few films of its kind take, it's a welcome surprise, but also that makes sense based on how the characters are developed.

Jackie Chan's Dragon Fist isn't funny, but it never needs to be; its unconventional plot and thrilling fight scenes with hard-hitting blows make for an entertaining ride.