Well the Hong Kong scene back in the 80's and early 90's was ground-breaking. The American scene just blows because Americans have to oversensationalize everything, and remove substance for sake of budgeting. Ironically some of the best fight scenes you'll EVER see are in two places. One is low-budget Chop Saki flicks where because they had no other selling points, the action had to be phenominal. See the Hong Kong scene from the 70's.
Then in the more obscure flicks that Americans only get wind of through rumor usually. I was one of the first people with Jet Li's Fist of Legend in the area I lived in, and the original Drunken Master II which was re-marketed here as "The Drunken Master". However, the ORIGINAL Drunken Master was great simply for Hwang Jiang Lee's performance. There's also a great one with Jet Li and Sammo Hung called "Kung Fu Master" that's very good even though it's supposed to be sensational. Yuen Biao's flicks are excellent as well, Magnificent Butcher being a stand-out. The modern Iron Monkey made in the 90's was another great one, and unlike Jackie Chan of late (hiring good performers and not putting them to good use), there's a flick where Donny Yuen's talents are put to thorough use. In Once Upon A Time In China II the last fight scene is Donny versus Jet Li.
