Martial arts movies are great fun to watch and the best of them never get old. From Bloodsport to The Matrix, audiences can’t seem to get enough of fatal action movies where gloves come off, slow motion becomes a must, and everyone triumphs over their opponent.
Many styles of martial arts featured in films over the decades have been head and shoulders above the rest. Others, however, aren’t as successful, especially the novelties that were conceived for overly useless films.
Best: Muay Thai
Muay Thai is considered one of the most powerful and effective martial arts in the world. He is also one of the most brutal in nature. This fighting style emphasizes strong kicks and punches followed by devastating knee and elbow attacks. The style culminates in a kick designed to keep opponents at bay, used in conjunction with knee and elbow strikes. Muay Thai is extremely popular in martial arts films due to its brutality. One of the best and most popular actors to bring Muay Thai to the world’s attention is Tony Jaa, who is best known for his amazing performances in Ong Bak and The Protector.
Worst: Karate:
The Karate Kid brought the titular martial arts into the public consciousness in a way that was simply not possible in previous films. After all, it was based on a PG-rated family movie, with a heartfelt premise and a bold, uplifting ending that’s almost impossible to beat. As a martial art, karate is far less effective for self defense than other styles such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu or Muay Thai. The MMA scene of the early 1990s quickly pulled the curtain back and demonstrated this fact, and since then karate has never been the same.
Best: Wing Chun
Wing Chun is an interesting martial art that is still being debated. MMA fans insist that it is completely useless in combat, while seasoned practitioners point out how brutal, direct, and effective the style is. In fact, Wing Chun can be quite deadly in the hands of an experienced practitioner. This is a dirty form of fighting that focuses on hard hitting the midline, including the nose, teeth, throat, and sternum. In cinema, Wing Chun is best represented in the popular TV series Ip Man starring Donnie Yen. This is one of the most accurate depictions of martial arts ever shown in film.RELATED:
10 Great Martial Arts Movie Stars That Aren’t Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee
Worst: Gyamkata
It’s hard to watch the 1985 Gymkata trailer without roaring with laughter, let alone the movie itself. Jonathan Cabot played Kurt Thomas, an American Olympic gymnast hired by a special intelligence organization to compete in a tournament in a foreign country for the benefit of his nation. Thomas uses “Gimkat”, a mixture of gymnastics and karate that wipes out his enemies. The premise is stupid and martial art is the exact opposite of cool. It’s hard to imagine what director Robert Klaus was thinking, especially after directing the legendary Enter the Dragon starring Bruce Lee.
Best: Gun Kata
That’s exactly what Equilibrium director Kurt Wimmer was aiming for when he and his team developed the Gan Kata, the signature fighting style of the film’s Grammaton clerics who maintain order in a totalitarian state. On-screen battles are mesmerizing as you watch blows exchanged and blocked while each fighter looks for an opportunity to pull the trigger and claim victory. It’s hard to imagine Gun Kata as a full-fledged real-world martial art, but it certainly has a place in movies, making it perhaps the only completely fictional style of movie martial arts to appear in multiple films.
Worst: Aikido
Steven Seagal has popularized the use of aikido in his films since 1988’s Above the Law. Segal has managed to take a largely passive defense-based martial art and turn it into a vehicle for one of the most brutal depictions of violence ever seen in martial arts films. The problem is that aikido has long been criticized for being relatively useless in combat. He doesn’t have any real attacking moves and that’s a big problem when it comes to adequately defending himself. It’s a noble martial art, but it doesn’t have the content or style to make a big difference in real life or movies.
Best: Keysi
Casey became popular with Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, and he served as the primary style used to fight crime. It was founded by Justo Dieguez and Andy Norman, who had firsthand experience in the world of brutal street fighting. The martial art is recognizable by the Pensador, a high-defense head covering technique that can be quickly used to strike with punches and elbows, among other things. It has since been featured in many films including Mission Impossible 3, Jack Reacher and Quantum of Solace.
Worst: Capoeira
Capoeira first gained mainstream prominence in 1993 in Only the Strong starring Mark Dacascos, and has since been featured in The Quest, Kickboxer 4 and The Protector starring Tony Jaa. The problem with capoeira is that it was never conceived as a martial arts fighting style, but as a dance form of demonstrative art. He also focuses all of his moves one hundred percent on his feet, which means no punching, elbowing or grappling. This is over-specialization of the worst kind, especially when it comes to winning a fight.
Best: Brazzilian Jiu-Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu first gained mainstream prominence with the growth of the MMA fighting scene in the 1990s. BJJ is still one of the most effective martial arts and its ability to quickly end a fight, be it brutal or compassionate, is amazing. It is used in almost every action movie. He first gained attention in the original Lethal Weapon when Mel Gibson used the famous triangle choke to subdue Gary Busey’s character Joshua.