Tag Archives: Bruce Lee
The Best Martial Arts Movies in Recent Years
Most people who are interested in martial arts find it helpful watching movies that feature celebrities who are known to be advocates of the specific martial arts they are interested in. How many Bruce Lee, Jet Li, or Jackie Chan movies have become blockbuster movies in the past? The incredible success of most of those movies may be attributed to the huge martial arts following who are keen to learn new techniques featured in the movies.
Some of the best martial Arts movies in recent years are as follows:
Undisputed II: Last Man Standing
This 2006 movie is the sequel to the 2002 action film, Undisputed. The 2006 film features Mixed Martial Arts. In the film, George ‘Iceman’ Chambers is framed for possession of cocaine and sent to prison, where he discovers a series of illegal full-contact MMA matches arranged by prison officials for personal profits and at the expense of the fighting inmates. The illegal MMA fight is used as a bargaining chip to get Chambers to fight Yuri, the ruling MMA inmate fighter. In exchange, Chambers will get an expedited appeal and early release. The film showcases various fighting MMA techniques as displayed by both Chambers and Yuri.
Ip Man
This 2008 Hong Kong movie is a semi-biographical martial arts film based on the life of Yip Man – a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun and master of Bruce Lee. The film features Wing Chun as events in the life of Ip which took place in the city of Foshan during the Sino-Japanese War. Set in the 1930s, the film featured desperate circumstances that forced Ip to use his martial arts skills against the oppressors – the Japanese military soldiers. In the end, the Japanese General Miura, who initially wanted Ip to teach the Japanese soldiers martial arts but Ip refused, was challenged by Ip to a fight which the general accepted not knowing that it would lead to his defeat. The general’s deputy shot Ip while the crowd is cheering his win. The film revealed that Ip survives and escapes to Hong Kong where he establishes his Wing Chun school.
District B13
This is a 2004 French action film that features “parkour” – also called the “art of displacement” and best described as street gymnastics or the closely related free running art popularized by Jackie Chan in the 80s. The film was set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010 where an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb which was planted by the Defense Secretary of France, Mr. Kruger, to blow up B13 in his desire to get rid of the community. B13 or Banlieue 13 is a poor Paris ghetto suburb where authorities built containment wall in order to isolate the uncontrollable B13 community. The bomb did not detonate and Mr. Kruger’s plan was exposed which led to the tearing down of the containment wall and bringing back to B13 the schools and police force.
Ong Bak 3
This 2010 Thai martial arts film is a follow-up sequel to Ong Bak 2 which features Tony Jaa as Tien, a Muay Thai fighter. The film features Muay Thai and centered around the life of Tien who is captured and almost killed in many circumstances in the film. Tien is rescued and taken back to the Kan Kohne village where he embarks on a rehabilitation regimen with the help of Master Bua. Soon enough Tien is made to face his arch enemy in an epic fight where he won.
Martial Arts for Self Defense
A lot of people take special interest in Martial Arts. It’s probably because the world is getting dangerous every day. And the idea that your learned skill will give you some kind of protection from any adversary is enough motivation to pursue Martial Arts lessons. The following lists down the famous Martial Arts for self- defense.
Kickboxing. For self-defense, kickboxing focuses on fast-paced, distracting and accurately aimed at all open opportunities with the punches, kicks and knees. The most famous offshoot of kickboxing is Muay Thai which makes use of the hands, feet, knees, and elbows as the weapon to ward off an attacker. The assailant may have a knife or a gun and may use it, but a kickboxer can distract an opponent with his strikes as he uses all his 8 body weapons to disarm or rid the enemy with any harmful weapon.
Karate. It is primarily a striking art with emphasis on attack deflection, using kicking, punching, knee, elbow strikes and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands and ridge-hands. Grappling, restraints, locks, throws and vital point strikes are learned.
Aikido. This interesting martial art is performed by blending with the motion of the attacker and redirecting the force of the attack instead of opposing it head-on. With few striking moves, Aikido is based on the principle that an attack from an opponent will allow you to strike back at his vulnerable points.
Wing Chun. Bruce Lee learned this Kung Fu art from Yip Man, which Lee found too slow and formal for self-defense. He developed his own version of Wing Chun where he addressed the inadequacies he found in Wing Chun. Lee still used Wing Chun’s signature punches – fast, rapid-fire left, right punches to the attacker’s chest instead of the belly or the throat. The target is the sternum or solar plexus.
Jiu-Jitsu. This is the most universal style of martial art. It incorporates elements of hard striking, grappling, eye gouging, choke holds, joint locks, biting and the awareness of the defender’s center of gravity against the attacker’s center of gravity. By lowering your center of gravity under his, jerking him over or around you, you will be able to throw your attacker.
Jeet Kune Do. This is Bruce Lee’s enhanced version of Wing Chun. Bruce Lee worked on the principle of a “style without a style” where you ought not to be thinking anything but the attack of the opponent and your response to such attack. If thoughts are not cleared from the head, they will slow you down. Only one stance is used – the western fencing “en garde” stance.
Western Boxing. All a boxer needs is one swing. Boxers throw punches harder, faster and more accurately than any other trained fighter on earth. To punch properly, boxers spend 4 years of training. And because boxing does not allow kicking, boxers put all their strength in their hands.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This is an offshoot of Japan’s jiu-jitsu which mixes the original jiu-jitsu’s standing throws and strikes with ground fighting, emphasizing on manipulating joints and overall control of the attacker or opponent.
Keysi Fighting Method. This has almost no kicks. It makes use of every weapon the body can quickly wield – fist, head, knees and elbow. This art is designed to strike with the sharp elbows which are more powerful than straight punches because they employ the entire upper body in bringing the firm muscle, from the root of the little finger to the wrist, down like a hammer against the target.
Krav Maga. This is Israel’s national martial art that follows a no-holds-barred incapacitation for the purpose of street survival. It incorporates many martial art elements such as western boxing punches, Greco-Roman wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ground fighting, Karate kicks and knees, Jiu-jitsu’s throws and grappling.
Learning self defense could be your saving grace in times of trouble. It is somehow important to at least learn the basics of any of these martial arts for self defense. If you want to learn Muay Thai, there are great Muay Thai training camp in Phuket that have been so popular to both locals and foreign nationals who want to learn the sport. By enrolling in these Muay Thai training camps, you’ll be taught not only the sport but great discipline, focus and total balance. Learn the other benefits of Muay Thai by clicking this.