[Edited] Brotherhood of the Wolf: Martial arts out of place?

[John Q. Mayhem]

The martial arts stuff kinda threw me off too.

 

[Tonguez]

Cool. Glad to see so many others who liked the film as well.

But I'm even more curious, now: Have eastern martial arts so inundated western culture that nobody raises an eyebrow anymore when they are dumped willy-nilly into inappropriate settings? I'm as big a martial arts buff as the next guy (and probably more so than many), but when I see a supposed officer of the French army and an Iroquois holy man who both fight like they're straight from Bangkok, it does awful things to my suspension of disbelief. .)

Yeah I do agree - I initially thought Mani was suppose to be 'Asian' and was a little disappointed when he was revealed to be Iroquois that they didn't have a bit more "Iroquois stuff" in the movie like the aforementioned Knife & Tomahawk techniques or 'wrestling' styles (apparently there was a Iroquois Fighting technique developed as part of the La Crosse game that techniques to trip and maim your opponents!).

And of course Savate - the use of Savate would have been icing on the cake for me ...


(PS I know it was presented as a Lion in armour in the movie, the Hyaena I was refering to was the original Beast of Gevaudan )

 

[Hypersmurf]

Have eastern martial arts so inundated western culture that nobody raises an eyebrow anymore when they are dumped willy-nilly into inappropriate settings?

Heh. One of the worst examples I can remember is Van Damme's The Quest.

It wouldn't have been quite so bad, had they not made such a point of the American fighter being a boxer who'd apparently never even seen an oriental fighter before. But with that in mind, seeing the kilted Scotsman or the Spaniard in his toreador outfit throwing high spinning kicks was... unusual.

Terrible movie. But man, the Spanish guy had style!

-Hyp.

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

the Hyaena I was refering to was the original Beast of Gevaudan

Woot! And people give out links to my (old and dead) website. I'll have to try to resurrect it somehow... I think that the one-arm villain was based on Jean Chastel, mentioned in my write-up, as I heard theories that he was somehow involved in the traffic of animals from Africa to the King's menagerie. But I dunno.

 

[Tonguez]

Heh. One of the worst examples I can remember is Van Damme's The Quest.

It wouldn't have been quite so bad, had they not made such a point of the American fighter being a boxer who'd apparently never even seen an oriental fighter before. But with that in mind, seeing the kilted Scotsman or the Spaniard in his toreador outfit throwing high spinning kicks was... unusual.

Terrible movie. But man, the Spanish guy had style!

-Hyp.

Heh I liked the Quest! (yeah Van Damme and the entire cast were really bad at acting but the basic premise was cool)

Personally I just put the Spaniards technique down to a Spanish form of jeu marseillais (aka chausson) which actually did involve high spinning 'roundhouse' kicks (apparently it was a training exercise in the Navy and developed from the need to hold onto the rails etc and kick out with the feet when a ship was attacked in rough seas)

The fighters I personally thought were ridiculous were the 'African' who stood up and stomp his feet a few times and the other one (also African?) using something that looked like a crazy monkey playing capoeira (the one that smashed the coconuts during the 'training' sequence

 

[Hypersmurf]

Heh I liked the Quest! (yeah Van Damme and the entire cast were really bad at acting but the basic premise was cool)[/b]

I dunno - I liked some of the fights, but where Kickboxer and Bloodsport were just all-round cool movies, The Quest had too many things that grated.

Roger Moore and the giant butter-sculpture dragon. The final fight with the Mongolian leaving the arena and going through the whole village. That sort of thing.

Meh.

The fighters I personally thought were ridiculous were the 'African' who stood up and stomp his feet a few times and the other one (also African?) using something that looked like a crazy monkey playing capoeira (the one that smashed the coconuts during the 'training' sequence

Wasn't that the training sequence from Bloodsport?

Ooh, speaking of Bloodsport - I always thought that it would be great to cast Paulo Tocha (the South African Thai boxer from Bloodsport) as the Devil in something. I have no idea what he's like as an actor, but his face just looks so sinister in that fight...

-Hyp.

 

[Tonguez]

Wasn't that the training sequence from Bloodsport?

-Hyp.

Um yeah it was! *gee thanks for blowing my credibility!* I was a bit confused as to why I remembered two african fighters (cause it was two different movies duh!) but then they are all pretty much the same story anyway...

I always though The Quest would make a good Arcade Game though

 

[Hypersmurf]

I always though The Quest would make a good Arcade Game though

Does it have to have any of the bits with Roger Moore or the giant butter sculpture?

-Hyp.

 

[Mirth]

And another thread jumps the tracks I'll see if I can't bring it back

If anyone's interested, the 3DVD special edition of Brotherhood of the Wolf that was released in France was also released at a later time in Canada with English subtitles and playable in Region 1 (North America, which includes the old USofA). I don't have it, but I've heard it is an awesome special edition to behold...

Mirth

 

[Villano]

I absolutely loathe BotW. I hated it from the Xena extras passing as villagers, to the "all Native Americans are in touch with nature" nonsense, to the kung-fu Native American, to "I'm angry so I now posess kung-fu powers" French guy, to the not really a monster monster.