In general, I’d say the DA fight scenes are on par with the BVS/Angel fights, and a damn site better than the ones on BVS in the first couple of seasons. Not that that makes them good, but good enough to be on TV. If you ask me, Max should do less fighting and more working out…
::reminisces fondly of a BVS episode where Buffy jumps rope while wearing a tight grey tanktop::
Thank god for Tuesdays. 
aynrandlover wrote:
I’ll stick up for Seagal a little. He used to do some decent fight scenes. He used an agressive form of a defensive martial arts style, twisting people’s arms around and throwing people through windows. He was a thrill to watch. And the knife fight in Under Seige was the best I’ve ever seen. But then, suddenly, he stopped kicking ass. He started banking on his personality rather than his martial arts, and that hasn’t caried him very far. He doesn’t have the presence of a Clint Eastwood, or a John Wayne. When he isn’t actually kicking ass, he’s just an egotistical asshole with a pony tail.
Ever notice how in every Steven Seagal movie, there’s a scene where somebody gives a speech about what a super-badass Seagal’s character is? “He’s been trained to kill elephants with his toenails. He can walk silently on water. Heard of the Alaskan Pipeline? It was modeled after his dick…” And so on. In Seagal’s later films, this speech takes the place of Seagal actually doing anything.
I win. 
Love that one… man o man.
Johny, I can see that. I can’t remember what the first movie I saw with him was, but it was somewhat impressive.
There was some other guy…er, he was in Perfect Weapon, IIRC. Not too bad, same kind of Akido style fighting.
Bloodsport w/VanDamme was a great flick, I thought, except for him. sigh Perfection is so hard to reach.
Nothing like a good elbow to the back, though, and Max always comes through for me
Oh, man. Seagal is an excellent aikidoka, and his earlier films (where he sticks to what he does best) have some very good fight scenes. But that knife fight had me rolling. Someone really should have explained the concept of “live hand” to his coreographer. A knife fight is nothing at all like a sword duel. Cut-parry-riposte-block: Bullshit. Slash, stab, dodge, trap: that’s a knife fight. Three cuts and you’re out, but first one to stabbed loses. And you never, never, get long exchanges of steel-on-steel.
As for Van Damme, he was a fine full contact fighter and he has pretty technique. Is he the first guy I’d pick in teh streetfight draft? Not even close, but can at least throw a punch that wouldn’t break fingers if it actually hit something.
Okay, I’ll get off the soapbox now. I feel like I’m channeling my old man (who could never sit through a war movie without criticizing tactical blunders).
I think you might be talking about Jeff Speakman. He had some crazy-ass judo where he’d take on 5 people at once.
And lets not forget American Ninja, Michele Dudikoff. Ill never forget that scene in Gymkata where hes getting attacked by a town full of mutants or something.
Fortunately, there was a pommel horse in the town square so he could kick the crap out of them all.
Spiritus Mundi wrote:
I took it that they were well aware that knife fights are not normally done like that way. It was a stylistic choice to do it that way, and the results were all the more impressive because it’s not what you expect from a knife fight.
Getting marginally back on topic, if you have any issue with the fight scenes in Dark Angel, just be grateful they’re better than the ones in Black Scorpion, in which people face off and wait for eachother to pull off slow kicks, and then the fight suddenly ends when one person runs off after not getting hurt at all.
Of course, some would say that the two aren’t always mutually inclusive. I’m reminded of that old adage that goes “The only difference between a prostitute and a slut is that one is getting fair market value.”
Speakman holds rank in Ed Parker’s American Kenpo.
I haven’t watched Black Scorpion yet. If I am lucky, I will be able to say the same on my deathbed.
We’re talking about Lungren here, eh? Goodness, I’d hope Max looks better than him in a fight, sheesh.
Ah, Kenpo…Kempo? Which one was it? One is a completely American-devised fighting style, sort of a Jeet Kun Do dealie, and the other is a traditional martial arts style.
Damn work computer, all my martial arts books are at home. Next to my physics books, which also would have come in handy today.
sigh Some days I just shouldn’t post (note: this is not an invitation ;))
Kempo (fist law) can refer to any of several Japanese/Okinowan martial arts. As a rule they are styles that have enjoyed significant Chinese infuence and that stress trapping and grabbing as well as punching and striking. Some of these arts claim long lineages, others (such as shorinji) are modern creations.
Kenpo refers to a family of styles tracing lineage back to William Chow (CHinese Kara-Ho Kenpo). Chow studied Kyosho Ryu Kempo under James Mitoshi, and he also claimed a family lineage in kung fu. Chow is usually credited with the ‘kenpo’ spelling, though others claim it was his student Ed Parker who first adopted that spelling. Ed Parker’s American Kenpo does have some philosophical elements in common with Jeet Kun Do, but the elements of training are radically different. Parker stressed repeated exercise of increasingly elaborate attack & defense set pieces.
Oh, and Black Scorpion doesn’t have anything to do with Lundgren. It was originally a B-movie (for showtime, I think) starring the extremely sizzling Joan Severance. Beyond that, it had no redeeming qualities. The current tv show lacks Severance, and thus is irredeemable.