I didn't expect that Gymkata was going to be the greatest martial arts movie ever, in fact I was pretty sure this would probably not be the greatest anything. However the film had Kurt Thomas one of the greatest gymnasts of the late 1970's.
The film actually starts off well enough in true B movie fashion. Thomas is one of America's top athletes recruited for a secret mission by the U.S. government to compete in an athletic competition in some silly country called Parmistan for various reasons to stupid to mention. First, he has to be trained in the ways of karate so he can combine his gymnastic skill with some martial arts moves. This is probably the best part of the film, the training stuff.
Kurt Thomas has an incredible control over his body, he walks up some stairs standing on his hands and does some amazing back flip and spin stuff from a standing position. Thomas may not be able to act, but he is in phenomenal control of his body.
Sadly, it's time for the plot to kick in. Thomas gets mixed up with Princess Rubali who is played by a former Playboy model who has even less acting chops than he, does and not take off her clothes for this film. Their love scenes together are shall we say a little stiff.
Once Thomas arrives in Parmistan, he gets involved with the "Game" which is basically yet another variation of everyone's favorite plot, The Most Dangerous Game. Gymkata was directed by Robert Clouse who had filmed Enter the Dragon, This film is for the most part a rehash of that better film.
Anyway, Thomas jumps and flips and kicks and hits a bunch of middle European Ninja guys as the whole thing gets increasingly stupid. It all climaxes in a battle in a city composed entirely of insane people.
I guess Gymkata is in the tradition of "so bad it's good." It's a pretty crappy looking film, but you do get to see a champion athlete make a fool of himself. Kurt Thomas wasn't the first athlete to star in a stupid action film and he won't be the last.
90 minutes.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment