I'm going to touch on a subject within Mortal Kombat that I don't hear about talked too much. The martial arts used within it. I never would have noticed it's extreme diversity had it not been for a movie called: The Raid..
I watched a movie from Indonesia called The Raid : Redemption 3 times this month and was incredibly impressed with not only the whole movie, but the martial arts done in it as well. If you haven't heard about The Raid, I suggest you immediately look it up, because it's the best action movie ever(I have to warn you, it's very very violent). The story follows a man named Rama(Iko Uwais) who is part of a 20 man swat team in Jakarta, Indonesia. They're sent in to raid a 30 story apartment complex full of the worst criminals in Jakarta being run by a merciless crime lord named Tama. The place has remained untouched for a reason. And the team finds out why shortly after entering the complex. They quickly realize that they're no longer there to do good, but to survive. The Raid displays some of the best shootouts and martial arts fighting ever to be put to film. I'm being completely serious. It has a gritty reality to it and everything is so expertly choreographed that you'll be sitting on the edge of your seat the entire time. I liken the adrenaline rush you get from this to that of a horror film. The characters are all just trying to survive and it is intense to watch. This movie fires on all cylinders throughout the entirety of it's 101 minute run time. There's short breaks of talking and story in between all of the fantastic fighting.. But never too much, and never too little either. The first time I saw it, I came out with my heart pounding and full of adrenaline. I had just witnessed something incredible. Each time after that was no different. Guys, believe it or not I took my girlfriend to see this. She loved it just as much as I did. This is easily my favorite movie of all time now. Everyone involved with this movie should be insanely proud of themselves; as I'm sure they undoubtedly are. On a budget of a little more than 1 million dollars, this movie puts just about every special effects heavy big-budget blockbuster action movie the american film industry has pooped out for the past few years to complete shame. Gareth Evans is the man. Definitely. I've caught word that we're planning an American remake.. I'm very skeptical of it, but I have faith that the makers of it will have respect for the original and not make it full of jump cuts and awful effects.
Here's a clip from The Raid. Be forewarned : It's not for the squeamish
I'm not joking when I say I watch this clip at least twice a day
The style of martial arts highlighted in The Raid is called Silat. Having practiced martial arts for a number of years when I was younger I had heard of silat before, but man.. That movie really makes it shine. So after I had no more money to see the movie in theaters I knew I needed more martial arts action to hold me over until the release of The Raid on Blu-ray. So I scowered net flix and came up with Ip Man and Ip Man 2(I also came up with another Gareth Evans/Iko Uwais masterpiece called Merantau. But I need to move on).
I was completely blown away again. This time by the Wing Chun style of kung fu(and the fact that it was based, however loosely, around the true story of Yip Man). The Raid and Ip Man comprise my 2 favorite movies of all time.
I desperately wanted to see these styles of martial arts somewhere else.. Like in a video game... I figured a good place to start would have to be my favorite fighting game of all time.. So I turned to Mortal Kombat 2011. I have to say I am WAY more impressed by this game having familiarized myself with the actual martial arts being done in it. There's some very impressive motion capture being done here that I don't think is highlighted quite enough. For instance, there's Kung Lao. I used to hate Kung Lao. But now that I know he's a Wing Chun master I have this new found respect for him. I never used to think too much of Rain's fighting either until I played as him recently. I'm almost 100% positive that his standing animation is a silat pose! The same with his kicks. You can see the essence of Silat in it. Here's a video of Kung Lao vs. Rain. Note that Ip Man in the clip above and Kung Lao in the clip below share the same stance and some of the same strikes.
I wanna say Stryker has some silat kicks too. But obviously, I'm no martial arts master. I could be wrong about this. If you really want to get into it, compare his round house kicks and baton use to that of Iko's in the clip from The Raid I posted. Very similar if you ask me :
I could be completely wrong about all of this.. But that's not what matters. I've come to appreciate a part of Mortal Kombat that I may not have before. I was too interested in tier lists to give a crap about what fighting style the characters were using. Now that I know I can emulate some of my favorite martial arts I have a new found love for this game. I didn't stop to realize that it was trying to put me in the middle of some of my favorite fight scenes. I was too wrapped up in trying to win everything. I used be strictly a Johnny Cage player but have since changed to Stryker, Kung Lao, and Rain (in that order). The team that worked on the mo-cap for Mk is amazing. I feel that we as gamers don't appreciate stuff like this enough. In my opinion Mortal Kombat 2011 is hands down the best fighting game ever.
PS : Go see The Raid if you can. Right now. It doesn't matter how long you have to drive. Go see it. It'll be worth it.
You were wrong. :smile:
ReplyDeleteI'm not practicing Wing Chun but from what I heard about Wing Chun and saw some video training online and of course Ip Man 1 & Ip Man 2, and saw the documenter (Discovery Channel's Fight Quest), I can safely concluded that Kung Lao's stance and move was not based on Wing Chun. There were some principle being violated.
Rain also didn't look the Silat I have encounter (but there were probably Silat style that similar which I haven't seent it yet) nor Stryker. In fact, Stryker style was more based on boxing and greek pancration.
The baton was not a weapon in Silat so the way it used in THE RAID was totally a creativity from Iko and Gareth. The way he used it was more based on empty-hand technique instead of a real weapon technique.
Silat was an umbrella terms, covered the whole collection of style in South East Asian. So there were different style of Silat. If you watch MERANTAU and THE RAID, you'll see the fight were different.
Silat was actually had been presented in Hollywood although mixed with other martial art.
Here the thing,
if you saw Hollywood movies in the last decades, some of the choreographer came from Filipino Martial Arts (FMA). And they learnt FMA from JKD under Dan Inosanto. Dan, however, sometimes mixed Silat to any part of his teaching.
There were other choreographer made their own Martial Arts style which said based on their experience on the street (e.g. Keysi). However, tracing their life closely, they were learned under Dan Inosanto. Again, when a choreographer used to learn under Dan Inosanto , there were possibility they were being introduced to Silat although never took Dan Inosanto's Silat class.
There were other choreographers who learned Silat and mixed with their previous style.
Again,
most of the Silat style itself also acknowledged that they were influenced by other martial arts e.g several Chinese Wushu (kungfu), Kalaripayatt, etc and then those style were adapted as South East Asian postures and the local geography. I have spot some techniques in Silat which obviously adapted from other martial arts.
Much respect for this reply man. I really appreciate your input and knowledge on the subject, man! :)
Deletethe only character that using silat in mortal kombat that i've known is baraka. you can looking out the style in mortal kombat armaggedon (ps2)
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