Product Description

See the world's legendary fighting styles in an entirely new way. As young martial artists Mike Chaturantabut and Matt Mullins fight their way through the world's most prestigious tournament, East meets West in a stunning application of visual technologies and the biomechanical secrets behind the world's martial arts are revealed for the first time. Using a unique graphic technique that allows for "in-the-body" animation of joints and muscles, experts demonstrate the basic principles behind muscular torque and leverage creating fighting and sparring scenes unlike anything you've ever seen. Examine the physiology behind a roundhouse kick and witness how muscles spring and recoil during an attack. Weapon masters showcase the physics behind the fiercest weapon styles the twin broadswords, the Chinese straight sword and the Katana and demonstrate how warriors can quickly master even common household items like a traditional Japanese hand fan to devastate their opponents. Watch as the latest scientific analysis and motion-capture techniques are combined to reveal the secret science of the martial arts and the amazing grace and fluidity of the human form.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42675 in DVD
• Brand: Discovery Channel
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 130 minutes

Customer Reviews

What the...?!
Ignore the hater reviews below, or above, this one. They are judging the program on criteria it was never intended to have.

First off, if your looking to learn the martial arts from a DVD, you may want to reconsider...something, anything, really just don't try to learn the martial arts from a DVD. A teacher, with extensive knowledge may cost more, but the martial arts are not something you can pick up in an hour-and-a-half for 20 dollars.

Anywho, the this show was produced by THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL, so is much safer to assume that the made the show with the intention of breaking down a complex subject so that all us plebeians can understand. And this is where the DVD succeeds. It explains the science of motion behind many famous (and maybe a few obscure) fighting styles, and showcases the greatest melee weapons in the hands of experts. Including my favorite, the Katana.

While a regular martial artist might find some novelty in it, its meant for all us non, or psudo-martial artists (I am, of course, the latter) I know that when I first saw it, I got so pumped that I punched a nearby stone wall, and though I broke the skin on my hand, I was still happy.

Fun to watch, but worthless to the serious artist
Let's begin with the good. This DVD is full of flashy, cool scenes featuring various artists performing with and without weapons. CGI and complex motion-capture equipment is used to show movement and break down basic ideas behind what makes martial arts work. There are some very exciting and interesting scenes. . .

However. . .

While it touches briefly on basic principles behind martial arts ( for example, a scene visually displaying through CGI how force travels from grounded stance into an opponents body during a strike )it does only that. It briefly touches. It does not delve into WHY proper breathing is vital, what constitutes proper stance, or the bio-mechanical elements behind the immense power generated by well-conditioned martial artists.
As well, too much emphasis is put on showmanship, in my opinion, and too little on training and traditional, effective arts.

But still, this DVD broke some new ground. If someone were to pick up where Matt and Mike left off and make an effort to REALLY EXPLAIN the science behind these arts. . .
Well, that would be worth seeing indeed.

catch it on tv
When I saw the commercials for this, I couldn't wait. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be, though. It said on the commercial there would be information on martial arts, but it didn't, and mostly follows the training and competition of Matt Mullins, and also some clips of the competition and other martial artists. Even my friend who takes a martial arts said he was disappointed about it. I agree with Luar, that it wasn't informational as it should have been, especially with all those computer graphics scenes. I would've given it a 3.5 stars if I could.

Catch it if they ever show it on TV again, since it does have good entertainment value (that and Matt is good looking, if you're a girl), but I wouldn't recommend the dvd. Go watch Fight Science instead, if you have NG channel. If not, head over to youtube.