The Batman The Dark Knight- fighting Techniques

The Batman The Dark Knight- fighting Techniques

well it took me long enough but after a number of weeks I trotted off to the cinema to see the latest Batman The Dark Knight Rises- heres the trailer

This isnt a film review, however for the record, the film is the best of the Batman films and also the most physical in terms of violence. This is where I come in.

As an on/off student of Keysi Fighting Method -KFM for a number of years I was excited to see how the Keysi fighting skills would look when facing a tougher foe in the form of Bane, played by the always entertaining Tom Hardy.

Fight and stunt arrangers in Hollywood have a tough job these days. Making a fight look real yet ‘cool’ is always going to be tough. Since the Bourne films the boundaries are being smashed through. As a result Keysi Fighting Method has been the go to for stunt work in the film industry for a while now.

We saw the KFM style displayed at its best in Mission Impossible 3 with a great end scene where Tom Cruise has a bomb in his head and is in agony holding it but he uses he ‘pensador elbows’ to defeat his opponent. Need a recall, here it is

So what about the fighting in The Dark Knight Rises. Well actually the Keysi on display this time looked very cool, however it did have a lot of other elements mixed in as well. I expected this as it is not a pure Keysi style in the films more of an adapted one, it is slower due to Batman’s size and suit. The final fight scene has  a lot of boxing mixed in, which I thought was a shame because given the size of the crowd at the end it would have been ideal for a great gang attack on the Bat and him using Keysi to defeat a large group. However the film is a story and it is a great one. Despite the sheer number of fights in the films you can see Keysi’s elements, from the thigh punches to the pensador and Keysi’s often under appreciated power punching system (it is a lot like Mike Tysons style).

The action is slower in terms of the power used by both Hardy and Christian Bale. This is a great look, it is not ‘pitter, patter’ striking as seen in other action films. It gives you the opinion that these 2 can really fight and they are throwing heavy shots. They look like they are trying to fight for real! Buster Reeves the man who has works as a stuntman in leading films and actually introduced Keysi to Hollywood for Batman Begins is back again in this project. So it is clear you see the KFM system in the films but I still feel it has a few other elements mixed in. Given Buster Reeves massive martial arts skill base he will call upon not just Keysi but all of his tools for a project like this. However when you think about it, thats what he would do in a real fight and so would everyone else. You call upon what you know. Not what style you are currently training.

In essence the fighting scenes in the Dark Knight Rises will not be to everyone’s appreciation. The reason is that they are realistic (to a degree) and look exactly how Batman would fight. The keysi Fighting Method elements are on display here in my opinion and look great as well as a range of other moves and techniques that may be from other arts. So I give it a Gold star, there is so much fighting in the films that they needed to get it right and they did. A good job done by all.

Go see it!

until next time

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