Scripted Fight Scenes

Scripted fight scenes are real.

Which sounds like a contradiction, but it's true. The training, the technique, the control, the discipline... It's all there. On top of that, scripted fight scenes require a sense of timing and performance unlike any other type of martial exhibition.

I think what makes my statement so unbelievable to most is that scripted fight scenes are often compared to sport and competition fighting. When, frankly, they're nothing alike. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good MMA match as much as the next guy. But competition fighting is a sport. On screen fighting is an art. They can never be compared in the same way.

At their core, all martial arts are created as a form of self defense. As martial artists, we train our entire lives in the hopes we never have to use what we've learned as they were originally intended. And when that's stripped away, our skills can be applied in exactly three ways... As instructors, as competitive fighters, and as performance fighters.

They're all valid. They all honor the traditions of the martial arts. And they shouldn't be judged the same way.

What I find so thrilling about on screen fighting is the demonstration of skill in ways they can't be applied in competition settings. All the dynamic technique, illegal moves, and straight up dirty tactics that elevate a fight into a dance of danger that visually stuns like nothing else.

For me, they showcase the martial arts at their most elevated and brutal intensity, but without the real-world violence we all hope we never see.