io9: Martial Arts

Meet Iran's 3,500-woman-strong ninja army

Cyriaque Lamar — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:45:00 PST

To round out their squadron of flying boats and UFO project, an estimated 3,500 Iranian women are training in Japanese ninjutsu, according to a state-run news station. It's official — the Iranian government is in cahoots with COBRA from G.I. Joe. More »

A video compilation of every single creative influence "borrowed" for The Matrix

Meredith Woerner — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:09:17 PDT

Check out the latest addition of "Everything Is A Remix" — this time focusing in on the cultural influences "borrowed" for the Wachowski's Matrix movie. So perhaps when Neo said, "I know Kung Fu" he really should have said, "I know Kung Fu movies." More »

Meet John Chang, the real-world equivalent of Raiden from Mortal Kombat

Cyriaque Lamar — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:50:00 PDT

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In this clip from the documentary series Ring of Fire: An Indonesian Odyssey, the filmmakers visit qi master John Chang a.k.a. the "Magus of Java" a.k.a. the man whose nickname I want on my business cards. More »

What it's like to watch Rise of the Planet of the Apes in Chinese on LSD

Cyriaque Lamar — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 10:15:00 PDT

In my unceasing quest to bring you the best of the worst of martial arts cinema, here is a battle scene from the 1976 Taiwanese film Monkey King With 72 Magic, an adaptation of the Chinese folktale Journey to the West. This shit is indubitably bananas. More »

10 Most Awesome Fake Martial Arts

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:00:00 PDT

Anybody can vaporize you with a disintegrator gun or blow up your planet with an ultimate weapon — but it takes a real badass to thrash you with a fictional martial art. Especially a discipline designed for many-armed aliens. More »

Greatest cliff-jumping, spin-kicking, brain-slicing monster smackdown in movie history!

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 18:00:00 PDT

Why is The Guyver 2 rated R? It's at least partly for these scenes of Zoanoid brain-scooping, hand-mangling and eyeball-splattering. Behold one of the most brutally violent rubber-suit martial arts fight scenes of all time! More »

Korea's taekwon-do-practicing giant robot gets a Transformers-style makeover

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:30:00 PDT

The live-action movie of Korea's animated classic Robot Taekwon V has been in the works forever, but it's finally coming in 2011. And some new concept art shows that the taekwon-do-champion robot could look a lot like Michael Bay's Transformers. More »

Chinese Tai Chi Robots Can Wield Swords, Sever Limbs

Cyriaque Lamar — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 09:00:00 PDT

The Beijing Institute of Technology's BHRs (Beijing Humanoid Robots) can shadow-box, do tai chi, and brandish a mean broadsword. Of course, you've got to hand the 'bot the sword first, but we're just one glitch away from wholesale decapitation. More »

Kung-Fu Zombies Don't Shamble Or Run... They Hop!

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:13:38 PST

Is Kung-Fu Zombie the most perfect movie of all time? It's got kung-fu action, it's got hopping zombies, it's got a pissed-off ghost who just wants to return to his body... until he sees it. What more do you want? More »

Hyper Stylized Samurai-In-Space Film Is A Gorgeous Kick To The Throat

Meredith Woerner — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:00:00 PDT

Cup of Tears' trailer is teaching Hollywood how to put together a sleek green-screen martial arts flick properly, even in outer space. This sick trailer should make everyone who worked on The Spirit blush. More »

Can You Match Blows With This Giant Robot's Shadow Crane Strike?

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:30:54 PDT

Concept art for Jeffrey Lau's "martial arts Transformers" film Kung-Fu Cyborg has come out, and the giant fist-of-death-wielding robots look just as magnificent as you'd hope. And there are robot throwing stars. Yes, really! More »

They Cloned Bruce Lee — Three Times!

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:30:00 PDT

Has there ever been a movie in worse taste than The Clones Of Bruce Lee? Cashing in on the martial-arts legend's death, the film shows a ruthless scientist cloning Lee three times. More »

Scifi And Kung-Fu: The Ultimate Team-Up

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:00:00 PDT

Science fiction and martial arts totally belong together. After all, they both involve a deep introspection and awestruck contemplation of our place in the universe. Oh, and nothing improves a story about robots and aliens more than people kicking each other in the head. Yet, shockingly enough, scifi and kung-fu only really found each other pretty recently. What took so long? We investigate — with our fists of blood. More »