Actual martial artists that don’t look too good in front of the camera

[sym8]

It may be the martial artist, or the choreographer, or a bit of both, but who doesn’t look too good showing their skills for the camera?

My first choice would be Louis Neglia former kick boxing champion in Sun Dragon (Hard Way To Die). Great film, with great performances and choreography, but he just looked a little stiff and awkward. He definitely has the skills, but I think maybe he struggled with the style of choreography.

[Killer Meteor]

Ji Han Jae in...well anything.

[DrNgor]

I've heard people speak of Dale "Apollo" Cook in Eternal Fist with Cynthia Khan.

[saltysam]

I'm a fan of both but Chuck Norris & Joe Lewis looked awkward and stiff at times, though Chuck did gradually improve.

[sym8]

8 minutes ago, saltysam said:

I'm a fan of both but Chuck Norris & Joe Lewis looked awkward and stiff at times, though Chuck did gradually improve.

I to felt Chuck improved over time but then Walker came along and when he wasn’t doubled he looked as stiff as hell.I guess age gets us all in the end😞

[venom10463]

Don the Dragon Wilson. I grew up watching fast paced martial arts films, so when I started watching Wilson's films, I dislike whomever did the fight choreography. It was slow and many scenes looked like they were rehearsing.

[laagi]

Anderson Silva in Fruit Chan's recent "masterpiece" The invincible Dragon. An overall absolutely horrific performance.

Edited March 1, 2020 by laagi

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Don Wilson, who actually looks really good in the ring. Chuck Norris, who was too tight for Tae Kwon Do.

[CT KID]

Bob Wall, but he made a good punching bag for Bruce Lee though. Jhoon Rhee didn't look to hot either in When Taekwondo Strikes.

Edited March 9, 2020 by CT KID

[CT KID]

On 3/2/2020 at 10:45 AM, NoKUNGFUforYU said:

Don Wilson, who actually looks really good in the ring. Chuck Norris, who was too tight for Tae Kwon Do.

I think Chuck looked great in his fight with Bruce in WOTD but agree he was not  very flexible.

[edher_M.A.]

For some reason many of the fighters turned actors look bad, from kickboxers, to mma fighters.  Forms competitors tend to be better (Jet Li, Keith Cook, Cynthia Rothrock, Wu jing) or dancers (Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, Moon Lee) or even martial arts trained actors, who have little to no contact with competitions (Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yasuaki Kurata).

[sym8]

15 hours ago, edher_M.A. said:

For some reason many of the fighters turned actors look bad, from kickboxers, to mma fighters.  Forms competitors tend to be better (Jet Li, Keith Cook, Cynthia Rothrock, Wu jing) or dancers (Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, Moon Lee) or even martial arts trained actors, who have little to no contact with competitions (Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yasuaki Kurata).

Agreed,with the forms competitors it’s a performance,they gotta look good,where the MMA/fight competitors it’s all about hurting people and winning.I did Tae Kwon Do for 18 years and the turning kick in a pattern was totally different from what I threw in sparring and competition.

[AlbertV]

On 2/29/2020 at 6:48 PM, DrNgor said:

I've heard people speak of Dale "Apollo" Cook in Eternal Fist with Cynthia Khan.

He did earn a little bit of redemption in his cameo appearance in Deadend of Beseigers where he had a brief fight against Yu Rongguang.  His in-ring fight against Tom Bloom in Double Blast was actually a pretty decent fight scene as well. 

[Killer Meteor]

On 3/9/2020 at 9:20 PM, CT KID said:

Bob Wall, but he made a good punching bag for Bruce Lee though. Jhoon Rhee didn't look to hot either in When Taekwondo Strikes.

Wall looks decent in Game of Death more than in his bona fide Bruce movies.

[CT KID]

On 3/27/2020 at 8:07 PM, Killer Meteor said:

Wall looks decent in Game of Death more than in his bona fide Bruce movies.

Yes I had forgot all about that ring fight he had with Sammo in GOD, he didn't look bad in that. Also the jump spinning back kick he did in Enter on the old man after he had cut him looked good too.

[Killer Meteor]

Well, going from Way of the Dragon, who would have thought Wong In-Sik was any good?

[CT KID]

On 3/31/2020 at 3:47 AM, Killer Meteor said:

Well, going from Way of the Dragon, who would have thought Wong In-Sik was any good?

I know, some stars just didnt want to take a chance of being upstaged or having any of the spotlight stollen from them while others like Jackie Chan was quite willing to have the living shit kicked out of him on screen and let Wong shine in Young Master.

[edher_M.A.]

On 4/1/2020 at 6:02 PM, CT KID said:

I know, some stars just didnt want to take a chance of being upstaged or having any of the spotlight stollen from them while others like Jackie Chan was quite willing to have the living shit kicked out of him on screen and let Wong shine in Young Master.

Yes, is like Vin Diesel & The Rock think like Bruce Lee and Keanu Reeves think like Jackie Chan

[Cognoscente]

Don Johnson. Winston Ellis mentioned in a mid-90s interview for Martial Arts Illustrated that Don is a very good martial artist. Sadly, I have yet to see him in a good on-screen fight.