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| Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: May 3, 1985 |
Starring:
Bob Schott, Buck Kartalian, Conan Lee, Edward Bell, Eric Lawson, John Barrett, Kurt Thomas, Richard Norton, Sonny Barnes, Tetchie Agbayani
Summary:
An American gymnast (Kurt Thomas) travels to a foreign country to compete in a deadly game not won by anyone other than a native in more than 900 years.
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No real film lover could help but muster some affection for this bedraggled action movie, shot in an extremely unpicturesque Yugoslavia on a budget that must number in the hundreds of dollars. The lead, Olympic gymnast Kurt Thomas, is clearly a stranger to the thespian arts, but it's pointless to single him out in a cast that seems to have been assembled from all the expatriate American used-car salesmen living on the Adriatic coast.
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An inane martial arts movie... Thomas is a glorious gymnast and may be a competent karate fighter, but this fight choreography does both disciplines an injustice. Better to spend your $4.50 renting a tape of Thomas scoring a perfect "10" at the American Cup. [10 May 1985, p.D3]
Some of the most preposterous fights ever captured on film ensue with a baby-faced hero who sports an aerodynamic mullet. Also, Thomas does flips as he takes on two roles in an imaginary conversation. [28 Jan 2007, p.K5]
Judged against other martial arts pictures, GYMKATA is technically superior and more intelligently written and directed, but that still doesn't make it worthwhile viewing. The film has only a minimum of credibility or intelligence, but since these qualities have little or no place in the genre, that becomes irrelevant, leaving pure action--kicking, punching, and the snapping sounds of breaking bones--as the main draw.
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