| After watching this, you will believe that if someone were to run up on you with a knife to your back, you could swat the knife away while delivering a devastating elbow to one of three possible areas. It is that effective. However to get there you have to waddle through some boring history and tradition of Muay Thai. If you are a firm practitioner, it might help you out when you square up an opponent and appreciate the art form more, but for most people learning about the different punches and kicks is what this movie is all about. The instructor is old and his tone is flabby but he is still really quick. He does a series of moves that made me flinch back faster than the scene in "Stir of Echoes" when Kevin Bacon sat next to a ghost on his couch. He is also truthful and admits some moves are more flashy than effective to amp up the crowd. But even those leave the opponents lonelier than the night.
You get to learn the many different punches and kicks and how timing can turn their uses from evasion, to setup and attack. I never knew there were so many different ways an elbow can be used. Either through a backward swinging way, to the back of the head or through a frontal assault. Besides evading a knife attack, the real world demos include how to disarm a gun while delivering an elbow/ punch/ kick and the right times to use a flying kick. The recaps are great because it shows how certain moves just taught leads to a knockout and those matches look pretty brutal; they contain more blood than the beginning of "Carrie."
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Quick Takes:
