Kali knife expert rates 11 knife and kali fights in movies and TV

• Kali expert Jamie Yancovitz reacts to 11 movies, including "Quantum of Solace" and "Extraction."
• Survival Arts Academy was formed in the Philippines, to protect womxn and girls from violence.
• The academy teaches Pekiti-Tirsia Kali, led by Kali master Grand Tuhon Leo T. Gaje Jr.

Survival Arts Academy was established in Bacolod, Philippines, to protect womxn and girls against sexual assault and all forms of violence. The academy uses the art of Pekiti-Tirsia Kali and is based on the teachings of renowned Kali master Grand Tuhon Leo T. Gaje Jr. The close-quarters-combat system specializes in edged- and impact-weapon control dynamics, from ancient warfare to modern weaponry. The academy trains over 300 students a year and has courses in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, and New York City.

Following is a transcript of the video.

- Jamie Yancovitz: The actors are not properly chambering their weapons. When you have the sticks, every time you strike, you chamber. You strike, you chamber.

My name is Jamie Yancovitz. I'm the creator of Survival Arts Academy. We use the indigenous fighting arts of the Philippines, also known as Kali, Arnis, or Eskrima. Today, we're going to look at some of the movies that have popularized Filipino fighting arts, some of the weapons that are used, and how realistic the fight scenes really are.

"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014)

He has to be very careful in this situation. Even though they're in a public setting, this is a close-quarters-combat fight. This is them getting very, very close to each other and him not having a lot of time to respond to the blade. The Winter Soldier throwing the blade and catching it seems very flashy, it doesn't seem to be quite useful, it's not very realistic. More seemingly for the movie effect. And then there's a moment where the blade is actually coming at the Winter Soldier, right there. So, in that moment, where he's trying to grab the arm underneath, we wouldn't recommend that kind of response. So, the reason being is that the hand that's holding the blade is, again, with that ice pick grip, the blade is coming in right here on the face. We would encourage students to get on this side of the blade, on the outside, or try to bring that arm another way.

It really makes you think about your ability to learn these kinds of techniques. And the truth is that it really depends on the student. It depends on, you know, the style of fighting that you're learning. We would have to give "Captain America" a five out of 10, just because it wasn't too realistic.

Rating: 5/10

"Kill Bill: Vol. 1" (2003)

As exciting and great as it is -- Uma Thurman shows exceptional reflexes, maybe superpower ones -- what we would recommend in survival arts training is the way that we step out of the situation. We would step 45 degrees, and we'd try to be on the outside of the body and the outside of that bladed edge. So, we're seeing Vivica actually stab and try to kind of hit in these broken strikes, but never actually fully commits to full, fluid strikes, which would make her movements a lot more realistic and believable and effective in trying to kill the main character. The proper way of striking would be to do fluid strikes, whether you're doing it with a long blade, a stick, a short blade. And so you'll be, you know, moving in a more effective means and also not wasting any movement.

So, basically, when you're holding a knife, you're going to be looking at two main grips. So we're going to be looking at this very common kind of knife grip, which moves in this kind of motion. And so you'll see here that Vivica is actually using this knife grip. OK? And then you'll see in comparison that Uma Thurman is holding it in this knife grip, which is the ice pick grip. Also very effective. So these are two of the best knife grips that you want to understand and also be able to respond to. You know, you can hold it in one hand, switch to the other hand, switch back, you know, depending on your agility. So the idea is that you are never stuck with that one movement or that one grip. You're always trying to figure out in response to counter the other person.

So our critique of Vivica's movements are that they're a little bit exaggerated and not quite real. So we're seeing a lot of wasted movement here and a lot of openings for her to also be attacked. For this kind of movie, we would have to give a score of four out of 10, but it is a lot of fun, and we are big fans of "Kill Bill."

Rating: 4/10

"Taken 2" (2012)

At first, he has no weapon fighting against multiple weapons and somehow manages to get a weapon. So that's great that he was able to actually disarm, and it shows the different kinds of weapons that we actually train in Kali. So, you know, we work with single sticks and double sticks. And in this particular film, they're working with batons. A baton is just another form of stick work. So, having a baton and being able to use that with the fluid strikes against multiple opponents is actually recommended. We can trace the roots of these systems as early as the 12th century or the 15th century, when the Spanish colonized the Philippines. And a lot of systems are even traced to 1898, with the American colonization period. During these times, weapons were confiscated and banned by the colonial forces, so indigenous peoples creatively hid in different ways. So, for example, the blade was taken away; we replaced it with a stick, and the stick represents the blade. And so that's why we always train with the stick first. We also hid the movements of the fighting arts within dance.

OK, so right here, where Liam Neeson actually takes the stick off of his opponent, where he disarms and uses it, you wouldn't want to step into that weapon or close the distance unless you were absolutely being offensive on the way in. When you're thinking about going against opponents with a weapon or attackers with a weapon, you would never want to turn your back to that person. The right way would be to come into the attacker being offensive, you know, with an attack to the face, an elbow to the face. Anything that is coming in to do some damage in order to get close to that weapon and then disarm it. Clearly, Liam has also trained in a lot of martial arts, in Kali and other martial arts, because you can see it in his movements. We would give him a seven out of 10, but taking away some of the points because of the technical errors that we noticed.

Rating: 7/10

"The Bourne Identity" (2002)

The knife is coming, and Jason is responding. He's parrying here. He is also maintaining control by staying close to the attacker. So, in a close-quarters situation, every movement, every second counts. And as you can see from Jason Bourne's movement, every touch is offensive. And that's very much in the Kali style. This is that famous scene where he uses a pen. I mean, it's an everyday object that is really quite dangerous and can be utilized just like a knife. A key can be used, a shoe, a magazine rolled up, a newspaper. These can be very powerful weapons. He was trying really hard to kind of get that knife out of that situation. For us in Kali, we would just break the arm or we'd step around to the outside a little bit more.

Right there, we see just a quick movie-camera mistake or camera-cheating thing here. The opponent actually throws a left hook, but Jason suddenly catches his right arm and tries to disarm that. So, for "The Bourne Identity," because of its great fight scene, we would probably give this score a nine out of 10. Only docking a point for a mistake, actually, that we noticed here.

Rating: 9/10

"Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" (2015)

You see that the woman fighting is getting cut, Ilsa, and then the man is also getting cut, but yet they still continue to fight even though they're getting kind of slashed in different parts of their arm, their back. Some of the knife attacks that are coming in seem a bit wasted. A trained knife fighter or someone who's trained in the arts would be more aware to attack more of the vital zones. So, you know, cutting the neck or cutting the arteries, going for some of the kill shots rather than just, you know, cutting in random spots that won't stop the attacker from attacking. Our goal would be to move on the outside of the body in order to capture the knife hand or kind of get around the knife hand and go for that back-of-the-neck shot. So this, the area around the neck or this whole neck area is very vulnerable as a kill zone. That's why we teach, for example, to have your hands up, protect your neck, you know, keep your eyes and your hands moving and keep them available, so that if there are attacks and you're able to kind of move around, you have elbows, you have things to utilize that are your own body as weapons. But the technique that's being demonstrated here, not so much.

There's two moments that happen here where Ilsa actually climbs up on her attacker. So, there's a moment where she steps on his leg in order to cut him on the other side, and then does it again in a more exaggerated form for her end kill. And then, again, climbs all the way up, here we go, using the leg, lifting yourself up, there seems to be a lot of time here, and the person is holding a blade and not using it. There were a few shots where technically that person should have been dead already, because I saw a knife shot to the neck and then suddenly, you know, they're able to back up, create space, and come in again. We would probably give this a score of six out of 10 just because it's exciting to see a woman fighting so powerfully, but at the same time, just doesn't seem so realistic.

Rating: 6/10

"Quantum of Solace" (2008)

This scene is great. You know, you can see a lot of technique here. There's a lot of resourcefulness being shown. Clearly a lot of Kali training. And we see a lot of similarities here in the film to the training that we teach. You know, he picks up a very small kind of, like, personal-hygiene item. This can be very deadly when used in the correct way, especially with that knife grip that he used. And so Craig actually used a knife grip just like this, like an ice pick, and is, you know, jabbing and stabbing his opponent with that weapon. Very effective.

I think that's another thing that distincts Filipino fighting arts from other fighting arts, is the footwork and is the stance work. You know, a lot of fighting arts are actually very linear, maybe something like karate, for example. You're moving kind of in this position of linear movement, but in the Filipino fighting style, our movement is always based on the triangle or triangular kind of motion. And so our footwork would reflect that in sidestepping, you know, to the side or stepping 45 degrees, which Craig really demonstrates.

For the effectivity of the technique and the movements, "Quantum of Solace" would get an eight out of 10.

Rating: 8/10

"Kick-Ass" (2010)

This is a fantastic scene. First and foremost, it is great because it gives credit to the Filipino culture where this knife came from. So, the balisong is another name for the butterfly knife, which originated here in the Philippines. It actually came from a region in Luzon called Batangas, and it is a butterfly knife because of the way that it opens up like a butterfly and has double-edged blades on each side. So it's very, very dangerous.

Mindy: Wow.

Jamie: That's probably something that you first learn when you learn balisong, is how to open and close it. And so it's very, very, you know, exciting and fun. There is moments of where she's using the blade to actually tap or hit on the body that is quite realistic.

Damon: Smaller-caliber version of what design?

Mindy: Uh, Eugene Stoner's AR-10.

Jamie: Kali is for everyone. It's especially useful in situations of survival because of the way that we are able to respond to a weapons attack even without a weapon. It's particularly useful for women and children or smaller folks to protect against a larger attacker. Our family system is called Pekiti-Tirsia Kali, and it originates from the Western Visayas of the Philippines. And this blade culture has been protecting the family since 1898 and even traces its roots to more than 2,000 years ago.

We would definitely give this a nine out of 10, just because we love the technique that Chloë is doing, but we would like to see a little more offensive with the knife itself.

Rating: 9/10

"Extraction" (2020)

[screaming]

We have someone coming in with the straight grip, and we have someone coming in with what looks like a karambit, which is coming on the backside of that blade. When you get real, real close to the weapon, the weapon then becomes rendered useless, which is the point sometimes, right? Like, sometimes you need to step into that weapon hand or to get close offensively in order to take control of that weapon, or you need to find a way to distract and knock the senses in other ways in order to get out of that situation. So very intense close-quarters situation with blades, but also very, yeah, I would just say very interesting. You know, when it comes to strength and size, it doesn't really matter when it comes to the blade. So, you know, the blade is the equalizer here. Because the other person fighting may be smaller or, you know, not as strong, it doesn't mean that they're not as effective with the use of a knife. You can always throw elbows and use the elbow as a weapon. So, he's grabbing and kneeing and hitting over the head when he could easily just cut that hand that he already has in his hand, in his power. So that was technically a moment where we would say isn't very realistic and is a little more exaggerated for camera. There's, like, that big, open swing, and they're extending the fight where they don't need to.

So, usually in movies you'll see, like, total destruction and chaos and collateral damage and collateral murder. But in this case, you know, they kind of stop and wait for everyone to pass, and they get right back into it, so it's kind of funny. Probably give it about a seven out of 10, because they did great with the knife grips, but technically speaking, there were a few errors that we noticed that kept the fight scene a little too long than it had to be.

Rating: 7/10

"Arrow" S1E6 (2012-2020)

So, right away, we're seeing a very familiar Filipino martial arts double-stick drill, one of the first things or one of the early things that you would learn when you're learning how to utilize a double stick or double sticks as a weapon. So this is a great drill. We often call this "upper six" or "heaven six." The actors are not properly chambering their weapons. So that's something that wouldn't be seen in a real Filipino martial arts training. When you have the sticks, every time you strike, you chamber. So the idea is that you're always bringing the stick back before hitting again.

It is a bit of a camera-cheating angle that's happening. So, the way that we do this particular drill is with a lot of footwork. You'll see us moving with the double sticks and moving forward and back, exchanging feet, and moving around in a circle, most importantly. At first glance you might think, "Oh, well, they are moving around in a circle," until you look carefully and realize that the actors are actually not doing the footwork and it's the camera itself that's moving around in a circle. They do the drill, and one of the guys hits the other one. If you're doing the drill correctly, you wouldn't get hit, because you would continuously be doing the drill. So that's another thing that we noticed. Like, "Oh, you know, that doesn't seem too realistic, because they stopped." Why did they stop? We would probably give it a four out of 10 for realism.

Rating: 4/10

"The Book of Eli" (2010)

I think it's one of the greatest movies, and it definitely demonstrates a ton of Kali work. I mean, Denzel here is using a long blade, he's fighting against multiple opponents, he's using all kinds of slashes, circular movements, lateral strikes, he's thrusting. He even puts the blade down at one point and then brings it back out. So this is really a great demonstration of extensive Kali training. I do know that Denzel did train with Jeff Imada at the Dan Inosanto Academy in Los Angeles to develop these skills. Jeff Imada does train at the Inosanto Academy, where we've trained with our grandmaster. We've had the pleasure of meeting Jeff. We're talking great classic choreographers here. He is countering every single attack that is coming his way. That's the mindset of Kali, that instead of, you know, moving around and trying to go after each person, if you stay in one place and wait for the attack to come but be able to move the feet and the blade in an effective way, then you're able to respond very effectively. This is a great example of not having to do too much but also doing a lot in that one space that you're confined in. This weapon looks like a machete. A machete here in the Philippines would be called a bolo. You know, it would be considered an everyday blade, something that would normally be used to cut sugarcane or to engage in farming or fishing or building your house. So it seems like just an everyday kind of blade, but the way that -- and the length of it. So, the length of it is quite long. It's considered a long-range weapon. And because of that, it can be very effective with fighting against multiple opponents. And there's even a scene in the beginning of the movie where he's on a highway patrol and someone tries to attack, and he kind of just slices the hand off in a swift, single motion. That is the kind of movement that we are trained to also develop. We have to give it a 10 out of 10.

Rating: 10/10

"Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever" (2002)

Excellent technique, great execution. Gotta love Lucy Liu. You know, she comes storming in with power, with confidence, and she's got not one but two weapons. So you're seeing a lot of exciting movement here. She's attacking different levels, high, low, you know, arms, heads, feet. It's just such a great scene and an example of how a double weapon can be used against multiple opponents, especially in the distance that she's maintaining with them. The only thing about this film is the interesting component that every single one of these people are fully padded in a ton of gear. We would doubt that those batons would do that much damage to these trained men that are all padded up with that kind of gear. And also the fact that everyone here that she's fighting against has a major weapon, they have a gun, and they're not using it. They're just kind of being thrown on the floor. No one's picking it up. She's utilizing both of the weapons, she's extending her arms, and she's moving in full circles. You know, that's very effective. That's the kind of stuff that we teach. To be able to maneuver from one opponent to the other, hitting folks at the same time. She has good motion, range of motion with her weapons. She chambers them, brings them back to the body, hits again.

You know, multiple attacks here against that last person. You know, a lot of circular movements. The realism of this scenario, we'd actually give this probably a six out of 10, just because we think Lucy was doing great work, just doesn't seem so realistic compared to her opponents.

Rating: 6/10