Oss! The geniuses at Karate Combat have come out with Karate Combat The Movie. It stars Bas Rutten, GSP and a multitude of other stars. It’s goofy, funny, and very grassroots. Should you watch it? Absolutely. If you’ve ever read a review of mine, you’ll know I usually wait until the end to give my overall thoughts. But today, I’m flipping the script (pun intended) and telling you to stop and watch it now. I’ve put the link to it below. It’s on YouTube for free so you have no excuse.
Karate Combat The Movie: Worth a Watch
Look, I understand that Karate Combat The Movie is a big ole advert for their season 3 and meant to build hype for season 4 whenever that may arrive. That said, I don’t care. The movie did it’s job. I now care more about Karate Combat than I did before, and I was hype on it last season already. The movie takes you through a time portal to the past to Okinawa when karate was first founded, to 1980’s Hollywood where stars like Bruce Lee and Jean Claude Van Damme reigned supreme, and the future where Karate Combat reigned supreme in it’s own right.
The jokes are a martial arts fan’s delight in Karate Combat The Movie. Georges St-Pierre is obsessed with dinosaurs and owns an exorbitant amount of fossils. There’s alien quips, and much more at the expense of GSP, which he plays off well. St-Pierre is the comic relief in this movie and it’s clear he enjoys a good joke. What’s really cool is now, Karate Combat has a direct cinematic tie to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Captain America and GSP throwing down in The Winter Soldier. This means that officially in my head canon, Lyoto Machida and Shang Chi can fight and a sparring session between the two would be epic.
Your main character is Bas Rutten as himself. He is the one in the time travel shenanigans after helping train a space-time physicist who offers him to test the time machine out as a favor for helping the scientist learn karate to deal with some bullies. Rutten is enthusiastic and you can see he’s had plenty of fun making the short film.
Of course there’s the clips of Karate Combat’s season 3 fights in their exotic places. Bringing this into the fold is what Karate Combat does best: the CGI tech used might be simple, but the worlds built are very fun and the product they bring forth is unlike any other promotion across any combat sport. It integrates perfectly into Karate Combat The Movie and having the fights there is natural as it gets.
Karate Combat The Movie: What Could Be Better?
I wouldn’t say there’s anything bad about Karate Combat The Movie. Is the acting heavy-handed? Yes, but that’s by design. Really, the only thing I would change is the integration of the fighters. This was just highlights and it would be cool to see some of the fighters be a more central part of the story instead of the story being built around the highlights. Who is the Karate Combat Okinawa champion? Let’s dive into that for the next movie (presuming there is a sequel). And in all honesty, that’s about it. There isn’t anything to complain about, especially when you understand what Karate Combat is going for.
The Final Verdict: 8/10
I have to give Karate Combat The Movie a high score. I really enjoyed seeing Rutten, Palmer, Machida, Danny Trejo, and more act and just have fun with the movie. I smiled, I laughed, and I had a good time watching. If you’re a fan of Karate Combat, or of any of the martial artists in the movie, you will enjoy what Karate Combat has put together.
Karate Combat The Movie takes itself lighthearted and doesn’t try to be something it’s not. It’s a fun movie that only takes 17 minutes of your day. If you’ve been a fan of Karate Combat, it’s well worth the watch and I highly recommend it. It could be key to season four and things like this is what makes the promotion unique.
