The Accountant: Best Adapted Martial Arts In Film

To celebrate the UK home entertainment release of The Accountant starring Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, and J.K. Simmons, we take the time to reflect on some of the finest showcases of martial arts in modern cinema. The Accountant is available to own on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD from 13th March, and is available for digital download now!

John Wick – Judo

Source: Collider

John Wick is praised for the action sequences that Keanu Reeves pulls off. Stahelski and his producing partner, former stuntman David Leitch, were actively working to develop a hybrid style of techniques for Reeves’ character throughout. The film features many of these techniques which have successfully been used in professional mixed martial arts. When the fight choreographers were coming up for fight styles that John Wick would utilise in the film they mainly focused on a lot of judo techniques. Reeves spent four months getting in shape and learning judo for the film and it pays off as every action sequence is a delight to watch.

The Accountant – Pencak Silat

Source: Collider

Pencak Silat is the signature fighting technique that is used in The Accountant. What sets Silat apart from all the other fighting techniques is that it is very tough but also has very strong element of aesthetics. Silat was the main focused fighting technique because of how dynamic director Gavin O’Connor needed Ben Affleck to be in his fighting scenes, he was also taught judo, jiu-jitsu, everything from the ground up, but extremely stylised martial arts. Silat is one of the nastiest but also best looking martial arts you’ll see and has a certain grace to it which is what sets it apart from many other styles and it is what makes the action in this movie so special.

Batman Begins – Keysi

Source: Collider

The first act of Batman Begins sees the moment we saw Bruce Wayne train and learn everything that would eventually make him become the Batman of Gotham city. In the film the fight technique of Keysi is mainly used in his training sessions with the League of Assassins. Keysi was developed by two of the stuntmen that worked on the film, Justo Dieguez and Andy Norman. The key elements of this fighting technique are that it teachs you how to react correctly yet instinctively, and use parts of your body that are durable, such as your elbows, both offensively and defensively compared to parts of your body that might be prone to breaking more easily.

Jason Bourne – Kali (Filipino Martial Arts)

Source: Collider

Numerous martial artists worked on the most recent entry in the Matt Damon franchise including Roger Yuan as fight coordinator and Adam Horton as assistant fight coordinator. The fight technique which was most prominently used in the Jason Bourne is called Kali and Jonathan Eusebio and Damon Caro also worked as fight coordinators for this particular technique. Kali, which is derived from an ancient martial art from the indigenous tribes of the Philippines, relies on both armed and unarmed combat, making use of common weapons.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Ninjitsu

Source: Collider

Of course Batman had to be featured once again in this list as he is known for having studied in various fighting techniques. In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice he utilises various techniques such as the strong punches of boxing, open hand strikes of karate, knee and elbow strikes of Muay Thai, kicks of tae kwon do and savate, brutal disarms and headbutts of krav maga,  defensive skills of kung fu, and the throws of judo and aikido. With Batman being a man of the night and extremely stealthy we have to highlight have effectively Ninjutsu is used in this film as the more prominent fighting technique. This is especially highlighted in the warehouse scene and has even been compared to the combat system in the Batman Arkham games! Batman uses ninjutsu throughout the film for stealth and for his throwing weapon skills.

The Accountant is available to own on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD from 13th March.