Gymkata
From Zanecorpwiki
If you appreciate utter failure... DVD only.
Summary
There are lots of bad movies out there, and Gymkata doesn't even make the top 10. But in some ways, just another failure seems appropriate.
We can divide the "stuff that makes a bad movie" into two parts: concept and execution. Gymkata certainly has lots working against in both camps. The "magic wish game" that drives the main plot is hopelessly contrived, and there's certainly no lack of poorly edited fight scenes or flat acting. If the story telling weren't so pedantic and plodding[notes 1] the poor conceptual choices might create a sense of zaniness that would (accidentally) improve the movie substantially. Bad ideas are funny when they come at you full speed, without much thought or explanation. Bad ideas are just painful when they're painstakingly described and slowly elaborated in one terrible scene after another.
On the execution, Gymkata is mostly just another low budget 80's film. There's enough time, effort, and money to make a good movie. It was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer[notes 2] after all. Not that the movie isn't poorly executed, just not poorly enough to make it really interesting.
Still, if you like bad movies, Gymkata is certainly one to check out. There's plenty of which to make fun, and there are some truly original, truly bad ideas, so it's not like it's just a rehash of the same old bad stuff.
Probably the weirdest thing about the movie is that the star, Kurt Thomas, was actually a renowned and accomplished gymnast. But for me what's even stranger is the thought that the entire thing is based on a book... which I have to assume has been heavily adapted.
Details and Notes
When I rented this movie, I was actually hoping for a few awesome fight scenes. A "gymnastics/martial arts" mash up makes little sense in the real world, but could have made for some interesting action. Instead what we get is the predictable "cartwheel kicks" and the (funnier) "hey, I can use this random bit of stuff in the middle of the city as a high bar and/or pommel horse with which to fight." I wish they'd gone further and explicitly included a "fight with apparatus X" for the vault and parallel bars as well. Maybe they did and I just wasn't paying that close attention.
Notes
- ↑ I'm thinking specifically of the "preview game" afforded by the convicts. Okay, I get it! I don't need a poorly executed visual aid.
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymkata
