- He just gave him a bitch slap from hell.
They've already done about five wire gags
I've never seen before.
(upbeat music)
Hey, what's up guys? My name is Travis Wong.
I'm a professional fight and stunt coordinator
for film and television
based out of Los Angeles, California.
I was a fight coordinator on
Marvel's Legion season two and three,
and just started stunt coordinating Minions 2 for Universal.
We're gonna take a look at some action scenes
from around the world.
Specifically, looking at some Bollywood films
from over in India.
Now, while the film community continues to grow over there,
the level of action is also expanding.
They're continuing to create amazing content.
Now, with that being said, India is kind of known
for some very over the top and outlandish scenes.
So let's take a look at some of these films.
(fists colliding) (dramatic, upbeat music)
He just gave him a bitch slap from hell.
They've already done about five wire gags
I've never seen before.
A wire gag is actually something that relates to
wire rigging.
That is just, generally, any type of scene
where we use a stunt performer
and we afix them or attach them to a wire or cable.
Shoutout to all the stunt guys in this scene.
They are just going for it, just getting destroyed.
(laughs loudly) I love it.
He just fought fifty guys, and then got hit by one guy
from the back (laughs) who then had his life saved
by some guy with a gun. (laughs)
That was pretty epic.
The one thing that's cool about these scenes
is that they really cross the line between
fantasy and realism.
I saw about five to ten different wire gags in there
that I've never seen before.
The scenes over in India were using them
in very unique ways, ways that we haven't used them before.
At an entertainment value wise, I'd have to say
it was a nine for me.
As far as practicality is concerned, and it being real,
definitely give it about a two.
Don't think that any man can take on
that many guys at once.
I don't think that that was the goal of this movie.
So props to you guys.
(Dramatic, suspenseful music)
Oh look at the costumes on this one.
Oh, wow!
That guy just got kicked and did three spins
while doing a back flip,
landed on a wall like he's Spider-man.
I have so many questions.
I've never seen anything quite like that.
That was absolutely insane, and falling in line
with, you know, the true Bollywood theme here,
taking things that you would never even consider
to be a weapon, and in this case,
utilizing (mumbles) tongue. On a scale of one to ten,
as far as entertainment value is concerned,
Bollywood is coming through,
I gotta give that a solid eight or nine again.
I really think that the cool thing
about all these scenes is they cater to all ages
and all demographics.
And then again, if we're grading it on a scale of realism,
from one to ten, definitely a one.
Maybe a half in between there.
A lot of the superhero scenes that I do,
like I said, are obviously fantasy.
But they're more grounded in realism,
and they just have what we like to say,
for lack of a better term, Captain America strength.
We like to say Captain America strength is
three times a normal human, but at the same time
Captain America still walks on two feet.
He still runs around.
The one universal thing is that all of them have
amazing powers and directors, and the stunt teams
are just trying to portray those in the best way possible.
Oh wow, we are in a gym full of body builders in Speedos.
Let's go.
Now, the one thing that I'm going to say right away is,
for these guy's sake, I hope that the ground was padded or
that they don't have to hit the ground because
clearly no one is wearing pads right now.
Spinning, 350-400 pounds right now,
taking out guys, (laughs) spinning in a circle. (laughs)
That was probably the first legit, real fall
that I've seen today, and that was nice.
That was a nice one.
That was probably the closest to a realistic fight scene
in the beginning.
Cool thing about that scene,
that a lot of people don't take into account,
is the lack of pads that the guys are able to wear.
This is something in our industry that I
give a lot of credit and respect to stunt women
throughout the world.
Anytime you see a stunt woman doing a car hit in a dress
or she's wearing a swimsuit, she's not wearing pads,
just like these guys were in the scene.
As far as entertainment value is concerned,
I'd give this one like a solid eight.
I'd say it wasn't as over the top as
some of the other ones was concerned.
As far as realism, I'm actually gonna give this one
a little higher than normal.
I'm gonna bump this one up to about a three.
I saw some choreography points
that I would've done very similarly.
So yeah, men, shout out to you guys.
(motorcycle roaring)
Oh this looks like a throwback film.
Oh, you know this is gonna be good because
this is even before technology.
(laughs)
Some of these reactions and deaths are very questionable.
(gun fire) (laughs)
Wait, wait, hold on.
He just got shot thirty times by a machine gun.
He's covered in blood, but he stood up,
turned around, and shot back.
That would definitely be like the definition of
a throwback Thursday or a flashback Friday clip.
Can't really critique it too much because
a lot of the action that happened
in the United States or just around the world at that time
was very parallel.
The best way to term is would be "cowboy type" stunts.
So a lot of the action back in the day used to be
a lot wider punches.
Guys would do bar room brawl fights
where they do super wide hits.
Then, over the years, guys just got a little more realistic.
I'd say maybe back in the day,
that was more along the lines of like a seven.
If you were to compare it to some of the other films
that we watched earlier today, holding up in 2019,
I'd probably have to give that a five or a four
as far as Bollywood is concerned.
On a scale from one to ten for realism,
I'm gonna give that one a one, (laughs)
a respectable one at that.
I mean that's one thing you'll notice
in these Bollywood scenes.
It's always one versus the gang.
So what's funny is they're playing out the car
at normal speed, and then his running in slow motion,
but somehow he caught up to them.
Well that's one way to take out four guys at once,
hit them, make them spin in five circles,
crash their car, and then go over a balcony into a ocean.
I mean just your standard, jump 180,
bitch slap into Hong Kong reaction.
Oo, another Hong Kong fall.
This is just any sort of reaction where
you get hit in the face, and your body turns horizontally,
and you do one to two twists before hitting the ground.
This term, and this move, was really popularized
throughout Hong Kong cinema.
So a lot of the stuff predating back to Jackie Chan days,
or a lot of the, you know, Chinese type action
or Hong Kong action, for that matter, consisted of.
Super curious how this is gonna resolve.
(laughs)
Fade to black on a whipping scene. (laughs)
Oh wow.
Entertainment value, one out of ten, I'd give that one,
a solid Bollywood standard eight to nine.
As far as realism is concerned, I think we're gonna
stick with another Bollywood standard,
we're gonna go with a solid one there because
my man chased down a moving car, made a car crash on its own
then not only dragged guys and fought them,
but chose to fight five dudes with his belt.
I think it's safe to say that Bollywood is really
pushing the levels of, not only just cinema in general,
but definitely the action genre.
It's really cool to be able to take a lot at a country
that is really not scared of breaking the brink of realism
while at the same time really showcasing their stars
in a really cool light.
For any of you producers out there,
let's make some movies like that here in America.
(upbeat, electric music)