Martial Arts Movie Reviews

The only annoyance was the appallingly bad subtitles, though they're sometimes bad enough to be fun in themselves. They're not up to the standard of the rest of the DVD, though, by a long shot. I have the HK version by Modern Audio Ltd., and I suppose that this issue may be specific to their release. That aside, I heartily recommend the movie.

The only annoyance was the appallingly bad subtitles, though they're sometimes bad enough to be fun in themselves. They're not up to the standard of the rest of the DVD, though, by a long shot. I have the HK version by Modern Audio Ltd., and I suppose that this issue may be specific to their release. That aside, I heartily recommend the movie.

It's important to remember that this is a submission grappling tournament. That means the majority of the matches are going to be spent either stalking, the guard, side mount, or mounted position. If you hate these positions and want something with a faster pace, then this is not the DVD for you.

This DVD IS for:
-People who don't mind when UFC or Pride fights stay in the guard for 5+min (in this case without striking)
-People who understand the very technical aspects of grappling instead of seeing people "Just lying there"
-People who can appreciate ground grappling

This DVD is NOT for:
- People who want tons of action
- People who don't understand submission grappling strategy (position and points)
- People who look for the "ground and pound" seen in UFC and Pride
- People who hate when matches go to the ground

The broad casting quality is decent. They have different camera angles, but is no where close to the quality we're use to in NHB competitions (KOC, UFC, Pride). I give this DVD 3 stars because it gives THE best submission experts in the world, puts them in a tournament and delivers what it says it does. On the other hand, even for someone who studies BJJ with a Gracie, I found a lot of the matches kind of slow myself.

This is the ONLY tournament where you get to see the best against each other.

However, there are no multi-camera angles or slow motion presentations. Production values are adequate but not even close to state-of-the-art. The narrated descriptions are terse and the accent of the narrator makes it a bit hard to understand. The presentation of the material is quite fast paced. This DVD's value to the beginner is limited in that there are no modifications show for less flexible beginners and no hints on how to work up to the full technique.

With these limitations in mind, this DVD presents a treasure trove of valuable information. With a bit more effort Turtle Press could have achieved near perfection. Sang Kim is an amazing athlete and martial artist--he definately has the "right stuff".

BUT, just taping a class isn't quiet enough in my eyes. The Camerawork is just realy bad half of the time you don't even see the whole action. The Camera itself musst have been pretty bad as as soon the action goes faster you just see a blurr.

Also the techniques shown are not commented in any way, nothing to give you maybe a deeper insight. At the end there are also a few 'self defence' moves (sadly mostly from Jui jitsu), they are pretty complex, but no words of what it's important to look to do it right or not injure the partner...

The History arn't realy big, the just give you a very very brief introduction of it.

So like I said, what's on it is quite good if you look over the camerawork, and the feeling of it all is realy quiet good, but well... it's just not enough...

It is difficult to see the kata being performed clearly, and due to the absence of audio in the clips (the only sound is the narrator and the funeral scene at the end), the breathing cannot be heard.

The video is blurry, dark and visually "noisy". The funeral scene at the end is so dark, it is difficult to see anything at all.

Don't waste your money

If you are a Goju Ryu student, especially from Yamaguchi style, you may want to have this DVD in your collection. If you are a general practitioner from other style and looking for some references and instruction material, this is not what you are looking for. Morio Higaonna's Kata series is a better instructional aid, but this Yamaguchi DVD is definitely a wonderful historical document.