Scott LeBrun This viewer isn't about to convince anybody that he's just seen something particularly "good". He acknowledges that it IS a silly potboiler, with enough goof ball aspects to it to prevent one from ever taking it seriously. It's built on a reliable "root for the good guy" formula, even if said good guy has about as much personality as a bowl of shredded wheat. The villains are easily hate-worthy, the action is always fun (if improbable), and the location shooting more than adequate. It's all set to a blatantly manipulative, rousing soundtrack composed by Alfi Kabiljo.Real-life champion gymnast Kurt Thomas stars as Jonathan Cabot, an athlete convinced by his government to participate in a "game" that takes place in the distant country of "Parmistan". The governments' motivation in this venture is that they hope to build a satellite station in this country; the winner of the "game" is not only allowed to live (!), but is also granted one request. Jonathan duels with an evil assistant (Aussie martial arts icon Richard Norton) to the country's ruler (Buck Kartalian), fights off a thuggish competitor (Bob Schott), and falls in love with the rulers' luscious daughter (Filipino hottie Tetchie Agbayani).Along with truly laugh-out-loud moments and moments of moderate excitement, we get a fairly blazing pace and a pretty colourful atmosphere. (This was largely filmed on location in Yugoslavia.) Thomas may not leave much of an impression, but his physical abilities are nothing to be sniffed at. Conveniently, a structure resembling a pommel horse is situated in one locale so he is able to do what he does best. Agbayani is amusing as she initially comes off as an ice princess, and slowly warms up to our hero. Norton and Schott are good baddies; prolific character actor Kartalian is quite likeable as the ruler.The unqualified highlight is the fact that competitors must navigate their way through a "village of the mad", where Parmistan has rounded up its criminally insane. One dude severs his hand for no obvious reason; another guy wears a cloak with no back, allowing us to get an eyeful of his posterior. This, at least, is something unusual, and helps to make "Gymkata" somewhat memorable.Is this quality filmmaking? Maybe not, but one can't deny the entertainment value, as the utter cheesiness is served to us with some style by martial arts movie veteran Robert Clouse (of "Enter the Dragon" fame).Eight out of 10.

jessegehrig Did you know you can combine gymnastics with karate? Yeah you can totally do this, you would be surprised what stuff you can combine, like you can combine ammonia and chlorine then breathe deep! This movie is about biological organisms on an alien world who must find a cure for something, or this movie is about an Olympic gymnast who must learn karate to compete in a martial arts fun-run so as to win that fun-run thus assuring the United States of America lucrative real estate for the building of future I.C.B.M. launch silos, y'know cause that sounds patriotic and normal. There is a bad-guy in this movie he wears a vest and no shirt, yeah, on purpose, and it looks cold at the location where this movie was filmed. A Slavic country I suspect.

FlashCallahan Seeing as this movie was released around the same time as American ninja and the ninja was a big thing at this point in cinema life (much like zombies now), I thought Gymkata maybe some random, throwaway movie that would pass ninety minutes easily.It starts of quite good, like some Hard Target style film. There are some ninjas standing around not doing much, and Richard Norton has a lovely mullet, and that's about as good as the film gets.Yes, the main guy may be a fantastic gymnast, but he cannot act, and some of his line deliveries are laughable, on the verge of parody.Whatever the film was about, I really lost interest after the scene where he kept doing back flips to impress some pseudo princess who has to marry Richard Norton. The fight scenes are lethargic, which is odd considering it's integrated with gymnastics, and at one point, there is a village and everyone appears to be literally mental.Dull, and not even worth it for the camp, eighties factor.

highwaytourist During the early 1980's, Kurt Thomas was something of a hero in the United States. Inevitably, men in his position get offered film roles that exist solely to capitalize on that. I have no idea what Thomas was paid to make this film, but I would have to be paid a big heap of money to agree to make a national fool of myself in a motion picture. The film is obviously derived from "Enter The Dragon," as are most martial arts pictures. Only instead of a real martial art, they concoct an absurd new martial art, accurately described by one critic as "a cross between Kung Fu and break dancing." A gymnast (Thomas, of course) is hired to rescue some damsel in distress from an impenetrable fortress, yet every room has a prop that is exactly what Thomas needs to kick the assistant baddies. Of course, he fights his way to the lead villain, and of course they have a fancy-dancy fight, with an ending that will surprise only those who have never seen a martial arts film. There are touches which nostalgic types will like, particularly the mullet haircuts of Thomas and many of the male co-stars have. But the only reason to watch this film is if you have a grudge against Kurt Thomas, who now wishes he had never set foot on the film set.