Review of Gymkata (1985) by Matthew M — 07 Apr 2010

This film really deserves a half star, but I'll be damned if I didn't have a good time laughing at it. Our hero is a gymnast trained in a secret martial art known as gymkata, then dispatched to a fictional European country to bring order (in hopes that the U.

S. can use the country as a springboard for its Star Wars program). So you've got 80's propaganda that would make Rocky IV look subtle, you've got ridiculous fight scenes (our hero is repeatedly chased into areas that conveniently feature high bars and pommel horses with which he dispatches his foes), and some of the worst writing and acting you'll ever see.

That said, unlike other disasters (Epic Movie, Leonard Part 6, Mac and Me), this film is a perfect storm of bad moviemaking; it definitely deserves the title of disasterpiece, and it earns that title by being, from start to finish, unintentionally funny.