Predator Martial Arts

I would imagine that because of the weaponry the preds use they would have some type of forms for training. It would be cool to think they have martial arts, but martial arts are developed for fighting simlar opponents (I dont think I would practice my karate against a water buffalo???) so possibly, the typical predator forms would be used for fighting each other in preparation for the hunt/right of passage/ show of dominance/ rituals etc???? And they rely more solely on their technology for the actual hunt and throw in a bit of brawling???? Would a pred really need to consider formal styles when trading fists with a human half a metre smaller?? I think he would just beast him lol.
 
The first part of the first AVP novel, AVP Prey established that the Preds definitely have regular and constant training amongst themselves. The whole idea behind a martial art is to use it against YOUR OWN SPECIES. You don't seriously think that the dim-witted morons who have made these last three movies even thought about a Predator martial art do you??? These guys claim to be fans, and make sub-standard movies. WE, the REAL fans, are the ones who delve into this, and quite possibly the actors in the suits themselves. Ian White seems to have taken the Predator character to heart, and naturally, he's going to want to develop it as much as possible, despite the stupid scripts, since he doesn't have any lines anyway! A culture like the Yautja would definitely have a martial art, or many different ones, just as we do. Strength and skill are the guiding principles that they live by to become supreme hunters. Scar and Wolf both showed hints of something martial, but again, it was probably Ian himself that executed most of it, and not the directors of the films. If done right, a fight between two Preds using a distinct (and alien) martial art style on the big screen would be phenomenal!!! A Bad Blood film would be perfect for this. I hope that somebody from Fox really does read this board, so maybe they could get some intelligent ideas from it and finally make a Predator film worthy of that unique creation.
 
I'm not seeing the yautja standing in a leg and screaming "oaaahhhhhhhhhhh..." but anyway , if his special move is meaning martial art I don't mind for!for them , fighting is the first nature, is not necesary to training ,is pure instinct! weapons is like necesary tools for them , to complete theyr's skills! this is my opinion!:D
 
I don't know about the pred martial arts thing. They would definately have some kind of technique or different schools of melee combat, I think it would be more like the spartan Agogi (spelling?) which would be a way of life. However, judging by the way they fight it all the movies, I strongly believe their style resembles the great Canadian martial art of Batfu. The mantra being "use what you got and swing it until the guy doesn't get up and if that don't work, grab the dude and swing him 'till he don't get up"... no real finesse just braun.
 
The AVP scene with Scar attacking the Queen with the spear did have an 'advanced' combat element to it IMO.

But what really jumps out at me is the wide stance used at the end of P1 (final fight w/ Arny), P2 (w/ King Wiley) and the tackling & shoving from AVP and AVP2. It looks similar to Japanese Sumo techniques. 2 opponents square off, clash together, lock up and then one gets off-balanced by the other, like the first Predator/Alien fight scene in AVP, ending with a throw by the tail.

I would like to see a predator fighting in capoeira style with danny glover!
I'm working with a guy that's a blue cord in capoeira here in Brazil. I asked him what he thought about this matchup. He looked at me like I had lost my mind! I think something was lost in translation... :D
 
"But what really jumps out at me is the wide stance used at the end of P1 (final fight w/ Arny), P2 (w/ King Wiley)"

I never really noticed that but your right. In both films there is a kind of wide, arm spread stance. Kinda reminds me of some forms of japanese ju jitsu. Very wide, just like that.
 
Sumo was the first thing to come to mind. Plus many of the weapon-less fight sequences between Aliens and Predators were very strength-oriented. A lot of shoving, pushing and throwing, with a dash of punches and tail strikes. I didn't see many hand-to-hand techniques that really stood out in any way.

I agree with other posts in that the costumes probably prevent a lot of movements, but in addition, they probably wouldn't want to make the fighting system too recognizable (an assumption on my part). I think if we saw a Predator locking a triangle choke on an xenomorph or doing chi sao with a Predalien, it would make them more human and less alien. I think the Predator would lose some of its mystery. That's just me.


I really like this thread! :D
 
I think the wide stance and arms out is more of an animalistic/intimidation directorial aesthetic. Just imagine a 7 foot something, very well muscled reptilian creature standing in front of you. Now imagine it spreading into a wide stance with arms out, letting out a blood curdling roar while tusk like mandibles spread wide enough to swallow your head. Now thing of a bear, lion or wolverine... same idea. The preds did it as an intimidation technique IMO ... It's just hard to imagine that the P1 or P2 directors or even the AVP directors thinking of BJJ or any specific form of martial art when story boarding and shooting the fight scenes. Watching preds fight is like watching the combination of a defensive lineman and Sumo (agree with the sumo influence) wrestler, especially during the Celtic scene. Watch the end fight scenes again they are good ol' fashioned slug fest, which is what makes them so kick ass. No pussy footin' around, just getting the job done so to speak. Even the spin or rama combi stick attack done by scar is pretty fancy pants but done for maximum damage and power.
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AvPmini4.gif

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predator057nu.gif
 
I think the wide stance and arms out is more of an animalistic/intimidation directorial aesthetic.
That's very likely as well.

It's just hard to imagine that the P1 or P2 directors or even the AVP directors thinking of BJJ or any specific form of martial art when story boarding and shooting the fight scenes
I agree, one specific human system wouldn't do for a Predator. But, those scenes just scream Sumo to me. Plus, Scar's armour has a Samurai element to it, IMO, which leads me down that road.

Maybe Ian White had some input on the story boards. From IMDB.com:

IMDb.com said:
Ian is a student of the Zheng Dao Lo system of Chinese martial arts, incorporating Tai Chi, Ba Gua, Wing Chun and Chinese style kick boxing amongst others.
Food for thought...

So here's the question: Who's gonna come up with a system of techniques, and then don a full suit and demonstrate them? :D

BTW, those animated clips are AWESOME!

.:
 
@ all,

The part where Scar lops off the head of the Alien that was sneaking up on him is reminiscent of that scene in a samurai movie, its not a martial art move per se, but it gives an insight into the fighting ability.

In other words, "I can hear you trying to sneak up on me, sorry, won't work!"

----
Ei'luj
 
Jeeze next youll be saying

" ancient predators probably taught humans all forms of martial arts "

From another planet so it doubtful they studied any of our ****. :D
 
" ancient predators probably taught humans all forms of martial arts "
I hadn't thought of that, but it wouldn't be a hard conclusion to jump to. Consider that they "taught humans how to build" in the AVP flashback. Wouldn't be a stretch that they would teach humans to defend what they built. Scar takes Lex under his wing, builds her a weapon, shows her the acid-proof properties of the 'shield' he makes for her. Didn't really show her any fighting moves, but I can imagine seeing that clip on the cutting room floor.

I agree, that's a stretch of my imagination. What can I say, I'm very bored.
 
I was being sarcastic as again people are trying to attatch human attributes etc to a ALIEN.

but

whatever lol
 
tbh i think you ppl are looking into it too deeply and the writers never even considered a martial arts technique. they probably just said "hey guys, this would look cool"
you can argue this till the end of time and still come up with no answer coz there is no answer to find. all hints of any kind of martial arts was all to make the film look cool! thats it
 
I love topics like this

Here are a few of my thoughts.

Not so much a recognisable form of martial art would be taught like we would define it, but how they fight I think does reveal somewhat how they live, and in that I analyse their way of fighting.

Predators are born strong, infact I believe from the first movies anyway that they have a higher gravity planet also, there is almost skipping motions in their jumps like a human would be on the moon. This would certainly aid stealth in our environment.

They were raised in death, honour and the hunt, much akin to japanese samurai, the real ones, where children are breed to be warriors to succeed the family name. That sort of society breeds a lot of competition, schools and methods would have been used differently with clan war fare.

They would study as is clearly evidenced anatomy of aliens and other alien animals. water creatures, flying, humanoid, reptilian, dinosaurish, cat like.

They would study strategy, following the words of the long dead miamoto musashi equivalent who took an entire alien planet with nothing but a day pack, and a day pack to them is probably, walking staff, camp knife, disk and a few shurikens.

Bushcraft, medical training and even astronomical and advanced physics, lessons.

Society itself is probably based on three of four cultures, the builders, the warriors, medics and scientists. but perhaps there are smaller fields for the study of history and oddities.
They clearly all work together to fight the common goal of mastering the hunt.
Scientists say they found a new species, warriors send in a scout, calculate terrain, local environmental support, food, etc. Scout comes back and says here is how this thing moves, what it eats, what we can eat, but we can eat it. Warriors go back to scientists and builders in a joint govt thing, and build the weapons they think are worthy of use. Consulting the historian every now and again who says, no we have records of animals like this in the past and it was decided that lasers were not needed because of the animals lack of technological development or something.
Warriors go off on the hunt, military like decisions are made behind closed doors to enslave the planet, help them develop and demand sacrifices.

Okay, kinda getting side tracked here...

Aliens are exceptionally fast and they do not need to build up speed very much at all, their ability to recreate is extraordinary.
Warriors needed to fall on their back in an arena with ten aliens and take them all out in as little time as possible, Sugobujutsu rings clear here, battle field tactics, take it down, break the neck, throw the next guy in the next ones face, turn and cut, etc etc
I can see some sort of speed training here with ten preds in a circle all running to take the guy in the middle, it's a child hood game but one of great value.

The lowering stance has both fear and intimidation properties but is also the fastest way to move the right direction to avoid the bite or get the kill spot for something akin to humanoidish musculature systems, In addition, it lowers the centre of gravity a lot meaning a pouncing alien is more likely only to roll with it or away from it rather than knock it down for a clean bite straight and front this clearly would give the pred slightly more time to win.

Another thing about speed one of the fastest more visicious animals is probably the dog on earth to draw comparison to, similar perhaps to alien intelligence, well a smart dog and a dumb alien without knowing whether there is real intelligence, the ability to communicate telepathically or a hive mind. Anyway
There are two forms of attach mainly, run at you and use their weight in a jump to throw you to the ground, or run at you, and aim bites from circles around you, dodging in and out of range. Perhaps thats why the limbs on preds are so armoured...They have probably genetically bred alien type pets so that the young can learn the motions. I mean if we could create a exo skeletonised cat/scorpion, lizard, animal for training we probably would.

I am sure this would lead to a sort of wrestling system but not one they could easily teach their young as the preds can't exactly shoot tails any where they want. you just gotta be fast, read your enemies moves and kill without pause.
Bring the alien in close so it can't bite, keep moving so the tail doesn't get a lock, break the neck, roll and be ready for number 2...

Pre the third era of technology when pred might have had hunt like philosophies, and they still had arcade games, can you imagine mini preds spending time at them, lets play the spit game, How do you play, What?, Okay new guy here is how it works, all these 400 pipes can spurt liquid out at you just like the aliens right, they line you up with motion detectors and aim, but they are all moving at the same time, so you have to learn to see them and dodge before you get hit. If your get hit, you go home...Mkay...It's like hit the corc games for preds...

The agility in trees and using them shows they have spent a lot of time there, balance tests of a sort were surely undergone, and fighting from those positions in hand to hand. Maybe like ninja on poles, maybe in trees.
The queen alien scar kill, looks like it could have came from a running jump aiming to avoid branches and stab the target, kinda like japanese archery from a horse. He kinda orientates his body and momentum here like a cat controls his fall. Try it with yours and watch how they move from different heights it's quite similar.

Using any weapon from close combat would be extensive, staff most especially, but even the smart disk, some sort of Olympic games system thats mandatory with accuracy range, speed, amount and aggression of initial user, things like that taken into play. Do they live essentially a fuedal system where rank and power rule.
Shuriken of course too.

Infact I can see them train with staff much like japanese kids did with bokkens.
Cutting competitions like naginata, those blades on the end of the combi are pretty small, are they designed to take mainly the tail as it's cutting potential?
you shove a lot of pressure through a small tube and it springs about like lightening. If you have some sort of flesh to attach to that, it would be easily to simulate the thrashing tail that you have to cut off at certain angles, different points along the length...
More marks for perfect angles, ability to move with complete efficiency, accuracy, speed between the set number of cuts.
Separate competitions for deployment from carry positions, mimicking the draw of the gun.
They probably had entire countries dedicated to this art of the cut methodology, like comparing kendo, to iaido and other related arts...

It's a bit trickier to think about how they trained in stealth, considering they mainly use helmets with technology enhancing everything, it would not be a long stretch to say their hearing is not as good as it could be, but helmets might have been used for self awareness stealth training. Performing different tasks and watching the decibel metre go up and down, and learning from your own mistakes, I doubt this sort of thing would be a public or often seen affair.
But they might have blindfolded fights, with or without helmets to see who was better at school level.

Like I mentioned they train for the hunt, the aliens on earth as far as I know were basically graduation tests, Bigger, faster and more deadly animals are out there and kow of a few of them...swimming, flying jet packs for dragons, read teradactils...It would be fun.
 
I think we are making the same mistake as always---equating "hunting" with "fighting".

The Preds are HUNTERS. They are not combat fighters or warriors. Those things are totally different.

We don't hunt deer or bears using karate or kung fu. Why would they?

That was my biggest gripe with the "Predators" movie---they depicted guerrilla fighting warrior tactics, but not HUNTING tactics. Totally missing the essence of the Predator, I think.
 
The animalistic way of combat makes sense to me. Like rams butting heads or male lions fighting. I think that the predators we have seen on film excuding the first AVP preds, are more hunters then warriors, but what about the predators i've seen with huge axe's and swords for weapons? Those are traditionally more for combat against armed/ armored opponents . I think the rival clans of predators would fight each other over territory and such much like we do with each other, so in a sense they are kinda like warriors. We just haven't seen them on film. I think the idea of training like the US military wouldn't be too far fetched. With ranged and close quarter combat. I know its an alien race and the probability of them be human like just ruins them being alien, but theres the comic thats based in Africa i think? where the predators have guns and seem more like soldiers. just my thoughts. i think everyone's ideas are great and interesting. A bad blood themed movie would be sick
 
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