FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Aspen Orson There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Woodyanders American champion gymnast Jonathan Cabot (woodenly played by handsome and muscular real-life Olympic champion gymnast Kurt Thomas) travels to the remote country of Parmiston to participate in a deadly competition that hasn't been won by an outsider in 900 years.Director Robert Clouse, working from Charles Robert Carner's patently absurd script, treats the laughably ridiculous premise with utmost misguided seriousness, stages the martial arts fights with aplomb, and keeps the enjoyably inane story moving along at a snappy pace. Moreover, this film offers a wondrous wealth of gut-busting howlers: Bad guys don't bleed despite getting pumped full of bullets by machine guns, both an iron bar and a pommel horse just happen to be exactly right where they are needed for key action set pieces, a mist-shrouded town populated by colorful, yet dangerous crazies, and so on. Tetchie Agrayani looks positively ravishing as the feisty Princess Rubali, Richard Norton snarls it up nicely as the evil Zamir, Bob Schott cuts an intimidating figure as hulking brute Thorg, and a hilariously miscast Buck Kartalian serves as a prime source of sidesplitting unintentional humor as a pompous king who resembles an old Jewish vaudevillian. Alfi Kabiljo's rousing score and Godfrey A. Godar's slick cinematography are both up to par. A real wacky'n'tacky hoot.

sebarroso The film is an American gymnast who is invited to participate in a tournament in a small eastern town. In that town he has to face many dangers. Movie bizarre, Class B. It is very good for how bad it is. Recommended.I saw it when I was a kid, I saw her again recently with the hope that is as good as I remembered. Do not know what else to write. But IMDb calls me at least 10 lines for each review.Another thing I can say about the movie is how the character is just a bar of gymnastics or other elements of their discipline, it is very real. But I like it.

HaemovoreRex Well, as others have quite rightly pointed out, this stands proud as a bad movie delight; From the preposterous plot to the absurdly, fortuitously placed gymnastics equipment, a likable yet curiously wimpish hero and even B-movie stalwart and martial arts expert Richard Norton playing the bad guy here, this has all the ingredients for a great time with friends and copious amounts of alcohol.Having said this, director Robert Clouse who brought us the classic Enter The Dragon, does show off a number of very well executed sequences in this which momentarily raise the picture to a higher level altogether - most notably in the often cited scenes set in a village exclusively populated by the criminally insane; Indeed, this segment of the film evokes an incredibly unique, creepy atmosphere the like that has seldom since been seen in any other film in my opinion (and I'm being serious here).In summary, if it's some harmless, carefree (and somewhat absurd) fun you're looking for, Gymkata certainly delivers the goods.

Mark-129 Although I had seen "Gymkata" in a theater way back in '85, I couldn't remember anything of the plot except for vague images of Kurt Thomas running and fighting against a backdrop of stone walls and disappointment regarding the ending.After reading some of the other reviews I picked up a copy of the newly released DVD to once again enter the world of Gymkata.It turns out this is one of those films produced during the '80s that would go directly to video today. The film stars champion gymnast Kurt Thomas as Jonathan Cabot, recruited out of the blue to infiltrate the nation of "Parmistan" to enter and hopefully win "The Game," a suicidal bloodsport sponsored by the Khan who encourages his people by yelling what sounds like "Yak Power." The goal of the mission involves the Star Wars defense system. Jonathan is trained in the martial arts by Princess Rubali, who never speaks or leaves the house. Once trained tries to blend in with the locals by wearing a bright red sweater with dashes of blue and white. Needless to say Cabot finds himself running and fighting for his life along the stone streets of Parmistan, on his way to a date with destiny, and the Game.Star, Kurt Thomas was ill served by director Robert Clouse, who it looks like was never on the set. The so called script is just this side of incompetent. See other reviews for the many howlers throughout. The town of crazies has a few good moments, but is ultimately ruined by bad editing. The ending...meh. Still there's the germ of a good action adventure here. A Hong Kong version with more visceral action and faster pace might even be pretty good.