Intro
Welcome to Part 2 of the fight scene analysis between Jax and Sonya vs. Cyrax. This time, don't expect as much verbosity. Instead, I'll focus on images and GIFs, analyzing a few key shots in detail. I won't stop at every frame since some details would be less interesting or redundant, but I'll do my best to capture the highlights.
Analysis
There's a bit of overexposure to light here. At the beginning of the GIF, you can see a large beam of light on Cyrax. The result doesn't look great.
Sonya's reactions are pretty cool here. You can see she does more than simply look at Cyrax; she's trying to inject personality into her character through facial expressions.
The music starts quietly with a fade-in, beginning on a close-up of Cyrax. Then it builds up, leading up to the fight, doing a good job of building the adrenaline.
Jax does a blep. Or is it a mlem? You tell me in the comments.
My position is momentum
There's a small mistake at the beginning when Sonya runs toward the goons. Before the third cut, you can see her slowing down. They needed to give her more running time or cut earlier, but the former would have been better. It seems like the editor didn't have a lot to work with here.
Assuming she had kept her momentum, the first kick would have hurt. The second one, maybe a bit, since the ninja was adding his own running speed to the impact. I wouldn't recommend trying that kind of attack unless you really know what you're doing, as it has a high chance of missing the target. Moreover, she would need to use the impact from her kicks to slow her momentum and stabilize herself. Missing could lead to very bad consequences, probably causing her to fall.
Personally, I would have preferred a flying high knee to the face.
I appreciate how this gives her character a bit of personality, however. Some characters would approach and take a defensive posture. She goes all in, and if the movie hadn't been made in 1997, you could almost hear her scream "YOLO!"
Parkour Kick... Parkick?
Cyrax's flying kick is nice but physically impossible. He wouldn't be able to cover this distance from a standing position. They likely used a trampoline, made him run between cuts, or both. He uses a hand to stabilize himself against the metal counter, suggesting he didn't have enough height, indicating he didn't use a trampoline.
It's fun to hear Cyrax's robotic sound effects as he delivers his kick.
In case of concussion, shake harder
And there's Jax with his headshake #1 as he's knocked down.
Sandra Hess's athleticism
I have to commend the actress for doing her own fight scenes. I've been pausing to try and find evidence of her having a stunt double, but so far, it seems she's the one delivering all her attacks.
If you pause, you can clearly see the outline of her muscles. It's evident she's athletic, even if she's not a martial artist.
The back side-kick is good for a beginner, but she's often bent in her movement, which would make her very unstable in reality. This is also unlike Sonya's characterization in the games, where she maintains a rather straight stance. This makes sense given her covert ops and military persona.
Camera shots
It's funny to think how silly it must have looked on stage. When Sonya raises up to throw a hook, it cuts to the POV of the ninja, so the viewer "receives" the attack. To achieve that, she had to crouch below the camera until the director called "ACTION." Sadly, the punch looks pretty weak; her fist is not properly aligned and looks a bit bent, which could lead to fractures.
Tickle tickle...
One of the ninjas gently kicks Sonya in the back. It seems more like a tickle than an attack. It's... very weird. Was it improvised? The ninja does have a good round-kick technique, though.
Hook Kick
Sonya's lack of expertise shows in her hook kick. That would deal virtually no damage. The power of a hook kick comes from the circular motion and the acceleration leading up to the impact, not how fast you can bend your knee in the air. At most, the ninja felt an uncomfortable nudge—not enough to KO even a regular person.
Cyrax's Technique
I'm a sucker for Tae Kwon Do. While I've taken some classes, I'm not nearly at master level, and I couldn't find flaws in Cyrax's technique here.
Jax's Reactions
Jax's reactions to the hits are convincing, as he tries to move his head to avoid getting kicked, realizing his cybernetic arm might not be enough to protect him. Also, a quick tip: if you're blocking, don't do it with your fingers extended. They will break.
Punch by Jax
As mentioned before, the punch by Jax is powerful but ultimately very basic. It's just a simple hook delivered with his mass. He does put his weight into it, and while it leaves him a bit unstable due to lack of experience, it's the proper way to deliver a powerful punch.
Editing and Safety
The duck under the punch looks tight, but it might be more due to an editing cut where they started in that position. It's uncertain, but it would make sense for the actors' protection.
Spinning Back Kick
The jumping spinning back kick is beautiful. There was contact made in all of Cyrax's kicks, but especially on the last one, he had to hold back. Delivered to the chest like that, Jax wouldn't have stood up if it had been delivered at full power.
Sonya's Stance and Wardrobe
Once again, you can see Sonya's tendency to crouch as a default stance. She lacks stability in this position, so being pushed back when she is kicked is appropriate.
I don't want to bring attention to it, but there's a bit of a wardrobe malfunction here, and this is seen later in the movie as well. While I might not fully understand the discomfort, it's important to note that having body parts bouncing around when fighting for your life can't be comfortable for anyone. Providing supportive garments for actors and actresses is crucial for both comfort and performance.
Stage Action
When the shirtless ninja misses and bumps into the machines behind Sonya, he stays there for a while. Just chillin', you know. An elbow to the back of the head is legit, but the action needed to happen a bit faster to avoid this awkwardness.
Fall Technique
The ninja falling after receiving a monitor to the face has good technique. When you fall, you need to reach for the ground with your forearms as soon as possible. Do NOT land on your hand with your arm extended. You WILL hurt yourself, badly.
Why wasn't the monitor plugged in, though?
Almost-Tornado Kicks
Those spinning kicks by Cyrax are once again beautiful. However, Jax seems to react a bit too early to one of the kicks, bending his knee half a second before the kick connects. While this is noticeable, it's not entirely unrealistic. Sometimes, when anticipating an attack, you might flinch before actually being hit.
Unrealistic Fighting
Sonya's fighting here is among the most ridiculous in the movie. First, she gets on her back for no apparent reason, forcing the ninja to lean in close to get kicked in the face. Additionally, the back kick she delivers while on her knees makes little sense. Even if it hit the groin, it likely wouldn't have caused much pain.
Jax Headshake 2
Once again, you see Jax shaking his head right before he screams, "Sonya, heads up!" Shaking your head is definitely not how you recover from a concussion, Jax.
Acrobatic Android
This movement is called a back-full (also known as a full-backflip or backflip 360). The technique starts out well: when performing a flip, you want to throw your arms in the air above your head. This provides extra upward momentum and elasticity from the position if the flip calls for it.
He performs a tucked variant, bending and bringing his arms and legs closer to his chest, which makes it much easier to rotate. Achieving the necessary height and rotation speed, especially using only a mini-trampoline and while wearing what is probably a rather heavy costume, is challenging. In truth, only gymnasts really use the non-tucked variant. I haven't seen it much in movies, as it requires a more difficult technique generally not within reach of stuntmen—not that they need it, because the tucked version looks impressive enough.
However, there is a tiny mistake. You can clearly see that when he extends his legs, he should have landed facing the same direction he started in (thus completing the 360 rotation). Instead, in the "landing" cut, he's shown being sideways. This was probably done for the cool factor.
Taking a page from Liu Kang's book
Another flying kick, this time with a clear running start. It's beautiful, though he doesn't land it—likely to avoid injuring Jax in real life. The camera cuts to show a POV of Cyrax, watching Jax dodge. In the next cut, you see Cyrax landing without completing the kick, probably just landing sideways to start the next shot.
Interestingly, the second kick that follows is a spinning back kick. It feels like in the first shot, Cyrax was going for a spinning hook kick to the face. For those who played the older MK games, that's executed with <- + High Kick!
Tornado punches?
The punches thrown by Jax are... interesting here. The hooks are good, but he includes a bit of a backhand swing, which is a bit odd. However, I suppose it can work to open up the enemy's guard.
Triple-take
There are no significant acrobatics or fight movements here, but I want to highlight an older cinematographic technique they used: the triple-take. This technique was not commonly used even by 1997 standards, and it was considered somewhat outdated. However, it was still frequently seen in shows like Power Rangers.
The concept is simple: three cameras (or three takes) capture the same shot from different angles, giving the action a heightened sense of dramatization. There's another triple-take later in the fight. You’ll see part of it in the GIFs, although it cuts off before the third shot. Sorry!
Flurry of Blows
Those are some pretty good punches, honestly. There's a really good liver shot in there. However, they seem to forget that Jax is meant to be four times as strong as a normal human being. If Jax can break through a concrete wall (even though it’s really made of styrofoam), he could likely deliver a fatal blow to the android.
I tried to pause to see whether it was Lynn or a stuntman who did the kick, but the angle left me in doubt at first. Then, I realized it doesn’t matter. The initial kick Jax throws is aimed at Cyrax’s chest. The cut where the kick is delivered to the face is either from a different actor or, more likely, a prop leg. The kick from Jax’s actor lacks full power; he doesn’t fully extend his leg and lacks the acceleration to kick hard. It would still hurt, especially since Lynn was a rather big guy, but likely not enough for a knockout.
Sonya's Stance
At the beginning of the GIF, you can clearly see Sonya's stance. She's crouched, again. I wish the stunt coordinator had given her a better fighting pose.
Barani
As for the acrobatic part, she somehow manages to close the full distance between them and Cyrax (I'd say at least 5 meters) and fly over him. She then executes a rather easy but good-looking move called a Barani, which is a 180-degree front flip with her limbs kept straight. Once again, many shots were required for this. There are several cuts here that indicate the steps taken to achieve what you see on the screen.
Cut 1: Leaping off Jax. Because she is almost horizontal when she jumps, she would have crashed into Cyrax if she had kept the movement going. What happened here is that after the leap, she landed on her stomach, with a mattress to soften the landing.
Cut 2: Slow motion of the Barani. The technique is not bad at all for a novice! Her back is a little too arched and she doesn't fully extend her arms, being pushed down by her own weight. If we're going full technical and proper gymnast form, her legs should not have been separated—there's a bit of a gap during her rotation. But I'm nitpicking here; it does what it's meant to do and it looks good.
Cut 3: She performs a Judo throw called Tomoe Nage, a circle throw. That can't have felt good for J.J. Perry: the throw is normally done by putting a foot near the hip with the opponent facing you. Instead, she does it in the middle of his back while grabbing his hockey plates—I mean, his armor. Ouch!
The End
What did you think of the fight? Did you enjoy it? Am I being overly critical? Which fight would you like me to analyze next? Let me know in the comments!
Also, if you'd like to see me analyze fights live instead of through text, I sometimes stream on Twitch.
You can find me HERE!
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