The Oscar’s ceremony was almost split down the middle between two super-productions: “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker”.
The curious part is that in both movies the main characters use Jiu-Jitsu positions in confrontation situations. In “Avatar”, the blue creature sinks a perfect triangle to subdue one of the giant birds that serve as a means of transport.
Now in “The Hurt Locker”, sergeant and former Ranger William James (Jeremy Renner) mounts his colleague to immobilize him. The mount, though, is performed in a less than usual manner, resting his knees on Sergeant Sanborn’s (Anthony Mackie) biceps, opening the way for James to slap his friend in the face.
GRACIEMAG.com tracked down Jiu-Jitsu master and movie aficionado Carlos Gracie Jr. to evaluate the effectiveness of the bomb disarmer’s mount:
“That mount only works with laymen, in horseplay or, like in the film, when the guy doesn’t know what he’s doing. If you try that in real life or put both knees on the arms of an experienced fighter, it’s easy for the guy on bottom to push the opponent on top in the direction his head is pointing, slide out from under and escape the mount on the other side,” teaches the founder of Gracie Barra.
Carlos Gracie Jr. preferred “Avatar”.
