Arnis in popular culture reflects the impact that the Filipino martial arts of arnis/eskrima/kali have made outside of the martial arts community. The three terms are roughly interchangeable and for the purpose of convenience, the term arnis will be used throughout the article. These arts emphasize weapon-based fighting with sticks, blades, improvised weapons and hand-to-hand fighting which is formally known as Mano Mano or Pangamut. Because of this training with live weapons, elements of arnis have made an impact in film, video games, television, and comic books. Arnis is often used to train actors and stuntmen how to handle similar weapons for use in movies.
Film (most recent first) 2021: In the animated Disney movie Raya and the Last Dragon, the fighting style of Raya (voiced by Kelly Marie Tran) is based on pencak silat from Indonesia and arnis from the Philippines. 2021: In the film Dune, according to director Denis Villeneuve, eskrima is used as the primary style of fighting in the film due to the use of personal force fields necessitating a return to knife fighting, as only slow moving objects may penetrate said shielding. 2020: The Netflix film, The Old Guard featured Charlize Theron, and her fellow actors using various martial arts for their scenes, including Hung Gur, taekwondo, judo, silat, kali, and more. 2017: In the film John Wick: Chapter 2, Keanu Reeves played the role of John Wick, an elite hitman who relies heavily on the deadly martial art of arnis for most of his bladed encounters. The best single scene for a close-up look at some of the techniques and footwork John Wick takes from this art is the train knife fight with Common's character Cassian. A classic brutal knife duel effectively showcasing John Wick's knife fighting style of choice through his complex live hand moves and elegant "hakbang" movement or footwork.What Types Of Martial Arts Does John Wick Use? By: Joshua Kristian McCoy Published: January 12, 2022 Filipino Stick Fighting Basics By: Professional Filipino Martial Arts Instructor Louis Lim 2015: In the film Spy starring Melissa McCarthy, Filipino martial arts are used for fight scenes. Melissa McCarthy was trained in kali by Diana Lee Inosanto who is the daughter of Dan Inosanto. 2015: According to film director James Wan during a cast interview, the final fight scene with Vin Diesel and Jason Statham in Furious 7 was inspired by eskrima, using metal pipes and wrenches instead of sticks. Vin Diesel had trained in eskrima from prior experience. The Marvel Cinematic Universe features arnis being used by Winter Soldier, Black Widow and Hawkeye. 2014: The award-winning film Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo about Katipunan revolutionary leader Andrés Bonifacio (who is often depicted with a signature bolo in popular culture and artworks) extensively used Filipino martial arts for the bladed fight scenes. Sonny Sison was the fight choreographer. 2014: In the film The Equalizer, Denzel Washington uses Filipino martial arts techniques to take out a room of Russian thugs using weapons like a knife and improvised weapons such as a shot glass and cork screws which were used like push daggers. Denzel Washington is also a student of Filipino Martial Arts legend Dan Inosanto. 2014: Rafael Kayanan of the Sayoc Kali system was the Fight Choreographer for the close quarter fights where Liam Neeson fights various opponents inside the airplane of the film Non-Stop. 2014: Arnis was extensively used in the film I, Frankenstein. Actor Aaron Eckhart trained for 6 months under Ron Balicki and Diana Lee Inosanto for the role.This Frankenstein monster is a Filipino martial arts expert Nepales, Ruben V., Philippine Daily Inquirer, Jan.30, 2014 2012: In The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption Agromael (Dave Batista) uses arnis in his fight scenes. 2011: The Bladed Hand: The Global Impact of Filipino Martial Arts is a documentary film by Jay Ignacio, Sonny Sison, Kent Vives which features interviews from many of the prominent Filipino grandmasters around the world and in the Philippines who are alive today. It is unprecedented as they were able to obtain permission to document arnis systems which have held long bitter rivalries with each other, something which would not have been possible a decade ago. 2011: In Hanna, the characters played by Eric Bana and Saoirse Ronan are shown practicing 6-step sinawali double-stick drills at the beginning of the film. Towards the end, Hanna gets into a fight and uses Filipino trapping and knife-fighting techniques. Ronan trained at the Inosanto Academy for the role and Jeff Imada was fight choreographer for the film as well. 2011: Olivier Schneider was the fight choreographer for the film Unknown starring Liam Neeson. Schneider and Neeson had both previously worked on Taken in 2008. In Unknown, Neeson's character regains his effective combat skills and uses a broken piece of glass like a knife to kill his assailant. 2011 and 2010: In the two TV movie specials of SP (SP: Yabou-hen (SP: Motion Picture I) - 2010 & SP: Kakumei Hen (SP: Motion Picture II) - 2011), Kaoru Inoue (Junichi Okada) used kali in fighting most of the antagonists in the films. 2010: In Wrong Side of Town the characters of Dave Batista called Big Ronnie or BR and Marrese Crump called Markus or Bordas Bodyguard use arnis in fight scenes. 2010: In the Korean movie The Man from Nowhere, the main character, Cha Tae-sik, takes out a room full of henchman using Filipino empty-hand and knife-fighting techniques. A fight also happens between Cha Tae-sik and a Thai gang member in which they use a variety of Filipino trapping techniques. The Thai gang member is armed with a Karambit which is used in Filipino Martial Arts and Silat Training. 2010: In Kick-Ass, the title character, played by Aaron Johnson, used arnis sticks to fight criminals and Hit-Girl played by Chloë Grace Moretz used the signature Filipino balisong knives. 2010: In Repo Men, Forest Whitaker (a long time kali student under Dan Inosanto) and Jude Law used kali for the fight scenes with Jeff Imada as fight choreographer. 2010: In The Book of Eli, the title character, played by Denzel Washington, uses a stylized Bolo blade in self-defense. Washington trained for months in kali fighting styles in preparation for the role under Dan Inosanto and his senior student Jeff Imada. 2009: Eskrimadors is a landmark Filipino Martial Arts documentary film by Kerwin Go which features the real-life legendary grandmasters and interviews from Doce Pares, Balintawak Eskrima and other major schools from the Cebu area. It is of particular significance because it is the first documentary film on FMA that was made by a Filipino. 2009: In Ninja Assassin, kali was used in the dual weapon choreography. Chad Stahelski and Jonathan Eusebio of 87Eleven Action Design were fight choreographers. Stahelski and Eusebio are students of Dan Inosanto. 2008: Olivier Schneider was the fight choreographer for the film Taken. starring Liam Neeson. Neeson trained under Schneider and used a combination of Wing Chun, silat and arnis. 2008: In the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace, actor Daniel Craig used Filipino martial arts to subdue a knife-wielding assassin. 2nd-unit director Dan Bradley worked with the same team from the Bourne series of movies for the fight choreography. 2002, 2004 and 2007: In the 2002 movie The Bourne Identity and its 2004 and 2007 sequels, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, Matt Damon used kali for the fight scenes, and was trained by Damon Caro and Jonathan Eusebio. The primary fight choreographer was Jeff Imada assisted by Damon Caro and Jonathan Eusebio, all students of Dan Inosanto. The first film's director Doug Liman stated that kali's principles of minimal effort influenced their development of Bourne's character. 2008: In Big Stan, the title character, played by Rob Schneider, fights prison inmates with a mop broken in half as his kali sticks and his last opponent was Dan Inosanto. 2008: In Punisher: War Zone, Ray Stevenson (Punisher) practiced arnis as part of his stick-fighting and knife-fighting training. 2007: In 300, arnis/kali/eskrima was used as the base for the blade and shield choreography. FMA's signature heavy use of the off-hand can be seen in the offensive use of the shield. The fight choreographer, Damon Caro is a senior student of Dan Inosanto. Not much is known about the fighting style of the Spartans, so arnis was used as a replacement. 2000, 2004 and 2013: In the Chronicles of Riddick series, Riddick (Vin Diesel) employs a more aggressive variation of arnis.Dog Brothers Forum Thread on Vin Diesel & Riddick Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny, August 18, 2004Interview with Kali Master Ama Guro Jun de Leon Hewitson, Nick, Detroit Kali-Silat Academy, April 6, 2013 Paul Rapovski of Kali de Leon was the fight choreographer. 2006: In Mission: Impossible III, Tom Cruise and Keri Russell's characters were shown training with rattan sticks. 2005: In The Prodigy, fight/stunt coordinator Ron Balicki stylized all the fights in the film using arnis techniques. 2006: In The Sensei, Diana Lee Inosanto's character teaches a young boy arnis. Wesley Snipes used arnis in 2004's Blade: Trinity. Fight coordinator Chuck Jeffries is a kali expert (under Dan Inosanto) and Snipes learned from Jeff Ward who was fight choreographer in the first 2 movies. 2004: In Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Milla Jovovich's character was trained by Ron Balicki to use arnis to finish off several opponents with expandable batons. Ron Balicki (a senior JKD/kali instructor under Dan Inosanto) and his daughter Diana Lee Inosanto were the fight choreographers. 2004: Mano Mano 3: Arnis the Lost Art is a 2004 film starring Ronnie Ricketts, the brother of Christopher Ricketts who is a founder of the Bakbakan International style. 2003: In Daredevil, Ben Affleck stars as Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer who fights for justice in the courtroom and on the streets of New York as the masked vigilante Daredevil, using a stick for main weapon. 2003: The Hunted starring Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio del Toro showcased Filipino knife fighting which was choreographed by Tom Kier and Rafael Kayanan, a master practioniner of Sayoc Kali. 2003: In The Matrix Reloaded, Neo used the two halves of a broken spear like batons, was able to block the henchmen's strikes with one spear piece and immediately attack with the other. Two henchmen were attempting to attack Neo on his left and right side. However, Neo, using his weapons, was able to quickly defend himself and attack them simultaneously. 2003: In the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life starring Angelina Jolie, Filipino martial arts are used for some fight scenes. Angelina appears training with kali sticks against bo staff 2002: The sequel movie Blade II features arnis once again. Kali instructor Jeff Ward returned as fight coordinator and Wesley Snipes studied under him. 2002: In Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, Lucy Liu's character uses arnis to fend off her opponents with a pair of sticks. 2002: In Equilibrium, the commentary reveals that arnis is used in the fight between John Preston and Brandt. 2001: In Kiss of the Dragon, Jet Li's character uses eskrima-based stick fighting in one scene where he was trapped inside the dojo full of black belters. 1998: Arnis is the weapon style used in the choreography of the popular comic-book film Blade. Fight choreographer Jeff Ward is a Pekiti Tirsia instructor and stunt coordinators Jeff Imada plus Chuck Jeffries are Inosanto Kali experts as well. 1997: In Mortal Kombat Annihilation, Sultan Uddin (Cabales Eskrima) not only portrayed Reptile, but choreographed Princess Kitana's fight sequence showcasing movements of Eskrima Serrada. 1996: In Barb Wire, Temuera Morrison's character uses empty-handed arnis to fight Customs agents, Diana Lee Inosanto and Ron Balicki.