Parkour Galore: Latest Movie Tracers Now Showing in Cinemas

You might have heard of it. You might have seen the display of cat leaps, bar swings, and backflips, countless times through mainstream media in recent years; but do you actually know what this visually stunning, ninja-like activity which is simply astounding called? Truth is, there is no consensus on this. Since its inception, the paradigm shifting, acrobatic movements of what seems like ninja training has boasted many names and in more than a few languages as well. To name but a few, it has been called Freerunning, The Art of Movement, L’Art du Deplacement and the most widely known one being Parkour.

Originating in France, Parkour has since taken the world by storm. You see the spectacle on display in the biggest of Hollywood blockbusters like this one, used as the form of movement in video games (need we mention Prince of Persia and Assassins Creed), and even featured as hilarious Internet memes like this one. But the questions are what is this thing Parkour? Is it a form of sport or martial arts, and how did it come to be?

Derived from the French word “parcours” which in a literary sense means “the path through”, parkour had its roots in the French Special Forces known as the “Parcours du combattant” translated as “The Path of the Warrior”. Basically, one of the “Parcours Warriors” decided to pass on the discipline of parcours du combattant unto his son David Belle, and being the innovator that he is, David decided to mix up the game by combining his father’s teaching with forms of gymnastics and martial arts and thus, Parkour was born! Along with best friend Sebastian Foucan (the guy from the parkour chase scene in Casino Royale) David went on to form “The Yamikazi”, a group of parkour practitioners who called themselves traceurs.

In essence, parkour is the activity of moving from one point to another, utilizing the obstacles in your path for maximum efficiency. The basic definition of moving economically through an array of techniques such as the “Kong Vault”, “Saut De Chat” and “Tic-Tac” gradually started to evolve into flips and somersaults. Eventually, it became not so much about efficiency when it took on the path as a form of expression through a series of tricking movements. While David wanted to stick with the efficiency program, Sebastian went on a separate path and continued developing the art form through creativity, self-expression, and the aptitude to improvise coining it “Freerunning”).

Since then, debates have gradually risen over the true definition of each and the better of the two art forms. While this was going on, people who were intrigued by the movement started to train in the art form, picking up skills and developing new ones, and then along with the creation of video-sharing website YouTube, parkour became a sensation overnight! More and more people started drinking the parkour Kool-Aid and began practicing either to compete or just to express, in urban settings and in wastelands, and eventually parkour have spread all over the world finding its legs in popular culture.

With the popularity of parkour peaking, we can count on Hollywood blockbusters to capitalize on the game! In his latest movie Tracers (notice how it’s derived from the French term for parkour practitioners?), Taylor Lautner plays a bicycle messenger who crashes into a beautiful stranger (played by real life girlfriend Marie Avgeropoulos) and was then pulled into the world of parkour. This will be Taylor’s next big gig since his Twilight days so we wonder how will he fare as an action star? Brought to you by the top movies distributor in Malaysia, Tracers is making a jump for the big screens. This latest movie is now showing in cinemas near you today!

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