It’s a common law of the action movie world that everything looks cooler in slow motion. Gunshots, punches to the face, explosions, car crashes … all are fun to watch at normal speed but downright awesome at high speed. The reason, well brace yourselves folks, but its scientific. When you slow down any event you [...]

August 11 marks one of the saddest anniversaries in the history of daredevil bike jumping. It was 13 years ago that the great Eddie Kidd, a multiple world-record jumper and Hollywood stuntman, performed a seemingly easy stunt — if there is such a thing — that left him severely brain-damaged and crippled for life. Kidd, [...]

Pyrokinesis is defined as the act of controlling fire with one’s mind… and that is awesome! Super heroes and super villains alike have had control of this power and have either saved the public or terrorized them respectively. There has always been this natural awe of fire that we as human beings have, and control [...]

Not everyone in the world has the luxury of a full blown stunt crew. Professionally designed ramps are expensive and hard to come by, and pit crews charge by the hour. So what do stunt junkies do when they don’t have the luxury of their own stunt park or pro setup? Well they improvise. Have [...]

When I was in college in the mid-1980s, I had a friend whose roommate, Harold, owned an exceptional collection of action-oriented videotapes, ranging from Blaxploitation movies like Dolomite to martial arts films so obscure that today I can hardly remember the titles of more than a handful of them. But his Holy Grail was an [...]

Fire is a humbling thing. At its best moments it is helpful and at its worst moments it is deadly. It is a needed tool for our everyday life, but it can go out of control so easily. No wonder it is featured so prominently in action movies, especially building fires. A building on fire [...]

As action fans, we have a deep and intense like for things that get our blood pumping, things like explosions, loud noises, and rampant destruction. Put all these marvelous things together, and you have the art and science of the exploding building. A trap for movie protagonists, an escape act for magicians, and a show [...]

On the off chance that you’ve never witnessed parkour, I want you to do me a favor — climb out from under that rock of yours and turn on the television. Parkour is e-ver-y-where. It started in the suburbs of Paris, but after a few infectious viral vids, the art/sport has skyrocketed into pop culture. [...]

Action movies have been known to employ all sorts of special effects to spice up their big scenes. Explosions, chases, gunfights, all are action movie staples, but most people are surprised to know that a lot of the things they see on the silver screen are a million to one chance to happen in real [...]

Tell me, what do you see here? A couple things come to mind. Crazy people? Acrobats? Urban ninjas? Well, not quite … these are the urban ninjas: And, uh, these are the urban ninjas on their off days … But without the swanky black costumes, these guys are practitioners of parkour, a French art of [...]

September 8, 2009, will mark the 35th anniversary of Evel Knievel’s legendary failed attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon in Idaho. The most famous daredevil stunt in action history, the jump went awry when the parachute of Evel’s X-2 Skycycle opened on ignition and the chute’s drag disrupted the rocket’s trajectory. While the Skycycle [...]

You have seen your fair share of car crashes right here on 30 Ninjas, so now it’s time for a pop quiz. Everyone knows that burning rubber and bending metal are like pure adrenaline to action movie addicts, so how do you take that formula to the next level? The answer is simple: Crash a [...]

One of the more interesting attempts at creating a human-powered flying machine is the human slingshot, which, while not a reliable source of transportation, stays alive in carnival rides, circus performances, and stupid-stunt videos on the Internet. We just so happen to be fresh out of carnival rides and circus performances, so here are some [...]

Extreme sports enthusiasts, especially those who are fans of heights, have been practicing the art of bungee jumping for some time. Bungee jumping produces powerful G forces both on the way down and on the snap back up, delivering a rush of adrenaline like no other. However, when everything is boiled down, you are still [...]