It’s not uncommon for techniques very similar to, or derived from, aikido to appear in movies. See if you can put names to some of what a certain James Bond executes in the video above.

Incidentally, this isn’t the first time this particular sequence has been commented on; have a look at this AikiWeb thread for some clues as to what might be going on here.

Personally I think this is a really great opening sequence, and I certainly felt slightly giggly when those swift moves came up. Look out for more examples and commentary on ‘pop aikido‘ (as I shall henceforth snappily be referring to aikido-in-popular-culture as!) further down the line.