Fatal Deviation (Ireland, 1998)

I watched some of Fatal Deviation, Ireland's first martial arts movie. Made in 1998, filmed on Hi8 and SVHS. I think I would have enjoyed it if it had been about beating up the English. I didn't watch much of it. The hero beats up a couple of guys being jerks in a grocery store. A woman stocking shelves tells them they have to pay for the stuff they're eating. They say something back to her that must have been considered terribly offensive in Ireland because the hero comes over and makes a terrible mess, knocking one into a display of paper towels. The other wisely runs away.

When the waiter in a pub spills a pitcher of beer, a man with a pony tail knocks him down. The altercation appears to be over but the hero beats up the guys at the table. Manages to do so without causing any damage to the business. Then the bartender aims a shotgun at him. Instead of simply leaving like the bartender wants, he takes the shotgun from him, hits him in the face with it then aims it at him.

I skipped ahead some more. There 's a fight in some ancient building, a castle or a monastery. The locations were interesting. A pasty overweight Irish guy has a nude scene I could have done without.

The hero keeps running into a mysterious bearded monk. 

Why don't we have indigenous martial arts in the west? I googled and found a list of European martial arts but most of them were just things they taught soldiers during World War Two. There was Bartitsu which was started by a British guy named Bart who had learned Jiu Jitsu in Japan. There was Savate, of course--French foot fighting. 

The only indigenous British martial art was called "Shin Kicking". Two English guys kick each other in the shins until one of them quits. This was actually on the list. No wonder they're called martial arts.

Available on YouTube.