Swordfighting in the Movies
Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2004 2:52 am
This has been on my mind for a while now. Ever notice how swordfights in movies usually suck? By this, I mean that they don't seem realistic at all. Think about the realistic swordfight... you've got a sword and you're trying to SLICE through your opponent's BODY. The only thing preventing your sword from slicing his head off is the fact that his sworg GETS IN THE WAY of your swing.
The thing I've noticed in almost every movie-swordfight is that their goal never seems to be to actually hit the other guy. The strokes are usually aimed in such a way that neither of them are clearly on the offensive, but rather it looks like their target is the other persons SWORD.
Even the most nicely choreographed swordfights are like this, rapid fire sword-clashing for the sake of clashing swords. As another example, hand to hand fights also do this... like when Neo fights Seraph in the matrix sequel, I hated that fight because it DIDN'T LOOK LIKE THEY WERE TRYING TO HIT EACHOTHER. It just looked like some sort of dance.
Anyway, the one swordfight I've seen that doesn't do this is at the end of Return of the Jedi, when Vader discovers that Leia is Luke's sister. Luke's like "NOOO!" and then he goes completely apeshit, swinging his lightsaber all over the place in that little corridor. The greatest thing about that fight is that it really looked like he was swinging with all his might, and if it weren't for each parry by Vader he would have cut him down. Especially by the end of that fight, when Vader is lying on the ground and Luke just wails on him over and over... anyway Luke kicked some serious ass.
Discuss.
The thing I've noticed in almost every movie-swordfight is that their goal never seems to be to actually hit the other guy. The strokes are usually aimed in such a way that neither of them are clearly on the offensive, but rather it looks like their target is the other persons SWORD.
Even the most nicely choreographed swordfights are like this, rapid fire sword-clashing for the sake of clashing swords. As another example, hand to hand fights also do this... like when Neo fights Seraph in the matrix sequel, I hated that fight because it DIDN'T LOOK LIKE THEY WERE TRYING TO HIT EACHOTHER. It just looked like some sort of dance.
Anyway, the one swordfight I've seen that doesn't do this is at the end of Return of the Jedi, when Vader discovers that Leia is Luke's sister. Luke's like "NOOO!" and then he goes completely apeshit, swinging his lightsaber all over the place in that little corridor. The greatest thing about that fight is that it really looked like he was swinging with all his might, and if it weren't for each parry by Vader he would have cut him down. Especially by the end of that fight, when Vader is lying on the ground and Luke just wails on him over and over... anyway Luke kicked some serious ass.
Discuss.