Though the author of this TheForce.net piece on how to make light saber duels look more realistic is explicitly addressing it toward Star Wars fan film producers, and explicitly not toward the SW films themselves — it’s clear that he feels much the same about the SW films themselves.
In either case, the fights consist more or less of constant striking at one another?s weapon (instead of seeming to be intent on actually hitting their opponent?what a concept that would be). Not meaning to sound harsh, but why it is people in these films (even the experienced martial artists) seem insistent on finding the longest complicated means of moving their lightsabers around with the most vulnerable of body positions, rather than the quickest, strongest and most efficient, is something that will always puzzle me.
Now, don?t get me wrong, choreography can be “good” while still being “invalid.” What I mean by this is, the display can be viewed artistically as a physical performance of ballet-like balance and timing, judgment of range, hand-eye coordination, and dynamic understanding of movement. But, to the trained eye (and even the untrained yet perceptive eye) it can still be easily seen to be martially unsound, tactically foolish, and technically primitive.
If the purpose of lightsaber fight choreography is simply to convey drama and excitement within the context of a story, then choreographers feel they’ve done their job well. But, from my point of view, if a lightsaber fight is supposed to convince the viewer that individuals of great skill are really trying to kill one another with laser swords while using supernatural powers that heighten their senses and physical abilities, well, they fail miserably.
His advice (much more fleshed out that this):
1. Act Like You Are in a Fight
2. Don’t Forget Physics
3. Moves that Look Cool are Usually the Stupidest
4. Feint, Dodge, and Pause
5. Don’t Stop When You Get in Close
6. Move Your Feet!
Good stuff.
(via GeekPress)
Unfortunately any fight that is realistic will also be rather short due to rule number 1. And rule number 2 drives me nuts in movies. People have a lifetime of experience in how moving objects behave – some part of our brains are steeped in Newtonian physics regardless of other education.
The other day I watched an old Star Trek episode and was impressed with the fight between Kirk and Kahn. For having no budget they didn’t do too badly. (Of course the series had lots of fights that were just stupid, too but this one apparently got a lot of attention.)
I sentence George Lucas to give up his special effects department until he can make one interesting movie without it. Hah!
I have a vague recollection of that fight — basically the over-confident Khan (“I have *five times* your strength”) vs. the doughty Kirk. Good times.
But, yes, I prefer fight scenes that look like folks are actually *fighting*. One of my faves is in “The Living Daylights,” where an assassin breaks into an MI.6 safe house, and is confronted in the kitchen by one of the servents/agents. A marvelously brutal fight breaks out, where both participants are clearly out to kill, injure, or neutralize the other, using anything in the environment they can find. That Bond wasn’t involved made it all the more entertaining.
You want a realistic fight scene? Watch Hitchcock’s 1938 film The Lady Vanishes! Rather than throwing punches that land with an improbable smack, the hero grapples with the villain, scrabbling about on the floor, until he and the heroine manage to drag their foe to the oven, force his head inside, and turn on the gas. (True, he asphyxiates rather quickly, but we must allow for the time constraints of a film.)