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Sword Master Rates 10 Sword Fights From Movies And TV | How Real Is It? - YouTube
Channel: Insider
[0]
[swords clanking]
[5]
David Rawlings: My
goodness, this is terrible.
[8]
There is so much bad in this.
[11]
Hi, there. My name's David Rawlings,
[13]
with the London Longsword Academy.
[14]
I'm a full-time swordsmanship instructor,
[16]
and today I'm gonna have
a look at a load of clips
[17]
about sword fighting and
slag them off hideously.
[30]
So, basically what I have
with me here is a longsword.
[32]
Longsword for me is generally a sword
[34]
which is held in two hands,
[35]
so it doesn't matter whether
the grip is short or long,
[37]
it doesn't really matter.
[38]
You have a pommel, a cross
guard, a grip, a blade.
[41]
Usually within fencing, we
divide that into two halves,
[44]
but different authors divide
it into different divisions.
[47]
So, we'll have a strong half,
[48]
which is the half from
the middle to the hilt,
[50]
and then from the middle down to the point
[52]
is the weakest part,
[53]
and we're just really looking
at the geometry and leverage.
[58]
You get this big thing in
historical European martial arts,
[60]
as I do, but you're not
allowed to carry swords
[62]
on your shoulder, because that's really,
[64]
really frowned upon, and
no one would ever do it.
[66]
Except there's actually
critique in manuals
[68]
saying that you shouldn't do it,
[69]
which implies that people do do it.
[71]
So, carrying the sword in your hand
[73]
is a very, very good thing,
and you see this a lot,
[75]
people holding a sword on their shoulder
[76]
and just walking around with
it without a scabbard on,
[78]
necessarily, so it's ready to use.
[85]
I have issues with this particular fight,
[87]
because there's a lot of reverse grip,
[89]
with the sword being
held backwards down here.
[91]
It's not a good way for
you to use the sword.
[94]
You sacrifice your ability to fend above,
[96]
very, very clearly.
[97]
You have not got any reach. It's not safe.
[101]
But he's changed grip, yay!
[102]
Oh, and he's back.
[105]
I like how he moves.
[107]
I think he's got a good
organic feel to him.
[109]
Generally, the sword is
being moved in front of him,
[111]
which is a very, very good thing.
[112]
It's very rarely just kept behind him,
[114]
so he's closing the space off
[115]
between him and his
opponent with the sword.
[118]
One of the things I like about some of
[119]
"The Witcher"'s fight
scenes is that there is
[121]
this idea of moving between the opponents.
[123]
And you see this in things like Godinho,
[125]
where the idea of spinning,
[126]
something which people
really, really quite often
[129]
frown upon within the HEMA community,
[131]
is very much used because
you're trying to keep opponents
[133]
away from each other, so it's
not just about fighting you
[136]
and concentrate in moving into you;
[138]
it's against driving you back
[139]
and then hitting the next person,
[141]
the next person, the next person.
[142]
So these spinning moves
actually become quite important,
[144]
and this angled, sinister,
straight-into-you idea
[149]
goes out the window. It's not this focus.
[150]
Suddenly it's much more
wide, and it's a flurry.
[153]
The thing is, is most of my
judgment on this fight scene
[156]
is actually Henry Cavill being
very, very good physically.
[160]
And what is shown in this
fight scene being probably
[163]
the most disappointing fight
scene in "The Witcher."
[166]
So, for Henry Cavill,
[167]
it's gonna have, like, an eight.
[169]
For actual quality of fighting,
[170]
it's gonna have about four.
[181]
So, there's bits in there that actually
[182]
aren't too bad, looking at it.
[183]
There's evasions of the
blade from the emperor,
[186]
which could be accidental,
[188]
but you have these movements
of just moving around
[190]
as the parry's coming in.
[192]
That's actually not too bad.
[193]
You see this kind of thing quite often.
[194]
You see it in Destreza
[195]
when opponents are
moving around each other.
[197]
Where a parry comes in,
you disengage underneath
[199]
as it's happening. So you have potential
[202]
for some actually quite
interesting movements in there.
[210]
Good parry.
[211]
You see that in Talhoffer,
usually accompanied by a wrap,
[214]
because of the closure
and the close distance.
[217]
Kicking up the heels is referred
to in quite a few treaties,
[219]
quite often accompanied by a
movement onto the jaw as well.
[222]
So potentially within this fight scene,
[224]
I'd say in those last two actions,
[226]
from the cover to the kick
[229]
with the legs and
sweeping up of the heels,
[231]
I'd say those are actually
quite good actions.
[233]
Usually you'd see more control
of the opponent's weapon arm,
[236]
or their balance with
the off hand as well,
[238]
but that part's actually reasonably good.
[240]
So, for that I'm actually
gonna give it a six
[242]
because I think those two
aspects save it slightly.
[253]
OK, so, again we've got some
very, very good bits on this.
[255]
The first bit of this is the
shunting away of the opponent.
[259]
I really, really like this.
[260]
He creates distance
between the two opponents.
[263]
Now, you could argue that maybe he'd want
[264]
to push the opponents into each other,
[266]
but he has a very, very
good instinctive response.
[268]
Push one away, get the weapon from it,
[271]
and then on to the other one.
[271]
And then a good clean
finish on one of the cuts.
[273]
Nothing posh, just a simple
cut of wrath in effect.
[276]
Pretty good!
[277]
Producer: Give it?
David: I'd give that a seven.
[279]
I think that's quite a comfortable thing.
[280]
Again, I think it's very easy within
[283]
judging this from a HEMA perspective
[284]
to get very focused on an individual,
[285]
and this is showing
good awareness of space,
[288]
maintaining that distance,
and then simple finishes,
[290]
nothing posh.
[299]
So, immediately, the
first attack is this big,
[301]
I'll spin at you, I'll expose my back,
[303]
and the distance is so bad
[306]
that he could just be stabbed in the back.
[316]
Yeah, it's a broadsword
or a saber or something,
[319]
therefore you have to go
and cut candles or scenery.
[321]
You don't use this like
this. This is terrible.
[329]
Quite often in Japanese swordsmanship,
[331]
you're moving the glass deposits,
[333]
the slag deposits effectively,
[334]
silicon deposits that can be in steel.
[337]
You're moving those
throughout the entirety
[338]
of the length of the blade,
[340]
and through those foldings, you basically,
[341]
you spread that out.
[343]
So you make sure that your blade
[343]
hasn't got one particular weakness.
[346]
Now, with European swords,
before we had that consistency,
[348]
we did something very similar,
except that we twisted them
[351]
like string, so that
if one thread was weak
[354]
then that could be a problem in itself,
[356]
but you have multiple threads,
[357]
and twisting them around each other,
[358]
you create something stronger.
[359]
That said, swords do snap,
[362]
swords do bend, and there's
always a fine point,
[365]
and you can't guarantee.
[366]
The process is not perfect,
[367]
even nowadays with much
more clear definitions
[370]
of how steel should be made and produced,
[373]
blades still break,
[374]
so it's not impossible for this to happen.
[377]
So, this is where it
really gets quite terrible.
[379]
There's this insane
[382]
idea that somehow longswords
[385]
are really heavy, clumsy weapons.
[388]
They are not!
[389]
You can move a longsword much more quickly
[391]
and much more dexterously
than you can a rapier.
[393]
It's still balanced as if
to be used in one hand,
[396]
but you have the advantage
of being able to move it
[398]
around this position of the forward hand.
[401]
Now, even the most barbaric
moment of a longsword,
[405]
the barbaric technique,
[406]
we have a technique called
the strike of wrath,
[408]
which is a strike that uses the entirety
[410]
of the anterior oblique slings.
[411]
That's the most powerful
strike you can do,
[413]
but it's not done foolishly.
[415]
It's done as a mechanic.
[417]
It's a way of claiming
space in front of you.
[419]
Claiming that space for yourself,
[421]
killing with it if you
can, and then going on
[423]
to pursue your opponent through that.
[425]
Wide swings don't serve anybody,
[427]
and they represent the
actual piece of equipment
[429]
very, very poorly.
[433]
Doing a spin when you're not engaged
[435]
with the opponent's blade is insane,
[437]
because you don't know
what their sword is doing.
[439]
And because you're so close
[441]
and you don't know where their sword is,
[442]
obviously they can cut you freely,
[444]
because they're still facing at you,
[445]
they still have all of
their requisite safety
[448]
in their hands.
[449]
Three, four out of 10.
[458]
This, in case you didn't know it,
[459]
is the best fight scene
ever in any film ever.
[463]
The fencing in it is
completely irrelevant.
[465]
The fencing is part of a narrative device,
[467]
it's not meant to overwhelm you,
[468]
it's just there, happening
while the dialogue does.
[472]
Inigo: You're using Bonetti's
defense against me, huh?
[475]
Westley: I thought it fitting, considering
[476]
the rocky terrain.
[477]
David: There's references
to Bonetti's defense.
[478]
I don't even really know what that is.
[480]
But references to Thibault,
[481]
and Thibault's one of my favorite systems,
[483]
but they're not showing
any awareness of Thibault.
[485]
Thibault operates on the
idea of the perfect angle
[488]
that you see in a lot
of Spanish swordsmanship
[490]
and destreza particularly,
[492]
here where you have a 90-degree angle,
[494]
which is maintained as much as possible.
[495]
And you don't make lateral
movements with your arms.
[498]
But all of this is what
we call vulgar angles,
[500]
where the point is higher than the hilt,
[501]
and lots of lateral movement.
[503]
Inigo: Naturally.
[504]
You must expect me to
attack with Capo Ferro.
[506]
Westley: Naturally.
[507]
But I find that Thibault
cancels out Capo Ferro.
[509]
David: Rapier, some people
will call it a side sword.
[511]
The divisions are really a later thing.
[513]
We don't worry about it too much.
[514]
It's a sword that you hold in one hand.
[516]
Now, again, we have the quillons.
[517]
Quite often, or it could
just be like the cross guard
[520]
in effect, quite often
people would hold this
[522]
simply like so without
their finger over the bars,
[525]
and these extra rings would be to stop
[527]
things from landing on
your fingers when you're
[529]
holding the sword normally.
[530]
And this allows you to
put your thumb on there.
[531]
Later on, you start seeing people
[533]
holding the sword like so. OK?
[535]
But it's not universal.
[536]
Sometimes it is just used like this. OK?
[539]
Sometimes these are very, very
ornate, as you can see here,
[542]
there's a lot of wire around here.
[544]
And then sometimes,
it's just a simple cup.
[546]
Westley: There's something
I ought to tell you.
[547]
Inigo: Tell me.
[549]
Westley: I'm not left-handed either.
[555]
David: The idea of being
able to fence with both hands
[557]
shouldn't be necessarily a problem.
[560]
Fighting somebody who is
differently handed to you
[562]
as well shouldn't be
an uncommon experience,
[565]
so this kind of thing,
although it's amusing,
[567]
you don't want to do this sort
of thing at close distance,
[569]
because obviously while you're busy
[570]
changing your sword hand,
[572]
your opponent can stab you
and this kind of thing.
[574]
Here, you have a bit where
as the blade comes through,
[575]
it disengages, so you're
having the blade changing
[577]
from one side to the other.
[579]
And in order to fight
that, what you're doing is,
[581]
rather than doing lateral
parryings like this,
[583]
you're wrapping the blade and
you're staying engaged to it.
[585]
And that can be used to throw
[586]
the opponent's sword out their hands.
[587]
So there's a degree of reality in that.
[589]
It's good.
[590]
Technically wise, I'd
still give it sort of like
[593]
a six, seven.
[594]
Even with its parody
fencing, it still has better
[597]
fencing than a lot of the others.
[609]
That's quite nice, because
in effect, you have a very,
[612]
very nasty version of a
movement of conclusion.
[615]
This is basically where
in using a sword to parry,
[618]
here we then do something
with the off hand.
[620]
If we were doing Verdadera,
the idea would be to
[622]
restrain the opponent's weapon
hand so it can control it.
[624]
And we can choose
whether they live or die,
[626]
and we can show mercy at this point.
[628]
If you're doing this, this is lovely.
[631]
He doesn't have to worry
about the guy's off hand
[632]
so much, because the guy
has both hands on the sword,
[635]
there's a closure off of the line,
[637]
and the guy giving him the distance.
[638]
Because he doesn't have to move his feet.
[640]
The guy's gonna come and hit him anyway.
[641]
He gets to push it aside.
[642]
He gets to thrust through.
[644]
He's got control of the
opponent's sword, still,
[646]
and he gets to finish him.
[647]
So that, I actually quite like.
[648]
That's pretty good.
[650]
I'm not entirely sure
[651]
holding your hand palm
down with a longsword
[653]
is a good way not to get the sword taken.
[654]
Oh, my goodness, this is terrible.
[658]
There is so much bad in this.
[660]
Again, we're back on this idea that
[662]
if you've got a longsword,
you have to do this with it,
[664]
and it has to be wide and spinny,
[666]
and it has to be these big moves.
[667]
It's meant to be dexterous.
[668]
You have this idea that
there's basically half an el.
[671]
The idea of being this kind of space here,
[673]
rather halfway between here and here.
[674]
You don't wanna be more than this way
[676]
far away from your opponent
with the point at all times,
[678]
so if they drive you away,
you're trying to find a way
[680]
to get your point onto them.
[682]
Most longsword is intrinsically
[684]
trying to dominate a space
[686]
very, very close into the
corner of your opponent.
[688]
If they move you sufficiently around,
[690]
you're immediately back
at another opening.
[692]
If they stay tight on the
blade and the angle's tight,
[695]
just enough to parry
like so, you're trying to
[696]
drive the blade in and still
maintain a contact on there.
[699]
All this wide-around movement
is complete nonsense.
[705]
OK, knocking the blade
down and striking back up.
[708]
Now, you could argue that this is almost
[710]
a nodding, in effect.
[711]
The idea of beating someone's blade down
[713]
and then hitting back
up with the false edge.
[717]
Here you see where the
sword is sweeping wide
[718]
and one person is
standing with their point
[720]
right in front of the other.
[721]
You don't parry then come back here.
[723]
You stand here, and you
stab them immediately,
[725]
because the blade has
moved out of presence.
[728]
Well, that was good.
[729]
Yep, if someone has got their
back you and you have a spear,
[732]
do stab them in the back of the leg.
[733]
That, again, redeeming feature,
[735]
that's given it another point.
[742]
So, I quite like the fight scene between
[743]
Brienne of Tarth and Arya.
[745]
I think that's quite good.
[746]
It's cohesive.
[747]
It has that real focus to it
[749]
so the movement is constant.
[750]
Neither of them is really sacrificing.
[753]
There's no great pauses.
[754]
There's always, I want
to be back in the fight.
[756]
I want to be back in it.
[762]
I do like, in general, the Hound fights
[765]
because they are just,
like, eh, pff, dead.
[767]
That's good, and I think
having that idea that
[770]
a blade is intrinsically
there to either stab someone
[773]
or hit them with it and
remove all the, sort of, like,
[775]
fussy detail is a very good
thing to have in a series.
[790]
First, the twirling is dreadful.
[792]
But the blades are all over the place.
[794]
There's no safety in them.
[795]
And now, being focused
on a single opponent,
[798]
we could use the sword in
a much more efficient way.
[804]
Even if I were to twirl
the swords towards you,
[807]
you'd always want one blade in presence,
[809]
always one blade doing something.
[811]
Never having the swords over here.
[816]
At that point, I think
the idea of restraining
[818]
two weapon hands becomes more important
[820]
than actually taking the
weapons out of the hand.
[822]
So at that point, I would suggest that,
[824]
potentially, you're
looking at a way of either
[826]
throwing the opponent as
far from you as possible.
[828]
Throwing them down the really big hole
[830]
on the other side of you
might be a good thing.
[832]
Producer: Do you have a
mark out of 10 for that one?
[833]
David: Uh, two.
[844]
Yep, she's dead now.
[845]
Yeah, you're really looking
at just absolute theater here.
[848]
And that's fine.
[849]
It is what it is.
[850]
But it's terrible,
terrible sword fighting.
[853]
This idea of driving
people apart to fight;
[856]
so, you don't want to be standing still.
[858]
You don't want people
to be managing the space
[860]
while your space is getting
more and more cramped.
[866]
One of the things that is
misunderstood quite often
[869]
is that in pattern-welded blades,
[870]
quite often these were
given mirror polishes.
[872]
And I believe, unless this is anecdotal,
[875]
that there's reference to
people blowing on the blades,
[877]
so that the breath actually brings out
[879]
the pattern weld for a
moment, so you can see it.
[882]
So, yeah, blades
historically are incredibly
[884]
highly polished in
various different places.
[887]
Certainly in Japanese
swords, that's a thing,
[888]
certainly European swords, it's a thing.
[894]
Interesting tactical decisions here.
[895]
So you have a point where
somebody has control
[897]
of the blade, and if you think,
like, of parrying daggers,
[899]
you have really options to
[901]
take the blade of the
opponent on your dagger
[905]
or to take them on your sword
[906]
and to attack them with the other.
[907]
But in order to do so, you'd
want to maintain that contact.
[910]
So to do an action like
this, with the opponent's
[912]
blade still directly in the middle,
[914]
doesn't make any sense, really.
[916]
So you had a point of control
or a point of control,
[918]
both of those have been sacrificed.
[921]
It's amazing that one of
these people didn't die
[923]
in the process of this.
[924]
There should've either been disemboweling
[925]
or a stab or whichever.
[927]
Or the other person should've
plowed straight through
[928]
the middle in the space.
[930]
From the voting viewpoint
of a good cohesive
[933]
fight scene that involves
realistic technique,
[935]
I'm gonna give that two.
[945]
OK, the first miracle of this fight is
[947]
they don't manage to kill each other.
[949]
There are forms which
consist about fighting
[951]
around somebody.
[953]
Usually that other person is disabled
[954]
so that they're kind of in a position
[956]
where you don't have to worry about them.
[958]
They'll be prone or something like this.
[959]
Or perhaps you'll be bodyguarding someone,
[961]
so it's a way of moving around each other.
[963]
I would not really like
to have my back to someone
[966]
who is swinging something
sharp or burning.
[972]
So much of this is almost a method
[975]
to show how he feels.
[978]
So you have an expression
of emotion going on
[980]
in the fight scenes, rather
than necessarily being
[983]
this very, very tight, cohesive fight.
[985]
His anger is always explicit.
[987]
Everything is these wide, powerful slashes
[989]
that aren't necessarily good for defense.
[994]
It's so heavily stylized.
[996]
I think in things like
the "Revenge of the Sith,"
[1000]
you have these very,
very dynamic fight scenes
[1002]
between Obi-Wan and
Anakin, and those, I think,
[1005]
are much more expressive at combat,
[1006]
even if the distance
is a little bit funny.
[1008]
Even if they're standing toe-to-toe
[1009]
and waving the swords around.
[1010]
There's a lot more aggression
and interaction in that.
[1014]
As such, I think I'd
give it a five out of 10.
[1016]
As in, it has aspects that I really enjoy.
[1019]
If I was going for my
enjoyment of the fight scene,
[1021]
it would be an eight.
[1025]
I really, really love
the Yoda fight scenes.
[1027]
I always have.
[1029]
Again, it's that point
[1030]
where you separate any desire for reality.
[1033]
It doesn't have to be real.
[1034]
You know, if it's got dragons,
[1035]
if it's got the force, it doesn't matter.
[1037]
It has to be something expressive
[1039]
of all the things you want in there.
[1050]
Yes, absolutely.
[1051]
If you can cut flesh, you can cut fabric.
[1052]
It's, again, it depends
on different things,
[1055]
like how sharp the sword is.
[1056]
But they are made to cut things.
[1059]
The horses were very realistic.
[1061]
Let's give it a one.
[1062]
[producer laughing]
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