YouTube Swordplay Gems

[Korbel]

This is a duel scene from a polish movie Potop. I'm not an expert, but I heard it represents well (as for a movie fight between actors, not professional fighters), what polish swordsmanship probably was.


youtu.be/r-mnfJvSDkU

[higgins]

Love that scene! Probably the best movie saber fight of all time.

BTW, Potop stands for Deluge and the movie is adapted from The Trilogy series of novels. The same novels that Mount & Blade: With Fire & Sword is inspired from. For more trivia, it's the same setting used in Polish RPG Dzikie Pola, which was a massive influence to Jake when he first wrote TROS.

Of course, Korbel being Polish himself, he's probably more familiar with the subject than any of us here, but still... Others might not have known this.

[Siggi]

Got to watch this movie! I really enjoyed "With Fire and Sword".

[Agamemnon]

This is a duel scene from a polish movie Potop. I'm not an expert, but I heard it represents well (as for a movie fight between actors, not professional fighters), what polish swordsmanship probably was.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-mnfJvSDkU[/youtube]

I'm surprised it took this long for someone to share that one. I was just thinking to do it earlier.

We clearly need to make a 'Bastards Approved Movie List.

[thirtythr33]

Here's a couple of cool things you guys might not have seen.

With this first one its interesting to note that the guy in light pants won 2 of the three times essentially because he is the better wrestler.


youtu.be/hgQzAfA41bY


youtu.be/PgKg0Hc7YIA


youtu.be/fB63BHD-jCY

[hector]

The second one was entertaining - but I suspect that had they been vulnerable from multiple angles that wouldn't have lasted nearly as long (turning one's back was a pretty viable method of defence).

[thirtythr33]

Yeah, not allowing grappling and keeping the targets so small meant the 50 couldn't effectively team up and made the entire contest about blade work. But, in ideal circumstances, blade work can go a long way.

[thirtythr33]

Maybe not the best swordplay, but I'll be damned if I'm not psyched for tomorrow.


youtu.be/lN7dkSIgYgE

[hector]

Just seen it. I was not disappointed. It could certainly have been better, but I enjoyed it. The humour was in the right place, the action was well done, the film overall was fairly well paced, the acting was decent (especially considering that the main roles were played by relatively inexperienced actors) and overall I felt like I got my money's worth.

There was a very emotionally charged lightsaber duel, and it felt more like Luke vs Vader from Return of the Jedi rather than Obi Wan vs Anikin from Revenge of the Sith - the emotional state of the characters was expressed in how they fought just as much as the looks on their faces. It made for a less good looking fight, but a more real feeling one.

[Agamemnon]

Just seen it. I was not disappointed. It could certainly have been better, but I enjoyed it.

I think that basically summed up my reaction. By any objective standard, the movie was dead smack in the middle of mediocrity, but through the awesome power of low-expectations, that still makes it the best star wars movie to come out in nearly 33 years.

I have some serious critiques I could level, but instead I'll post something far more forum-related!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCwjeiBZlDI[/youtube]

I came across this seemingly by accident. It's not the most accurate swordplay I've ever seen, but it has some extremely nice choreography and a great escalation to it.

[higgins]

youtu.be/g6MZ-dCpM2E

Suddenly, all that gaudy Landsknecht clothing makes sense.

[higgins]

Some of you guys asked what a messer was.


youtu.be/38sVdx7nzhQ

[Marras]

The messer looks like a huge knife and reminds me of some pictures of falchion. Thanks for the link!

[higgins]

That's not too far off. Also, "messer" literally means "knife" in German.

[Agamemnon]

I think messer fighting is perhaps the purest expression of german swordsmanship - literally every move seems angry and unnecessarily spiteful. "I have this relatively short cutting weapon. I know, I'm going to get right up on top of you and beat you with the pommel instead!"