Unexpected Realism in a Movie Katana Fight from 1991
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- Опубликовано: 22 дек 2020
- So RUclips randomly recommended a clip from the movie Showdown in Little Tokyo, and the fight scene surprised me with some pretty solid, realistic sword action. So why not comment on it and let you folks know what makes it more convincing than many other fictional duels I've seen, and which parts are exaggerated for cinematic purposes.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0102915/
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Развлечения
"We didn't want to go so far as to disembowel someone with a sword so we just blew him up. Explosions are cool."
Also avoids having to create realistic looking bowels instead of the usual flesh-wound makeup.
@@johndododoe1411 its easy to make $20 realistic bowels
@@Kaun_of_Man $20 for a realistic "bowels being cut" effect would be a bargain for anyone aiming for an NC-17 rating.
@@Kaun_of_Man pretty sure a 200lb pig is gonna cost more than $20.
Explosions are TIGHT!! ;)
Hey Skal, did you know that, on youtube, "." goes forward one frame and "," goes back one frame. Very useful when directing as video.
never knew that one. see also arrow keys and "jkl"
It may be easier to remember the < and > symbols for that purpose on most keyboards.
he should pin this
@@InvictusByz arrow keys go back five seconds, . and , go back a single frame
@@Apokalypse456 Right, the symbols I did aren't the arrow keys, they are the "greater than/less than" symbols. If you're using a standard Qwerty keyboard that will be the symbols above , and . on the same key.
"I'm just going to call him Shang Tsung" YES
I call him "that asian guy that always plays a villain role in every movie"
Btw now he is converted to Orthodox Christianity and hangs out with russian religious fanatics
@@user-ng2wl4un2p That's unfortunate.
A fellow man of culture !
@@user-ng2wl4un2p that's... bad
First impressions, looks like a young Johnny Cage vs Shang Tsung fighting on the streets, typical Mortal Kombat.
Not typical. They ain't ninjas, but they have katanas.
Did you know that Johnny Cage was supossed to be Jean Claude Van Damme?
@@bionmccool they are ninjas
@@assumjongkey1383 ur a ninja
@@DonPeyote420 how am I ninja I am not from japan
Dolph Lundgren's muscles are harder than any metal, because we all know katanas can cut through any armor (besides leather and wood).
Its because he's he-man.
That's funny, katanas can cut trough any type of armor and hard metals, but they get stuck in a fucking tree. And not even in half of the way.
@@nihilum2869 well no shit. Who the fuck is going to wear armor thick as a tree? lol.
Like bwutter!
One must remember the ancient Japanese saying at times like this "Nuclear powered hoovercraft and high voltage lines may stop Godzilla, but a Samurai only knows his duty" For all it's folded metal and weeb powers a katana is simply not up to cutting the muscular of someone like Lundgren.
"now this is where it gets crazy" *villain is skewered onto the wheel of fortune and explodes*
*misfortune
Both actors have extensive martial arts background.
Exact.
Yeah, was about to comment on that. Both are accomplished martial artists, so of course they'd know how (not) to move.
Dolph also holds a master's degree in chemical engineering, if I recall. He stopped in NYC when he was going to attend graduate program at MIT, and became an actor.
Thank you. Was gonna say the same. Tagawa is a Samurai in all but name. He has a very similar background, ironically, to me. If I had to guess I'd say he was probably the one advising them about how katana duels work. Cool little tidbit from history :)
@@tarrker Indeed he does. Something people quickly forget about him: He's actually pretty damned smart.
As a practitioner of Japanese sword techniques this scene is kinda strange. I mean, they're using basic kenjutsu for most of it, like Skall said but, they're also expanding on it in a way that a real swordsman would. Again, it's very strange to me. The vast majority of the time when I see people using katana in films they'll adopt distinctly Japanese fighting stances but then immediately drop into European fencing techniques once the actual fighting starts. Which doesn't work at all for a katana. The strike at 2:10 is something I've personally used a LOT during full contact sparring. You do a super obvious, overhead strike which the opponent will try to block or parry but you follow through instead of giving 100% to that blow. If it goes right then your blade tip is lined up with their mid section while their hands are above their head so you can go in for an unprotected thrust. Works great against opponents who react well to your attacks but otherwise leaves you kind of open.
It's just... strange to see actual martial arts being applied correctly in any Hollywood film. Let alone some schlocky film from 1991. LoL :)
It probably has to do with both actors being actually trained martial artists
Nothing wrong with European sword fighting styles but yes, doesn't work well with katanas, unless that is part of the plot where a combatant must use an unfamiliar weapon.
Is there this much blocking in Japanese sword techniques? I know kendo has it, but my understanding was the katana was not super good at blocking due to the makeup of the blade. That another myth?
@@Deliriumend no, that's correct. Katana, generally speaking, isn't great for blocking. Mostly you wanna parry. Chances are if you block a powerful strike with the edge or the flat of the blade you're gonna break your sword. The spine or the side without the edge is the strongest part. Most styles teach you to block with the spine if they teach blocking at all.
Truthfully the katana was kind of a specialty weapon. It's what you carried around town for protection. Most warriors at that time, in that part of the world would have been more inclined to train with polearms, bows or, guns. The only reason the Samurai focused so much on katana is because being killed while eating dinner was a fairly common occurrence for them.
@@tarrker Thanks! that lines up with my own research too, but it's always great to be able to ask an actual practitioner!
If we remove ‘plot armor’ from the analysis, a lot of the flesh wounds inflicted on Dolf by the BBEG could be chalked up to an overconfident Bad Guy toying with his opponent, trying to inflict as much pain and humiliation as possible before killing him. This is a common trope for Villains, as it is supposed to create fear in the masses they are trying to subjugate.
As for the ‘kicking parry’ Dolf _was_ using a two-legged sweep, so the first leg could have kicked the BBEG’s arm, deflecting the incoming blow.
Not to mention that you can see dolph does half-dodge the cuts, like when he pulled back his left shoulder just before the blade hits it.
Seems the heroes most important trait is the magical ability to never run out of blood. (Seeing Brandon Lee gave me the feels)
Yup. Brandon gave me feels as well.
he mispronounces english words anyway. why does he even fret about mispronouncing a japanese name
Dolph is huge so he has a huge amount of blood....it’s science
Yeah, good spot, even with all the action, you can't help but notice him there.
Yep. An awesome actor cut short. Huge crow fan but this is a good one. *Maybe* a point or two below rapid fire, but his snark makes up for not being the main character.
So, I''ve never seen this movie, but from just the scene context I would say that the bad guy was torturing Dolf's character. He could have won at any time once he disarmed him, but he chose not to and went for inflicting maximum pain.
Once he got to the thrust is when he decided to end it.
Agreed, he was toying with him
For context: Dolph Lundgren's character is an excellent martial artist, but his sword-specific skills are left somewhat ambiguous, and there's a strong suggestion that while he trains to fight, he's probably never been in a real swordfight before. Shang Tsung is a yakuza boss with a hefty bodycount, so while Lundgren's character is supposed to be good at fighting, there's good reason to believe he's outmatched by this opponent, as well as good reason for the opponent to assume he has a bigger advantage than he actually does. Overconfidence can be deadly. Especially when it gets you impaled on a sword and thrown onto a giant skyrocket powered wheel of explodium...
he mispronounces english words anyway. why does he even fret about mispronouncing a japanese name
Haha you need to change that! It’s a great guilty pleasure actioneer
@@johngarcia1140 because pronouncing a name correctly is a matter of respect, while mispronouncing a language is just a matter of accent. I don't speak a word of Italian but would still feel bad for mispronouncing the name of someone I was talking to or about.
6:46 holy shit, that interception is the juiciest move I've seen in movies, probably ever.
The way the fist goes up reminds me of a spoil from AFL. Like there was less commitment to seizing control, and more commitment to simply repelling the base of the blade. Pretty cool either way.
@@mrhappyface4181 Basically a last second, pain ridden resource, as the movie is trying to convey.
Its a move from classical Judo - back before it became a sport and when it was a method of fighting unarmed vs armed and armoured opponents. Theres a few varieties of it actually, and some are still taught for defense vs modern weapons like knives or batons in modern jujitsu and the study of the history of judo. The principle is known as muto (without blade).
I feel like you haven't many movies. Hopefully you are young, and this is a temporary state of affairs!
@@xandercorp6175 It's realistic that makes it an exception to most movies
This is one of the best movie sword fights I've seen. Realistic enough and hugely entertaining. The finale was pure gold
"Osoto gari" is the throw you were describing, if you were wondering
The throw Skall was referring is more of a hip throw tho. I thought Osoto Gari is a throw executed with a leg sweep
@@jaketheasianguy3307 No, it was more of a outside reap
Ah, the ever present judoka that's always ready to provide the correct term for a technique.
@@nerdbottin BJJ. Close enough. Nerd present to correct you on insignificant details in a nasally voice
@@chadthundercock5641 that type of need with the nasal voice is colloquially known as an "Anorak"
This makes me wanna see Skall check out the final battle of the Christopher Lambert vehicle "The Hunted" (1995), which culminates in two one on one sword fights back to back, first between a contemporary ninja and a a heritage obsessed modern samurai, followed by the same ninja, now wounded against an American who had gotten a handful of sword lessons from a drunken swordsmith.
I have a feeling Skall would find it equal parts infuriating and amusing.
Edit: I hope this hasn't happened yet and I just missed it. I would feel super dumb for suggesting something Skall already covered.
I haven't seen it if he has, and I want this video. I remember that movie and the thought of Skall covering it amuses me.
I love that movie
he mispronounces english words anyway. why does he even fret about mispronouncing a japanese name
@@johngarcia1140 Why are you copy-pasting this on every comment lmao
I still rank the train fight sequence as the most brutal & fluid, deadly looking sword scenes in movies just before the sword scene in Equilibrium.
"How is Shang Sung defending that thrust?" He avoided it, because it's out of Measure. At that range, the only threat was to his arms, which he held high to avoid getting stabbed in the elbow. He couldn't step-in for a counter, because he still had the point in the way, so he basically just didn't walk into it.
Except the bit where the poor choice of camera angle makes it look like it was close enough to impale him and end the fight. But yes, it looks like it probably was out of measure if you look closely.
That was my thought, it looked like he just stepped away and the thrust missed.
Hence, why movies favour swordplay that has been dumbed down enough to be explicit and unambiguous.
@@xandercorp6175 also, slow enough to follow. There was a lot going on in that swordfight.
@@Psiberzerker I feel that swordplay that can't be followed, can't be considered explicit or unambiguous. But I take your point.
If I'm not mistaken, they're both trained martial artists, so it's not strange that their combat is far more realistic than the usual "random guy swinging a sword" fare.
I always liked Showdown in Little Tokyo, it's a decent Dolph Lundgren film and a good Brandon Lee film so seeing what he was like before The Crow is good, this shows that he was indeed on the rise and the Crow woulda been his breakout movie
However, sadly, it was his last movie. May he rest in peace.
Check out Rapid Fire if you haven't already. Brandon could certainly have become one of the great legends of action films.
@@roberthill5549 I remember that one too though it's been awhile lol
Showdown in little Tokyo is a good film, it have one of the best quotes in it. Tia Carrera "This time I heard you com"
he mispronounces english words anyway. why does he even fret about mispronouncing a japanese name
I think Cary's character wanted to show off more and make Dolf's character suffer more
I thought the same. Typical villain behaviour, right?
@@taylor_green_9 A lot of this was to draw out the fight for dramatic effect. I could have killed both of them in the first 5 seconds
You! That's called shaming an opponent! It's actually also an execution method, to kill an inferior opponent slowly by wounding them nonlethally. It feels exactly like what was happening in this scene!
@@taylor_green_9 Sometimes hero behavior too. "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die"
Yeah. The fleshwounds part can be explained with the dude playing with his food. He grew overconfident, and ate a foot for it.
A student of kenjutsu (a derivative of Yagyu Shinkage-ryu specifically) here:
That first bout actually looks like one of forms we learn (Well, two dueling forms, but you know what I mean) Unfortunately, I learned it once, and forget the name.
That's actually a fairly typical thrust parry to me, until you slow it down. It seems like the actor just didn't get his sword into the parry position in time, but you can see the remnant of the motion of him trying (the sword points upright, and he tries beat to the side).
Also in the beginning, I think that wind up was a feint. The way he's stepping read as vertical cut (I forget the name, something like shinkaku giri or skull splitting cut or something), but the cut he actually throws is yoko giri, or a horizontal cut.
Things that annoyed me, in the spirit of nitpicking (which is hypocritical because this is easily above my skill level):
- The blocks are really static, i.e. the sword stick when they meet. Properly, you want to tilt the blade so the attacking sword slides off like rain off an umbrella.
- Most of the cuts are shown slicing with the tip of the blade, which unless you're attacking the hands you almost never want to do, because it means you're breaking your wrist and losing all your power. You want to draw the blade through the cut. It would explain why he still has limbs, though.
- A lot of the keisa giri or lapel cuts seem way overcommitted: the tip of the sword ends behind the swordsman, which should be drilled out experienced fighters. Granted, the opponent is unarmed at the time, so his over confidence might just be making him sloppy (i.e. the choreographer didn't bother to correct)
- The sword is oriented the wrong way in the final thrust ! It should be horizonal, not vertical. This was probably done for cinematic reasons, i.e. to make it easier to see the sword.
Fun fact: Yagyu Sinkage-ryu rose to influence due to its disarming tecniques, and you can see our protagonist attempt one. I think it fails because he's attempting a yawara (you see him trying to tangle the arm), but the opponent shrinks back instead of continuing the cut as expected, and fails to grab in time.
(Edit: typos)
I could kinda understand the over commitment of the attacks tho. Usually in movies they did that on purpose as a signal for the other actor to know what direction the sword is traveling into, which is safer for both sides.
Also i very much agreed with those hard blocks. Switch those dead blocks to something like an Uke Nagaeshi is way more effective, in both practicality and visually
I know nothing about real sword fighting but this was awesome info! Why is the final thrust supposed to be horizontal? Is it to go between ribs and hit something important?
@@brianp6859 It's just how the technique is taught. I have some speculation why, but I'm just a student so take this with a massive grain of salt;
As far as I can tell, it has to do with the body mechanics. For a thrust, you want your body behind the sword so you can put your weight into it. You also want to keep your wrist straight at all times (for more body mechanical reasons I don't want to get into). The easiest way to accomplish this is put arm across your chest as if you were about to take a bow. If you do this without turning the sword, you'll find the sword is horizontal.
Once practiced a bit of Katori Shinto Ryu kenjutsu. The techniques displayed here seem inspired by this school. For those interested, I suggest taking a look at this: ruclips.net/video/9HiXO2xcU4M/видео.html
I've got a question about something in the scene! At 6:39 Cary looks like he's about to do a fancy thrust, but then switches back to a cut. Do you think that was just supposed to look cool or was that some kind of feint?
I'm going to avoid taking it to a dodgy place but I can't help but wonder how often Skal and Mrs Skal end up in laughing fits during their takedown/scene reenactment takes.
There were outtakes in that video. :)
I doubt it just ends with laughter...
@@exlibrisas That's my thinking and also why I said I was going to avoid taking it there.
@@morlath4767 I don't think Mrs Skal is avoiding the thrusts or being out of measure :p
"Let me present my back to you"😂
It could be he wanted to check what was behind him while retreating
I am a turtle!
Skall: *makes an action movie based on real sword fighting*
*fight begins*
"This is gonna be so coo- annnnnd the fight is already over :/
Or the fight extended to 3 hs
Implying the movie only have 1 fight
he mispronounces english words anyway. why does he even fret about mispronouncing a japanese name
Not true. Look at Adorea, they make action short films based on real sword fighting and they were just the right length and quite exciting with their own levels of fantasy that don't make HEMA types cringe so hard they damn near vomit.
Sergio Leone was master of that kind of duel scenes: explosive action with lots of tension built.
Regarding the arm thing: He did just swing the sword into a metal pole edge first, he might have hit him with a part of the blade that wasn't very sharp anymore.
It's a slicing cut though, which draws a long section of edge through the target. Not just one specific spot.
@@Skallagrim Exactly! (from the guy who bent a perfectly good katana). Obviously, I am an expert.
Pax dudes and seasons greetings.
@@Skallagrim That's a fair point, a blunted part would still leave him with a much deeper wound than we see in the scene.
@@Skallagrim I'm pretty sure they are fighting with blunt swords from the Japanese festival they ran into.
@@CesarIsaacPerez I don't think a blunted practice weapon can skewer someone to the tsuba like it did at the end.
I remember watching this movie once with a friend just on a whim. Despite being from 1991, it screams 1980's, but I love its cheesiness.
At least the scene name is accurate.
0:44 On the left is most often called "Hasso no kamae" you see it a lot in traditional swordfighting schools. On the right is ( Almost, Dolf has the wrong foot forward) "Chudan no kamae" (Or Seigan no kamae if you prefer) And this is probably the most used stance in japanese swordfighting of any style.
Skall, man I really really enjoy your videos, seriously I think you are one of the greats of youtube keep up the fantastic work
We just need some more HEMA representatives in knight based movies and we would be set
They often do have some hema people and even historians at consultant role.
And promptly ignore them at almost all the time.
I don't remember if was Lindibeige or Matt Easton that had comented about this on theyr videos. Possibly both had.
Because real sword fights are boring
@@johnree6106 I wouldn’t really say that, not as flashy but a lot of tension.
@@johnree6106 With a good direction and a good history every fight can be good
@@johnree6106
Yeah something like this is boring...
ruclips.net/video/Cn36Pb8z3yI/видео.html
In Vikings there is a battle in the town of York. It has a very realistic scene of a guy being run through, staggering and then still fighting on for several more minutes before being run through again fighting on and finally falling. He then musters the last of his strength one last time before actually dying. There isn't much else accurate during that battle but that scene was well done.
Thoroughly enjoyed this vid! Thanks, Skal. Always love your work, I was laughing a lot here while learning.
One of my fave old action movies thanks Skall!
"I'm just going to call him Shang Tsung"
The legend says this movie was an inspiration for the first Mortal Kombat game
No, that was big trouble in little china. lol
@@theguileraven7014 Could have been both
@@theguileraven7014 oh, got it
That face cut combined with hero's reaction looks like it should've taken his jaw off lmao
“Plot armor”.... I like that phrase. You see it a lot in movies and now I know a name for it :D
You are really getting after it making these great videos. Well done!
The best swordfightscene is the one with Tia carrere in this movie,good times.
RIP Brandon Lee... you would have been the biggest action star in the world.
I respectfully disagree I believe that he had the talent to be a very great actor not just in action movies but in drama's as well, his performance in the Crow demonstrated that perfectly in my opinion
@@cclark8469 dude imagine mission impossible but with Lee instead of cruise. It makes me sad just to think about it.
With his charisma, good looks, legendary legacy, and straight up just acting talent judging by his few good roles, you're not exaggerating.
I'm pretty sure the triads killed him; don't know why, but you can't expect me to believe there was a real loaded gun in a movie set.
@@dojimanoryu4969 they never said it was a real bullet. It was a blank propelling something stuck in the barrel I believe.
Showdown in Little Tokyo is an underrated action classic to me. Its always nice to see it get some attention.
Great, measured breakdown. I've run into your channel a few times and I like that you don't over sell the value of your own opinion of what should be, (have been,), but rather present your material matter of factly. Shows a maturity generally lacking from a lot of "experts" on the Tubes. Studying from curiosity rather than from predetermined fantasy makes for a much more credible conclusion. I'm subscribed now. I think I'll enjoy your channel.
Thanks. There are over 1200 videos to catch up on if you feel like it. :)
"He's just standing there taking it" LMAO
Oh man this movie is amazing, you owe it to yourself to watch it. great forgotten 90s action flick.
Dolph Lundgren was an 8th degree black belt in Kyokushinkai, one of the more well known styles of Okinawan karate. My father was a 5th degree black belt when he trained with him a few years before this movie was filmed.
Dolph could have been an amazing action fighting film star if they had better choreographers and directors back then. His kicks alone were insane. Perfect form, fast, and looked really cool.
That ENDING! Gotta love late '80s and early '90s.
Skal, you forgot "in an explosion of blood" for how one shot fight endings in samurai movies go.
how you missed this I have no idea, cracking film
Excellent breakdown and analysis.
And frankly, whoever wrote the scene in that film deserves props, too. They had clearly seen (or had) a serious cut or two.
Cool! This was one of my favorites as a kid. Nice to see it WAS actually good!
both actors are active martial artists, they trained in this for years
It's a fun movie man! The perfect 90's action cheese-fest, and one of my all tine favorite guilty pleasure movies! Anyone who hasn't seen it should get some friends together and some drinks, and have a wtach party. ✌🏻❤🤘🏻
I agree big time
Yeah it’s a classic
Hahaha, I have to re-watch that movie now.
BTW Skall, I love your videos, long time subscriber. Merry Christmas from Mexico to you and your wife!
Thanks, and Merry Christmas to you as well.
late 80s and early 90s action movies are pure gold. Showdown being one of my favorites.
Did you notice that Dolph has a bullet wound to the heart? (He was shot in the chest in a scene directly before this sword fight.)
Yeah then he's already dead lol
@@whyuhatan "you thought just killing me would be enough to make me die?"
When I imagine fight scenes in my head, I usually imagine super-high-tier characters as usually taking two strikes to finish an opponent.
Either it will be one wounding attack that reduces the opponents ability to fight back, or that staggers them enough that they become open to a finishing attack. The finisher will then usually be a strike at the neck, or if the opponent is less armored it may also be a strike at the head or stab through the chest. The protagonist will then either move away from the dying opponent, or casually maneuver into them to knock them over whilst switching focus to other enemies. Alternatively a less lethal incapacitating attack may be used to "finish" the opponent, such as by cutting the back of the legs, and then simply maneuvering away from them and prioritizing enemies that are more of a threat.
The other strategy involves the protagonist first landing some sort of lesser lethal attack, such as a sufficiently precise jab to the throat, and then following that up with a more brutal attack meant to knock down or overwhelm the target so that they bleed out or become discouraged before they're able to gather for an afterblow.
Point simply being that even when attempting to imagine some kind of "god-tier" fighter, I usually don't imagining them scything through enemies with one strike per person, because if the enemy is somewhat competent, there usually shouldn't be an opening that allows for a clean one-strike finish. Rather I try to imagine the character working more opportunistically to destroy an enemies defense and offense to create the opportunity needed to finish them, or going through their defense with something less committed.
Unless the situation involves overpowered bs, like weapons that can just cleave right through a person of course, in which case everything is pure cheese and death-dancing.
A John Wick-style stunt crew could make this, and just from your descriptions it feels like it would look amazing.
Audiences these days appreciate grittiness and fights that are more realistic. Especially when the editor doesn't go all Edward Scissorhands on the scene.
What I really appreciated about characters like John Wick, is the clear and obvious foundation of moves. The director isn't afraid to show the character doing the same thing over and over. The scene is about the character's competence and efficiency, not the number of cool and exciting ways you can kill someone. Of course you can have a few cool, improvisational kills in there, but they shouldn't be the meat and potatoes. Every person has a foundation of techniques they favor.
mucho texto, shut up
@@nihilum2869 to short, didn't read
@Bold Well, yes, but then you're standing there with you sword buried in some blokes head, whilst he can probably still fight back to some extent, and there may be more opponents inbound. To my understanding, literally stabbing your way through a skull in such a way that it does not glance off the forehead or get lodged somewhere before reaching the spinal chord or brain is not something you'll do casually. So that likely wouldn't be an instant kill, and it would to some extent restrict your movement whilst you get your weapon free. And obviously, the more protective of a helmet the enemy has, the more difficult that is.
@Bold - You turn on Sandevistan, run around, and neck stab 6 people. You're behind cover before their bodies have even hit the floor.
Did it yesterday and got a trophy 😛
lol! - love the commentary. I'm old enough to remember this movie and saw it in the theaters.
Dolphs character was also shot through the chest before the sword fight, which makes him seem a bit super human. But I love the movie. Great childhood memory.
Whaaaaat, skall doesnt hate on a katana???? World view shattered....
Lol
Keep up the good work skall.
Well, he made a video that explains why he criticases katanas so much and he will try to be more objective
@@michasokoowski6651 I know.
I’m here, just watching this fight and then Shang Tsung f**king explodes on a spinning wheel of fortune omg 😆 the eighties were alive and well in this gem 💎. Wtf
Grew up with this film. Awesome pic and great stuff for a developing mind! 👍
This is probably the most realistic sword fight I've seen you review.
For you to know, you can rewind video frame by frame with "" buttons
Heman kills Shang Sun while The Crow watches
Great breakdown
Nice to hear that the RUclips algorithm works for youtubers as well
I would be interested in you watching "The Challenge", a 1982 movie starring Scott Glenn and Toshiru Mifune. "Steve" Seagal was a technical advisor. I don't remember if the fights were realistic. Scott's character in his first sword fight, flails wildly and looks scared. That's realistic imo lol.
advice: use , and . when on a video to go back and forward one frame at the time. it's faster and more accurate when you want to analize small things. also if you hold the button you can make kinda play it backwards if you want. I hope this helps you a lot
Skal sure has come a long way since those little melee combat videos from like 10 years ago lol
One of my favorite films from the 90s, a time very rich in action films.
Dolph lundgren is a legitimate badass
He also has a master's degree in chemical engineering.
I think the best fights are the ones that retain their realism up until one of the combatants randomly explodes.
Keep the realism strong. Up until the exact point at which being realistic would be less entertaining than being unrealistic
Definitely send this to Tagawa's twitter. He would love this!
Showdown in little Tokyo!!! I loved that movie as a kid! Brandon Lee and Dolph made a good team.
The key is to look at their footwork. While the arm work might more or less look somewhat authentic, their footwork is either non-existent (standing still) or not in time with the attacks.
Your point? this is a scene about two guys trying to kill each other with Katanas not two master fencers practicing their footwork. Skill level does not equal realism.
@@Disconnect350
Thank you.
If you have trained long enough, your foot work should be natural and not something to think about
RIP Brandon Lee.
T'was around 1998 when I've watched this movie as a kid. That death scene was the only thing I remembered because, naturally, for a kid that is the most spectacular not the sword fighting. Thank you for that video!
Wow. Great analysis
Well, perhaps within the context of the movie the bad guy was pulling some of the blows back and intentionally inflected flesh wounds to toy with him and cause pain?
he looks like mayhem's guitarist that japanese guy
Love these
Showdown in Little Tokyo was one of my faves when i was a kid.
The moment Dolph Lundgren goes in for the grapple would be scary. He's a big guy and a trained martial artist.
Both Lundgren and Tagawa have backgrounds in competitive martial arts which is probably why the fight is so much better than what you might otherwise expect from early nineties schlock.
Now I know who you remind me of... You look like a Viking version of that actor Steve Carell... You kinda look and sound like him...
When I saw this back then this was a great movie, nice to see some things still hold up after all this time seeing how many bad things that didn’t.
That is an underrated and under appreciated action movie
Would that level of damage be accurate if they were using jumped up wall hangers?
I mean this *is* the 90s
Can a sharp sword alone really lob off an arm, cutting trough both muscles and bones? Getting trough the bone would seem really, really difficult to me. I remember
that even
executioner had a hard time beheading people in one go in the best possible conditions.
A sword maybe not, but a katana hand folded a thousand times surely can.
@Kodansha OneTwoThree you obviously never heard of a joke
@@moonlight2870 Katanas are the MOST dangerous swords in da world. I saw once that they can produce an air wave in the form of "U" that can travel medium and long distances and cut even metals. It's real, I saw it in an anime.
So Skall, a few tips to make doing videos like these easier:
Your arrow left and right keys will rewind or forward the video by 5 seconds, perfect for quick replays.
Your K key will pause the video, that way you can tap it to advance only a few frames, and as I'm sure you've found out, trying to double click with the mouse will constantly pop you in and out of full screen.
Your J and L keys will skip forward and back by 15 seconds.
M will toggle mute.
Also you can turn on the "Dark Theme" by clicking the drop down on your little avatar in the upper right.
I hope this helps you, or anyone else who reads this.
Hope you all have a nice Christmas! ^_^
nice one Skally
Actor safety is important, see Brandon Lee's eventual fate :/
I still don't know how you confuse a buckshot shell for a blank. Why was there even a buckshot shell on the set?
@@flightlesschicken7769 Could be some idiot losing the blank and replacing it with a buckshot because "they look similar and i dont want to get into trouble". Could be some moron buying buckshot instead of blank. If i learned one thing in life its that nothing is to stupid to be impossible.
@@adrenjones9301 this is material for new category of Darwin Awards. Classic version: suicide by being idiot. Special award: being accidentally killed by idiot.
from what I understand it wasn't buckshot it was a foreign object from a blank ,
I've had some brief exposure to a few different movie special effects people...terrifying...some of the stories...some things are really basic, like don't have a "prop" gun that can still allow something to leave the barrel. Sad.
You forgot to talk about the REAL science of katanas. Every time a katana is swung it cuts the Earth in half, but the power is so great that the swing generates intense heat, immediately fusing the world back together. I learned that in katana school.
Love this movie! One of my favorites as a kid. Lundgren and Lee.
It has been a while since I saw this movie and now I know what to watch tonight :-)
I'm mostly impressed with the fight. A lot of Movie logic and plot armour... Or "My muscles are too thick to cut" hehe but still. I'm happy with it overall, beats most ones that you see in film in my opinion, though we all know most film is Entertainment > Realism
Skallagrim, you should cover the Salme boat burials that were found in Estonia around 10 years ago that date to 100-50 years before the Viking Age. The biggest ship burial with the most grave goodies even found. Maybe you can connect the weapons to some of the actual historical ones that we know of. I've read that they found an X shaped spearhead from there, very interesting.
Watched this loads as a kid, surprised you didn't know about it. :)
hilarious commentary thank you
Toshishiro Obata, who also played a role in this movie (the bald yakuza Dude) made the kenjutsu coreographies in this movie. As far as i know his kenjutsu style is called Shinken Do or Way of the living blade if i rememver correct. He did alot of sword coreography in Hollywood during the 80s and 90s and published some videos and books about kenjutsu and Samurai topics.
There’s a great scene in that movie where a mannequin screams for help while being squished by a car crusher
I haven't seen the movie but when you said the cast I was like "ah!" Both actual martial artists.
I enjoyed that movie a lot actually, those oldschool 90s action films are so much fun!