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Combat in film

May 01, 2024

Cinematic fight choreography or staged fights in cinema include performances of archery, classical fencing, historical fencing, martial arts, close combat, and duels in general, as well as choreography of full-scale battles with hundreds of combatants.

Asian martial arts edit

Main articles: Martial arts movies and Hong Kong action cinema

The 1970s in Hong Kong saw the rise and sudden death of international martial arts and film superstar Bruce Lee, who is known for popularizing Hong Kong action cinema. He was succeeded in the 1980s by Jackie Chan, who popularized the use of comedy and dangerous stunts in action films.

Hong Kong-based fight choreographer Yuen Wo-ping is famed for his work on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the Matrix trilogy, in which the often unrealistic fighting techniques are complemented by directorial techniques such as bullet time. Ching Siu-tung is particularly noted in the field of Hong Kong action cinema for his use of graceful wire fu techniques.

Notable Asian martial arts choreographers:

Notable Asian martial arts actors:

Awards edit

Battles edit

Further information: War movies and List of war films

With the introduction of advanced editing techniques and of filming outdoors, modern films have a much wider palette of possibilities for depicting violence, including single combat, brawls, and melees as well as large-scale battles. From the 2000s, computer animation has come to play an important part in cinematic visualization of battle scenes, chiefly through the use of computer-generated imagery to simulate very large battles appearing to involve thousands of individual combatants and coordinated activities, which would otherwise be logistically difficult or prohibitively expensive to depict (see MASSIVE and crowd simulation). Many battlefield CGI techniques were pioneered from 2001 by The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

Historical battles edit

Films with notable large battle scenes and the historical battles/wars they depict:

Prehistory and ancient history
Post-classical and medieval history
Early modern period to 19th century
20th century

Fantasy and science fiction edit

Boxing edit

Further information: Category:Boxing films

Fencing edit

Cinema inherited the concept of choreographed fights directly from the theatrical fight. Films that feature notable classical fencing scenes include:

Douglas Fairbanks in 1920 was the first film director to ask a fencing master to assist the production of a fencing scene in cinema.[1] A second wave of swashbuckling films was triggered with Errol Flynn from 1935. Also notable in the early period were Ramon Novarro, Rudolph Valentino, and John Barrymore. Fencing masters (fight arrangers) from the time include Henry Uttenhove, Fred Cavens, Ralph Faulkner, Jean Heremans, Bob Anderson, William Hobbs, and Claude Carliez.

Renewed interest in swashbuckling films arose in the 1970s, in the wake of The Three Musketeers (1973). Directors at this stage aimed for a certain amount of historical accuracy, although, as the 2007 Encyclopædia Britannica puts it, "movie fencing remains a poor representation of actual fencing technique". A notable fight arranger of this period is William Hobbs.

Firearms edit

Further information: Western movie, Gangster movie, and Gun fu

Knife fights edit

Knife fights, as well as knife-throwing stunts, are staged for dramatic effect in action films. In Under Siege, Commando, Gangs of New York, Machete, and Machete Kills, knife fights are shown as climactic battles. A common theme in such films is for the hero to discard a gun or similarly superior weapon, in order to engage the otherwise unarmed villain in "fair" knife-to-knife combat. In the 2002 film version of The Count of Monte Cristo, the main character, Dantes, agrees to engage in a knife fight against Jacopo, a member of a smuggler's crew (the captain of which calls Jacopo "the best knife fighter I have ever seen"). Dantes defeats Jacopo but spares his life, gaining a pivotal ally in his future endeavors.

One of the most famous cinematic knife fights occurs in From Here to Eternity. The scene—occurring in a back alley—is stark and realistic, lacks background music and uses pitch black shadow.

In the movie Force 10 from Navarone, a knife fight appeared between Sgt. Weaver, an African-American medic Soldier, played by Carl Weathers, and Capt. Drazak, an officer of the Chetniks, allies to Nazi Germany, played by Richard Kiel. The fight ended with Drazak's death.

In the film Commando, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, there is a knife fight at the end of the movie between John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Bennett played by Vernon Wells. They begin with the knife, and then end up in a No-holds-barred CQC.

In the film Cobra, starring Sylvester Stallone as a city cop who must stop a knife using serial killer and cult member the Night Slasher played by Brian Thompson. There is a fight scene at the end involving a knife fight between Stallone's character Cobra and the Night Slasher. The menacing looking knife used by the Night Slasher is a brass knuckles or more like a spiked knuckles, modern version of a trench knife.

The film Eastern Promises has a rather intense knife fight that rivals that of the also psychologically disturbing knife fight scene from Saving Private Ryan.

In The Bourne Identity (2002 film), Jason Bourne (played by Matt Damon) had a knife-fight encounter with Castel, an assassin sent to kill him. In the struggle, Jason Bourne equalizes his unarmed position against the assassin's knife by arming himself with a pen.

In Kill Bill, a knife-fight occurs between the Bride and Vernita Green, during which the pair severely damage Green's living room, only to abruptly halt when Green's daughter is dropped off by the school bus and seen walking towards the house. Shortly thereafter, Green sneakily pulls a gun, and the Bride responds by throwing her knife, to deadly effect.

The Hunted (2003, William Friedkin) was a unique film that put an emphasis on showing knife combat. Starring Benicio del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones, each character has a special affinity for knives, due to participating in various special operations missions under military service, which required use of a knife as a primary weapon. Also Friedkin's Bug (2007) features a knife-fight.

A Grande Arte (1991) along with the above-mentioned The Hunted, is one of the rare films to focus on knife combat and features training scenes as well.

Dune (1984, David Lynch) and the 2000 Dune miniseries, based on Frank Herbert´s bestselling science fiction novel Dune, show a world where a corporeal shield (a force-field projector) makes laser and projectile weapons useless. Because of that, wars and duels are settled by knife-fighting, which is altered by the presence of the shield: a fast-moving knife bounces off the shield; a slow-moving knife can penetrate the shield to reach a vital organ. The climactic duel, between Paul Muad´dib and Feyd-Rautha, used only knives (no shields) and martial-arts abilities.

Michael Jackson's music video Beat it features a highly stylized depiction of two men knife-fighting using switchblade knives, with their wrists tied. This is reminiscent of a similar depiction in West Side Story.

In Quantum of Solace (2008) James Bond (Daniel Craig) enters the apartment of Edmund Slate, the man he was sent to investigate. Slate comes out of nowhere and tries to kill him with a switchblade. They struggle, Bond arms himself with scissors, disarms Slate by bending his wrist forward, and stabs him in the neck and femoral artery, causing Slate to bleed to death.

In The Expendables, Lee Christmas (played by Jason Statham) frequently makes use of combat knives when he is not in possession of a firearm and uses them both as projectiles and in hand-to-hand combat. Gunner (Dolph Lundgren) also uses a large bowie knife but gives it to Lee at the beginning of the film.

In The Expendables 2, Lee Christmas again makes use of combat knives. He is shown to be skillful enough to defeat a squad of enemies on his own, as well as challenge the villain Hector (played by Scott Adkins), himself a formidable knife-fighter. Hector pulls his knife on Christmas when the latter runs out of blades; he arms himself with a pair of brass knuckles, with which he fights and defeats Hector.

In The Man From Nowhere, Cha Tae-Shik (played by Won Bin) makes use of a switchblade and the art form kali to combat gangsters in a large condominium towards the finale of the film. After defeating the gangsters, he fights their hired assassin who also wields a karambit. Both fighters fight close quarters until Cha Tae-Shik gains the upper hand and stabs the hired assassin in the heart.

In The Avengers, Hawkeye (played by Jeremy Renner) fights Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson) while under the influence of Loki. When deprived of his bow, Hawkeye draws his knife and continues the fight until he is disarmed and incapacitated.

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, during the first encounter between Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans and the titular antagonist (played by Sebastian Stan), the Winter Soldier uses multiple knives against Rogers in their melee along with various firearms.

In The Birth of a Nation (2016 film), the film provided various hand-to-hand close combat and knife combat techniques in a climactic “last stand” battle scene, showing Nat Turner (played by Nate Parker) and his group of slave rebels facing the militia and plantation defenders at an armory.

Historical martial arts edit

Historical martial arts reconstruction developed in the later 20th century and became influential in cinema only from ca. the 1990s. Earlier sequences of combat with pre-Renaissance weaponry were typically based on classical fencing techniques, or choreographed as ad-hoc "blade whacking".[2]

Influential movie heralding renewed interest in pre-modern swordsmanship were Excalibur (1981) and Highlander (1986). Lightsaber combat in the Star Wars films takes some elements from kendo, and The Lord of the Rings employs some elements of historical fencing.

Historical drama films that feature combat based on historical swordsmanship include Rob Roy (1995), Gladiator (2000), Troy (2004), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Alatriste (2006).

A Knight's Tale is an example of a movie that includes jousting performances (2001) and unrealistic clashing of swords on armor, despite the Fechtbücher who show armoured combat (Harnischfechten).

Unarmed or improvised combat edit

Films such as The Duellists, fight directed by William Hobbs, Once Were Warriors, fight directed by Robert Bruce and Troy, fight directed by Richard Ryan are widely famed for including gritty, realistic combat scenes.

References edit

  1. ^ 2007 Britannica, s.v. fencing.
  2. ^ the term used by the 2007 Encyclopædia Britannica, s.v. fencing

External links edit

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Violence in film.

May 01, 2024
combat, film, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, june, 2008, l. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Combat in film news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2008 Learn how and when to remove this message Cinematic fight choreography or staged fights in cinema include performances of archery classical fencing historical fencing martial arts close combat and duels in general as well as choreography of full scale battles with hundreds of combatants Contents 1 Asian martial arts 1 1 Awards 2 Battles 2 1 Historical battles 2 2 Fantasy and science fiction 3 Boxing 4 Fencing 5 Firearms 6 Knife fights 7 Historical martial arts 8 Unarmed or improvised combat 9 References 10 External linksAsian martial arts editMain articles Martial arts movies and Hong Kong action cinema The 1970s in Hong Kong saw the rise and sudden death of international martial arts and film superstar Bruce Lee who is known for popularizing Hong Kong action cinema He was succeeded in the 1980s by Jackie Chan who popularized the use of comedy and dangerous stunts in action films Hong Kong based fight choreographer Yuen Wo ping is famed for his work on Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and the Matrix trilogy in which the often unrealistic fighting techniques are complemented by directorial techniques such as bullet time Ching Siu tung is particularly noted in the field of Hong Kong action cinema for his use of graceful wire fu techniques Notable Asian martial arts choreographers Yuen Wo ping Ching Siu tung Yoshio Sugino Bruce Lee Don Wilson Jackie Chan Yayan Ruhian Donnie Yen Sammo Hung Yuen Biao Panna Rittikrai Tony Jaa Dan Inosanto Corey Yuen Ji Chang Wook Iko Uwais Notable Asian martial arts actors Bruce Lee Jackie Chan Donnie Yen Jet Li Ji Chang Wook Tony Jaa Iko Uwais Yayan Ruhian Sammo Hung Yuen Biao Don The Dragon Wilson Michelle Yeoh Awards edit Golden Horse Award for Best Action Choreography Hong Kong Film Award for Best Action ChoreographyBattles editFurther information War movies and List of war films With the introduction of advanced editing techniques and of filming outdoors modern films have a much wider palette of possibilities for depicting violence including single combat brawls and melees as well as large scale battles From the 2000s computer animation has come to play an important part in cinematic visualization of battle scenes chiefly through the use of computer generated imagery to simulate very large battles appearing to involve thousands of individual combatants and coordinated activities which would otherwise be logistically difficult or prohibitively expensive to depict see MASSIVE and crowd simulation Many battlefield CGI techniques were pioneered from 2001 by The Lord of the Rings film trilogy Historical battles edit Films with notable large battle scenes and the historical battles wars they depict Prehistory and ancient history Spartacus 1960 Third Servile War The 300 Spartans 1962 Battle of Thermopylae Gladiator 2000 Marcomannic Wars Troy 2004 Trojan War Alexander 2004 Battle of Gaugamela Battle of the Hydaspes King Arthur 2004 Battle of Mons Badonicus 300 2007 Battle of Thermopylae Red Cliff 2008 2009 Battle of Red Cliffs Post classical and medieval history Alexander Nevsky 1938 Battle on the Ice El Cid 1961 Siege of Valencia during the Reconquista Chimes at Midnight 1966 Battle of Shrewsbury Kagemusha 1980 Battle of Takatenjin Battle of Nagashino Henry V 1989 Battle of Agincourt Braveheart 1995 Battle of Stirling Bridge Battle of Falkirk 1298 The Messenger The Story of Joan of Arc 1999 Siege of Orleans Kingdom of Heaven 2005 Battle of Hattin Siege of Jerusalem 1187 Elizabeth The Golden Age 2007 Battle of Gravelines Arn The Knight Templar 2007 Battle of Montgisard Early modern period to 19th century Zulu 1964 Battle of Rorke s Drift War and Peace 1968 Battle of Schongrabern Battle of Austerlitz Battle of Borodino Battle of Krasnoi The Charge of the Light Brigade 1968 Battle of Balaklava Waterloo 1970 Battle of Waterloo Glory 1989 Battle of Antietam Battle of James Landing Second Battle of Fort Wagner Gettysburg 1993 Battle of Gettysburg The Patriot 2000 Battle of Camden Battle of Cowpens Siege of Yorktown Gods and Generals 2003 First Battle of Bull Run Battle of Antietam Battle of Fredericksburg Battle of Chancellorsville The Last Samurai 2003 Satsuma Rebellion The Alamo 2004 Siege of the Alamo Battle of the Alamo Alatriste 2006 Battle of Rocroi The Sovereign s Servant 2007 Battle of Poltava 20th century The Longest Day 1962 Invasion of Normandy Battle of the Bulge 1965 Battle of the Bulge Liberation Oszvobozdeniye 1969 Battle of Kursk Operation Kutuzov Battle of the Dnieper Second Battle of Kiev Operation Bagration Battle of Berlin Tora Tora Tora 1970 Attack on Pearl Harbor March on the Drina 1964 Battle of Cer Battle of Neretva 1969 Battle of Neretva Cross of Iron 1977 Eastern Front World War II A Bridge Too Far 1977 Operation Market Garden Full Metal Jacket 1987 Battle of Hue Hamburger Hill 1987 Battle of Hamburger Hill Border 1997 Battle of Longewala Stalingrad 1993 Battle of Stalingrad Saving Private Ryan 1998 Invasion of Normandy Omaha Beach Dog Green sector The Thin Red Line 1998 Battle of Guadalcanal When Trumpets Fade 1998 Battle of Hurtgen Forest Enemy at the Gates 2001 Battle of Stalingrad Pearl Harbor 2001 Battle of Britain Attack on Pearl Harbor Doolittle Raid Black Hawk Down 2001 Battle of Mogadishu We Were Soldiers 2002 Battle of Ia Drang Windtalkers 2002 Battle of Saipan The Pianist 2002 Warsaw Uprising Tango Charlie 2005 various aspects of Naxalite Maoist insurgency and Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir Lakshya 2004 Kargil War Flags of our Fathers 2006 Battle of Iwo Jima Letters from Iwo Jima 2006 Battle of Iwo Jima Fantasy and science fiction edit Harry Potter film series Star Wars 1977 2019 Starship Troopers 1997 The Lord of the Rings film trilogy 2001 2003 Battle of the Hornburg Battle of the Pelennor Fields Battle of the Morannon Maleficent 2014 Boxing editFurther information Category Boxing filmsFencing editCinema inherited the concept of choreographed fights directly from the theatrical fight Films that feature notable classical fencing scenes include The Mark of Zorro 1920 The Three Musketeers 1921 Don Q Son of Zorro 1925 The Black Pirate 1926 The Iron Mask 1929 Captain Blood 1935 The Prisoner of Zenda 1937 The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938 The Sea Hawk 1940 The Mark of Zorro 1940 The Corsican Brothers 1941 The Black Swan 1942 Adventures of Don Juan 1948 Cyrano de Bergerac 1950 Scaramouche 1952 At Sword s Point 1952 The Court Jester 1956 Le Bossu 1959 Le Miracle des loups 1961 The Great Race 1965 The Three Musketeers 1973 The Four Musketeers 1974 The Duellists 1977 The Princess Bride 1987 Cyrano de Bergerac 1990 Robin Hood Prince of Thieves 1991 By the Sword 1991 The Fencing Master 1992 Rob Roy 1995 On Guard 1997 The Mask of Zorro 1998 The Count of Monte Cristo 2002 Die Another Day 2002 Pirates of the Caribbean The Curse of the Black Pearl 2003 Douglas Fairbanks in 1920 was the first film director to ask a fencing master to assist the production of a fencing scene in cinema 1 A second wave of swashbuckling films was triggered with Errol Flynn from 1935 Also notable in the early period were Ramon Novarro Rudolph Valentino and John Barrymore Fencing masters fight arrangers from the time include Henry Uttenhove Fred Cavens Ralph Faulkner Jean Heremans Bob Anderson William Hobbs and Claude Carliez Renewed interest in swashbuckling films arose in the 1970s in the wake of The Three Musketeers 1973 Directors at this stage aimed for a certain amount of historical accuracy although as the 2007 Encyclopaedia Britannica puts it movie fencing remains a poor representation of actual fencing technique A notable fight arranger of this period is William Hobbs Firearms editFurther information Western movie Gangster movie and Gun fuKnife fights editKnife fights as well as knife throwing stunts are staged for dramatic effect in action films In Under Siege Commando Gangs of New York Machete and Machete Kills knife fights are shown as climactic battles A common theme in such films is for the hero to discard a gun or similarly superior weapon in order to engage the otherwise unarmed villain in fair knife to knife combat In the 2002 film version of The Count of Monte Cristo the main character Dantes agrees to engage in a knife fight against Jacopo a member of a smuggler s crew the captain of which calls Jacopo the best knife fighter I have ever seen Dantes defeats Jacopo but spares his life gaining a pivotal ally in his future endeavors One of the most famous cinematic knife fights occurs in From Here to Eternity The scene occurring in a back alley is stark and realistic lacks background music and uses pitch black shadow In the movie Force 10 from Navarone a knife fight appeared between Sgt Weaver an African American medic Soldier played by Carl Weathers and Capt Drazak an officer of the Chetniks allies to Nazi Germany played by Richard Kiel The fight ended with Drazak s death In the film Commando starring Arnold Schwarzenegger there is a knife fight at the end of the movie between John Matrix Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bennett played by Vernon Wells They begin with the knife and then end up in a No holds barred CQC In the film Cobra starring Sylvester Stallone as a city cop who must stop a knife using serial killer and cult member the Night Slasher played by Brian Thompson There is a fight scene at the end involving a knife fight between Stallone s character Cobra and the Night Slasher The menacing looking knife used by the Night Slasher is a brass knuckles or more like a spiked knuckles modern version of a trench knife The film Eastern Promises has a rather intense knife fight that rivals that of the also psychologically disturbing knife fight scene from Saving Private Ryan In The Bourne Identity 2002 film Jason Bourne played by Matt Damon had a knife fight encounter with Castel an assassin sent to kill him In the struggle Jason Bourne equalizes his unarmed position against the assassin s knife by arming himself with a pen In Kill Bill a knife fight occurs between the Bride and Vernita Green during which the pair severely damage Green s living room only to abruptly halt when Green s daughter is dropped off by the school bus and seen walking towards the house Shortly thereafter Green sneakily pulls a gun and the Bride responds by throwing her knife to deadly effect The Hunted 2003 William Friedkin was a unique film that put an emphasis on showing knife combat Starring Benicio del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones each character has a special affinity for knives due to participating in various special operations missions under military service which required use of a knife as a primary weapon Also Friedkin s Bug 2007 features a knife fight A Grande Arte 1991 along with the above mentioned The Hunted is one of the rare films to focus on knife combat and features training scenes as well Dune 1984 David Lynch and the 2000 Dune miniseries based on Frank Herbert s bestselling science fiction novel Dune show a world where a corporeal shield a force field projector makes laser and projectile weapons useless Because of that wars and duels are settled by knife fighting which is altered by the presence of the shield a fast moving knife bounces off the shield a slow moving knife can penetrate the shield to reach a vital organ The climactic duel between Paul Muad dib and Feyd Rautha used only knives no shields and martial arts abilities Michael Jackson s music video Beat it features a highly stylized depiction of two men knife fighting using switchblade knives with their wrists tied This is reminiscent of a similar depiction in West Side Story In Quantum of Solace 2008 James Bond Daniel Craig enters the apartment of Edmund Slate the man he was sent to investigate Slate comes out of nowhere and tries to kill him with a switchblade They struggle Bond arms himself with scissors disarms Slate by bending his wrist forward and stabs him in the neck and femoral artery causing Slate to bleed to death In The Expendables Lee Christmas played by Jason Statham frequently makes use of combat knives when he is not in possession of a firearm and uses them both as projectiles and in hand to hand combat Gunner Dolph Lundgren also uses a large bowie knife but gives it to Lee at the beginning of the film In The Expendables 2 Lee Christmas again makes use of combat knives He is shown to be skillful enough to defeat a squad of enemies on his own as well as challenge the villain Hector played by Scott Adkins himself a formidable knife fighter Hector pulls his knife on Christmas when the latter runs out of blades he arms himself with a pair of brass knuckles with which he fights and defeats Hector In The Man From Nowhere Cha Tae Shik played by Won Bin makes use of a switchblade and the art form kali to combat gangsters in a large condominium towards the finale of the film After defeating the gangsters he fights their hired assassin who also wields a karambit Both fighters fight close quarters until Cha Tae Shik gains the upper hand and stabs the hired assassin in the heart In The Avengers Hawkeye played by Jeremy Renner fights Black Widow played by Scarlett Johansson while under the influence of Loki When deprived of his bow Hawkeye draws his knife and continues the fight until he is disarmed and incapacitated In Captain America The Winter Soldier during the first encounter between Steve Rogers played by Chris Evans and the titular antagonist played by Sebastian Stan the Winter Soldier uses multiple knives against Rogers in their melee along with various firearms In The Birth of a Nation 2016 film the film provided various hand to hand close combat and knife combat techniques in a climactic last stand battle scene showing Nat Turner played by Nate Parker and his group of slave rebels facing the militia and plantation defenders at an armory Historical martial arts editHistorical martial arts reconstruction developed in the later 20th century and became influential in cinema only from ca the 1990s Earlier sequences of combat with pre Renaissance weaponry were typically based on classical fencing techniques or choreographed as ad hoc blade whacking 2 Influential movie heralding renewed interest in pre modern swordsmanship were Excalibur 1981 and Highlander 1986 Lightsaber combat in the Star Wars films takes some elements from kendo and The Lord of the Rings employs some elements of historical fencing Historical drama films that feature combat based on historical swordsmanship include Rob Roy 1995 Gladiator 2000 Troy 2004 Kingdom of Heaven 2005 Alatriste 2006 A Knight s Tale is an example of a movie that includes jousting performances 2001 and unrealistic clashing of swords on armor despite the Fechtbucher who show armoured combat Harnischfechten Unarmed or improvised combat editFilms such as The Duellists fight directed by William Hobbs Once Were Warriors fight directed by Robert Bruce and Troy fight directed by Richard Ryan are widely famed for including gritty realistic combat scenes References edit 2007 Britannica s v fencing the term used by the 2007 Encyclopaedia Britannica s v fencingExternal links edit nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Violence in film Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Combat in film amp oldid 1180593411, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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