The longsword duel from THE KING is on point.

The King (2019) has one of the best sword fights seen on screen recently. But what makes it so good? We break down the swordplay, choreography and filmmaking of this duel and what makes it work so well (and not so well).

Special thanks to Gindi Wauchope from @TheSchoolofHistoricalFencing for his technical and historical insights.

And many thanks to my sparring partners featured in this video: Lachlan, Liu (Carl), Gindi and Ben.

SOURCES:

Fiore de'i Liberi - Wikitenauer

Nikola Stjelja - HEMA Double leg takedown

#hema #filmmaking #directing #swords #cinematography #choreography #fightbreakdown

[Pattonesque]

great analysis. this scene is so well-staged that even the parts that aren't super martially sound can be explained by both characters being tired and scared

[comieodor]

So many of these YouTube analysis videos break down to: "look at how many historical inaccuracies I was able to find in this scene."
I love that you took the time to contextualise why things are choreographed and shot in certain ways to aid storytelling, convey emotion or drive a narrative whether or not it was 100% accurate.

[Mittens_Gaming]

I just love that the armor in this movie works. I hate how so many movies have armor basically made out of butter. Here, he has to wear his opponent down and get him under the armor for a killing blow. The armor works.

[colossusslayer]

Something else I like alot here is that they KEEP THEIR HELMETS ON. Most Hollywood movies would insist on the visors going up or no helmets so their actors can emote, at the cost of realism and believability. Them keeping and using their armor correctly just adds so much here.

[dawnkeyy]

What I like the most about this scene is how you can really feel them get tired - not just the heavy breathing, but also how they stumble around and flail their swords after the first grappling part.
I also liked the takedown - instead of just a quick, clean, devastating throw, he had to run the other guy down until he finally fell, not too dramatically either.

[FlareBinar]

I really appreciate the approach here, instead of just relentlessly criticizing every tactical mistake, looking for the most realistic move in any situation, you're looking at it as a scene from a movie. You really put in the work to demonstrate that every break from traditional combat is sold by the pacing, cinematography, and acting, instead of hinging your criticism entirely the scene's choreography. I really enjoy this kind of holistic criticism.

[callumgriss]

what i absolutely love is the exhaustion we see in the two. too often, extended melees scenes feature people fighting as if they've only just started, even if they've been going for like 20 minutes, as seen in movies like the LOTR trilogy. In this scene and in the battle later on, it very quickly descends into exhausted people who barely have the strength left to stand, hitting each other with blows that don't even have the force to bounce off.

[crispy_]

I love that you can hear the armor and their frantic breathing. It gives a lot more weight and realism to the fight. I also love the part where Hal trips Percy. It’s such a small thing that could actually happen in combat, a small mistake that leads to defeat

[mattlawson]

God, I love how they are actually trying to hit each other rather than just trying to clang their swords together.

[maximeb]

This is the modern medieval era movie that felt the realest that I've ever seen.

[UT]

History vs choreography aside, a fight is a fight. Mistakes happen. Improvisation happens. Anger and grappling and whatever dirty things go down so that one person can survive. I think this scene really gets that across and the details you point out through the video as to the historic accuracy of it just make it even better of a scene.

[thedude-sppo]

Big respect to the fact you understand the cinematic viability of certain decisions. People usually nitpick for hours at historical inaccuracies without understanding anything about filmmaking and how boring their super realistic vision would be. That doesn't seem to be the case with this channel.

[animalxINSTINCT]

Anyone else find it funny a guy named CHALIMET played the king of England and a guy named PATTINSON played the Dauphin? History is not without a sense of irony

[wmouse]

I really like how you not only compare the choreography to real combat, but also explain why the choreography is done the way it is, including safety considerations for the actors.

[CW_]

Aye man, im not a sword fighting or historical combat fan what so ever but when the video ended I was surprised 11min went by that quick, so even for me this kept me entertained, loved the insights into everything and appreciate you keeping it simple enough I could understand everything with 0 knowledge about it. Keep it up man, ill keep an eye out for your stuff.

[plootyluvsturtle]

huge respect for not just criticizing the inaccuracies but also understanding why they might be inaccurate and even acknowledging and praising even when the film sacrifices some realism in favor of making another part of the film better. Really good analysis

[JohnSmith-dzdc]

The thing I love most about this fight is till how exhausting it is. There’s a moment in which they both just take a break to catch their breath while on the ground.

[Tehrawrzorz]

Great work on the analysis. I see a lot of HEMAtubers/swordsmen approach every movie as if they were actually trying to kill one another, instead of being actors. The negativity gets really old and eventually just turns into an overblown hatefest. Glad to see a refreshing interpretation done by you.

[Scott-tieh]

As a 30 year Hollywood editor I appreciate your appreciation.

[leearthcolonel]

So basically a battle scene that combines actual historical accurate combat with things that you cant prevent, such as exhaustation, grapling, and overall things that would happen in an actual fight, so cool!! :D