Great visuals but the fight choreography is really bad

> bluefingas

Read the thread title (and my post for that matter).

I enjoy pyrotechnics and computer animations as much as the next person, but as a martial artist I prefer to watch stage/film fights where the actors look like they remotely know what they're doing. It's pretty blatant that Collin Chou (Seraph) is the only actor in Matrix who can do a punch combo without throwing out his back or kick without falling over. Reeves, Moss, Fishburne and Weaving all look like grade schoolers trying to imitate Jet Li films. The tons of SFX they got touched up with doesn't change that. It's not THEIR fault... they gave it all they had, but it was (in my opinion) a misstake to ask them in a few weeks to do a fight choreography that they would need years of training to pull off properly. Skilled stage fighters take a long time to train. That's why the most impressive ones were usually martial artists before they got into movies.

In Bunraku they used a more simplistic choreography and I think it payed off. This because the actors DO look at least fairly convincing during their fights. I'd rather watch a limp Woody Harrelsson cross check people with a baseball bat and do it WELL, than watch Keanu look like something off of Youtube, while trying to fake a tornado kick.

As Black_Frances pointed out, it was a bit heavy on the editing, but that doesn't bother me too much as long as it doesn't mess up the pacing of the scene.





Priests adore prophets, prophets resent priests

actually i found the fighting in, say, matrix reloaded for example, to be really quite crap. the choreography in that film felt slow, awkward, forced, and synthetic. by contrast, i quite enjoyed the fights in this film... so yeah, id say i enjoyed bunrakus fight choreography AND performance much more than i did what i saw in the matrix trilogy.

Belief in a supernatural source of evil is unnecessary -We alone are capable of every wickedness

Anyone who says "loooool" loses the right to call anyone else a tard.

"lol! What a retarded comment. Must be an American... "

Dont really see what name calling controbutes to the discussion,, but if that fulfills some kind of purpose to you then be my guest.




"The Matrix is one of the most seminal films ever made. The martial arts actually fits the premise given they aren't seasoned martial artists when they're 'plugged in' and trained; so naturally their interpretation of fighting might not look like perfection. Conversely, the character Seriph is modelled on a martial artist (i.e., he was a 'bouncer' for the Oracle) and therefore his form is a lot cleaner. "

I agree that that the Matrix was highly influential even though i hardly consider it original.

Its an interesting idea that the hackers would make an alternate expression of their MA training. Seeing how they copy/pasted textbooks into their brains rather than do it the old fashioned way. I can appreciate it a lot as food for thought. None the less, Neo is the only rookie so it doesnt make much sense for the others to have no idea of leverage and be flapping aimlessly at each other like in a school yard quarrel. Especially not the agents who are supposed to be pre-programmed with worthwhile combat skills.

I dont mind artistic license but i consider stage fighting to be another form of acting. If the actors are not selling their performance in a way that is convincing in context of the movie, then IMO its bad acting. Despite commendable efforts, the fights scenes of matrix look more like tae bo beginners class than fighting. Two people repeatedly banging their elbows together, not adjusring to what their opponent is doing is not a convincing fight scene by my estimation. In Bunraku they use more simplistic moves but do however pull off feints, counters and adaptivity which to me makes for more convincing and entertaining fight scenes. I also prefer the more crude appearance. No standing around, power posing and such. They lay into each other much
More.

Seraph is played by an MA experienced actor who actually knows what hes doing and hence his form is a lot cleaner.




"moreover, you might want to watch some real martial arts tournaments and perhaps undertake practicing it yourself a little, and then see how 'easy' it is to make fighting look like a video game ^_- "

I practice martial arts since several years... Combatively oriented. I also watch competitive tournaments on occasion even though the two differ quite a bit.. I can recall very few video game moments. They are rare but surprisingly do pop up on occasion.
However, i prefer to see fight scenes looking like fighting. Crude and rugged but still technical.




Priests adore prophets, prophets resent priests

I just have to ask, when you say "Kingdoms of Heaven," are you talking about the Ridley Scott film?