Pretty entertaining: [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn36Pb8z3yI"]Adorea longsword fight duel - YouTube[/ame]
Aye, that is pretty good for a YouTube thing! :happy: (Except for the part about giving the loser his sword back, but, eh, whatever!)
Most likely because it is familiar, controllable and therefore less likely to get an actor injured or worse. But this is pure speculation on my part
That's certainly part of it. Actors aren't usually martial artists, and even those that who are rarely have skill in weapons, which makes movie swordplay dangerous for the actors. Safety and all that, which is important. Secondly, it takes a lot of time to get a non-martial artist actor to be able to even come close to looking like a real swordsman. I would doubt many productions have that kind of time to devote to making their fight scenes more martial. Another factor is the fight directors' old boys network, where you have a large cadre of fight directors who have the work all sewn up, and have "gotten by" for years with their hackneyed and amateurish approximations of swordplay. They are reluctant to let new ideas (and therefore new fight directors) into the scene. Like the rest of us, they have no desire to become obsolete or face stiffer competition for their jobs.
Hollywood swordfighting is based off of stage-based theatrical swordfighting. Stuff like this doesn't translate well without close cameras, multiple angles, and sometimes even slow motion. Stage combat isn't realistic, but looks good on a stage to a live audience 50 yards away. Not justifying, just explaining.