I'm sure we've all seen many movies with carefully scripted fight scenes. I don't mean only the martial arts movies popularized during the 1970's and later, where enemies seemed to queue up to be clobbered by the hero or heroine (or both) at regular intervals. We see it in mainstream blockbusters like the James Bond movies as well.
I was asked recently what I thought was the best fight choreography I'd ever seen. That's a really tough one to answer, because there are so many candidates for the title; but I thought that the Japanese movie series about Zatoichi, a blind swordsman, had much to recommend them. Someone on YouTube clearly feels likewise, because he's put together this seven-minute compilation of the sword fights from the first five Zatoichi movies. Take a look at them, and see what you think of the choreography. (Remember that the protagonist is supposed to be blind, and is fighting by ear.)
I'd call that pretty impressive. What do you think? Any favorite fight scenes that struck you as very well staged and realistic? If so, please share them with us in Comments, along with a link to any video clips illustrating them, so we can all enjoy them.
Also, does anyone know an online source for all the Zatoichi movies, whether downloadable or on DVD? There are quite a lot on YouTube, but by no means all of them. I've got about half of them, and I'd like to get the rest (with English subtitles, if possible).
Peter
