Katanas Aren’t ✨MAGIC✨(And Longswords Aren’t Bats) 

And so much of it could have been avoided if Bond had used Bonetti's Defense, I guess it really is best when considering rocky terrain.

As a foil fencer, I will say it. Epee is foil fencing for people who don't like rules.

Die Another Day was a carefully disguised fantasy movie/RPG that the DM swiftly lost control of. It makes so much more sense if you picture the characters from Critical Role.

I think the sloppy long sword fighting in the end was simply the choreographer doing his job by showing the general audience that these characters have become ridiculously tired and spent and should stop fighting. It brings that feeling of relief when Miranda breaks it up. He did a good job.

Yes Jill, you're certifiable. Certifiably awesome.

I really enjoy your perspective. There is a difference between actual combat and telling stories through combat, and I didn't really appreciate this difference until you pointed it out.

When I first saw the Katana cut the sword, my thoughts weren't "Oh that's dumb." it was "Oh, I guess they were using cheap replica sword wall hangars and that one's proper steel", with the assumption that, they're literally wall hangars, while the other swords (I believe?) were either in display cases implying antiques, or in a functional looking rack, not a display piece.

9:05 When I saw this movie originally, I thought Graves' katana broke Bond's sword because Bond had a sword that was, to some extent, decorative or ceremonial. Graves pulled them off the wall after all. Many proper combat swords could do that to decorative or ceremonial blade if the blade was brittle. A brittle blade would be the result of uncontrolled carbon content and/or quenching without subsequent tempering or annealing (i.e. cheaply made and/or made to look nice rather than to be practical). Though such a blade probably wouldn't have survived the prior fight.

Pro fencer and choreographer here! A great way to know if you are getting "authentic" sport fencing or in general very high quality swordplay is by counting if there are any **consecutive attacks** an attacker makes. At the end of each attack, a swordsperson is at their most vulnerable. Their arm and body are likely out of position to either minor, or major degrees. This means that an experienced opponent has every reason to counter attack (they have the advantage, why shouldn't they) and will do so unless you committed to the defense (retreated too far, parried sloppily). Now for choreography you see this all the time, since only making one rapid attack and then defending isn't very exciting/can be difficult for the audience to understand. But if you are fighting for your life, you are a capital I idiot for pressing your attack immediately after you screwed up, unless as above you know your opponent cannot counter. What is cool about this is it applies for almost every type of sword out there. No secret technology has been invented that allows a sword to negate the disadvantage of being vulnerable immediately after the attack, and every experienced swordsperson knows how to make the most of that window.

"I don't want to say epee is foil for people who don't like rules... " shh don't say it! You'll give away the reason it's so much more fun.

Wow, Jill's blow by blow actually made the fight more tense and exciting than just watching it in the movie!

Years ago, when I was learning to fence, I had the luck to spar with an Olympic fencer who was mostly just toying with me. A few times he closed too close, and then raised his arm straight up (almost like an exaggerated prime parry) and managed to hit me with the tip. The second time I thought to myself "self, if our bodies touch then its a fault and we rest", only to discover that he could maintain the spacing so well that I just couldn't bump him before he hit me again. It's an interesting tactic and worth trying, for choreographing fights in tight spaces (or in crowds).

I’m an iaido practitioner and I can 100% confirm that the Katana is definitely not magic!

I love the way you balance these analyses between pointing out the technical flaws and appreciating the 'poetic license' required for drama.

"Unfencing-like conduct like... using the pommel of the sword" I, as a HEMA practitioner I take offence to that comment. ;) Pommel use is part of proper fencing-like conduct in ye olde medieval manuscripts. Wonderful video overall.

Many, many years ago, when taking a fencing class in college, the professor let us have a free for all Everyone was allowed to pick whichever weapon we preferred (foil, saber, epee). I won with a saber, beating out the fencing team and everyone else with the same technique. When they thrust at me, I slapped them in the forearm. I'm always amused watching fencing in movies that focus on the torso when arms and head are ignored. Katanas are beautifully made, definitely works of art... But definitely not magic.

I once nearly broke my thumb on a shield rim, despite a half gauntlet, and a full basket hilt with an extended thumbguard. once I could hold a hammer again, I added a thumb plate to the half gauntlet.

Here's thing, I'm a longsword fencer. What I enjoy about this fight and still enjoy about this fight is the energy it has. It's not static, it moves, it has its own rhythm. It might some of the worst long sword I've seen, fantasy and historical, but it's only one small part of a very long and complex fight. It's got flash, even if it throws out style half way through. Technically the long sword is awful and I know I'm looking at prop aluminium, but I'm entertained. Well entertained. Could it have been better? It's not what I would have shot, put into the story. It's just not. I don't think people on a whole would like what I'd do. In fact, I'd probably have laid into the characters harder, deliberately made Graves choose a weapon that he knows Bond can't, won't handle well. Even more obviously show up the arrogance, the disrespect for his opponent. Played up the psychology of the two of them studying each other. Trying out weapons, give Bond a moment to see who Graves really is, how he studies eastern swords. As for longsword duels, I can't honestly think of any. I think some of the work in the Lord of the Rings movie is pretty good. I think some of the stuff in the Witcher is.... more fantastical, but grounded. I think it works very well for the universe, world it takes place in. I actually can't think of a time of a long sword duel. At least one where I recognised manuals, techniques being used.

Having done épée (years ago now, sadly), your assessment of it versus foil is dead on. It's basically fencing for people who believe that stabbing the other guy is the entire point rather than just being a happy by-product of correct movement. Tangent by way of illustration: after practice, we'd organise games outside the gym where people could run around in teams and go for it. Which is a great way to learn that group fighting is completely different to individual duels. Another highlight was that one of the senior fencers used to be a gymnast (back when trampolines were briefly considered worthy of the Olympics). He managed on one occasion to forward-flip over another fencer, land on his feet and stab him in the back. He also had a nasty habit of finding a high spot to lurk in before jumping into our midst and having at it. Which means that the nearest I've ever seen to a real-life Errol Flynn was a compact, stocky guy with ginger hair and ADHD. Edit: I can also confirm that épée tips (which are shaped a bit like a small rifle cartridge stuck onto the end of the sword backwards, and contain a button for scoring) have a nasty habit of getting under gear. This can be especially embarrassing, for instance, when you fence against a female opponent and manage to score a hit that somehow gets under the breast protector. Or shortly thereafter where said opponent lands a retaliatory hit which sneaks under the cup that you'd thought to wear...

"If you have a really good example of a longsword fight in media, let me know and maybe we can look at that." There aren't a lot of great one-on-one longsword fights in film. Most of them fall into the "longswords are incredibly heavy and unwieldy" trope (e.g. the last fight in Robin Hood: Prince of Bad Accents). Probably the best one I can think of is the Aragorn/Lurtz fight from Fellowship of the Ring (and it's worth noting that Bob Anderson said Viggo Mortensen was the best swordsman he ever trained). Another OK one is the last fight from Ladyhawke.

"They're sharp pieces of metal, their not.... Magic!" Wait, what? But.... It's Katana!

there is nothing so disconcerting to a pirate as realizing his swash is unbuckled and his booty is showing.

I mean Bond can operate a fighter-plane while garrotted by his co-pilot, fight on a fast moving hovercraft and still hit landmines laying around with deadly precission, Outpace a motorboat with another motorboat - WHILE SHORTCUTTING OVER LAND! - so we should give him a bit of leeway, when it comes to fencing with three or four different weapons in one go...

This is just my experience, the interesting thing about Epee is that Dunning Kruger effect hit me hard. After making me start out with Foil, my teacher, after some time allowed me to pick whether or not I'd like to continue foil, try Epee, or Sabre and I thought I'd take a stab (Ha) at Epee. I started off so confident, like "I CAN HIT ANYTHING?" and was able to win a few a rounds at first because my opponent was at first taken aback by how fucking fearless I was and how I just went right in there, then as I learned much better technique, Epee suddenly became hard and turned into this waiting game of looking for the perfect moment and perfect spot to strike. I still liked it better than Foil, but it wasn't long after that, that I took up Sabre and that was just a swashbucking good time.

The main reason I did only epée for 12 years is because I hate right of way rules.

This was told to me by a friend. He took fencing at university. A pair of classmates were fighting, when the tip broke off one of the foils, leaving a very sharp point. Nobody noticed it until the tip went through the pants and into the leg of one of the fighters. Blood was drawn, but the wound was so small, it was thought to be minor, but in fact became life threatening a few hours later.

I once heard a quote: "The katana is just a bastard sword with a good PR campaign." Thought you might appreciate it.

Beginner longsword student here. I actually kind of ENJOY that their longsword technique is basically all improv. As you said, the weapons are unfamiliar to them. That's the type of thing someone would do with an unfamiliar weapon.

I remember watching this when it was in cinemas back in the day. I went with 2 fencing friends, so especially the epee scene was interesting for us. Yeah, we had to stifle some laughs. We were definitely entertained, so ... well done movie?

Jill: "Let's all agree to forget that and move on" also Jill: Names the video after it...

If I had a pound for every time Toby Stephens played a villain who got into a swordfight with a hero played by a 00 agent and lost in a slightly humiliating fashion, I’d have £2. Which isn’t a lot, but a bit odd it happened twice. (This movie and Sharpe with Sean Bean)

"pinged my suspension of disbelief by the bra strap" is the best thing I've heard all day. Pure gold

I'd say thats an appropriate expression in the thumbnail when referring to this MASTERPIECE of a scene🤣👏👏👏

I would love to see your analysis of the fights in Scott Pilgrim v. the World. the ridiculousness of the movie, would just make me lol.

I also love the wrapup after the fight - when those buttlers carry out the damaged painting and broken furniture - just as a little reminder... That was a neat touch.

The mythbusters actually tested a katana breaking another katana , and found that a katana could in fact break another sword (they later tested it against other swords they had on hand, the katana was a real forged, folded weapon, the others were replicas likely stamped. They did bring in a expert who confirmed that thin wide blades are able to be broken by a strike to the side, blades like a saber or katana have all of the strength behind the cutting edge, and are typically not built to parry, but if you had to, you do so on the edge of the blade, not its side or spine. This type of blade is very weak against a strike to its side and would either bend or break. A long sword on the other hand, is not a thin sword, and when one was tested, it held up 100% due to the extra metal in its thickness. So the movie could have been accurate. But with that said, the mythbusters did note, that when they had the test rig set to human power levels of strike and grip, that the result was, the defending weapon was deflected or knocked out of the hand. it took superhuman grip to maintain control of the weapon. And they did get 1 bend but no breaks using that, when they made the striking rig also go to superhuman power, it was able to break a sword. They also noted that the replica swords they used, did either bend or break at normal human striking power, with super human grip, against a real forged blade, but when they stepped that up to 2 real forged blades, the result even at super human levels of 5 times max strength, was that the striking blade was 100% stopped by the defending blade, even when hit on its side. The bladesmith they had make the swords mentioned that if you got one to break, it likely had a poor heat treatment and was hit just right, he said he had seen blades break many times from getting them to hot and quenching them in water instead of oil. That makes a very brittle blade and it will break very easily. So for the sake of the movie, we should assume that the blades are replicas, it is unlikely that they would for instance hang real antiques around the club after all.

Oh another great two handed sword fight Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon when the girls go at it. Jade Destiny is a two hander going against st a variety of weapons. Pretty enjoyable.

So, when you asked for suggestions of a longsword duel to analyze, the film Ladyhawke sprang to mind. It's from the 80's and my siblings and I watched it until the tape wore out. It's very medieval and now I'm wondering how plausible the fight scenes are. Especially the big duel in the cathedral during an eclipse. I love your snark and your insight!

I’ve said before I like that fight overall ;for his energy really, as someone else said). The thing that does tear at my suspension of disbelief (katana light sabering asides) is the fact that those 2 would have killed each other 78 times before the final cut is delivered. They’re often wide open, overextended and err a pommel strike to a naked face breaks teeth…

You say that fencing is a relatively safe sport, and I would tend to agree as I was on the high school fencing team for 4 years (wasn't very good), but I will always remember an incident where a student from another school was sent to the hospital from a competition where a broken blade punctured his lung because he neglected to wear his underarm gear. I'm glad I was in another room getting changed for that one (and I'm really glad I always remembered my underarm protection).

I tried epee for a while myself, and I had a similar experience re: breaking blades. In my case, I scored a touch on my opponent’s collarbone and the blade just gave out - metal fatigue caused it to just keep bending until it was 90 degrees. I came away with the letter L.

But WHY does Madonna have no sleeves? Anyway. Hooray for another use for Mannequin Skywalker! Secret extended edition here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UBk-PexnhhA.html

I do enjoy your videos so much. When i started Longsword fencing i became that asshole who could enjoy no fights, but your videos helped me regain a better perspective on fights in media. This fight would have curled my toes...now I get it. Thanks^^

This video gave some tlc to my lockdown-neglected fencer soul, thank you so much. On fencing injuries (speaking from experience): One of the fencers on my team once broke her little finger when the opponent somehow stuck her blade between her fingers and the guard of a sabre and pressed it. It also only happened once that someone hit bare skin underneath the glove through the hole for the cable. But you are very correct, fencing is a very safe sport, the gear serves its purpose well and the one thing that would be most likley to get busted are the ankles because of a misstep. Or bruised legs in general in epee.

Also, the best explanation of Right of Way I've heard of was from Heinlein, and boiled down to 'you have to deal with threats to your life before you try killing them', since foil was based on trying to kill each other. Epee was to first blood, so that's why anything goes :) (Glory Road by Heinlein is highly recommended, btw!) Edit to fix typo :)

One point I will give them is that, while they are awkward as hell with the arming swords, at least they aren't acting like they weigh 15 pounds.

So, I need to say this to SOMEONE, so, congratulations, Jill, its you and the ether. James Bond's latest movies have been epic fails. Not monetarily, but from a story telling perspective. Why? Because they try to tell a story. James Bond is fundamentally episodic. Until the recent 2 (3,apparently, because No Time To Die comes out in October, according to the ad before this very video), and with rare exception: - James is a 00 given a target, or in the middle of finishing off a mission - James causes trouble, returns, and gets a new mission and a stern warning to not cause trouble again (lol) - James pulls off the mission, gets the girl, and uses some unorthodox methods of evasion and attack That's it. That's the story. Even when there IS an unfinished thread, like in Never Say Never Again (aka the Bond that isn't), Bond is already back to normal the next movie. The only exception to that, that I can think of, is the one he gets married in, but his wife dies. There, there's a 'James gets revenge' at the start of the next movie. But, that's literally the start of mission from the above formula! There's no character growth, there's no big reveals, there's no 1 uping the last episode, just Bond. James Bond. The last 3 have literally had taglines like 'Every mission has lead to this.' Like, no it hasn't! Nothing lead to that, you tjops! This is totally new, and you know it! Anyway, that's my rant. Thanks for hearing it. P. S. That drill scene is so infuriatingly dumb that I noticed it every single time.

I like the concept of a sword fight where they change swords throughout. Good concept and well executed.

My favorite part of the fight was after trying to kill each other threating innocent bystanders lives and doing thousands of dollars in property damage. The bad guys just laughs it all off as good sport.

Question for you Joll: Have you covered the final sword duel in Rob Roy? It's been a while but I think that used claymore. Though at this point most Scottish period pieces have congealed into a Highlander/Outlander/How to Train Your Dragon casserole.

You could break the sword if it's a deco/play type of thing, or if it's *really* bad quality, but it wouldn't be like that. It would break apart or fall as uneven pieces or anything close to that. There's no way it will be a clean cut, like the blade has been made of cheese. Unless, of course, it's made of cheese. Or soft wood.

You have legitimately changed my mind about this fight scene. When I watched it in the cinema, the whole fight just stuck me as stupid and absurd (I was possibly jaundiced by just how generally crap the entire film was) but at the time I was a lot more interested in the technique on display which completely blinded me to to the actual narrative of the fight. In retrospect it's not a fight bad scene at all because it tells a good story and builds the tension nicely. I'm just going to join you in the better reality where the moment with the Katana didn't happen...

I only ever have trained (at least trained seriously and not only for a few hours for fun) with weapons that you generally use two handed, and I have the exact opposite problem. I get confused when using one handed weapons 😂

I love your film fight breakdowns so much, it’s absolutely fascinating

Maybe they thought it was a *Cut*ana? Okay, I'll stop with the sharp puns.

I always enjoy your channel. Thanks for sharing!

Epee is fencing for people who study western martial arts! More to the point - no pun intended, sorry! - having studied 18th century British Army sword training manuals (from both a WMA practitioner veiwpoint and from a Bachelor's Degree in History viewpoint), Epee fencing seems to me to be the version closest to what was being taught when the goal was to a) make the other person dead, and b) not accidently step in front of the literal rank-and-file who are either shooting their muskets or using them as pikes, both of which are bad things to get in the way of. Other versions of fencing feel like they've added arbitrary rules, presumably intended to make it safer for the fencers, or make it more of an athletic challenge, or just to make it easer to see what's going on. (I've been a judge at a free-form rapier tournament. It's almost impossible to see what's actually happening when the fighters can move off-line.) Also, I find it hilarious that "epee" has such a specific meaning in English, because in French it just means "sword."

Hey Jill! I love your work! I was wondering if you would ever consider doing a stage combat 101 series here or on Nebula? It would be really cool to learn from you!

I adore these videos. Thank you so much.

Such fun these videos! Thanks!

At least they wore sensible shoes ..😅🤣🤣

There's a rather old film called The Court Jester that has a hilarious sword fight where one of the fighters is hypnotised to be a master with a blade, but everytime someone snaps their fingers he goes back to normal

I would LOVE to see your analysis of some anime (or just animated in general) fight scenes. your respect for story/coolness-over-realism and suspension of disbelief are always a delight

i always get a chuckle watching your videos.

Just went to see Shang-Chi and can tell you that at one point I was watching the fights and thinking... "Wonder what Jill would think of these?"

Maybe Bond's sword was hanging on the wall as a bit of decoration because it had been bent and straightened a couple of times, and so was likely to break the next time it took a solid hit. That the hit was from a katana is just a coincidence.

Recently found your channel. Loving your honest opinion of things.

I love your videos! I learn and laugh a lot. Thank you for all your hard work!

Just found your videos. Gotta say that so far I am loving them. I have been studying various sword arts for many years now and the thing that usually bothers me about other commentators is that usually they just laugh and say that’s ridiculous and not realistic and make the same complaints over and over again. I like that you break things down from a story telling perspective and show how sword fights give us a better look at the characters and their motivations etc. I think most of us realize Hollywood “duels” are always going to be somewhat far fetched and overly flashy but the little nuances to each move and choice can build upon character development.

We love our British HEMA RU-vidrs, although many of them seem to have a chip on their shoulders regarding katanas. Having said that, it makes sense that two dragon shaped isles off the coast of their respective continents, each with a rich medieval tradition of honour bound armored swordsman would have a healthy supply of niche rivalry.

Excellent video. I loved Die Another Day generally and this scene in particular.

Love all your videos.

Die Another Day was actually the first Bond film I saw (for the simple reason that it was the only one I could find in the charity shop I was in) and it was pretty good from my point of view. Although I admit it certainly isn’t the best now I’ve seen others, but it just have been good enough to get me interested in the series!

Loved the part about how Bob uses the first phrases to establish the characters. That is like almost every Highlander fight in the tv show.

You are utterly charming, and this video is by far, the most entertaining and informative I have seen on RU-vid in a very long time. Thank you for uplifting a jaded middle aged man on a dull Friday evening.

I'm really loving your channel!

Jill Bearup: best Bond girl ever.

I know it's martial arts, not swordplay, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on Shang Chi! There's tons of combat to analyze and every fight is full of character.

Thanks so much for the video, Jill! A great breakdown, as always! :D

I just stumbled onto this video but it was great watch! I also enjoying reading the comments and learning some new things!

Can we get your thoughts on the sucide squad? I instantly thought of you when Harly did the combat boot + dress combo

When I took fencing, our instructor (who had been on Australia's Olympic fencing team back in the day) mentioned during a casual conversation, when one of the other students made a statement that assumed a heavy long sword would easily beat a foil, that if you follow the evolution of the swords, it moved from long sword to epee to foil. His contention was that the weapons evolved in that direction and that, correspondingly, each step was an improvement. Thus, foil would beat long sword. So, when watching this sequence of events when the movie first came out, I was immediately struck by the fact that their weapons of choice devolved as they went, much as their fighting style did. I think that this, too, said a lot about the characters, and it foreshadowed how their battle against each other would spin out of control during the course of the movie.

That was a fantastic break down, excellent job Jill!

I used to epee fence ...but it's been a couple of years. Thanks for another great video.

Lillie: “Incase your disarm you punch and kick your opponent. Throw your sword make sure you have extra one or maybe a few dagger.”

Such a wonderful breakdown of this scene. I would love to hear her thoughts on the the final sword fight in Rob Roy. Fencer verses Scottish Swordsman, yes please.

lol this scene has been living rent-free inside my head since I first saw it as a kid. Mostly in a good way, but it was still good fun watching you pick it apart and analyze it.

A brilliant video and well explained 👌🏻

I'd recommend the Longsword Duel from Andorea Olomouc. It's a standalone fightscene, but it really perfectly balances fast-paced choreographed moves with real Longsword techniques. Also: please review the second duel from The Duelist (1977). I know you would do a brilliant job analysing the drama in addition to the actual moves!

A variation of the myth is the Katana’s cutting through a machine gun barrel. While this is utter tripe, there were some machine guns that were water cooled. Part of the design was a sheet metal jacket that surrounded the actual gun barrel that contained water for cooling during sustained firing. I suspect it is quite possible that this could happen and the repeating of the story may have been short on fine details. So yeah, cutting through a machine gun barrel, but with an asterisk.

I never thought I'd enjoy the content of an actor combatant that much, but here I am :) *Big fan of your channel & your commentary

Love your sense of humour. Awesome vid.

I've only had about a year of longsword training and haven't ever done any actual sparring, but here's my take: longsword exchanges always start with tons of power and momentum, which means "parrying" like Bond's doing isn't a thing. If you want to actually stop the other guy's swing, you need to be swinging with your own full force into it or they're just going to knock your blade aside and cut you anyway. So you're always trying to swing for a killing blow that you're hoping will counter the other guy's killing blow. Once swords have made contact and you're in close, it's all winding your sword around the opponent's sword to get it into a position where you can slice or stab the other guy, hand/footwork to throw them to the ground, or finding a way to disengage so you can start back at maximum range again. If you just pull your sword back to swing again (which these guys keep doing), you won't be able to get the momentum to actually do anything and, more importantly, your opponent is just going to cut you since they might still have momentum or are at least still pushing on your blade to try to wind/slice/etc. The longsword is *long* so once you're up close you're missing out on what makes your sword awesome. But of course, it's a movie. Real longsword exchanges end in grievous injury unless you're in tons of padding. They take like 10 seconds or less, which isn't exciting in a movie. Prop swords will not stand up to full force swinging (I'm remembering how Giancarlo Esposito kept breaking his prop swords for *one fight* on Mandalorian 'cause he was going ham). How to make a good looking swordfight is a different and not necessarily easier skill than how dudes killed each other centuries ago. So unless you were doing something like a kung-fu movie where the protagonist mows down a bunch of dudes one-by-one, there's no point in doing an "authentic" longsword fight for a movie. Edit: I did a quick search and found this video, which looks like a nice middle ground between authentic longsword fighting and cinematic fighting. Lots of nice, messy binds that make you go "ok, I'm just gonna shove you out of the way and we can try this again" to make the scene long enough to be entertaining. Also note how they're not pulling their arms back to swing again, they're either swooping around to another angle or stepping all the way back so they can try another forceful swing. And yes, moving one hand off the hilt to grab onto the lower part of the blade is totally a thing; you're essentially making your sword shorter so that you can do more in close quarters, and that part isn't as sharp anyway. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Cn36Pb8z3yI.html

Hi, nice analysis as always, keep up the good work! The injury on the wrist is indeed very plausible. When I fenced it actually happened to me. My opponent was moving his wrist towards me when I thrusted forward with my weapon (an epee) at full force. His glove was a bit worn-out and the weapon wrenched off the wrist-cover and scratched his wrist. It was not bloody or serious in any way, as the glove had absorbed most of the impact, but it was very painful and he had to stop for a few minutes. It is very difficult to do it on purpose though, as the wrist usually moves around a lot and has the opponent's full attention (unlike, let's say, a knee, or a foot). In my case I was aiming for the chest and his wrist was just caught. About the sabre-disarming maneuvre: can you actually do it? I mean, as someone who held a weapon like that in the past, I find it very difficult to disarm your opponent in this manner. I know it looks cool, but it is realistic or even doable? Can't you just block the circular motion by turning your wrist and blocking the opponent's blade-motion with the hilt?

This video is great. You're smart and funny and the information was very useful to somebody who tries to write fight scenes.

Fantastic dissection Jill

There is a very similar sword fight in Moonraker, where Bond uses a glass handled sword against a evil kendo goon.

Regarding interesting longsword fights: could you take a look at the final duel in Richard Lester‘s „Robin and Marion“? (starring another Bond, Sean Connery.) Lester did the „Musketeer“ movies before, so he knows his stuff. We think of Robin Hood as an elegant fencer, but this „realistic“ version (choreographed by another legend, Willian Hobbs) puts an old Robin and the old Sheriff of Nottingham in heavy armor and unwieldy swords, much more of a battle of attrition, lots of jostling and panting and stumbling… what do you think?

Great - as always!

Does Highlander count for longsword fighting?