MovieChat Forums > The Mask of Zorro (1998) Discussion > I never noticed until now...

I never noticed until now...

posted 9 years ago by soundwave86
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...the choreographed fight scenes where Zorro fights multiple enemies are actually really really bad, but for one reason only; when Zorro is fighting he's moving rather quickly and deftly but if you pay attention to the men attacking him they're moving pitifully slow.

Obviously this is done because IRL it would be impossible for one many to fight successfully against two or more men at the same time. The way the scene is constructed draws your attention towards Zorro and how awesome his fighting is and completely distracts you from the fact that the men attacking him are moving really really slowly in order to allow the Zorro actor to appear to be holding his own in the fight. You'll notice multiple times where the bad buys had a completely open shot at Zorro but failed to take it because the actors needed to move slowly in order to let Zorro counter their attack.

When he's fighting another swordsman one-on-one however, the choreography is excellent and quite entertaining to watch.

[–] VVolfySnackrib 9 years ago

I think about this fact in movies all the time and try to spot it. You have to pay attention and actually look for it, or else your attention will always be drawn to the hero and you won't notice how some men in the background sometimes seem to wait for their turn to attack, effectively doing nothing. And Zorror is real bloody lucky that one time when three men all at once attack him with an overhead swing. If one had swung overhead while another lunged and another cut from the side, Zorro would be dead meat!

[–] soundwave86 9 years ago

And Zorror is real bloody lucky that one time when three men all at once attack him with an overhead swing. If one had swung overhead while another lunged and another cut from the side, Zorro would be dead meat!

Exactly