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[Book Spoilers] The Duel


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Ran,



I just watched the Rob Roy fight as to your link. There was 22 cuts in the first minute. The first minute of this fight had 32. While not insignificant, it wasn't completely out of sinc for an action sequence. The drastic difference between the two is that a lot of the shots in Rob Roy were just tightening or widening the same position while this fight went to completely different content quite a lot. Your more detailed post saying that you would have liked to have seen less shots of individual reactions clarifies things though.



I personally think that the story was told well using that medium as it allowed for better stunts. If you did not like the stunts, that is perfectly understandable.

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I loved elliras screams when she knows it is over, but Tyrion could have at least done the laugh. Oh and Obyrens bloody mess of a head was perfect!

I loved Tyrion's reaction. I thought it was better than in the book.

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I thought it was well done but it's still, sadly, better in the books. The build of it. And I missed the bit where the crowd is all around the fighters and Gregor cuts the arm off of someone in the crowd, he screams for him to shut up and then chops his head off while the crowd frantically runs away. I also kind of wish they kept it as in the books where Gregor is pinned to the ground by the spear and has to pull Oberyn down to him and clutch him close while he kills him. It's a little silly too that Gregor can just squeeze his head like a grape rather than smashing it in with his armored fist. The later I can buy, the former, not really.


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It's a little silly too that Gregor can just squeeze his head like a grape rather than smashing it in with his armored fist. The later I can buy, the former, not really.

I agree. The squishing of the head like a grape was a bit over the top.

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I agree. The squishing of the head like a grape was a bit over the top.

Doesn't Gregor squeeze the eyeballs resulting in Oberyn screaming and then he smashes his head resulting in the outpour of brain matter ?

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32 cuts? I count 64 or so cuts in the first minute of the fight.

I miscounted... I just watched it again from where the spear is placed in Oberyn's hands. I counted 40 cuts using a stop watch the first minute... Considerable more than Rob Roy. I still think that your issue has more to do with content of the fight rather than pacing of the cuts.

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Loved it. Nobody mentioned all the teeth falling to the ground after the first punch? That was book solid and hideous.

I misread that as "book solid and hilarious." I thought to myself "Here is a true fan of GRRM."

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The pacing of cuts tears the content to pieces, is the thing. You can't treat a guy with a two meter sword and another with an 8 foot spear as if they're punching one another -- room is needed for the weapons. And yes, while I hate the wushu acrobatics as a concept for Dornish fighting, in practice it was terrible for the fight because all of those stunts were from a stunt double, meaning they had to resort to various techniques to hide it -- like those crane shots way up in the air that basically just pull you way out so you can't see much of anything.



Bad decisions lead to poor content, basically.



I'll do a proper count tomorrow, as prep for our video review.


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Yeah, the cuts were excessive. Way too fast paced and cinematic. The reaction shots weren't the issue as much as not knowing when to use them. They transformed what was supposed to be a duel into like a sporting event or gladitorial competition. Was hoping to see one of the coolest duels ever put to print played out in epic fashion.



What I got was serviceable but there was no heart behind it. This wasn't a personal, two-man war between the fricken' Mountain and the Viper it seemed more like some sort of brutal circus act or round of a mortal kombat. I loved the duel between the Hound and Beric so much more and if you think about it they had much less to work with.



Petty gripes: They should have bulked up the Mountain's armor. He look's huge but not really "The mountain that rides", huge. At one point they showed Oberyn hamstring the Mountain but they really should have been showing how he was strategically targeting the Mountain's joints. All those vulnerabilities in his armor where Oberyn's spear could actually be useful. I think if they only extended the fight by another 2-3 minutes, drew it out longer, and shown how Oberyn had an actual operational plan to take this monster down it would have worked better on the screen.


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