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I used to argue with my old rapier instructor about the final scene with the sword grab all the time. He hated it, I loved it. There is enough manuscript evidence and has been enough testing to show that you can safely grab a stable blade that I hope that's not a question any more, but part of my friend's criticism was that he holds the blade for so long. I'm pretty sure that as long as you don't let the blade slide, you are fairly safe. |
Yep certainly one of my longsword instructors does blade grabs - on sharps - quite happily. I asked him about the same on katanas (different edge) and he said the same as Craig: as long as move with the blade and don't slide your hands you can hang on for a while.
As to the realism question - I shall have to watch Rob Roy, I've not seen it. Not a period I was ever that interested in.
I'll stick my hand up and say I watch as much escapist stuff as the next guy and maybe more.
But I do prefer that people trying to make movies that represent history or are derived from it have at least tried to portray it accurately. You can still include the drama and the audience hooks. So OK, a well thrown masterstrike is going to wipe out a lot of people but if both are skilled there will binds, windings, counters that could be made slightly larger that real and would still look good on camera