Henry Cavill has played a number of comic and book-based characters in his career, including his Superman role in DCEU. One of his most celebrated roles, apart from the Man of Steel role, is that of Geralt of Rivia in the Netflix series, The Witcher. It explores the monster hunter’s story as he strives to protect his ‘destiny’, Crown Princess Ciri of Cintra. The series was created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and based on Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher series.
The Justice League actor was interested in the role due to its video game adaptation and he was selected from among more than 200 actors. The Witcher and Cavill himself received critical acclaim, with many praising the Enola Holmes actor for his charismatic portrayal.
Weapons Master Identified Mistakes In Henry Cavill’s Sword Fight Scene
Some of the most impressive scenes in The Witcher featured Henry Cavill’s Geralt of Rivia wielding a sword. Among these scenes, one that particularly stands out is his confrontation with thugs sent by Renfri. This intense sword fight, where Geralt butchers all the thugs who pose a threat to the townsfolk, earned him the name, The Butcher of Blaviken. However, this famous scene is not without its issues.
In a feature by Insider, weapons masters from several fields offered their insights into the use of weapons in films and series. During one such feature, Dave Rawlings from the London Longsword Academy analyzed Cavill’s longsword fight scene in The Witcher. Although the sword master was impressed with the Mission: Impossible – Fallout actor’s physical strength, he pointed out a fundamental error in the fight scene.
Rawlings began his analysis by explaining the make of the longsword carried by Geralt, before going into the specifics of its use in The Witcher. The first issue that struck Rawlings was the manner in which Geralt of Rivia carried the sword in this scene. Cavill’s character carried the sword on his shoulder, whereas in reality, it would have been far more practical and flexible in his hands. According to Rawlings, when taking the sword to a fight, it should always be ready to use, without a scabbard.
However, the significant issue Rawlings identified in the scene was the way in which Cavill held the sword throughout the scene, something frowned upon by the sword masters in general.
Henry Cavill Made A Fundamental Error In The Sword Fight Scene
Dave Rawlings shared that the major issue with the scene was the strange reverse grip with which Geralt wielded the sword. Due to this one error, Henry Cavill’s scene became highly unrealistic, even for a fantasy series. While the scene may have looked cool with Cavill in action, Rawlings explained that holding the sword in a backward position compromised his ability to defend above, making it very unsafe.
The sword master also pointed out some of the good things about the fight, particularly Geralt consistently keeping the sword in front of him. Also, Geralt kept moving between opponents using a spinning motion and Rawlings appreciated this technique as it kept opponents apart from each other. But the fact remained that the fight scene did not impress him, as Rawlings told Insider:
“My judgment on this fight scene is actually – Henry Cavill being very very good physically, and what is shown in this fight scene being probably the most disappointing fight scene in The Witcher. So for Henry Cavill, it’s going to have like an eight [out of ten], for actual quality of fighting it’s going to have about four”
While the fight scene could have stood out as one of the best in The Witcher, the ‘Butchering’ of Blaviken was let down by its unrealistic fight choreography. Notably, Henry Cavill has departed from the series after three seasons, and Netflix has announced a fourth season with Liam Hemsworth taking the lead. All three seasons of The Witcher are now available for streaming on Netflix.
Source: Insider
