Whatever happened to the wand battles?

SpencerJack

In the fifth film they had these cool unique wand movements, like they would slash and twirl and it looked very real and cool. Yet in HBP it returned to the typical looking "point and fire"? Was there any reason for this?

The-Night-Owl

HBP wasn't very action heavy, even moreso with the removal of the end skirmish. The action was also generally on a much smaller scale (Sectumsempra was two people dueling, there were only a couple of people involved in the Burrow attack) whereas in OOTP there were a few dozen wizards battling it out basically The OOTP battle was bigger and more frantic than those in the sixth film and so they wanted the duels to be faster-paced and more engaging. I think they are bringing the wand-movements back for DH though.

[Deleted User]

Yeah. The unique movements for spells was kind of cool and added to the battle, I think. I hope they do bring them back for DH.

Lord Stafford

Particularly Sirius' twisty wisty spell used against Lucius Malfoy!

Lord Stafford.

aaron

Yeah, I noticed that suddenly the trio and everyone is really good at nonverbal magic in the last two movies.

Richard

I love nonverbal spells instead of them changing or making up names....

Braveheart

I think the non-verbal spells adds a touch of seriousness to the situation. Imagine, for a moment, instead of Harry battling alongside Sirius at the Ministry, screaming Latin-esque incantations. It would just detract from the scene so much. Or imagine when Ginny and Harry are defending themselves during the Burrow attack, them shouting "Protego" over and over and over. It would just take all the seriousness from the scene. I'm glad they've been using non-verbal spells.

Pintell

[quote=Braveheart]I think the non-verbal spells adds a touch of seriousness to the situation. Imagine, for a moment, instead of Harry battling alongside Sirius at the Ministry, screaming Latin-esque incantations. It would just detract from the scene so much. Or imagine when Ginny and Harry are defending themselves during the Burrow attack, them shouting "Protego" over and over and over. It would just take all the seriousness from the scene. I'm glad they've been using non-verbal spells.[/quote]

That is actually something that bothered me about the script, especially the Burrow Attack was that just about every spell was shouted out. Even worse was that Greyback and Harry were taking turns, like in a video game. As in Harry would fire, Greyback would block then Greyback would fire and Harry would dodge before shooting another spell. It seems that all Kloves wand-battles tend to have a lot of actual speaking, Most of the non-verbal stuff was from Yates.

Braveheart

Yeah, reading the script he seems very specific even down to the colour of the spells (none of which actually turn out that colour in the final film, so God knows why he bothers). The Sectumsempra fight too, was a "take it in turns" fight, and action like that is really unexciting. That really bothered me in the script too, funnily enough. Even down to having Harry say "Lumos" in the cave scene. It does take you out of the situation a little. And when he's shouting spells at the Inferi too. It was as though Harry's fighting abilities had regressed from OOTP, and I do think Kloves is to blame.

Pintell

Yes, I found the whole "an ORANGE spell", "a PURPLE stream" to be really, very odd. At least in the film Greyback deflected Harry's verbal spell with ease, whereas in the script I think he actually got hit a few times. TAnother point that bugged me concerning the scripts Burrow Attack was how it ends: Greyback actually just gets hit by a spell, sneers and then prances off-screen. In the film they destroy the Wealsey home which at least shows them some ruthlessness. I didn't mind the verbal spells in the Inferi scene, I thought they added a sense of desparation and panic on Harry's part but I do agree with about the Sectumsempra, I think the scene was poorly structured in the script I understand they tried to spice it up a tad with the whole 'hide and seek' part but they still kept they 'you fire, I fire' action. I can sort of see why, it isn't a particularly large action piece so they probably didn't see much reason to expand on it anyway.

Kloves' HBP script makes me some-what weary for DH because I really hope that he doesn't try to keep that sort of action. It can be really unexciting, they can get away with it in the sixth movie (due to the general lack of action) and they could probably get a pass for the Cafe fight but I really, really don't want to see much of it in the Snatcher chase or the Ministry Infiltration.

Braveheart

I also REALLY don't want Harry to be screaming spells during the 7 Potters scene. Or the final battle. I just have this image of the final battle where there is a deafening din of combatants shouting spells. That would just be horrible.

Pintell

I certainly wouldn't enjoy 30 odd people in a courtyard screaming spells it would be totally distracting. I really have no idea why Kloves writes the wand-battles this way not only does it turn out very unnatural and game-like it also really slows down the action considerably. The non-verbal duels in OOTP were very intense, frantic and exciting. The ones in HBP don't have that same level of energy or flair,.

Richard

Kloves has alot of pressure regarding DH. He and Yates have to keep the series alive. But heck,wat ar