Originally Posted by
Blind Wedjat
This sort of thing you're talking about in the bolded is what leads to unnecessary jump cuts, which the Russo's use a lot to quicken the pace of their fights, but hide bad stunt work or to hide the stuntmen themselves. This sort of style can work, and I'd argue that despite a lot of zoom-ins, jump cuts, angle changes and shaky cam, the fight scenes in TWS really benefit from this. However there's just something about it that feels overdone in Civil War.
The fight you're talking about is a good example. Not saying it's a bad fight, but the close up camera with constantly switching angles can get nauseating, almost like you're being forced to not breathe while watching it. And it's not particularly intelligent, because other (albeit smaller time) directors that are experts at shooting fight scenes (think low budget American and Asian action films) don't do this. They use wider shots, less angles and steadier cams (and they can do this because the actors are usually stuntmen or extremely well trained). It's not that shaky cam and quick cuts are inherently bad, but the Russo's use them all the time which decreases any artistic intent of doing so.
In the fight, we get cuts that show T'Challa dodging a punch and then another cut to him delivering his own punch, and then another cut to him using a block, and then another cut to him being hit. That's poor action cinematography. The best martial arts films out there (Undisputed, The Raid, John Wick, Ong Bak) don't do that. Hell, there's a bit during T'Challa and Bucky's first fight when T'Challa pins him down, and we get five jump cuts to show one fluid movement.
I believe intent and style are very important also. The Russos and Coogler are very different directors with different intentions and styles when filming a fight. The Russos are flashy, and like to make fights look as cool, fast and intense as possible. Coogler on the other hand goes for drama, which isn't really realism like you're saying, something Nolan goes for. In his last two Batman films, Nolan kinda just shoots the fight scene as is, almost with no style (and some of it is pretty sloppy to be honest). Coogler focuses a lot more on achieving the perspective of the main character or characters during a fight. The long take fight from Creed above is a very good example of this, but he does it with T'Challa too, especially during the waterfall fights. Watch them again, and you'll notice that the camera usually shows T'Challa being attacked from his back, and follows him when he falls into and comes out of the water. The camera isn't too steady to feel artificial, is always close enough to feel like you're in the arena. And if you notice, whenever Killmonger starts bashing T'Challa's shield repeatedly, the camera switches to T'Challa's perspective and shakes for you to feel every hit, and so you can Killmonger's rage all over his face. It's all about the passion, the emotion, what the characters are fighting for, and not what kind of fancy footwork and moves they can pull off.
I think that's why the final battle didn't work for the most part. It felt like Coogler trying to do flashy when it's not really his thing. Admittedly I would have really liked to have seen both waterfall fights done in the long take style from Creed. That's where it would have looked really good, but I'm not too sure if the staging of the set would have allowed for it.
It's also worth noting that while Daredevil's fighting style is very good to look at, many will argue that the best action scenes from the show are the ones where Matt isn't at his best, struggles to take down no-name thugs, makes mistakes and hurts himself but keeps going anyway because they're also dramatic fights. That's the key difference between the signature long take corridor fight from season 1 and the prison breakout and riot fight from season 3, versus the apartment fight from season 2. The last one was way too flashy, while the first and third one had that grit and drama to them.