I love stories with good fighting scenes. Many fantasy and science fiction stories feature large scale battles, and then of course military history. There's a chance you'll find action scenes in any story, even romance stories, oddly. Wherever you find them, fights heighten the tension while driving the story forward. Hopefully it's all exciting and thrilling, while providing a sense of genuine danger.
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The odd thing about story fighting is that the result is basically known from the start--the good guys win and the bad guys lose. Now, there are times when that doesn't happen, but it's so reliable I doubt many audiences are even worried about it. Even so, I can't believe I'm the only one thrilled with the large battles in the "Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy? Probably the most suspenseful fights are the ones between evenly matched combatants and in the middle of a story. There's no telling how such fights will end, because there's still lots of time left to fix any loss.
Another great aspect of such choreographed fighting is that it isn't all that realistic. After all, does anyone seriously expect lightsaber duels to be so balletic? Nah, but who cares? It's entertaining, and that's the goal. Such warfare can be totally insane, breaking reality without regard, and still be useful to the story. In a way, reality is boring and far too quick. Dropping a bomb on something isn't nearly as interesting story wise as sending in an army (which is probably why most fantasy tends toward less modernized military).
However it's done, the art of combat is secondary to the art of the story itself.
- M
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