[Groop] Wow!

[Mo orst]

>Once the
>fight becomes serious, the charm of Groo is gone.

Hmm.  I think a better statement might be: Once Groo fights for the right 
thing at the right time, and for the right side, the charm of Groo is gone.  
It's usually the circumstances surrounding his involvement, and the 
bone-headed things he says that make his frays something to laugh about.  
But when I think about all the times he's wiped off his blade with a grim 
look on his face, or the scenes of him strolling away from a pile of dead 
soldiers, I find it difficult to consider his battles(for the most part) 
funny in a clumsy, lucky, or slap-stick way.  I don't think it would be 
funny in a movie, either, to see an actor clumsily slay an army.

Another ingredient that makes the frays funny is the dialogue of the 
soldiers waiting in line to be slain.  Those reactions are the result of 
fear in the face of a fierce fighting machine.

That said, it's important to mention that there are several moments in 
battles where Groo is depicted with his legs around a soldier's neck, or 
grabbing one by the nose, or slaying after "time-outs" (sorry... just 
watched Blazers vs. Lakers), but I think the slap-stick element in the 
battles takes a back seat to situation comedy, comical blood-lust (come back 
here and let me slay you!), and opponent reaction.

I think that most of Groo's stoogisms happen outside of battle.  Like in 
delicate situations, and socially uptight moments, and with precious or 
magical items.  That's when Groo becomes Chris Farley.  Maybe it's important 
to separate his capacity to do battle from his tendency for accidentally 
causing disaster.

>It's easier to choreograph a moron
>accidentally killing someone for laughs, than it is to choreograph a
>swordsman of great skill killing someone with the same reaction.

Again, I disagree mainly because I find the situations Mark and Sergio put 
Groo in to be funnier than his general battery of the masses.  If they 
filmed Groo getting mixed up in battle, and attacking both sides and walking 
away wondering who won, I think it'd be funny.  I just don't think it's been 
done much in the past, and when somethings never been done before in a 
medium, the general pre-assumption is that it won't work.  I think if they 
got the dialogue and the timing right, it would.

>The fight on the cliff was one of the most entertaining cinematic
>swordfights in recent memory, but it was not Groo.  There was enormous
>skill employed, but Groo couldn't pull it off, because that scene requires
>intelligence on the part of both swordsmen.

Maybe.  But what made that fight funny?  The fight itself, or the dialogue?  
I think Groo would pull it off fine (although probably not as either of 
those characters, or within that story) if he said funny things.  It may 
come down to comedy within tragedy.  "Life is Beautiful" comes to mind.  
Comical, hilarious, funny little occurrences happening within terrible, 
horrible, serious larger ones.  Groo's fighting prowess and skill are an 
undeniable force that Mark and Sergio simply apply to plot and dialogue 
where it will be funny.

-Al


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