This I can agree with despite liking the prequel fights.
The constant arena changing made it feel like a video game fight with stages.
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Who else prefers the light saber fights of the Star Wars Prequals ?
- Thread starter Compass
- Start date
The constant arena changing made it feel like a video game fight with stages.
I mean he killed the man who offered her a future and mind tortured her for information. It wasn't Luke vs Vader but I'd say there was still a connection.
literally anything else that actually conveys its interpersonal relationships well or at all
Ok but why do you need that to like a sword fight?
I'm not saying I don't appreciate emotional weight but sometimes you just want a cool over the top sword fight.
Because it's no where near as interesting. All the OT fights had real emotional weight behind them, and so do the ST fights. I enjoy the prequel fights too but it really is an aspect they're inferior in.
I always thought the prequel fight scenes were just everyone trying to stunt on everyone else. Hence all the flipping and whatnot, I prefer it to be honest.
That's not any different than faceless bad guy vs good guy (aka darth maul vs qui-gon/obi-wan). Not that there's anything necessarily wrong with that -- but at that point the choreography is really all ya got.
Such as??
You're definitely correct in regards to most of them. Qui-gon vs Maul, anyone vs Dooku, Yoda vs Sidious, etc. dont have much weight to them.
Darth Maul fight is awesome. Every single other prequel lightsaber fight is Lord of the Dance garbage.
literally anything else. those movies failed so badly with anything feeling human. like, MJ stretching out at the end of space jam has more emotional weight than the ani obi fight. obviously everything from the OT including the doinky ass obi ani fight from a new hope. poetry indeed. like, literally anything else. rambo gizmo at the end of gremlins 2.
He is like significantly smaller than Dooku, how else is he gonna overcome the height and reach disadvantage in a sword fight?
Fuck no. These fights are grotesquely overlong, pointlessly flashy to where intent completely flies out the window, and all end in the stupidest fucking way because they have no way out of their own absurdity.
These aren't people trying to hurt eachother, these are people trying to fill time.
These aren't people trying to hurt eachother, these are people trying to fill time.
That would apply to the use of the force, but this was a straight up physical combat scenario.
I think the point is he shouldn't have been made to have a lightsaber duel in the first place. He's the one Jedi you can leave on the bench and still feel his immensely powerful presence and impact.
That's a good point, but since the fight is gonna happen, might as well give him some advantage.
Choreography in these cinematic sword fights is bad, even when the choreography itself is "good." The only Star Wars fights I get the sense anyone wants to strike anyone is ESB, ROTJ and TFA. TFA fight in particular is really well done in having a believable fight despite being stage play.
Like if Phantom Menance fight was a short film put out by Lucasfilm yeah it'd be cool, but in the context of a story with people and emotions running high and stakes, it's just jarring.
Like if Phantom Menance fight was a short film put out by Lucasfilm yeah it'd be cool, but in the context of a story with people and emotions running high and stakes, it's just jarring.
I'm beginning to think having Yoda fight with a baby lightsaber WASN'T such a good idea.... whoda thunk
He built a weapon that was good for the size of his species.
But it wasn't good because now he has to jump off the walls just to do the equivalent of a human moving their arms.
I don't know about the new canon, but the old canon, he and Qui Gon practiced a lightsaber form that utilized a lot of jumping, aerial attacks and acrobatics, and lore wise, it fits him since he is a small target to begin with, and he can compensate for his lack of reach and height. It didn't benefit, Qui Gon cause he' a pretty tall ass dude which is why he got smoked by Maul.
Of course, outside of Lore, yea they gave him a baby ass lightsaber cause it's cute and also dumb.
Yeah, the choreography is pretty bad for those two.
Luke does a weird Matrix dodge and dodges a few lightsaber strikes from Ben. The end. That scene wasn't about the fight at all.
The Ben-Rey fight is weird because there is 0 finesse even when Rey taps into the Force. They're just using them as clubs.
Well that's a very compelling argument but it seems like you have a deep hatred for anything related to the prequels. Which is fine (if kind of weird), but there's probably not much discussion to be had here. I hope they make a gremlins cinematic universe for you.
Both Yoda and Sidious should have been beyond using lightsabers for combat. 100%.
I remember going to the movies with my friends way back in the day when ROTS came out and I've never watched any SW movies before, I didn't pay attention to half the movie but when Anakin and Obiwan started fighting I was like oh....and since then I made it my mission to get aquianted with all the movies
I appreciate both styles, but damn is Anakin vs Obi fun to watch
I appreciate both styles, but damn is Anakin vs Obi fun to watch
I watched Revenge of the Sith for the first time in like a decade yesterday. The lightsabre fights were overchoreographed nonsense with some shockingly bad cgi.
Yeah I love that kind of choreography. And the resurgence and popularizing of that style in the early 00s was amazing for my teenage self. Crouching Tiger, Hero, even The Matrix had flashy dance-like choreography with the legendary Yuen Woo Ping.
Say what you will about realism, I'll take this style any day.
Yup. I grew up on Shaw Brother's martial arts flicks, so I love that type of choreography. I enjoy the prequel fights.
I think the disconnect is that not what lightsaber battles were.
Your right. If it were a generic action movie with out the legacy of what lightsaber duels looked like to two generations of fans, it probably be viewed much better. People do like wuxia style action, look at the Matrix for example.
But it's not Star Wars, where the original duels were more akin to Japanese movie samurai fights.
The fight choreography is serviceable for wuxia style. But it is just odd in Star Wars.
It would be like if Ant Man suddenly started suddenly doing Capoeria and taking down tons of guys that waym
Or Worf on Star Trek suddenly took a sumo wrestler pose and tackled a Borg with a series of sumo strikes.
It takes you out of what has been established (Antman uses generic self defense with his growing and shrinking powers. Worf uses batleth, phasers and Kung fu like palm strikes) and makes you go "Wait what?"
I was 19 when the Phantom Menace came out and I remember to this day how I reacted to the Darth Maul v Qui Gon/Obi Wan duel. "Wow this is so cool. Wow... Um... Why did Obi-Wan fight like this against Vader."
And I did appreciate the fight from an artistic standpoint. The choreography is solid. But it's not Star Wars. At least not to me.
That isn't to say there isn't any place for more complex or stylistic duels. But they have to be in the realm of the already established. It's why the Obiwan v Maul on Tattoonie in Rebels works. It has the style of the prelude but the weight and deliberate motion of the OT.
The new light saber fights are laughable there's nothing that makes me feel the need to watch them again
The difference is that, while they look flashy, they also look like their strikes are trying to connect with their opponent. The PT duels are just really bad about not looking at all like they're aiming for one anotherYeah I love that kind of choreography. And the resurgence and popularizing of that style in the early 00s was amazing for my teenage self. Crouching Tiger, Hero, even The Matrix had flashy dance-like choreography with the legendary Yuen Woo Ping.
Say what you will about realism, I'll take this style any day.
To reiterate:
Yes I loved it. Made the universe feel that much larger knowing there are folks that can do shit like that!
It also wouldn't make sense to have lightsaber duels at that level in the OT and St.
It also wouldn't make sense to have lightsaber duels at that level in the OT and St.
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Episode 1 lightsaber fights? Yes absolutely. Episode 2 and 3? Nah. Too ridiculous looking and redundant.
No. Having just watched the prequels, i just notice how many unnecessary moves they make, and they leave themselves open to attacks so much. Just terrible.
Yoda vs Dooku is the worst finale fight of any movie in the series other than maybe A New Hope itself but Maul vs Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan has franchise-icon level choreography and set design. I feel like the Plinkett suggestion that there's no "emotion" in that fight is one of the greatest exaggerations I've seen parroted, given that the entire Qui-Gon-less segment of the fight shows a whole lot more fury in the body acting than is given credit for.
I don't know how I've never considered this before, this is brilliant.
Thanks for sharing this has levelled up my lightsaber playfighting one entire level.
Thing was when I was 7, my friend and I would do light Saber duels with baseball bat's, so that's how I have always thought of them. Not literally baseball bat's, but things with real weight to them.
I mean it is a small tube generating such a huge amount of plasma energy. It's like a road flare times a million. And even road flares push back after ignited.
I'll never forget the audible laughter in my theater on opening night.
Terrible scene.
Ok I understand why people don't like all the flips and twirls but I will never not love tiny ninja Yoda. That was great and I will always defend it.
Plus I'm pretty sure it inspired this which I also love for how gloriously dumb it is.
Plus I'm pretty sure it inspired this which I also love for how gloriously dumb it is.
The ones in the prequel are objectively superior and way more fun to watch.
The new ones are slower because there aren't any decent Jedi left.
The new ones are slower because there aren't any decent Jedi left.
And I saw yours as well. It would have been interesting to see a world where a more wuxia basis was used for the light Saber duels from the start.
