Anyone else think "The Duel" was going to be better?

I can't believe how picky people can be. Some people aren't happy unless they are criticizing some aspect of these movies.

That duel was awesome...plain & simple. There were many different situations, and elements which made everything compromised for both combatants. How about when we see Anakin & Obi-Wan on top of the girder which just broke off into the lava?.....just awesome stuff!!!. After seeing how they both keep swinging their lightsabers and attacking each other even while in a vunerable spot, we see exactly how serious this fight has become for these two.

When Lucas pans back & shows us from a distance, 2 blue lightsabers hanging on for dear life on top of that tower, one has to admit it was something spectacular.

The dialogue, in my opinion, was perfect as well. Hayden emitted just the right type of emotion, and it came across as very believable. It seemed like he was angry, confused, and desperate all at once. I loved the scene, and the dialogue. One of the most powerful of the saga. When he states"You will not take her from me!", as he paces you can feel his rage growing.

Obi-Wan is still keeping relatively cool also, which displays his poise. Ewan delivered his lines in stellar fashion as he says," you have done that yourself". Very deliberate, and very simple. In other words, "Anakin, you ***ked everything up."

Whats funny is that if Lucas kept the whole fight unedited and in its entire form, people would be crying that it was overkill, and lucas made a mistake by trying to make the fight so long. They'd say he was trying to make up for the last 2 movies all in one fight scene.

That's why it's so funny to read some of these threads. Some people are never satisfied.

I loved this movie. It may well be my new favorite, and I grew up on the OT. Just enjoy this time we have people. ROTS is a modern masterpiece, and it only gets better the more I see it. Just my personal views.

 

I was disappointed. At first, I couldn't really put my finger on it, so I assumed it was a case of high expectations. But after subsequent viewings, I was able to come up with several reasons why it fell flat.

It should not have been intercut with the Sids/Yoda duel.

I was expecting more dialogue during the duel.

The second half seemed to focus more on their surroundings (*cough*CG*cough*) than anything.

I'm not a fan of the uber close-up (i.e. AOTC).

The lava surfing was L-A-M-E.

That floating droid thing took me out of the scene, momentarily.

I never thought I'd say this, but there were too many duels in the film. This just added to the anti-climactic feeling.


The scenes immediately before and after were much more engaging than the duel itself. Considering that this is the scene I was most looking forward to since the Prequels were officially announced, it makes me sad that it really didn't do anything for me.

Emotional content aside, lightsaber duels reached their peak in TPM.

 

If it had been done in a similar fashion as another one of the duels people would say it was too similar to....


Instead of how saying how it didnt live up to some of what you all hoped, could you give examples of what would have made it beeter. What altrnative could they do? I heard someone say a quicker ending.

 

It seemed shorter than I expected, and had a few too many closeups. Though the "lava surfing" added tension by threatening an immediate end, it reduced their mobility and hence undercut the sheer coolness of their saber moves. And I was hoping for more incremental injuries - some thrusts, flesh wounds, etc. - as opposed to the usual one-strike finish.

Otherwise, I thought it was tres sweet.

 

For one, I think instead of the anti-climatic ending where Anakin just jumps and Obi cuts him down...I'd rather have that fight on the slopes and Obi still tries to talk some more sense into him.

After a bit of banter, Obi realizes Anakin is really truely lost...and then Obi goes more on the offensive. Anakin starts to get panicked, backs onto the slope, and then Obi takes advantage of that and then takes him out with "moves of his own".

I really love in the ESB fight where Vader clashes with Luke's sword...stays with it for a bit, and then pushes it out of the way so Vader then has a clear shot at taking his hand off.

I wish something similar happened here...where Obi did something himself to take out Anakin instead of Anakin's stupidity....we already saw an anticlimatic ending with the Maul fight. I never thought we would have seen it here...in the fight that was supposed to end all fights.

Sorry, it didnt happen.

 

The ending to the duel was well done I thought. A nice way to show Vader was still the learner and that he had gained the overconfidence that seems to be a Sith trait.

 

It would have been so much cooler if a young boba fett would have shot at the two Jedi as they were dueling. THEN it would have been cool.

 

It was pretty good. It was always going to have to cut away to Yoda/Sidious at times. It was about what I expected and I have no problem with it at all.

 

I was a little disappointed with the lava lake cg, but then again I didn't see it on DLP (which I will soon). I also would have liked a little more dialogue during the fight, but the acting was absolutely incredible. I definitely think that Hayden and Ewan (and Ian) should at least be considered for Oscar noms.

 

Slave 2, you're right.
Obi-wan is trying to talk some sense into him at the end. He tells him not to do it. Anakin is overconfident and doesn't trust him. Sith traits that are their weaknesses.
I thought the duel was awsome. It was a million times better than the first time you saw Obi-wan and Vader duel, so what the crap??
I love how people nitpick at this film. It shows how awsome it is if they are going nitpick this way.
It must feel really bad for some people now that ANH is officially the lesser sequel to ROTS.

 

I can understand why some are disappointed with it, but most of the claims about the duel (longest fight in history, etc.) came well before the editing stage. I personally never thought the duel would be 10 minutes long, but I am impressed at how much of the fight made it into the movie. Considering all the swordplay and special effects, I'd say the length we ended up with is quite good enough, all things considered. Hype is the biggest enemy here, I believe. And I don't think the way Obi-Wan beat Anakin was anti-climactic. The whole point was that Anakin was so out of control, and quite frankly, stupid over his "new powers" that a dumb mistake like the one he made was bound to be his undoing. Obi-Wan clearly had the higher ground, and despite people having problems with that concept, it was true. Obi-Wan had gotten a better jump, and for Anakin to attempt to actually jump over Kenobi without Kenobi striking him in mid-jump was very stupid. Again, it all goes back to Anakin believing that because he has committed Dark Side deeds that he's some super powerful entity now.

In any case, I thought the duel was great. Not as good as it could have been, maybe, but I still think it was quite stellar, all things considered. And the intercutting to the Yoda and Sidious battle was handled quite well, and it did make the whole finale a good 12 minutes long.

 

I was struck by the visual of blue blade on blue blade. With all the incredible effects in the movie and in that scene, it's amazing how much one color can communicate.

 

gotta say the lava cg was fine for me, most folk havent noticed that its a shield round the platforms/droids theyre standing on which gives it the blue hue, many have attributed the blu to bad cg etc

 

as someone said the lava surf was crap totaly ruined what could have been the most epic battle in the history of star wars... but no...
i still look at ep1 maul battle with gasps the tingle down my back.. the music.. its the best ever so much tension anger danger and great pace its thrilling still to this day!

i wanted some of that in ep3 but didnt really get it

 

If it didnt end at least similar to that then the line,"...I was the but the learner..." wouldnt make as much sense. He HAD to fail a lesson.

 

I wish Obi had only cut off Ani's arm and then kicked him into the lava knee deep so his legs burnt off.

Just my opinion.
I still thought the duel was great.

 

It delivered but yes i expected more ,it wasnt like super ,I think the editing is to blame for this , their wasnt enough focus on the faces to show the emotion,their was only one shot of an angry anakin swingning his lightsaber ,just cuz is superfast doesnt mean that its great where is thew emotion?

 

I have to admit, it was much shorter than I expected. I also felt there were too many close ups during the fight, making it difficult to see what was going on. I also felt the battle between Anakin and Dooku was WAY too short.

 

The lava surfing was very awesome, in my opinion. I was hoping for a bit of fighting during a moving background.

edit: to be honest I was expecting the Dooku fight to be a bit shorter. I mean I'm glad that it was as long as it was, but you have to remember it's just another part of the entire opening sequence. And the way he killed Dooku was awesome.

 

I AM IN COMPLETE AGREEMENT WITH DARTHBANE'S POINTS.

The Maul/Kenobi duel is far the best saber fighting, I think the best duel is ROTJ father/son. If you think you liked the ROTS battle, go watch TPM again, especially the ending part of the duel. The music, the angles and the chorography is way better. I wish they had kept Ray Park on as Darth Maul so he could have corographed all the PT fights.

I do like however that Kenobie just cuts off Anakin's legs, I don't know why but I thought it was cool that Anakin just loses. Kenobi doesn't get lucky or saved, he just beats Anakin. Most people don't like that but I think it shows the mistake that Anakin makes, confidence. It's really the main point of evil, you may have power and speed and all that other stuff, but being to cocky can destroy you. I've ranted enough....

 

The thing is, Star Wars fans never want ANYTHING cut. Whatever it is, fans want it kept in. But the reality is, unless we get a 3 or 4 hour movie lots of things have to go - Including, of course, some duel footage.

 

While they edited the crap out of it, the duel was still perfect in my opinion. It wasn't too over the top and it wasn't weak at all - it was simply great. And unlike many, I loved how it ended. It showed how Obi taught Anakin everything he knew about saber fighting, as he tried to use the same move against Obi that Obi used against Maul. They utterly knew every single move they were using against each other. If that makes any sense.

 

Did anyone else think that the threads after ROTS would be better?

I didn't.

 

It was good enough, but I was hoping for more Yoda vs Sidious

 

Frankly, I assumed the duel would be worse. I do not say that as someone who had low expectations for this movie or the duel or as someone who did not like the prequels. In fact the opposite of each is true.

The duel hit on all cylinders. If it were any longer would have been overkill (as would it have been if it were not interrupted with the Yoda duel). Moreover, there was a nice blend of talking and action. Finally, I have yet to see lava in person, as I suspect most here. However, I strongly disagree with the effects issue. For example, scroll down this website and see the pictures of real lava from this Hawaiian volcano:

http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/main.html