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

The duel was intense, dramatic, and emotional. However, what was somewhat missing was choreography. With Ray Park not in it, the artistic side that was there with Maul was missing.

It was great in many other ways though.

 

Some of those lightsaber sequences were CG, others where the real guys, just with there saber speed digitally enhanced. No human can move a blade that fast. They should have slowed it down, like a longer, slightly faster duel between Vader and Luke in the ESB. This would have made it more dramatic and believable, and flowed better into the OT, where everybody's moving like stickfigures compared to these guys/CG models. Oh, and another error: Whatever happened to Obi and Anakin using every force trick in the book? All I saw was lightsabres, and one force push by both parties. No rocks being thrown, force chokes, etc.

 

I liked how the fighters started attacking with longer stokes during the final bit where they're both on the platform. I dunno, this was meant to be a different kind of battle than the others. There was a lot of room for dialogue in the ESB duel because Luke wasn't really much of a threat to Anakin, and Anakin was trying to convince Luke to come with him. In ROTS, Obi-Wan pretty much knows that Anakin is out of control and once Anakin attacks there's not much you can do other than defend yourself. Obi-Wan won the fight, I think, primarily because Anakin got retarded.

I think the only time there are digital actors is when they are spinning the sabers really fast for a second or two. Either way it wasn't that long and about 98% of the fighting is done with the real actors. I don't see it as an issue.

 

My only real beef with the duel has been mentioned: the fact that it was sometimes hard to make out visually. I know what they were trying to emphasize - more of a general intensity rather than choreography. Even so, I enjoyed watching the BTS footage of the actors practicing more than the final film cut; you can see the talent and intricacy (and viciousness) displayed along with clearly lit shots of traditonal acting. The greenscreened fighting was more impressive to me on most levels.

That being said, the most telling moment of the duel was simple dialogue, "Don't try it...!". Those words and that delivery were the only moment I felt real apprehension watching the film. That is the power of imagination.

 

Some of those lightsaber sequences were CG, others where the real guys, just with there saber speed digitally enhanced. No human can move a blade that fast.

Which sequences are you thinking of? I don't recall any that looked faster than the behind-the-scenes footage we saw (which had some blistering fast bladework).

 

I thought it was going to be longer and with more stinging words. Also less angrily glaring at eachother and more intensity. But I was still thoroughly impressed. My favourite duel.

 

It IS still pretty long, you know. I mean I haven't put a stop-watch to it, but I would imiagine in total it's a good 7 minutes - Which in a Star Wars movie especially - Is a HUGE amount of time.

 

I still think the Yoda/Sidious duel overshadowed it a little. Like someone said earlier, they should've had that duel end before the Vader/Obi-Wan duel.

 

For the most part, I liked the duel.
And for the most part I liked how Hayden delivered most of his lines, except for a couple.
The way he said, "From my point of view, the Jedi are evil...," for some reason his tone of voice makes him sound....I dunno....not sinister enough I guess. Just an extremely small thing that has sort of bugged me every time I've seen it so far...

 

The "Duel" for me was the Emperor Vs Yoda.I found it more exciting, as it contained more dynamic characters, and moments, than Anakin VS Obi-Won.

I personally thought it overshadowed the "Duel", even though it had flaws as well. I wish Lucas would extend it further for the DVD release of ROTS.

In addition, fix suited Vaders screemtime, and you've got yourself a pretty damn good Star Wars flick, overall IMO.

 

Can someone explain the last part of the duel?
I'm still not quite sure about this "high ground" business. It seems that Anakin could have perhaps jumped a few feet higher in order to not get cleaved by Kenobi's saber. I mean...we've seen these Jedi jump a few stories at least. For example, when Obi Wan jumps to the catwalk in the Theed Reactor in TPM. I mean, unless Anakin jumps in that fashion for a specific purpose. Someone please clue me in...

 

It didn't seem long enough for me and even though I liked Yoda and the Emperor, it would have been nice to see an uncut Anakin/Obi-Wan duel. I also think they showed most of the good parts of it on footage on TV.

 

Here's the running times of each Mustafar duel sequence:

18:10 - 18:30
19:16 - 19:43
21:12 - 21:39
22:07 - 22:56
24:35 - 25:18
25:50 - 26:40
27:06 - 29:55

Someone calculate it up. Yes, I'm that lazy, but I did the work to get the times.

 

Some of those lightsaber sequences were CG, others where the real guys, just with there saber speed digitally enhanced. No human can move a blade that fast.

There were digital doubles for some leaps and stuff, but the duels were not sped up or digitally enhanced. Nick Gillard was on Good Morning America, and someone asked him that question. No speeding up. It's real time.

 

I thought it was absolutely stunning. Hell has never looked worse!.

I loved the moment when Anakin is forcing Obi-Wan back through the corridor. It really reminded me of the similar scene in ESB when Vader goes ballastic at Luke.

I cannot understand what people are dissappointed about. And the way it was intercut with the Yoda duel was excellent.

 

you worked out all those times but couldnt be bothered to add them up after all that?! geeez, that is lazy.

 

CRINGE - was extremely surprised by the acting performances. Especially from,"Don't try it Anakin" on. I feel it was the best acting performance in the SW saga ever.


I agree!!

The acting at the end from the point when Obi steps down from the ship is the best acting in Star Wars Saga ever. Right up until the point where Obi leaves Anikan for death.

I love that scene and will stand by it being the best and my favourite!

 

That's right.

 

Why did Vader jump into OB1's blade? Why didn't he jump ten feet to OB1's left, then continue the Duel. The ending was just awful--OB1 wasn't shown to be superior to Vader, nor did he really beat Vader at all, Vader just threw himself into a lightsaber. I expected OB1 to use some wise trick or something to beat Vader, not for Vader to basically chop his own limbs off.

Now the dialogue and Vader burning AFTER the Duel was great, but the last move was just poorly, poorly thought out.

 

I think the only reason the duel wasn't quite as impressive as it had been hyped up to be was because of audience fatigue. If you watched the Anakin vs Obi-Wan duel without seeing any of the other duels in the prequels first I think it would totally blow you away. But after seeing two awesome lightsaber duels in Episode I and II, and three lightsaber battles earlier on in RotS (not to mention the intercutting with the Yoda vs Sidious duel) it was hard for it to offer anything new. I did think the emotional intensity of the duel was great, though.

 

I didn't have a problem with Yoda v. Sids overshadowing Obi-Wan v. Vader. The former was wild and goofy and comic-booky, Flubber Yoda versus The Cackling Phantom in a (nearly) pure CGI extravaganza. It was great fun but mostly lighthearted. We knew both combatants would come out okay in the end. The latter, though, was much more grim and serious. It featured our two primary actors performing (nearly) pure physical bladework. We knew that Vader would eventually fall in a tragic and very grisly manner. The stakes were real (and well done, as it were). It had gravitas that Y.v.S never strove for. Two very different scenes.

 

i think magickcache, that obi wan thought it would be hard to jump AND defend himself at the same time, no matter how high he jumped

 

I blame it on Anakin's sheer stupidity. Those closest to him had been tossing logic his way for a good half hour but he never listened. He simply made a blind move, thinking that, at this point, he couldn't be killed.

 

I think when Obi-Wan told him not to try it, because of his arrogance it made him even more determind to do it. And the result was exactly the one Obi-Wan warned him about.

 

i've seen the duel about 10 times now (no not in the theatres) and it did feel weird while in the theatre but after you watch it a few more times in a more comfortable setting you can disect the duel and it was pretty damn sweet, the best i've seen in the star wars saga.