Saga Best Lightsaber Battle

Obi-wan vs. Anakin (Revenge of the Sith)

 

I agree with you

 

I agree with this. In terms of swordplay, these two are the best.Obi-Wan vs Anakin is unbelievable, unmatched in the entire saga as a battle. Duel of the Fates, has the double ended lightsaber, the death of Qui-Gon and we see Obi-Wan's anger and see him overcome it and take down Darth Maul. Brilliant lightsaber stuff.
Next for me would be Luke vs Vader in TESB, really good, with the window, and "I am your father."

 

The Duel of the Fates is, for me, not only the best duel of the Star Wars films, but the best cinematic sword fight, period. The conceptualizing, choreography, coverage and pacing are among the very best set-piece design I've seen in a movie. The fight is fast, varied and inventive, but never confusing. Lucas uses the camera to both observe and put us into the action without letting it overwhelm us, as a lot of modern action-directors tend to do, substituting spectacle for substance.

I especially love the fact that it's an almost entirely silent duel-- images and the sounds of clashing sabers alone convey the excitement, suspense and epic sweep of the battle. We don't have any artificial narrative concerns appealing to our emotions, no sentiment getting in the way of the action. Yet there's still a keen eye for subtlety and subtext, of simple humanity at key moments in the fight. That moment when the red-gates close between the duellists, and Qui-Gon calmly kneels on the floor to meditate is among the most moving stuff of Star Wars, and it doesn't try to hammer you over the head with it. It's beautiful, simply put.

 

i especially love the shot of obi-wan hanging the platform on the lower left of the screen while qui-gon and maul fight above on the upper right.

 

I've come to really enjoy the Anakin versus Dooku fight in AOTC, specifically when Anakin cuts the power cable and the lights go out. The play of light is excellent and it establishes Dooku as almost a mirror of Anakin -- a reflection of his fate.

One detail I really enjoy about the Saga is that the duels progressively get more intimate as time passes chronologically.

TPM: A fight between three professionals, as it's been described.
AOTC: Obi-Wan and Anakin are, in a sense, Dooku's distant "heirs" while Dooku himself was Yoda's padawan a long time ago
ROTS: A battle between brothers
ANH: Another battle between those two men, though there's much more history behind them and bad blood, considering what happened in ROTS
ESB: A duel between a father and son, with the son ignorant
ROTJ: A duel between father and son, blood-relatives, both acknowledged

Anyway, I always thought it was interesting and helped lend the Saga greater weight. By ROTJ, it feels as though we've been building to this moment all along.

 

Wonderfully described, as usual, JFP. If there's anything I'll say against this sequence, it's that the "Duel of the Fates" composition, in its "concert" form, feels a little contrived -- to me -- today, in its placement over the duel itself. I think its re-use in the "wizard" portion of the Yoda-Sidious duel in ROTS has broken the spell it may have once cast over me when it first played in the iconic duel of TPM. I do very much enjoy the other iterations of the composition in TPM, and the other pieces of music in the TPM duel, however. Anyway, it's no BFD. I like how you say there's a "keen eye" for "subtlety and subtext" and "simple humanity". One bit I find relatively striking (pardon the pun) is when Qui-Gon does this one-two move on Maul, disarming Maul's attack and then back-handing him in the face, sending him flying to a lower level. It's in retaliation to Maul having just sent Obi-Wan over the ledge a moment before: a father enacting vengeance for his son. If this moment had dialogue and SW allowed profanity, it would be something like, "**** you, you ****** ****", coming from Qui-Gon's mouth in that instant. An awesome moment.

Oh! That shot is visual nirvana! And to the edge of frame, on the extreme left, you can just make out the laser gates, which are about to become a significant fixture of the duel, sealing the fates of many characters, not just those duelling. And the two figures on the bridge will both, of course, be dead in a matter of minutes, which makes the ultra-wide shot even more spectacular: our boyish protagonist and saga guide in the foreground, the two doomed saga guest stars in the background. But yeah... I love how Lucas introduces things that are barely noticeable at first yet will come to have profound consequences later. The hint of those gates at the periphery -- the "outer rim" -- of the visual field is a master stroke. The other one that gets my attention in TPM -- as subtle as a pin prick, as deep as a crack running to the centre of the Earth -- is Anakin's flippant aside to Threepio: "I'll make sure mom doesn't sell you or anything". Of course, Anakin can't really "make sure" of anything, least of all the fate of an incomplete (and incongruous) protocol droid in some obscure slave dwelling on a remote planet "far beyond the reach of the Trade Federation", and hence, the Republic, so we're glimpsing a devastating hint of a character's sublimated fear: that he really has no control over anything; and that the idea something could happen to his mother in his absence is too terrible to voice (Threepio being an inadequate proxy). Various aspects of the duel are consonant with TPM's motifs and themes -- indeed, it's whole manner of execution; if

 

Well put. The TPM duel is also the only major duel where there is no reach a film later.

Other than that the duels come in pairs:

Dooku v Anakin&Kenobi
Vader v Kenobi
Vader v Luke

 

Its interesting to see that only a few people here have the Anakin vs Obi-Wan duel in ROTS as their favorite; this was THE DUEL everyone had been waiting to see for over two decades. I guess Lucas didnt hit it right with this one; it had such a potential! Have to say i was a little dissapointed myself.

Anyways.. For me i have to say the ROTJ duel. Emotionally this is the peak of the saga. The TESB duel is legendary, and in many ways more entertaining, but still.. it cant top the final duel IMO.

Loved the duel in TPM; the reason for that is mentioned several times here already.

Sidious vs Yoda -- Epic and intense, but short.

ANH --> Iconic, but very old (its like watching James Bond figh-scenes with Roger Moore, while TPM is like watching the new generation of Bond movies with Daniel Craig doing all kinds of crazy fighting)

 

I actually like Anakin/Obi-Wan duel, I just wish it was longer. They certainly filmed a lot more footage that we ended up seeing. Besides, like the prequels themselves, it might have fallen a victim to extremely high expectations. That, and the fact that you know how it ends up even if you avoided spoilers, does take away tension. That said, Obi-Wan's words to Anakin make me choke up every time I hear them.

From pure choreographical standpoint, TPM duel wins. So what if they don't talk to each other, not every duel has to be personal, we have enough of those in other movies.

 

ROTJ is my favorite. There's so much emotional weight there. The flash of the PT duels doesn't move me much, but the emotion between Vaderkin and Kenobi is pretty tense and great. It's probably somewhere after ESB with ESB as number 2. I still like Vader/Kenobi ANH as well. It's not nearly as polished as the rest of the films choreography-wise but it's our first glimpse of lightsaber fighting and it's got a history to it that we aren't fully aware of(or rather, weren't until more and more was revealed years later). So it's probably ROTJ, ESB, ANH, ROTS, TPM then AOTC for me. Funny that my rankings are in reverse order except when you get to AOTC. That's is, IMO, the weakest duel in the entire series. And while I love Yoda's part in AOTC, that's largely just a "WOW! Yoda can fight!" moment. It's always a duel with a Skywalker or Kenobi involved that are the duels of consequence and the crux of the emotional crescendo of the films.

 

For me its Obi Wan & Qui Gon vs Darth Maul. The choreography is just jaw dropping, and the Duel of the Fates track and the saber sound effects complete the experience. A close second is a brief duel between Anakin and Dooku in ROTS - its very fast, furious and aggressive. Many say that saber fights in the PT are well choreographed but lack emotions and heart and I disagree. I think all of the fights are very emotional and very personal to the characters

 

Obi-Wan vs. Anakin in ROTS. Always my favorite.

 

I'm torn between Luke and Vader in ESB and Luke and Vader in ROTJ. In the former, Vader humbles Luke with his mastery of the dark side, driving him ever further back until Luke has nowhere to turn. And then he delivers that revelation. What a shocker that was to us all back in 1980. Surely he must be lying, we thought. Watched again, knowing what we know, the duel is even more engaging to watch.

The duel between Vader and Luke in ROTJ, when Luke knows what he knows, is ripe with emotion. Again and again, Luke tries to take the passive option; again and again, Vader comes back at him, eventually using his attachment against him ("If you will not turn to the dark side, then perhaps she will") to goad Luke into striking in anger. And Vader almost succeeds in driving Luke into the darkness. Ultimately, this is a battle of wills rather than strength, and the climax, with Vader turning against his own master, is just perfection (and why ROTJ will always be my favourite episode of the saga).

 

I'm probably leaning towards Anakin vs. Obi-Wan in ROTS at the moment. Duel of the Fates might have the more stunning sword choreography and Luke vs. Vader in TESB may convey a more moody atmosphere as the characters move through their physical surroundings, but the ROTS duel captures something of both of these qualities at times while all the while packing the most visceral punch. In other words, it's Anakin vs. Obi-Wan on Mustafar that makes me most want to say, "wow, this is a fight."

 

I agree. ROTJ was always my favorite, and I think showed a high caliber of sword play. The conflict within both Luke and Vader provides such fuel for their fight that adds an intensity to it.

My close second is Duel of the Fates. The actual physical combat was just amazing, and very well done.

The ROTS duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan, in my opinion, needed a little more of the intensity that Duel of the Fates had. It started out very strong, but the attempt to use the environment as part of the duel felt kind of flat to me.

 

As much as I loved the Duel of the Fates in TPM, my favorite duel would have to be the Anakin Vs. Obi-Wan duel in ROTS. Very emotion driven, and had me on the edge of my seat despite the fact that I knew neither of the duelists were going to die.

 

If you're talking about technicalities, it would be Obi-Wan vs. Darth Maul. If you're talking about the emotion the duel gives, then i'd say Obi-wan vs. Anakin or Luke vs. Vader in ROTJ. It's a toss up between the 3 for me !

 

I personally don't agree with that sentiment about the Prequel Duels.



First off yes, the Duel from EpI didn't start out with much emotion but after Qui-Gon died, Obi-Wan displayed both sadness and a new ferocity for the rest of the match. It started out being two Jedi doing their duty (not every battle can be a dramatic duel between brothers or father and son). It was interesting seeing them battle an opponent they didn't really know as Jedi probably wouldn't come across many of them (I mean should they have shoehorned a plot about Maul being Obi-Wan's long lost brother or something?), but Obi-Wan definitely emoted when the man who was essentially his father was killed in front of him. He clearly looked angry but was also trying to remain composed (Just watch his facial movements when he's behind the laser wall right before his one on one with Maul). I think it's common knowledge that a warrior is trained and conditioned not to let emotions get in the way of a battle as they can cloud judgment and make you do reckless actions (Anakin's downfall in EpIII).



As for the Dooku duels. I'd say I agree there wasn't much emotion to the first one, but it to me felt like set up for their next encounter. By the way Anakins spoke to him upon meeting each other again it did seem clear that Anakin had held a grudge from their last encounter (pay attention to the way he delivers the line "My powers have doubled since the last time we met Count"). And seemed to get even angrier after Dooku took out Obi-Wan. Enough so that in the end he could be manipulated into killing Dooku despite his better judgment. Even Dooku noted during the fight that Anakin was holding back his hate and anger.



Again that's just my view on it. I personally didn't see the duels as being that shallow.



For my favorite duel I'm not sure. I'll have to go with Anakin vs Obi-Wan from Revenge of the Sith.



I really like the backdrop (a lava planet makes a very dangerous and intense arena) and set up for the Obi-Wan vs Anakin duel on Mustafar. I guess I'd say that was my favorite because I felt deep emotion (the set up for the duel, Obi-Wan and Anakin's exchange in the middle about how Obi-Wan thinks he failed him, and of course the ending with the "You were my brother speech") and pure amazing spectacle throughout the entire battle. They went no-holds-barred on trying to make it the coolest looking fight put to screen. Plus it has so much importance to the overall saga since it's that fight that lead Anakin to fully becoming the Darth Vader we all know from the CT.



After that for me would probably be the duel betweeen Luke and Vader in Episode VI for a lot of the same reasons. It had great emotion (Luke's final charge at Vader when he threatened Leia) and importance, leading into Luke's defining moment (his turning down of the Dark Side) closely followed by Anakin's (turning on the Emperor and redeeming himself)

 

This is how I might break it down:

Best Duel? Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon/Maul (TPM)
Best Battle? Anakin/Obi-Wan (ROTS)

 

That's a good way of saying it. Although the battle then would be Anakin/Obi-Wan intercut with Yoda/Sidious. The battle for the Republic and for Anakin's soul. And both of them already lost before they even begin.

 

It's also supported by the titles of the main musical compositions that accompany both:

Duel of the Fates
Battle of the Heroes

* * *

Of course, the former does make it into the latter, a little, when the Force contest between Yoda and Sidious kicks off, good and proper.

Yeah... that intercutting between two separate "duelling" encounters, in a "battle" mode, does somewhat single the ROTS sequence out, doesn't it?

This is another reason why, on some levels, it's senseless to compare things, or complain when something doesn't meet an expectation or "standard".

All "duels" are a variation on one or more themes, I think. What really makes the Mustafar confrontation "go" for me is all the collapsing scenery: the violence two individuals bring onto a remote facility and legitimate business operation in their petty squabble (a petty squabble with vast mythological overtones, of course). Somehow, that's very "Star Wars-y"; to me.

 

The best in the series is Luke vs. Vader in RotJ, hands down.
Though... Qui-Gonn & Obi-Wan vs. Darth Maul was pretty great too. Clearly the best scene in TPM.

 

Hands down it would be Anakin vs Obi-wan. ROTS seemed to make up for the somewhat disappointing duels of AOTC.

I wish Duel of the Fates was a bit longer. My favorite part of the fight is the cut of it after anakin flies off to space "Try to override it."

I feel like that section had the best choreography and musical buildup.

I feel like the duel shifted in tone considerably to focus on the lighting of the generators. I really enjoyed how Maul kicked Obi and Qui-gon, in the hanger part of the fight.

 

I recently showed my girlfriend the Saga...and when Vader popped Lukes hand off...she gasped! That was the only fight that gave her the "OMG" moment.

For me though...the best fight is Obi Wan vs Darth Maul.