Saga Obi Wan vs Darth Maul lightsaber fight - Will it ever be topped??

No worries

I actually see a little bit of similarity in Obi-Wan becoming his own master here and Luke declaring himself a Jedi in ROTJ.

 

True. But Maul's mindset wasn't the same at that moment as it was before. He believed that the duel is over. Which I can't blame him. Qui-Gon was dead, Obi-Wan was hanging from at the edge of pit, and his weapon discarded. Maul thought that even if Obi-Wan jumps from there, he couldn't do anything to him when he was weaponless. He completely forgot about Qui-Gon's lightsaber. If you look closely to Maul's face he is still trying to figure out what Obi-Wan was trying to do. And worst case scenario, Obi-Wan jumps and uses Qui-Gon's lightsaber before Maul can realize what he's doing. And then it was too late.

With Anakin, it was completely different. Obi-Wan specifically baited him to jump over himself so he could find the opening.

 

Also a great nomination... I remember the first time I watched it thinking "Man, they are really going after each other!"

 

So far the only fight better than that was the four-way fight in The Old Republic, but it was all animated so it doesn't really count. Disney's fight style seems to demonstrate that it will never be topped

That fight was so bad that Samuel L Jackson said they needed to learn how to fight. And all emotional stakes are non-existent as you sit there baffled at how anyone could pretend someone with zero training could hold their own for 2 seconds against a highly trained Force user. LOL

 

Rey vs. Kylo is basically just Kylo swiping wildly at Rey while Rey brings up her lightsaber to block just barely in time. Apparently a lot of people like that sort of thing because "it looks like they're actually trying to hit each other." But honestly the formula for the fight choreography in TFA seems pretty rote, and at the very least looks like something that's not very complicated or difficult to pull off compared to what Nick Gillard accomplished on the prequels, whose choreography features a much larger and more interesting variety of moves and styles. The prequel fights are much more like a fast-paced dance between skilled combatants, and if you allow yourself to get into the rhythm you really can feel the logic behind each move, and understand that they really are trying to hit each other, while also trying to block their opponent's blade from hitting them, and at other times proactively batting their opponent's blade away to create a potential opening. It's a much more intellectually engaging and satisfying experience, IMO.

 

It was topped by the Battle of the Heroes.

 

Great fight, no doubt about it and I think its hand down the best one of the prequels. For me though Vader v Luke in Empire is the best one.

 

Best duel of the saga: Any duel involving Darth Maul
Worst duel of the saga: Any duel involving Finn

 

I don't think it's the best but I always thought the fight between Obi-Wan and Dooku in AOTC was underrated.



It's just some nice, clean, yet effective choreography. I don't know, I like it.

 

So well said.

What is also so odd to me is that saying that "it looks like they're actually trying to hit each other." but then they almost don't hit each other at all and when they do it's like they don't really mean to.

In the prequels duelists get hit, sliced and killed.

Qui-Gon killed, Maul effectively killed and certainly sliced in half, Anakin loses arm up to elbow, Dooku loses hands then head, multiple Jedi cut down by Sidious, Sidious scarred, Mace loses hand, Vader loses limbs.

So far in the ST we have Finn NOT getting killed by Kylo Ren for no good reason and Ren gets a scar. The best fight (not duel) in the ST is not between Lightsaber wielding opponents.

As you say the moves are logical and have a pattern. They want to hit their opponent while not getting hit themselves and do moves that are about blocking and batting to creates openings.

 

Very good call. I love the Clones duel. A bit more subdued, but still I find it extremely high on tension, as well as rich with symbolism (for instance Anakin cutting the power chord and inviting darkness on his own terms).

Anyways, my specific ordering wavers, but I'm confident the PT duels will not be topped.

 

It was topped by the final fight in ROTS.

 

The Rey and Kylo vs Praetorian guards fight was amazing. I still don't know how I feel about the film itself - But this was great! I know it's not a duel per se but wow I also like Obi and Anakin vs the Magna guards...

 

What elevated this fight for me is really the soundtrack. If it wasn't for JW's spectacular performance I would have thought it was just a well-choreographed fight and that's it.

 

I liked Mace vs Sidious, Yoda vs Sidious, and Yoda vs Dooku better. Also I liked some TCW duels better, if you haven't seen them, CHECK THEM OUT. They are amazeballs.

 

New stuff.

 

DOTF and BOTH are 1A and 1B in my opinion. Could have them go either way, both by far the best duels in all the movies.

 

I agree 100%

 

I agree the AOTC duels were great, but the problem I have with them is that they are edited to hell. I feel like I'd have enjoyed them much more if each one lasted even just like 20 seconds longer!

My favorite single sequence (not entire duel) of lightsaber action is Anakin vs. Dooku on the Invisible Hand in ROTS. I remember when I saw that in the theater for the first time, remembering how Anakin said he's much more powerful. Then suddenly after Dooku's little quip about anger, Anakin just goes to town until he defeats him-I remember seeing all that and being like "holy crap!"

Regarding the TFA duel, and also the TLJ team-up scene, I personally felt like they were kind of lame. I agree that in TFA JW's score is what really carried that scene. In TLJ I did get a moment of "what are they gonna do!?" before I saw Kylo Ren and Rey join forces against the guards-but then after that, the scene was a mess. Mostly I'm just disappointed we haven't seen more lightsaber skill and force usage from Kylo Ren. I can understand Rey, since she's untrained - but I mean he struggled most of the time! Heck, even the OT looked more sleek and fancy compared to this...

I really have high hopes that we see some more proficient dueling in TROS...

 

To me the Luke Vader duel in ESB is the standard. No backflips, no saber twirling. Just high stakes tension. And the best reveal in movie history. (don't get me wrong the duels in TPM and ROTS were awesome)

 

It's second best

 

Sorry, I had to

 

OK, then, no silly extraneous backflips.

 

Are you referring to "The Force Awakens" duel? Because I thought it was just "meh". It didn't exactly blow my mind. As for "The Last Jedi" duel . . . quelle horreur!

I wasn't that impressed by the AOTC duels. But I did enjoy Obi-Wan's fight with Jango Fett. But the AOTC lightsaber duels were again . . . "meh" to me, incompare to the TPM and ROTS duels.