PT Did the duel on Mustafar look too fake?

I've recently watched the entire prequel trilogy, and one thing that struck me was that the duel on Mustafar was quite different than the "duel of the fates", or the duel between Anakin, Obi-Wan and Dooku in episode II. What I mean by this is that I almost wonder if it looked a bit too fake. I wonder this because I noticed as they were dueling they did things that might be considered impractical, such as when Obi-Wan swung his blade from one blow back around his head to hit Anakin with another blow. Now, I mean this as a genuine question, because I really have no idea, all I know is that real-life sword fights are much shorter, but is that kind of thing really done even in the longest of real-life sword fights with rapiers and such (the closest thing to a lightsaber)?

Is the duel on Mustafar obviously choreographed?

 

They shoot in slow, and just speed the scene, backround was animator works

 

I think they were trying to show how evenly matched Obi-Wan and Anakin were, given their skill levels and intimate knowledge of each other's fighting styles. As a result, the duel is so fast and so stalemated that it almost seems like they're trying to hit each other's blades. But as I understand it, that's sometimes what it looks like when you're fencing at an expert level. Whether or not it works for you in the film is a matter of individual taste.

According to the Episode III commentary, the duel wasn't sped up in any way. The speed at which it was filmed is the speed at which we see it.

 

Yes, if only for the moment where they are literally standing perfectly still while swinging the sabers around without hitting anything. There was no reason for them to do that, and it really took me out of the scene. Then they hopped on the droids... It was terrible, and should have been much better for what it meant to the story.

 

anakin doing towering somersaults off a platform onto a 3ft. wide droid on a river of lava was retard. lucas really screwed up that duel.

 

I feel like that part gets blown out of proportion because of the widely-circulated gif that's put on an endless loop without showing the next part of the duel. In context, you can see that they were simultaneously trying to build up momentum for a powerful next strike, because trying to simply find holes in the other's defenses wasn't working.

It ends up looking a little silly, but no more than the part of the Episode IV duel where Ben twirls completely around for no real reason, leaving his back completely exposed.

 

I''m currently re watching all the movies, since it's been awhile, and there are plenty of silly instances, I love duel of the fates, but even that has some silly spinning in it that's not realistic. It's just a thing in these movies, they all have quite a bit of unrealistic parts in the fight scenes.

 

The only really, uh, "obvious choreographed" duel part - to me - is near the very beginning of Duel of the Fates, not Mustafar. Obi-Wan attacks Maul from the rear, then spins around - but it so obviously looks like he spun because that was the choreography, rather than a reaction.

 

I think basically all of Mustafar looks entirely fake including the completely impractical fight.

 

Looked fine to me, the fight was awesome and fast pace, exactly how it should be, showing the power of Jedi.

 

Mustafar was impressive imo. Many believe it's entirely CGI, but that isn't the case.

 

I happen to think that duel was a marvellous bit of cinema. The one minor gripe I have with it is the bit where Anakin and Obi-Wan are moving along the river on those platforms and droids and they stop and talk about Chancellor Palpatine being evil and the whole points of view thing. I thought it needlessly slowed the sequence down and it took away some of the urgency and drama for me. But besides that I thought it was an excellent duel. I think ROTS has some of the best lightsaber duels in the saga (though I still think the Bespin duel in ESB is the best).

 

I think that duel needed to be edited badly. It just went on far too long. By the time they were hopping on droids over the lava, it just seemed silly.

 

Thanks for the all the replies, but I was actually also wondering about a very specific part of the duel. Take a look at about 6:23 of this video of the duel, and you'll see Obi-Wan swung his blade from one blow back around his head to hit Anakin with another blow:

Would this actually be done in real life in any sword fighting style? Also, would you ever spin your whole body around in real-life in any sword fighting style?

 

I thought it looked realistic, if they filmed it now days I am sure it would look better, but that was over 6 years ago, the film industry changes fast.

I don't know, I kinda liked that part, obi wan showed how he thought this was all his own fault, and it showed how blind Anakin became as well, and in the end Obi Wan said "then you are lost!"

"Then you are lost" in my opinion is a key line to understanding Obi Wan's feelings, it shows that even though Anakin choked Padme, and raged about his new empire earlier, he still had hope that Anakin would turn back to the light side. This line is the turning point, he has no more hope for Anakin, which may be one of the reasons he left Anakin there to burn. At least, that is what I think.

 

Hmmm. I agree with what you're saying but what I would say is that perhaps the whole "you are lost" conversation should take place when Anakin has just been dismembered. I stand by my opinion that having that little conversation in the middle of the duel slows it down unnecessarily.

 

since there are no all-lava planets we can film on i think it's safe to say the duel is somewhat fake. are you serious?

 

Yeah, it looks fake, like two guys pretending to sword fight, which is due to bad choreography and lasting far too long.

There are just far too many bad moves, and horrible dialogue that drags down what's supposed to be a very emotional conflict. Because of these subpar moments, the duel becomes too ridiculous too often to take any attempts at emotion seriously.

 

I'd say most of the duels in the PT are, to an extent, fairly unrealistic. The only duels that looked realistic to me were the ones involving Dooku, Anakin and Obi-Wan.

I feel that this duel has to last a long while, though. It wouldn't make sense for both of these masters of the force to simply beat one another in a short manner. They both know each other so well that they'd have to fight for quite a while (so one could finally find a flaw in the other's defense).

Sure there are shots in the scene that make my eyes roll. But overall, it's an enjoyable sequence that aids the narrative of both the film and the saga.

 

Haha this is the fight where they lose control of their limbic functions and start twirling around their sabers in a 360 degree fashion for no apparent reason. Probably because the heat was getting to their brains.

 

Without that conversation, the whole duel would've been a mindless action sequence like Obi-Wan vs Grievous or Yoda vs Dooku. It is crucial. It gives substance to "Obi-Wan once thought as you do."

And to me, Obi-Wan's opening line, "I have failed you, Anakin; I have failed you", added greatly to the emotional intensity of The Duel. It brought to mind not only their last conversation as friends, but the whole parent/child relationship we see in AotC, and even Obi-Wan's promises in TPM to his dying Master and to Anakin at the funeral.

If that conversation had occurred only after Obi-Wan has won, it would look pretty insincere as an attempt to try and reach Anakin or bring him to his senses, which was what Obi-Wan was trying to do when he started chatting.



As regards the OP, yeah The Duel looks choreographed, but so does every other duel in the Saga. If I wanted realism, I'd watch friends who do kendo sparring.

 

I thought it was all okay except for this.



It was very fast-paced and you may say "no one fights like that in real life," but the thing is–they did. They actually fought at that speed, it wasn't filmed slower and then sped up. I loved the whole fight except for that ^, and even then it's just a minor annoyance. As for the conversation in the lava river, "Well, then you are lost!" is one of the most emotionally gripping parts of the movie, to me, because it's the moment where Obi-Wan's like, Okay, then, no more chances. That's a hard point to reach, and when he finally did, it broke his heart. I think it worked perfectly.

 

Exactly heck even Bruce Lee, who fought very hard for realistic fight sequences had moments that make you go "wtf" but that movies for you

 

i thought this moment was cool and yes they fought that fast you can watch the bts and see that. the duel was initially longer and people had been waiting for it almost thirty years.