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

I admit it was faster than anything seen before, but that's why I loved it. The Force gives the Sith and Jedi masters (whether they are indeed termed "master" or not) supernatural abilities. I think those people who are grounded in reality to the point that fantasy bounces right off their heads are the ones who couldn't fathom what was happening. This is why some people don't like kung fu flicks because the people in chinese martial art fantasy can fly and run on three tops.

 

I also thought ot was a bit anti-climatic. I would have liked to have heard more dialog during it. That said the my problem was the score. I thought Duel was wasted on spinning pods.

 

The Duel was much too impersonal. I was hoping for something more akin to the ESB duel, where emotional posturing was every bit a factor as flashy saber moves and distracting CGI enhanced backgrounds. More exchanges of dialogue between the two could have gone a long way in inserting a gradual build-up of tension, and of course ditching the ridiculous Super Marioesque lava platforms could have been a huge step in the right direction. The ?higher ground? conclusion was dubious at best.

Unfortunately, for me the sequence failed to duplicate the emotional climax of the Luke vs. Vader OT duels, as well as the superb action choreography of TPM?s Duel of the Fates.

 

Jeez! Don't be such a bloody drama queen. Its not bitching or complaining. The topic thread simply ask us to give our opinions on what we thought about the duel. If our opinion is that we thought it would be better, should we keep quiet and not give our opinion simply because its different from yours??

 

"Star Wars Fans are impossible to please. That's all I can make of all this complaining about the duels".

Maybe not impossible but very hard to please. But people have the right to say what they think. Personally I expected longer duels but I was far from being disappointed. The duel is second only to DOTF and I never expected it to be better. But the duel is excellent and gets better every time I see the film. And the Yoda vs. Sidious was better than I expected. Nice to see the little coward trying to run (by the little coward I mean Palpatine) from the big green Jedi (Yoda). Palpatine being shown as a coward is partly why I like the duel so much.

 

I liked the Duel. I loved the double Force push. I don't think any duel is too long in the saga...even the DotF was pretty short.

 

I was hoping for something more akin to the ESB duel

The thing is, I'm sure GL is happy with the ESB saber duel, so he probably feels that there's no reason to try and top it. Instead, he got creative with ROTS and inserted the "emotional punch" in the moments before and after the duel itself-- especially afterwards.

That's one of the great things about SW: each episode is not simply a re-hashing of what came before it.

 

I loved the battle, it along with ESB duel are the best ever.

 

In my humble opinion, the Kenobi vs. Skywalker/Vader duel was the best of the saga. They were fighting all over the place!

 

I wish there had been more dialogue in the duel. Most of the time it might as well have been two stunt doubles fighting. I was expecting Anakin to vent his frustrations with Obi-Wan over the years, things he was saying in AOTC, that he thought Obi-Wan was jealous of his power and had been holding him back always. Things like that. The 'from my point of view the Jedi are evil' dialogue IMO was **** and almost out of place. I would have preferred much more lines and emotion rather than CG lava surfing and the lameness of some of the fighting. The Maul duel had more emotion even though there was NO dialogue! Of course, once the duel ends there is emotion, but again it didn't hit all the right notes IMO. Too much CG fighting when it was supposed to be personal, hero vs hero. Brother vs Brother.

 

New thread: "Did anyone else think that fan response to "The Duel" was going to contain less bitching?"

That's why I started the "why is everyone pissed at a lack of a Neo moment fo Anakin" thread. Of course people turned it into a star wars vs. matrix thing which was the last thing on my mind. My real thinking was "ok, it's getting a little old with everyone complaining about things like Anakin not wiping the floor with Ob1". Anakin was the chosen one but that didn't mean that the man who mentored him wouldn't be able to keep up. I think the duel was perfect. IMHO it mixed good physical action while showing the end of a tragic relationship

 

The higher ground conclusion was dubious at best

The thing is, when anakin first jumped onto the float with obi-wan, the latter tries to take his legs off then. Also when Obiwan jumps off to the bank Anakin tries to take his legs off. The only difference? NO HIGH GROUND. Once Obiwan has it he can take care of business

 

Anyone who's studied military history knows that "high ground" is one of the most important aspects of warfare, whether it's with swords and spears or tanks and machine guns.

For Obi-Wan (a master swordsman) to give Anakin (another master swordsman) one last chance to back down and save his own life by saying "don't try anything, I have the high ground" is powerful, dramatic, stuff.

 

It was too dragged out, is what my family said. I liked it. It was different from all the other duels we've seen.

 

The Duel couldn't have been better if they tried. As it is, they had shades of Errol Flynn and Tarzan. Anything more would've been over the top.

 

No I thought it was just fine. However, I thought being in love with the girl of my dreams would be great but all it got me was a shattered heart. As if the Death Star decided to test it's super laser on it.

 

Yes, I thought it was going to be much better. I was very disappointed with it. Actually, the buildup to the duel, with Anakin and Obiwan talking to each other, that sequence actually surpassed my expectations. So the duel started out perfectly. It was good right up until it went to the Yoda fight for the first time. It didnt get good again until the collection plant fell into the lava. That part actually surpassed my expectations as well.

My main problem with the Duel is that it is not THE DUEL at all. First of all, the whole thing is intercutted wit the Yoda/Sidious duel, which keeps THE DUEL from being as significant and as climactic as it should be. Also, there was way too much intercutting. This hurt because it keeps you from getting emotionally involved in either duel. Consider this: both TESB and ROTS have two major events happening at the same time during the end of the movie. When you only have two events, there should not be much intercutting at all. In TESB, we only left the Bespin duel twice. In ROTS, we leave the Mustafar duel SIX times. Six times!!!!

Now, some might counter by saying that the we left the Naboo duel in TPM 5 times. But the difference is that the last reel in TPM had 4 major events happening at the same time. And it was edited very well, and intercutt at just the right times. You left the Naboo lightsaber duel only when a "mini climax occured". You didnt leave the duel until a new emotional level had been reached. That duel in TPM was poetry. I love it in the TPM when Amidala and the guards are pulling themselves up the wall of Theed with thier rope guns. Duel of the Fates builds to a crescendo, and right when the Chorus starts, you are immediately teleported back to a very wide, sweeping shot of the Generator room, which makes the combatants look very small, as if their is some sort of inevitable doom that the combatants are unable to control, as if they dont control thier fate. Hence the title of the track DUEL OF THE FATES. There are no such quality wide shots like this in the Mustafar duel, nor is it blended with the music any where near as well.

We should have only left the Mustafar duel twice, and only the first 1/3 of the duel should have been intercutted. We then should have seen another 8 minutes of nothing but Anakin vs. Obiwan all the way through.

 

I thought Anakin would fall in the lava and medical droids would pull him out. any body agree with me?

 

I loved it! Every bit of the duel was soo powerful and had so much emotion. Absolutely wonderful. Wasnt the least bit disapointed.

 

I though Anikan was going to win,but not killing Obi.Anyway it was great.

 

Um...no I didnt expect anything better. However, like others, I had iti n the back of my mind that Anakin would essentially "win", even though he doesnt kill Obi. I didn't know how they would go about making Anakin lose limbs... but I didnt expect Obi to chop of his legs at all.

 

I thought it would be longer and slightly more intense. I liked it, though, and it is the best duel of the saga but the way everybody kept saying ROTS would definately have the best duel of the saga I was expecting more.

 

It did not live to hype that was falsely generated, but it was still good. I was hoping it to be a more personal duel, but it was nothing more but good guy vs. baddie. It wasn't like ROTJ where you know both of the characters had a history with each other and each move had meaning. This fight didn't do that well. There was no talking, it was pretty much, "omg anakin you are bad, time to die". And they fight without really thinking. In the ESB saber fight or ROTJ we could kind of feel what each of them could possibly thinking.

 

I've watched the movie four times now, including once on my computer. I go over the duel over and over again, and you know what, i WAS a bit underwhelmed when i first saw the duel, iliked it, but it wasnt the best.

Now that i watch it again and again, i realize the duel is much better and longer than i previously realized. I had been waiting for that movie for a while, and when i first saw, ya, it went by way too fast. I think ROTS is the best star wars movie, well...next to ROTJ(for me) and i think the anakin vs obi-wan duel is the most powerful and emotionallt charged of all the duels in the saga. watch it again, its longer than you think.

 

Overall I thought the duel was very good. It was certainly hyped up and for me, it was a part of the Star Wars saga that I had waited 6+ years to see. The minute Obi-Wan drew his lightsaber and Anakin flipped back to begin fighting, and the music began, I was pumped and knew this was what I had waited to see. The music was amazing as was the intensity of the fighting. I only wish there was a little more dialogue during the fighting itself. Maybe a few more words between Anakin and Obi-Wan. The dialogue at the end though was perfect, especially Obi-Wan's speech and then Anakin screaming "I hate you." Overall, I think it may be the best duel of the saga. (Right up there with Luke/Vader in ROTJ)