Thanks, guys, I took the hint and muted the sound before I hit 'play.'
It is amazing how much more videogame-like the lightsaber duels got after digital effects came in...
On one level I like the later fights, since they were much more kick-ass, and showed the Jedi as much more powerful. On another level ... as someone who is interested in the Art of the Blade, and in swordfighting as part of telling the story, I think the fights in Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back were perhaps the best in the whole series.
I think the best ones were Luke v. Vader in ROTJ, and the final battle with Darth Maul in TPM. TESB is a close second, but still suffered a little from the props being not quite sturdy enough for an all out fight, and the style from ANH (where the props really couldn't stand up to anything serious) carrying over.
TPM stands out because of the saber-staff, and the fact that the actor playing Darth Maul actually knew what he was doing with it. In fact, IIRC, he was also involved in choreographing that fight.
Dooku v. Anakin & Obi-Wan in AOTC was interesting, but suffered from poor cinematography, IMO - poor lighting, plus too many face-shots instead of actions shots.
Cool!
ReplyDeleteCool, but the guy who wrote that music has to hang.
ReplyDeleteActually, it might have gotten better. I hit the mute button within 10 seconds.
One of the few things that allowed me to sit through the 2nd trilogy at all was the use of the lightsaber's...much more kick-ass than episode's 4-6.
ReplyDeleteI've got $20 says that soundtrack was made on a Mac. 'Cause everybody knows Beethoven used a Mac and a disk full of Bach samples.
ReplyDeleteThanks, guys, I took the hint and muted the sound before I hit 'play.'
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how much more videogame-like the lightsaber duels got after digital effects came in...
On one level I like the later fights, since they were much more kick-ass, and showed the Jedi as much more powerful. On another level ... as someone who is interested in the Art of the Blade, and in swordfighting as part of telling the story, I think the fights in Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back were perhaps the best in the whole series.
(Then again, Darth Maul and his saberstaff...)
I think the best ones were Luke v. Vader in ROTJ, and the final battle with Darth Maul in TPM. TESB is a close second, but still suffered a little from the props being not quite sturdy enough for an all out fight, and the style from ANH (where the props really couldn't stand up to anything serious) carrying over.
ReplyDeleteTPM stands out because of the saber-staff, and the fact that the actor playing Darth Maul actually knew what he was doing with it. In fact, IIRC, he was also involved in choreographing that fight.
Dooku v. Anakin & Obi-Wan in AOTC was interesting, but suffered from poor cinematography, IMO - poor lighting, plus too many face-shots instead of actions shots.