We’re
almost there, people! By the time this
post goes up, it will be officially possible to count down the days to the
international release of Star Wars
Episode 7: The Force Awakens using just the pre-existing fingers on your
hands. And if you are at all like me,
you can barely wait.
However,
since we still have some time left to kill, and in order to fully prepare
myself for this experience, I took the time the past few weeks to go back and
relive all 6 of the original films (yes, ALL of them), starting with the
originals and then jumping back and re-watching the much-maligned prequel
trilogy as well. And in doing so, I came
to a conclusion- I love this franchise in its entirety. So much so that, although revisiting each
film with a somewhat-better-tuned critic’s eye did lead me to notice faults
with both sets of films I hadn’t thought about as a child, I still found that I
really didn’t care, and I don’t expect I ever will. There is a vision that drives these stories,
one greater than the limitations of its individual parts, and even some of the
lesser writing or more ham-fisted directing/casting choices (and yes, both are
bigger problems with the prequels) can’t bring them down.
Unfortunately,
the movies alone weren’t enough to dispel the massive Force-fueled kick I’m on
right now, so in addition to jumping back into the books as well (Shatterpoint, the Thrawn Trilogy, and Matthew Stover’s book for Revenge of the Sith are particular favorites), I decided to play a
little game; since one of the mainstays of any proper Star Wars tale is the
lighsaber combat- because lightsabers are and will always be one of the coolest
concepts for a weapon to ever be created- I felt it would be worthwhile to try
and hammer down the 5 best lightsaber-centered battles in the franchise (thus
far). Should we get more from the new
movies to choose from- and I am very, very, very much hoping that we will- I
might revisit or redo this list in a few years’ time once the new trilogy is
complete.
With
that having been said, here are what, in my opinion, make up the 5 coolest,
most kickass, and all-around most emotional or important lightsaber fights,
taken strictly from the current crop of 6 feature-length films. Comments and disagreements are welcome in the
comments below. Enjoy!
5. Yoda vs. Count Dooku, Episode II
While
I can certainly understand the objections of critics/fellow Star Wars fans like
Belated Media to the fact that Lucas has Yoda actually carry a
lightsaber and fight, arguing that doing so goes against the philosophy that he
represents, I must state for the record that I very respectfully disagree with
them. Because this encounter, short as
it is, is nothing less than two minutes of pure, distilled AWESOME. I love how Yoda moves, how he leaps and jumps
and twirls, and how NOTHING can touch him.
Is it fan service? Horribly blatant
fan service? Of course it is! But it’s the RIGHT kind of fan service!
4. Luke vs. Darth Vader, Episode VI
It
lacks the flash and technical prowess of the fights from the newer movies, but
like its counterpart in Episode V (which we will get to presently), this
struggle makes up for it in how heavily it drips with atmosphere, and comes
laden with all the emotions the entire original trilogy had spent their
collective running time meticulously building up, bit by bit. This is (or will have been, once the new
series is over) the culmination of both the original trilogy and the
overarching story of the entire film set, the true moment where the prophecy of
a Skywalker bringing balance to the Force comes to pass. It’s also the final watershed moment for both
Luke and his father, as Anakin overcomes the influence of the Emperor and Luke
becomes a true Jedi Knight, allowing him to move forward and help properly
rebuild the galaxy. As such, there is a
weight to this scene that very few action scenes on general, much less Star Wars
ones, are able to carry.
3. Maul vs. Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon, Episode I
I
can still remember when the new Star Wars movies started up when I was still a
kid, and in true Star Wars fashion the merchandising and marketing were
EVERYWHERE. There is, literally, no
escape once the premiere of a Star Wars film is coming up and the ad campaign
kicks into high gear. And one of the
first things Star-Wars-related I recall seeing was Darth Maul’s creepy-ass face
and double-sided lightsaber plastered everywhere. Much like the side-guards in the Force Awakens trailers everyone is
arguing about now, one couldn’t but wonder back then how a lightsaber like that
would actually work in combat.
What
a payoff it was when we finally did get to the finale, and the result was, on a
purely technical level, easily the most visually impressive and best-scored
fight we’d yet gotten in Star Wars. There was a smoothness to the action we hadn’t
seen before, and even though (like with Yoda’s fight mentioned above) it didn’t
have as much narrative behind it as the others on this list did, it turned
pretty emotional by the end, when Obi-Wan is forced to overcome his grief over
his master’s death quickly enough to also take on a Sith Lord
head-to-head. Sure, there are better
ways they could have handled this aspect of Obi-Wan’s growth, but as it is,
this is still one hell of a battle, one I never get tired of watching over and
over again.
2. Obi-Wan vs. Anakin, Episode III
Fun
fact; Revenge of the Sith is, thus
far, the only Star Wars film I had
the chance to actually see in theaters.
And after rewatching it again for the first time in years, I think it’s
not only the best of the prequels by far, but its greatest moments can stand
right alongside anything in the original trilogy, and one of the highlights of
those is the final confrontation between Anakin and Obi-Wan. It is one of the longest and most drawn-out
fights in the entire franchise, but every minute of it is worth it.
In
stark contrast to many of the prequels’ worst moments, the acting here is key; Ewan
McGregor and Hayden Christensen (who was always at his best in these movies
where he didn’t have to read Lucas’ awful scripts out loud) both do a
remarkable job selling the pathos of the moment; the grand strokes of the Star Wars legend, particularly those of
the prequels, have the same perfect, reinforcing symmetry of human error and
disaster of a classic Greek tragedy, and one of the best examples of this is
the heart-breaking series of circumstances that force Anakin and Obi-Wan, a duo
closer than brothers, to do battle to the death. We knew going into this one that this was the
defining sequence for both characters, and for all the other issues the film
has, at least it got this part right.
Best
shot; a fountain of lava shooting up the same time Anakin and Obi-Wan make a
desperate lunge towards each other out on the soon-to-fall platform, with the
Sith-red color of the environment perfectly opposing the radiant blue of their
lightsabers. Simply beautiful.
1. Luke vs. Darth Vader, Episode V
The
effects aren’t as visually dazzling as those in the prequel battles. The stunts are not nearly as sweet to the eye
as the smooth, graceful choreography in those selfsame films.
And
yet, this is by the far the best and most viscerally powerful of all the
examples of lightsaber combat out of all the films put together. Why?
Because it nails down exactly what the final clash in Return of the Jedi got right- rich
visual atmosphere and gripping, narrative-driven emotion- only it does them
even BETTER. I can’t put enough emphasis
on how much I love the use of color here.
Almost everything is in deep shadow, with some parts (Vader himself in
particular) often pitch-dark, which is the absolute best way to showcase the
neon glow of a lightsaber, creating the best-possible contrast between the
living, sky-blue of Luke’s blade, and the deep, blood-red of Vader’s.
And
although it only has a few jumps or kicks, it is intense to watch, simply because it’s built on what is, up to that
point, a flawless Hero’s Narrative. Only
one movie ago, we saw Vader cut down the only friend Luke had left after his
family was killed. Earlier in the same
movie, we saw him vaporize blaster fire with a wave of his hand. Vader had been built up big-time going into
this, and his status as one of the greatest and most threatening villains of
all time was well-established. Even as
the fight progresses, we know Luke isn’t really strong enough to beat him- not
yet- and his growing sense of desperation to hold on as the fight builds in
intensity is a great credit to how well Mark Hamill grew into the role. For me, it will always remain not just the
best lightsaber fight of the franchise, but one of the overall best scenes in
the entire series to date.
Although,
who knows? Maybe Abrams and his crew
really do know what they are doing, and this coming set of movies will have
their own fights that only match, but even exceed the ones here. If so, expect a revised version of this to
come out in about 3.5 years’ time. If
not…..then no galaxy in existence will be enough to contain my Sith-like
rage.
-Noah Franc
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