Brack

Count me in as someone who liked the OT lightsaber battles over the PT’s calisthenics battles, which were neat as first but then became endless battles, and quite frankly boring.

TGM

Vader on fire not giving a shit is an awesome touch.

Michael Corvin

I don't think this is similar to the PT fights at all. They aren't acrobatic or excessively athletic. This version they are swinging hard and forceful. Decades of pent up angst between the two finally being released.

personally, I love it.

Timber

I liked it. Very much in line with ESB and RoTJ in that the 2 were going after each other and actually trying to hurt each other. It wasn't a ballet like the PT showed them to be.

Brack

Mike86

Brack

GoldenJCJ

Rob V

milo bloom

I guess we can put it on GL for not making it clear, but that's kinda how the themes of the PT and OT are supposed to differ: the PT is all follow the rules and work within the system and they get bushwhacked by a Sith lord existing right under their noses, while the OT is a farmboy, a smuggler, a Wookie and a pissed off princess telling the Empire where they can stick it. The lightsaber battles reflect that overall feel.


And I love the Vader rampage scene in Rogue One. I've mentioned my love for Rogue One overall here before*, and this is certainly part of it. We see the deaths of the Rogue One crew, and you think it can't get any darker, then the floor drops out from under you and then, only then, do we see the light of hope at the end.


*I created a tumblr account years ago to follow some Magic: The Gathering people, but now the only thing I consistently reblog is Rogue One gifs and pictures. The search term is #always reblog rogue one if you're interested.

brayzie

The Super Rise of Skywalker video is awesome!
I got a chance to play the Super Star Wars games by Lucas Arts and the quality was top notch. Usually movie-licensed games weren't very good back then,

That's definitely an interesting take.

I think the ballerina-style lightsaber duels were most noticeable with Darth Maul. There's one time when he lands on his feet like he's an ice skater landing from a triple axel, arms extended trying to impress the judges.

Mike86

Draven

tanman

I'm surprised no one has really mentioned that I think we got our first kill with Kylo Ren's cross guards. So maybe they aren't as useless as people thought.

coli

In fairness to the 1977 Lightsaber Fight, the context of the Lightsaber was different then. Lucas, Mark Hamill, David Prowse, Alec Guiness have all talked about how they were originally more like Excalibur (heavy Lightsabers like heavy Swords) so the fight was supposed to be slow like that. It was Kirshner who changed the style in 1980 for ESB as Vader is now fighting with one hand (which he purposely didn't do in the first movie because they are supposed to be so heavy), so the battle reflects that in being much more faster and better.

brayzie

I remember reading that. I thought it was just Lucas retconning things things, but when you re-watch that scene, it makes a lot of sense.

Draven

I caught that too - I've never understood the hate on the crossguards. I thought they looked cool and would help keep a lightsaber from sliding down the blade to his wrist.

E Unit

Draven

I like them. I like how they look sputtery and not uniform...as "crazy" as he is.

E Unit

rennervision

Vader is fighting one-handed in ESB to disrespect Luke and show him he can beat him one-handed. You notice he eventually has to switch to two hands.

brayzie

I was like, what are you guys talking about??
I just saw the trailer again and that looks pretty cool.

They wouldn't because the cross guards start out as metal like the rest of the handle. So if a another lightsaber slid down, it would just cut the crossbar exhaust pipes off and Kylo's fingers along with them too.
I also didn't like that it looked too reminiscent of traditional, medieval broadswords.

But in the long run, it was a good design choice. We saw hundreds of lightsabers all at once in the PT and they started look like glow stick whiffle bats. Making Kylo's lightsaber different makes us forget about the ballerinas with whiffle bats, and it makes him stand out from Rey and all other Jedi and Sith.

tanman

Yeah I had posted that but had forgotten it changed as early as in ESB. That's really cool about that subtle change. I never noticed that.

lopper

dex14