How do you like your lightsaber battles--fancy or more realistic?

[Cel]

Regardless of your opinions on the prequel trilogy, the lightsaber battles were definitely noticeable with a lot of spinning, twirling, and even acrobatics at times. But the sequel trilogy seems to be a return to a more "realistic" or simpler style of lightsaber combat more in line with the original trilogy. Less fancy, more "whatever it takes to win."

So which style do you prefer?

[Carabas]

Most of the prequel duels don't really feel like fights to me. They are very pretty but I don't get much weight from them. Rebels and Clone Wars do better lighsaber duels than the prequels, and I love what the new trilogy is doing in that regard.

[Soubhagya]

I agree with Carabas. Prequel battles look cool. But the original trilogy and the sequel one is more then just battles. There's fighting deeper then a mere sword battle. And not being fancy that kind of stuff can be focused more. For instance the battle between Vader and Luke in Return of the Jedi carries more weight then the entire prequel trilogy in my opinion. Its among the best action scenes i have seen with real battle not being whether Luke can defeat Vader but whether he can redeem him. Such battles can be really cool and i love the new trilogy for it. The light saber battles feel more visceral to me.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Prequels, the Vader ObiWan fight in ANH is still pretty laughable to this day where has their bout on Mustafar is pretty great looking. SW is not real, so I don't want any "realistic" element to it.

[Punisher007]

The Obi Wan/Anakin ROTS was really bad. Like these are two guys who were supposedly best friends almost like brothers. Then one betrayed the other, became a psychotic murderer, and now it's a battle to the death that's full of bitterness, anger, sadness, etc. And never once does it feel that way. They don't even look like they're trying to hit each other most of the time, it looks like they're lightly tapping their lightsabers together. Then they're twirling them around like they're in a marching band or something, climbing up things, swinging around like Tarzan, etc. It was all too much. That wasn't a proper fight, it was George Lucas trying to show off visually.

At least the ANH duel had some psychology behind it (and Obi Wan wasn't really trying to win, he was just buying time for the others to escape). Also it was an old man who was out of practice vs. a guy with cybernetic limbs, burns all over his body that leave him in constant pain/agony, and was wearing a bulky suit of armor and a cape and a bulky helmet on his head. So it was more believable.

I much prefer the more realistic fights because, well they feel like proper fights. Little things like in ESB when Luke strikes at Vader, him putting all of his weight behind it and using two hands, or in ROTJ where he was just wailing on Vader until the latter was beaten into submission with brute force, or in TFA where Rey was cutting tree branches and stuff to try and slow Kylo down, etc. Adds an air of, urgency to everything.

Of course if they could find a way to make the fights more "flashy" while still keeping all of that, well then that'd be great. We'll see.

[Carabas]

Prequels, the Vader ObiWan fight in ANH is still pretty laughable to this day where has their bout on Mustafar is pretty great looking. SW is not real, so I don't want any "realistic" element to it.

There's "not realistic" and there's "just plain silly".

[SuperiorIronman]

I kind of get why the prequel fights are as fast paced as they are. George Lucas seemed to gain a lot of inspiration from Wushu, and it makes some degree of sense why the OT fighters fought as they did considering the most got old, and Luke had maybe four years of training with maybe half of that devoted to the saber. A lot of that was the reason Ray Park got hired for Maul in the first place as he could deliver faster moves than say David Prowes or Mark Hamil. David Prowes in particularly not being trained and really strong resulting in many a blade being broken on set. On a narrative level, at both organizations height they wouldn't just smack each other with sticks, and it helps to get trained fighters involved in fight scenes so things aren't as awkward and things don't break.

For the prequels I can look at that objectively since it's not like the OT had much to it. Flashy had little to do it with it as much as it needed to make sense considering these guys are trained swordsman and not two old guys in the middle of a hallway or an angry 20-something fighting an old man in a clunky suit.

[the nomad]

I too can look at it objectively. Two totally different time periods. One with Jedi and Sith at the Height of their prowess, the other with a few decades removed with only what one from each side. And the new trilogy with even more decades removed.

I liked the fast paced nature of the Prequels, and I also liked the Story-wise weight that the OT held. New Trilogy hasn't really impressed me lightsaber battle wise.

But i really don't think anything can top my fav lightsaber battle




Darth Maul we lost you too soon.

[kane]

There's "not realistic" and there's "just plain silly".

Yeah. While movie sword fights do not have to be ultra realistic they should at least look like the fighters know what they are doing.

[Punisher007]

Honestly if you want good examples of "flashy" sword fights done well, look at films like The Patriot, or The Wolverine,

[Punisher007]

There's "not realistic" and there's "just plain silly".

This isn't a dance guys. You're supposed to try and hit the other guy, not to a pose-off.

[Carabas]

I too can look at it objectively. Two totally different time periods. One with Jedi and Sith at the Height of their prowess, the other with a few decades removed with only what one from each side. And the new trilogy with even more decades removed.

Definitely not the height of their fencing technique though.

But i really don't think anything can top my fav lightsaber battle

I don't like the ending where he randomly falls into a coma and gives Obi-Wan like an hour to get out of that pit and mow him down.

Also... [heavy spoiler for Rebels season 3] [ETA: this site needs better spoiler block technology]

spoilers: end of spoilers
Now that is a proper duel.

Darth Maul we lost you too soon.

Ah, we got him back eventually, better than ever. With actual lines and a personality all of his own.

[Buried Alien]

I would want some compromise between the two styles. After all, it's hard to buy into the idea of older Obi-Wan, Darth Vader, and Luke Skywalker being these awesome Jedi/Sith warriors if they swing those lightsabers in rather clumsy ways that any of us could easily imitate in our own living rooms. Even now, I feel that the relative simplicity of the Original Trilogy lightsaber duels resulted from Lucas and company's relative lack of awareness of and access to what was out there during the 1970s and early 1980s rather than an actual aesthetic choice.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[choptop]

Meh that gif just looks silly cuz it's on a loop and in slowmo.

[Carabas]

I would want some compromise between the two styles. After all, it's hard to buy into the idea of older Obi-Wan, Darth Vader, and Luke Skywalker being these awesome Jedi/Sith warriors if they swing those lightsabers in rather clumsy ways that any of us could easily imitate in our own living rooms. Even now, I feel that the relative simplicity of the Original Trilogy lightsaber duels resulted from Lucas and company's relatively lack of awareness of and access to what was out there during the 1970s and early 1980s rather than an actual aesthetic choice.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

I buy the older Vader and Luke a lot more as awesome Jedi/Sith warriors than I do anybody in the prequels, at least when it came to swordplay.
New Hope Obi-Wan is on his own, not because he's old and out of shape, but because Lucas didn't have a clue what he was doing when filming that and the Lightsaber special effects were still a work in progress.

I am going to make an exception for Count Dooku, he's a master. It helped of course that sir Christopher Lee knew how to hold a sword.