Every Star Wars Lightsaber Duel Ranked From Worst To Best
Duels of the fates.
The Star Wars saga's bread and butter, for years now, have been two types of action set-pieces: The space battle, and the lightsaber duel.
It's hard to imagine that when Alec Guinness and David Prowse, the original Obi-Wan and Vader, stood on the set of some space movie in 1976 banging some metal rods together, they could have possibly known just how revolutionary an act it truly was. George Lucas' Star Wars was released a year later, and the world was forever changed.
Four decades on, the franchise hallmark has become an invaluable part of pop culture, with kids and adults alike, the world over, pretending just about everything is a lightsaber.
And why shouldn't they? As displayed throughout the franchise, time and time again, nothing is better than an awesome lightsaber fight. With so many to choose from throughout the franchise's illustrious past, you can be sure to expect several entries from the Holiday Special and Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure. Lets get counting, shall we?
14. Obi-Wan VS. Darth Vader
It pains me greatly to put such an iconic scene and revolutionary fight so low on this list, but at some point I'm forced to take the nostalgia-goggles off and face facts: this duel is small potatoes in the grander scheme of things.
It's wonderful in the context of Episode IV itself, but when stacked against the competition, its age shows. Amounting to basically two elderly gentlemen clanking some sticks together, the duel never comes close to expressing the true emotion lying beneath the surface of the former master/pupil dynamic duo.
Having said all of that, there are certainly hints and seeds of what was to come.
Visually, it is captured in glorious wide shots, that accent the full-body action in true Kurosawa fashion. Lucas also makes the most of the ever-compelling visual of the contrasting colors of 'laser swords' clashing together, and the innovative sound design for this showdown in-particular would go on to set the precedent not only for the franchise, but for cinema as a whole.