Though The Phantom Menace is generally considered to be the worst of the six Star Wars movies, fans have great affinity for Darth Maul and the climatic lightsaber battle between him and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn. The fast, furious, and agile choreography and computer effects set the tone for intense lightsaber duels in the Prequel Trilogy. The problem with that is they sharply contrast with the lightsaber battles in the Original Trilogy, which were generally slower paced and featured more deliberate swordplay. In comparison, the battle between Obi-Wan and Vader in A New Hope looks like a practice round between two amateurs, not a life-or-death battle between two of the most powerful Force users in the galaxy. No matter how cool some of the lightsaber battles look in the Prequel Trilogy, they arent consistent with the duels in the Original Trilogy even the intense one between Vader and Luke in the Return of the Jedi.The Original Trilogy never indicated Jedi over-utilized aerial gymnasts in their duels. In fact, some of the Prequel Trilogy lightsaber battles are so over-the-top they seem goofy, such as Yodas pinball tactics. He looks like he should be breakdance fighting with Hansel in Zoolander. Even if these sequences are visually cool, it would probably have been better to scale them back somewhat and focus on the storytelling and emotion of the sequences rather than the overused computer-generated flip-flopping.
Chris McKittrick is a published author of fiction and non-fiction and has spoken about film and comic books at conferences across the United States. In addition to his work at WhatCulture!, he is a regular contributor to CreativeScreenwriting.com, MovieBuzzers.com, and DailyActor.com, a website focused on acting in all media. For more information, visit his website at http://www.chrismckit.com.
