What all Star Wars fans really want of course is a lightsaber battle, and, after various droids being dispatched with the famous beams of light - and after one brief, aforementioned duel between Qui-Gon and Darth Maul - fans were granted their wish with the first saber battle proper since the dénouement of Return of the Jedi some sixteen years earlier. And it's a great one. Choreographed brilliantly and featuring the three key swordsman of the picture, the three-way battle is iridescent in its distinctive use of red, green and blue, and made all the better by that innovative use of Maul's double-edged weapon. Intercut with Anakin's and R2's inferior battle in space, the saber fight is the film's highlight, starting out in the hangar and ending above the gaping chasm into which Darth Maul will plummet. Best of all is the lull the battle sets into when a series of red door-shields prevent the trio from actually fighting. Instead, Darth Maul stalks behind his shield - smirking, waiting - while Obi-Wan stands with his arms set and his legs shoulder-width apart, breathing heavily and eager for his own shield to open. Then there's Qui-Gon who, in one of the series' most serene moments, puts his lightsaber away and drops to his knees to pray, his eyes closed, his mind focused. It is the same stance he will adopt a few minutes later when Maul kills him, the helpless Obi-Wan looking on through his shield, which is yet to open.
