A Star Wars Thread in which the only topic is your favorite Light Saber fight scene

I was not overly fond of Phantom Menace, but really that light saber combat, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan vs. Darth Maul, was kick-ass enough in its self to make the movie worth it for me.

It was so great that, even though I knew there were still two more movies coming, I fully expected that it would remain unsurpassed.

Now that the saga is complete I can say without any reservations that that was far and away the best light saber combat in the entire series.

Ray Park was da bomb. Such a bummer that we only got him for one installment.
(Really, even though Darth Maul has to die, with as heavily made-up as he was we could have cast him as some other really short bad guy who kicks a lot of ass!)

I go with the first onscreen battle between Luke and Vader in ESB. The blocking, the lighting, and the sword play was incredible.

I loved how for much of it, we saw only silhouettes of Luke and Vader contrasted by the bright lightsabers.

Plus, the payoff was great.

Ditto Empire. The frustrating thing about Ep3’s lightsaber battles were that they were cut way too fast; good swordfighting is like a good musical number–the fewer cuts, the more believable and, IMHO, exciting. Anyone can look like a good swordfighter (or dancer) if you cutcutcutcutcutcutcut constantly; it’s an easy out, a cheat. Empire also keeps the silly gymnastics down to a minimum, and it also shows how strenuous lightsaber fighting can be. Luke works up more of a sweat in Bespin than anyone does on Mustafar.

Ep1’s 3-way, though far too short, remains the best lightsaber battle in the prequel trilogy.

My favorite is always gonna be the one in Jedi. Vader taunts Luke with threats against Leia, until Luke bursts out of the shadows and just starts laying into Vader, beating him into the ground and cutting off his hand. He looks at Vader’s smoking stump and then at his own mechanical hand, and the Emperor cackles in the background…

I love the Bespin fight in Empire, simply because of Vader’s “how do you like it when I HURL PIECES OF WALL AT YOU, HUH?” fighting technique. For choreography and emotional charge, though, I’ve got to give it to the Luke/Vader fight in Jedi. Not just Vader realizing that he has a daughter, and needling Luke about it, but the Emperor cackling, and the Rebel ships attacking the Imperial ships visible through the window…

'nother vote for Jedi. In addition to the points already mentioned (tableau, music, passion) it’s also the culminating swordfight of both the “The Redeption of Anakin Skywalker” trilogy and the six movie saga. I think it’s the soundtrack in particular that gets me: IIRC, as Luke screams “Noooo!” and attacks the score is silent, and a few strikes into the fight it swells up with the dramatic, fateful music. I swear the lightsabers are 12 feet long and a foot in diameter. It’s got the “shadowbox” quality that watsonwill liked in ESB, and for the first time, Vader gives ground to Luke’s onslaught. I get goosebumpy just imagining it.

Beyond that I’d rank the Phantom Menace for it’s pacing, cleanliness (you can see what’s going on) and cool-factor (Maul’s double-sword against two Jedi), and I think Yoda’s debut in AOTC is worth special consideration.

I also like how many of the Jedi in the first three have a specific style of fighting - Yoda, Dooku, and Palpatine all have distinct styles.

While I don’t necessarily care for the fight scenes overall, I also like the move that Anakin uses (following spoilers are from the new one)

to cut off Dooku’s hands,[/spoiler] the bit where Yoda [spoiler] sticks his saber into a clone then climbs over the still-standing soldied while removing it[spoiler] and [spoiler]Palpatine’s debut fight: the initial charge and the post face-off moment w/ Mace where he pulls the saber back over his head in a classic Samurai pose before attacking.

also,

In general, Palpatine’s very “unbound” fighting style, demonstrated in his fight w/ Yoda

I love lightsabers. :smiley:

I was just thinking about this very same question. Though it’s my third favorite movie of the six (behind Empire and ROTS), the climactic duel between Luke and Vader in Jedi is hands down my favorite. It has that very slow buildup with the Emperor telling Luke to take his lightsaber. Then it starts, stops, starts again, and stops and then Vader mentions Leia.

And from there begins one of my favorite moments of all the movies. It’s the only use of vocals in the score in the original trilogy, which really makes it stick out, really lifts it to the operatic dimensions that moment has. I just wish it lasted longer.

The three-way duel in Episode I has a definite “cool factor” but because Darth Maul has no backstory with Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon, or anyone really, it doesn’t have anything beyond an aesthetic appeal for me. I think both the Yoda/Palpatine and Anakin/Obi-Wan duels in the latest film are much better because there’s more emotional investment in the characters. I got chills when the latter of those two started, just because this was it. This was the duel we had been waiting to see for years. But I actually liked the dialogue interspersed during and after that fight more than the actual fight itself.

And, Misery, I totally agree with what you said in your last spoiler box. I totally dug his style.

I love how fluid Palpatine’s fighting style is. He comes in spinning over chairs and throwing his body all around the room, and it just looks like all kinds of awesome. Many, many kudos to the choreographers!

You know what happens when a Maul gets hit by lightning…?

I will always have a special fondness in my heart for the Vader-Kenobi duel on the Death Star. Even though its outcome made me very sad, the fight itself was one of the most thrilling moments of my movie-watching life.

I just re-watched The Phantom Menace today. Most of the movie sucked, except for the final battle between Obi-Wan and Darth Maul right after Qui-Gon is killed. There’s so much energy between the two, it’s almost like Obi-Wan let himself use his emotion during the duel.