Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
If you have an email ending in @hotmail.com, @live.com or @outlook.com (or any other Microsoft-related domain), please consider changing it to another email provider; Microsoft decided to instantly block the server's IP, so emails can't be sent to these addresses.
If you use an @yahoo.com email or any related Yahoo services, they have blocked us also due to "user complaints"
-UE
If you use an @yahoo.com email or any related Yahoo services, they have blocked us also due to "user complaints"
-UE
Comments
Seriously. Sometimes I break out the prequels just to witness this man.
I think the Yoda fight is totally dumb, though.
Speaking of dumb fighting, this gives me an opportunity to point out the single worst piece of choreography I've ever seen. Remember when Dracula cuts Anakin's arm off? If you give a shit, fast forward to that bit again and think critically. So they both strike, and there's a bind, right? An instant where their weapons meet. Saruman pulls away for a follow-up strike and Anakin just sits there like a shithead and literally allows his arm to get cut off.
This is the single worst moment of fight choreography I have ever witnessed. It's martially unsound, there being no way any sort of swordsman would just stay there, so it ends up being a completely contrived way to set up the parallel with Luke.
But if it rhymes, I guess?
Like poetry.
"What does Darth Vader want for Christmas?"
If that means what I think it means....
Anyways, yes, Palpatine totally makes this film. The saga wouldn't have been the same without Ian McDiarmid's performance. Though it also means that Palpatine just about completely steals the main villain role away from Vader.
Where's Malk and what did you do with him!?
While the final fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan is easily the best drama in all the prequels (and something that hits me a bit to this day), it has another Stupid Sword Moment that's unforgivable. The two of them are fighting in some kind of navigation room or something, and then they both decide to do exactly the same stupid thing. It's some kind of three-second flourish that becomes a strike. So they're just standing there, for seconds on end, waving their weapons about without footwork, hitting nothing and both ending up making the most basic strike of swordsmanship.
This is what I mean about awful fight choreography. If you want a three-second flourish, that flourish has to be worked into a dangerous set of strikes on its own merits in practical combat terms. Consequently, that means the other fighter should be reacting to it, in turn making the fight sequence more interesting.
For instance, the OT's fighting tends to be slow, lumbering and sometimes brutish, but still essentially makes sense. Sure, the PT's fights are super-flashy and take more technical skill to pull off, but in any ways they're a regression of what we originally saw.
Mind you, it's not perfect, I'mma let you finish, ect.
Here's a martial sword concept that all swordsmen must keep in mind at all times:
Point the damn thing at the bastard that's trying to kill you.
Despite being martial, and having killing intent, swordsmanship has something of a "metagame". By simply keeping your point trained on your adversary, you threaten them with a thrust. This means they can't just do anything they want; they have to choose a technique that deals with the thrust. So by simply pointing your sword at someone, you actually defend your openings.
That martial concept I outlined up there? The originals follow that one really well, and that's important because it's one of the cornerstones of all swordsmanship. It's so important, in fact, that almost all techniques are designed to end with your adversary dead or, failing that, your point trained on their face or chest.
"This film also isn't as tight as people like to believe it is. For a film that sets up such an expansive and large sprawling world, it feels ridiculously small at the end. It's obvious that Lucas realized this flaw and tried to remedy it with not a lot of positive response. But at the beginning of the film we get such an expansive and varied world that the finale feels confined and limited by response. We really don't have a reason to believe the Empire has been dealt a blow or the justice really triumphed. Heck, we don't even have that much reason to think Vader flying off into space is that big a deal."
As one who got into the series relatively late, I am reminded of how incomplete the ending seemed. At least The Fellowship of The Ring's ending was a satisfying transition into the next movie, but here, like you said, it's like they tried to make it stand on its own as a huge victory for good even though the Empire is still alive and well.
"I was watching the Special Edition and you can whine about how Han Shot First or whatever, but this is Lucas' film and his version is the only one that matters, no matter how many T-shirts you buy that say otherwise. Honestly, the Special Edition does help solve a rather glaring issue I have with the film. At least in the first act."
I am curious as to what that issue was even though you seem to be going out of your way to avoid spoilers.
As for Han Shot First, yeah, the backlash is rather anal, but it is kind of odd that if it was meant as a homage to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly that Lucas would change it from the original meaning of that scene.