Best Lightsaber Battle

My choice is not there.....Kao Cen Darach and Satele Shan vs Lord Vindican and Malgus. Dual bladed sabers on both sides! And Kao Cen with an epic controlled throw of his saber to parry Malgus' strike on Satele!

 

Unfortunately for you, this is under general movie discussion. Perhaps you could create a thread of your own under legends?

And you seem to be missing Yoda vs Sidious @JediChase17.

 

I have to be honest . . . I had a hard time deciding between the "Duel of Fates" and the "Battle of the Heroes".

 

My favorite is yoda vs palpatine ( especially when yoda says : 'if so powerfull you are, why run?') , but since is not among the options,

it's the duel of fates for me.

 

In terms of character conflicts and emotional involvement, Luke vs. Vader (RotJ) is definitely the one I feel more invested in. This is my vote on the poll, because I think the emotional punch is more important than the visual aspect.

On the other side, I find TFA final duel to be visually more interesting and well executed, while still having a strong emotional impact - especially for a fight involving characters we, as an audience, only got to know for a couple of hours (but, of course, not as a strong as one between two characters we've spent 3 to 6 movies togheter).

As far as the PT goes, I think my favorite is Sam Jackson vs. Ian McDiarmid: it's the 'less' "highly choreographed" one, it's the only moment in the PT in which SLJ is allowed to act with a bit of intensity, Palpatine looks evil AF without being silly (that will come a bit later) and, while is not the most emotionally charged fight in the PT, is the one that focus a bit more on the characters' feelings (mostly because is shot with a lot of close-ups). It's also short and to the point, which is definitely a plus.

"Duel of the Fates" excited me when I was a teenager, because it was flashy and slick, but emotionally is a void. I get nothing out of it. It happens between a couple of characters wee barely get to know and a bad guy we don't know at all. Even the characters don't really know each other. There's no personal involvement for any of them, right until the final moments and, even then... OB1 gets pissed for about 3 seconds, then they dance a little more, then it's over.
"Battle of the Heroes" (which, I believe, includes Yoda vs. Palpatine? And that's the reason why YvP is not in the poll as a separate entry?) is obviously richer in terms of the conflicts it solves and the emotional texture, but after a while it gets boring and, towards the end, the visuals become so unintentionally ridiculous and over the top that they take me completely out of the movie.

If I were to rank them all, then, I guess the order would be..

Luke vs. Vader (RotJ) / Finn & Rey vs. Kylo Ren
Luke vs. Vader (TESB)
-
OB1 vs. Vader (ANH) / Windu vs. Palpatine
-
Battle of the Heroes (as "OB1 vs. Anakin + Yoda vs. Sidious")
OB1 & Anakin vs. Dooku
-
-
Duel of the Fates
OB1 vs. Grievous
Yoda vs. Dooku

 

This basically sums up my views on the lightsaber fights. A great post.

 

@SickBoy you make compelling arguments! Initially I was a "Duel of the Fates" guy but I like your arguement for Luke vs Vader.....I voted Luke vs Vader. Yours is an outstanding post by the way!!!

 

@Pawek_13 and @Lock_S_Foils - well, thanks, to the both of you, and to @JediChase17 as well for opening this topic.

I dont' want to take credit for it - because I think it was the overall tone of the thread that allowed me to find the right way to express what I meant, despite my rusty english and the fact that, generally, discussions involving the PT and the OT tend to... escalate quickly but I really think that here's the key to most of those pesky "OT vs. PT vs. ST" issues: there are haters, of course, but generally I think the problem lies in the fact that - often times - we end up tryin' to defend what we like, rather than focus on conveying why we like it.

So I'm glad - and thankful - if, this time, I was able to get it right and express what I really meant rather than turn it in the usual "my favorite aspects of the saga are better than yours"-nonsense

 

Duel of fates for sure.

 

DOF followed by Yoda VS Palpatine .

 

I loved the DS 2 Duel because it seemed very symbolic.

 

My favourites where there's a variety would be:

• PT - Duel of the Fates
• OT - Vader vs Luke (Bespin)
• Overlooked duel - Qui-Gon vs Maul (Tatooine)

 

They are all fun to watch, but the lightsaber battles I enjoy the most are:

• Battle of the Heroes (both Obi-Wan vs Anakin and Yoda vs. Sidious - though I prefer the first of the two)
  
• Luke vs. Vader (again, I like both Cloud City and Death Star 2, but I prefer the one on Death Star 2)
• Kylo Ren vs. Rey and Finn
• Duel of the Fates

The Yoda vs. Dooku battle was also pretty epic.

It was hard to choose just one, but I voted for Battle of the Heroes.

 

Yep the Yoda/Palpy duel was impressive.

 

I agree with much of what @SickBoy said regarding emotion vs flashiness.

My ranking would probably be-

1) Luke v Vader (ROTJ) Easily the best in my opinon. Emotional, great musical score, high stakes, and charged with dark tones.

2) Rey v Kylo (TFA) Beautifully shot and brutal, this feels like a return to form from some of the flashy, less fleshed out battles of the prequels.

3) Battle of the Heroes (definitely flawed, but it has some great moments)

4) Luke v Vader on Cloud City. A solid fight. I know this is the iconic scene for many fans, and it is good, but I think what I've listed above it is superior.

5) Anakin and Obi Wan v Dooku (ROTS) Great callback to the DSII throneroom fight. Kinda cringey at points, though, especially ragdoll Obi Wan.

6) Mace v Palpatine. Kind of a huge lynchpin part in the series. Big decisions made in this scene.

7) Yoda v Palpatine. Again, very flawed, but it was an interesting moment to see these two titans go at it.

8) Obi Wan v Vader ANH. Obviously one of the slowest, but with all movies now available it packs a bit more of an emotional punch.

9) Duel of the Fates. As said by others, "emotionally void". Still, great soundtrack and choreography. Great action scene, just not a great Star Wars scene.

10) Obi Wan v Grievous. What little fight there was at least had potential, I guess. Outside of whirlybird arms, we really didn't see Grievous utilized much.

11) Yoda v Dooku. Just kinda silly, really. Not even so much the hopping around, I didn't mind that. It just felt like Yoda was really holding back early on.

12) Obi Wan and Anakin v Dooku (AOTC). Horribly forgettable. Bad setpiece, forgettable music and action, rather embarassing outcome for all parties involved (Obi Wan and Anakin have to be saved, Dooku runs away).

 

Duel of the fates, battle of heroes and the duel on bespin.


The TFA duel grew a lot on me mostly because I really like Rens fighting style.

An underappreciated duel is the short ( i wished it was longer ) duel on tatooine between qui gon and darth maul. My Father told me once how the people in the cinema went nuts after Maul jumped off that speeder.
That was the first light saber battle they witnessed since 1983, crazy.

 

Tell me your favorite lightsaber battle/duel!!!!!!!!!!