Samuel Jackson responds to TFA

I was talking about Finn and Rey, although they both had some forms of combat training, they weren't ready for Ben Solo to Blast them up, which is why I said that they are "unskilled ."

 

Luke and rey vs Knights of Ren

 

well if you put it that way, you're right.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 9, 2016, Original Post Date: Jan 9, 2016 ---

If Luke fights like a samurai, that would be awesome!

 

So question in all seriousness .. In GFFA people have mystical powers can lift things with their mind and shoot lightning out of their hands etc...why does the swordfighting have to fit our definition of "realistic". Not even saying I prefer the prequel sword twirls just saying considering everything else people with "the Force" can do why does the so called "choreographed" aspects of the saber fights seem so far-fetched. If you read the novelizations of these films there was supposedly a huge mental component that went into these fights (Windu with the Vaapad etc) that contributed to whatever it was Lucas was trying to convey onscreen.

 

I grew up loving Star Wars and old Kung Fu movies on Channel 5. I love the unpolished emotional fights of the OT and I love highly acrobatic completely ridiculous sword fights as well.

The problem I had with the Prequel Trilogy fights was not the acrobatics necessarily. It's that I didn't believe for one second that they were actually trying to hit each other, and I didn't care who lived or died anyway because the characters were so flat. And yeah, I'm not even going to talk about pinball Yoda or swinging from ropes over lava.

For a fantasy type fight with characters you care about see Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Even if you haven't seen the movie, you can learn more in the first 10 seconds of this clip (which is in Chinese by the way) than in all the flippity moves of the Prequels.

 

Well the fight becomes more intimate and tense when it is realistic: only then will most of the audience feel the same danger as the antagonist and protagonist portrayed on screen. Furthermore, a good movie fight is about emotion. It needs to reveal something about character. Fear, anger, despair need to be reflected in the fight scenes like they are reflected in real life combat situations. Real world, and grounded, fighting styles, as used in ESB, RTOJ and TFA, are much more suited for these kind of combat sequences, because each thrust, each parry has a certain logicality.

 

I was just reading one of the new canon books "The Weapon of a Jedi" and Luke reflects while looking at the inside of a old Jedi Temple in Devaron, how he is the last of the Jedi and there is nobody who can teach him how to fight like the Jedi from the Republic knew and taught each padawan. So it makes sense that the PT fights were more elaborated - though I agree they looked more like acrobatics than a real fight - than the OT ones since only Obi-Wan and Darth Vader were left from that time.

 

Ok I agree with that. the prequel fights definitely lacked tension and emotional weight. I think since we more or less knew the outcome of the Anakin vs Obi-Wan fight Lucas went over the top because for us as the audience the outcome was never in doubt. I thought Palps v Windu had some of that when Anakin was added even though the writing of the dialogue on all of that was atrocious.

I'm a fan of crouching tiger hidden dragon. I hope they are able to find that balance between skill and emotional context moving forward in the films as the Force users (presumably) become more skilled theoretically making aesthetically more impressive fights.

Ok I see what your saying good points, I agree. I do believe though they can keep that trend going and increase the skill level of the user in the upcoming films. I don't think the style has to be ultra primitive for the danger and emotional context to be conveyed to the viewer if its done right.

 

I fully agree with you. They should become more proficient and faster in the next movies. But still I hope they will ground their fighting styles in reality. Did you ever see an expert medieval sword fight reenactor fight? Or modern samurai katana specialist? Those styles are pretty epic, when executed with skill. Perhaps Rey will go duel bladed. That would be a surprise.

 

She's got a decent foundation for dual bladed that would be a nice surprise. I've seen a modern samurai katana specialist gonna google a medieval sword fight reenactor though sounds interesting.

 

I see where you are coming from, and i completely agree that they are technically impressive when they aren't trying to do too much. But I think the deal with why the prequels didn't have emotional stakes is in the writing, it seems GL's focus was all on visuals as opposed to having things making sense. It just seems hard for me to fear for the mortality of some characters when they are openly missing opportunities to strike their opponent.

What I like so much about The Force Awakens fight is that it felt real and grounded. While it wasn't technically impressive, it was raw and it fit well with how a couple of inexperienced fighters would fare against a well trained Jedi, and there was a changing in fighting styles as the dynamic of Rey changed as well. Also I actually felt emotionally attached to the characters, which is probably a testament to JJ for taking time to flesh out the new characters. Maybe the further development of character along with lightsaber skills will make for better all around fights in the future. I just feel they should go back to the drawing board in terms of how the visuals should be moving forward. (infinitely less unnecessary spins)

 

You know, people are saying that the lightsaber skill on display in TFA wasn't technically impressive. Personally, I thought Kylo Ren looked rather handy with a saber, albeit obnoxiously aggressive and having had his gut blown to bits by Chewey's crossbow earlier.

But there's no doubt that the focus was on visual rather than the stakes. This goes back to the classic argument between George Lucas and Gary Kurtz over what drives the popularity of Star Wars: the spectacle (George), or the story and characters (Gary)? I bet if Gary Kurtz was around for the Prequels, they would have been much better for that alone, because he was the only person capable of telling George no.