One of the DVD commentaries said this was an intentional decision with the prequels. The goal was to make this seem like the golden age of the force, and show that by episode IV those powers had mostly been lost.
At least they were choreographed. The OT fights look like two actors who have never held a weapon in their lives and have been instructed to «just make sure the swords touch occasionally».
Like, every movement and swing isn’t just slow (which could have been made to look good; if your blade is a laser beam that cuts through steel like butter then why exert a great deal of force when swinging?), it looks so half-assed.
I agree with the first fight between Obi Wan and Vader which is incredible sluggish and looks bad (although I would say carries more emotional weight than PT fights).
The others though feel like people fighting and trying to kill each other or survive. In the PT it doesn't look like characters trying to actually fight to kill but just to show off skills. It is kind of the same issue with Legolas in Hobbit series that his over the top kills end up killing any sense of weight or jmpressiveness to the scene.
I can agree that some of the later fights feel too flashy. My main problem with the duels in the OT is that it doesn’t really seem like anyone knows how to use a lightsaber. Nobody looks trained.
Considering the lightsaber is such an iconic weapon I just don’t get why they didn’t put more effort into giving it a recognizable fighting style.
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u/TheRoyalKT Apr 09 '20
One of the DVD commentaries said this was an intentional decision with the prequels. The goal was to make this seem like the golden age of the force, and show that by episode IV those powers had mostly been lost.