Thursday, May 09, 2019

Vader vs. Obi-wan, revisited

There's a lot that I like about this, but also a lot that I hate:






3 comments:

Charles said...

I gotta be honest, I 99.9% hated this. Way too into being a "cool" lightsaber fight, and apparently missing the whole point of the scene in the process. The single thing I did like was the reflection of the two lightsabers in Vader's eyes when they first crossed blades. I have to admit that was kind of awesome. Everything else gets a big thumbs down from me, though.

(I also thought Yoda's spinning, flipping, and leaping lightsaber duel with Dooku in the prequels was ridiculous, so it might just be me.)

Kevin Kim said...

I appreciate the short for what it brings in terms of fight-choreography concepts, but there are a ton of flaws in the execution. I agree about the saber reflections in Vader's eyes (very cool), but the mapping of Kenobi's face onto another actor's body isn't done very well. Then again, I don't think the video is at all meant to be a polished, Lucasfilm-level production; it merely points the way to how the scene could have been done. I'd have removed the extraneous dialogue and music; I also would never have shown a scene in which Darth Vader throws punches(!!). Otherwise, I thought the viciousness of the new fight choreography did much to add to the emotional impact of the story. This is a student-versus-teacher rematch, but with Anakin having now plunged ever deeper into Sith teachings. Good fight choreography tells a story, and I think if Lucas were ever to go back and tinker with his movies again, he might consider giving us a more energetic bout between masters who have so much history together. The original fight does look rather stiff and lame. I'm assuming that the maker of this video agrees, hence the reimagining.

Charles said...

Fair enough. I will agree that the original fight was a bit staid. This felt a bit over the top, though (definitely agreed on the punches). I think there might be a happy medium somewhere in between.