Story-wise I would agree, but in terms of action and fight choreography the film industry has a lot more tools at its disposal. For instance, I think that the OT is way better than the PT in terms of story and characters, but the PT easily wins out in terms of lightsaber fights. It isn't a big deal one way or another, but it didn't work all that well. Contrast that to the Maul double lightsaber ignition which was one of the most epic moments. I think the Maul "pose" works better for several reasons: the initial awe factor of seeing a double-edged lightsaber for the first time the Maul scene works better with the background music (Duel of Fates!!!) Maul was an epic character who elicited fear as opposed to the Praetorian Guard who are pretty much canon fodder in that scene (i.e. two named characters against a bunch of nameless and faceless combatants). the distance between Maul and Obi-Wan + Qui-Gon was better than between the guard and Rey + Kylo Maul was still in a good fighting pose ready to engage his adversaries, the guard seems like he is just posing
I cannot argue against that. The Darth Maul fight is my favourite Lightsaber fight ever. The only negative things I can say about it are that the actors do a lot of movements completely out of measure (with no chance to hit) and sometimes you can see too well that they are in fact aiming for the weapon and not for the body (that's what makes the parries seem so easy) but that's the truth for 99% of sword fight choreographies out there. The other thing is the spinning. I know it is a visual thing, it contributes to fights looking dynamic. I just think it is horribly overdone in Star Wars, especially in the PT, and it makes no sense at all from a fighting perspective. It would get you killed in no time. The only real reason for spinning movements is to have more kinetic energy, that's why you see it in thai boxing for example. But for a weapon that looks like it is weightless (in the PT) and cuts without any force there is no reason at all to swing like that. If Lightsabers were real people would most likely use them like Rapiers. Fight with stretched out arms. That's a fighting style developed for unarmored combat with a quite sharp and pointy weapon. If you touch your opponent then you hurt them. The force of the impact hardly matters.
Mine too! You are completely correct in your analysis. The only issue is that if Star Wars employed that sort of realistic sword fighting, it wouldn't look very good on screen. Plus, real sword fights were usually over very quickly; these drawn out and exciting sequences are largely a creation of Hollywood.
Maybe in the 9th movie lightsaber blocking materials will become so commonplace (thanks to the evile SCIENCE! research conducted by the First Order ) that lightsabres will only be carried by landscape gardeners. (Because really useful trimming shrubbery that is hard to reach.) Then we can ponder where the Falcon ends up.
Nothing would surprise me with Disney Star Wars at this point. Actually, I'm wrong, a really great Disney Star Wars movie that honours the past (i.e. real Star Wars) and ignores identity politics would surprise me greatly!
Just for the sake of opinion diversity (we all know the drill by now I guess): I think that the sequels _are_ real Star Wars, regardless of whether we like them or not. As for the lightsaber blocking materials: I think it was a good idea to introduce things that work against lightsabers, like the staffs of Grievous' Magna Guards, and the Cortosis in the armor of some Legends troops or the armor of Snoke's guards. It contributes to making melee fights interesting despite not everyone being a Jedi. In a setting where Jedi are rare you need it, otherwise fights without lightsabers involved become increasingly boring and melee fights basically consist of the lightsaber user just hacking through anyone else.
Related: I sometimes wonder if Star Wars had been better if they had followed their original concept of _everyone_ carrying lightsabers. It would certainly have made for more interesting fights with Stormtroopers and the like, not only "boss fights" being longer, melee-type confrontations.
I define real Star Wars as those made by George Lucas or under his supervision / vision. That's just me though.
On the other hand, it would have destroyed the novelty that a Lightsaber has in this universe - a weapon is much less special if every man and his dog have one (as is the case of blasters in this universe’s Star Wars).
Absolutely. Some people even thought there were too many lightsaber users in the PT and especially in Clone Wars.
In that case, though, it’s meant to represent the golden age of the Jedi Order, when there were loads of them all around the galaxy helping others. Also the Jedi are still far fewer in number than the Clone Troopers they command - in Episode II when the Jedi are picked up by the Republic Gunships and dropped off on the desert plain to fight the bulk of the Separatist forces, you can clearly see each Jedi leading a squad of nine Clone Troopers in the manner of a unit champion. Even in the Episodes I-III era the Jedi are still vastly outnumbered by the rapidly increasing Separatist Droid forces, which is why Dooku and Sifo-Dyas first had the Clone army made (before Dooku turned to the Dark Side). Now KOTOR, on the other hand... that’s where every mook in the galaxy seems to have a Lightsaber - instant loss of novelty.
Sure, that's what I said, too. It just fit. The very purpose of the PT was showing a time before all the Jedi were gone.
Firstly I have already voted, and secondly I said ‘possibly’, meaning it’s not definite. And thirdly, it’s my opinion, and I’m unafraid to voice it.
More of an abomination than the Farce Awakens and the Last Jedi? I have never read any of the stuff in the EU, so to me Solo is at least an original story.
Solo is obviously not as damaging to Star Wars as TLJ. TLJ pissed off a lot of fans while Solo is simply a really boring movie with some SJW sprinklings mixed in for good measure. TFA, although unoriginal, did set up some story lines and characters with potential, but it now suffers due to the failings of TLJ. As a trilogy, the sequels fail because they are disjointed and poorly planned out. Solo is a film that nobody really wanted. It is a pretty dull experience and doesn't feel like Star Wars at all.
Solo is a pretty good movie. Different, sure, but that's what Star Wars needs IMO. I prefer it over the fan service orgy that is Rogue One.