Coming up to the last couple of lightsaber duel videos,
maybe I should polish them off before Kenobi.
Ive gotten a lot of comments asking to do the sequels, grievous v obi wan and palpatine vs
windu. So first off, since this is an episode 3 video - I just want say this
fight - it doesn’t do anything for me. I don’t especially love the setting. I
don’t especially love the four arms thing - even as a kid it seemed like a bit of an
action figure move - I like grievous but he gets his ass handed to him way too easily -
one lightsaber vs four - four welded by a cyborg brain should be a real test of the force for
Kenobi but its not really - its more of a chase and fist fight than a lightsaber duel - the fist
fight is actually quite fun - oooh! - and I do enjoy that Kenobi just smokes his cyborg ass.
But to be honest the hello there and these two droids in the background being best buddies
are both more iconic than this duel itself.
Before I cover what I consider the worst duels in the saga,
But Palatine and Windu - Palatine and Windu is my guilty pleasure lightsaber duel.
Even more so than Dooku vs yoda anakin and obi wan
because in spite of its shortcomings that has some good moments - this fight has…. [___]
its kinda hard to defend. I can already hear some of you racing to the comments to tell
me what a dickhead I am saying I dont enjoy grievous vs Kenobi but I’ll eat this shit up!
Well, im sorry. But I do. I dig this fight a fair deal for what it is. This is like Dumbledore
vs Voldemort but I actually give a shit. Two masters who rarely get stuck in in live action
finally showing the full scope of their powers in a showdown that decides the fate of the galaxy. It
might have some weak choreography and some weird digital replacement, but this duel features two of
my favourite Star Wars actors facing off and the crescendo is probably the most important moment
in the whole trilogy. Windu-or losedu, this is no where near the worst fight in the Star Wars saga.
Right off the bat I’ve gotta be honest and say that having these two in the duel is what
generates a lot of my goodwill and can you really blame me? Samuel L Jackson and Ian McDiarmid
are two of the best things about the prequels. Getting Sam Jackson in on these prequels was great
casting. In 1999 hot off a string of successful parts in some of the biggest movies of the decade,
having Sam Jackson play the most prominent Jedi next to Master Yoda was a great call. And in every
movie we got to see a little bit more of both top tier Jedi masters in action - in phantom
they’re just sitting around, and in clones we get to see them swing their savers for the first time.
Yoda gets to fight corn t Dooku but unfortunately we never see Windu cross blades with anyone.
Thats why when this moment played in the trailer everyone lost their shit - because
finally - Mace Windu was going to have a lightsaber duel with someone.
And really, who else but Palpy?
Ian McDiarmid is having so much fun in this role and every turn of his
performance is so satisfyingly theatrical. I could go on about his performance but I’d
just be repeating myself so check out that video instead. In short,
I don’t think theres a better villain that I love watching succeed. His enjoyment is infectious.
Its a duel that doesn’t really go very hard - but I still find so much of it memorable
because of these performances - Palpy is living deliciously, hes loving every
second of this. And Windu is just not fucking around - this guy is intimidating ashell.
The purple saber denoting a closer affinity to the dark side than most Jedi. Nobody fucks with windu.
Hes not the guy to take on palpatine, even though he can beat him in a straight up fight. Hes too
close to the dark side and that compulsion is what makes him sound like the bad guy.
I think this fight is necessary because Palpatine has to face the two leaders of the order
in this final prequel film. You get the first defeat when things really start to go wrong,
and then Yoda comes in for the rematch at the end only to fail even harder. Mace Windu best
him in combat but his hubris leads to defeat, Yoda loses in combat and it breaks his spirit.
Anakin was probably the only one who really could have stopped the Emperor.
Also obviously plus ten point to any movie that has a character spring their weapon out like taxi
driver. Every movie should have a character taxi driver it. It was awesome in the batman
and it was awesome here - just as long as they dont go full Bickle.
You never wanna go full Bickle. But yeah basically Palpy’s weapon reveal is awesome,
and yeah the force scream and spin is goofy but I appreciate them trying to give palatine
some menace and agility to show that he is a Sith master. Supposedly the force scream is
what causes these guys to slack off, but I dont know, I think Palpy is just that much of a goat.
The problem with the fight here is you don’t have the athleticism of McGregor and Christensen,
nor do you have big cgi spectacle to hang the fight on. Sam Jackson was around 55 at the time
and Ian McDiarmid was around 60. Don’t let the Paul Rudds of the world fool you - these are
two middle aged men that don’t do a lot of sword training in their spare time and thats gonna show.
Hanging such a physical bout on them is difficult even with body doubles. The solution seemed to be
filming most of this fight in close ups, and then cutting to something like this.
[__] yeah, he really doesn’t feel there does he? Theres an odd weightlessness to
that flip and it feels pretty unnecessary. But again, I appreciate trying to communicate that
you might have seen Palatine shuffle around like an old senator in the prequels,
but he is no pushover. That has all been an act and this is a taste of his true power.
The Dooku fight in Ep II also relied on a lot of close ups but it made feel more organic to the
scene because Anakin kills the lights. We can to push in and get up and close and personal,
the only things illuminating Christopher lee and Hayden Christensen’s faces being the lightsabers.
Here, you kinda want the cinematography to pull back more. When it occasionally does its awesome
- I love it when the window shatters as the two spin their blades in unison. Brilliantly composed.
In terms of production design everything looks fantastic - its great to see purple and red blades
cross and the luxurious high class burgundy and browns of palatines office are really pleasing.
Plus Palpatine’s costume in this scene is downright incredible - look at those shoulders!
Pal-protein. The only problem is it looks so flat against all of the cg
replacement - but these effects were breaking new ground in the early 2000s and its not as
egregious as seeing green screening done only marginally better in 2022.
I said in a previous video that I like there is no clear winner. Windu does appear to kick
his ass but since it provides the impetus for palatine to turn Anakin and ultimately kill the
Jedi master. So for a guy that had a decades long plan in the making it doesn’t seem so ridiculous
for him to throw the fight as he sense anakin entering the building. This guy
just took out several Jedi masters in seconds and you’re telling me this isn’t a possibility?
But I do remember a fair few comments before from fans saying that George has stated windu Wins
so sure - I guess it isn’t Palpy’s master plan - windu really is just the better combatant.
And I like the idea that the Jedi do come this close to winning - and still manage to fuck it
up - and its always great to see a villain actually hit the ropes, squirm and crawl
out of a sticky situation like a cockroach. We hate them for it and love them for it.
I still think theres something to be said for some ambiguity in the scene no matter
what Lucas thinks - its interesting to have that version of events and also the
idea that palatine was puppeteering this whole thing to the last detail.
It is the end of the fight that saves the whole thing. It has some decent tension as Skywalker
is forced to choose between the Jedi and the Sith, and Padme’s life, and it comes right down to the
wire. [dont let him kill me] Skywalker brings up some good points - this does seem like killing in
cold blood - thats not supposed to be the Jedi way. This works fantastically to Palatine’s
benefit - Windu kinda proves that the rules of the Jedi can be manipulated by those in charge,
and at that point - being asked to let your wife die and just get on with it seems crazy.
A lot of the acting in the prequels is crummy and features stilted dialogue but I think
all three performances are appropriate and work really well here. Jackson and
McDiarmid are going big and over the top, whilst Christensen does all the work with expression.
Which of course, is far and away when the actor gets to do his best performances in the prequels.
Plus this shot of Mace Windu is fucking great,
love the perspective of the lightsaber pointing at us and he looks so damn intimidating.
Mace Windu, my guy, hes gets it bad.
This motherfucker goes out worse than pretty much every other Jedi
in the order 66 portion of the movie - sure, they see their brothers in arms turn on them
but they go out pretty quickly. Mace Windu suffers man. He watches Anakin betray him and
cut off his hand- and then he gets electrocuted over and over whilst this wrinkly old fuck just
taunts him - and then he gets thrown out the window - its a long way down from the top.
Revenge of the Sith is a great kids movie because the heroes just relentlessly
lose - which doesn’t happen so often in fare you could watch with your mum or dad,
and certainly not this much - Windu gets it hard but somehow Anakin gets it much harder.
I love how exuasted Palpy is by the end of it [That was a close one]
To be honest, none of them come out of this duel very well.
Palatine “wins” but even then he is left scarred by Mace’s resistance.
Also the set up here is deliberately meant to evoke Vader’s choice to save Luke and
become Anakin in Return. Its interesting to reverse Palpatine’s role and make him
the quote unquote “victim”. And its referencing the original films without being a direct lift.
When you say things rhyme in the Star Wars movies this is as obvious as it should get.
This is well done story wise and performance wise it has its charms - which pulls you
through a lot of the effects - in the same way that I enjoy the Vader / Obi Wan fight
in A New Hope even though it is pretty rudimentary by today’s standards.
The drama and the conflict are what really matter, and this fight delivers in spades.
Duel of the Fates decides the trajectory of this trilogy. The Mace - Sheet Duel decides
the trajectory of the next trilogy. This was the moment, in spite of everything,
that could have turned Anakin’s fate around. Its a duel that’s outcome affects every single character
in the Star Wars universe; it births the age of the empire, and the dark legend of Darth Vader.
This is probably the most important duel in the entire saga.
What do you think of this duel? I want to know! And who is the true winner - Palpatine or Windu?
Is it possible he threw the fight? If you liked this video please leave
a like and maybe share it to all your internet underworld contacts,
that would help me a lot. Maybe your mum likes Star Wars, send it to her.