(upbeat film score)
- Hi, my name's Raab Rashi.
I'm the owner of Sword Class NYC
and one of the head instructors here.
I'm going to be ranking the fight scenes from Star Wars.
Let's start with Finn and Rey versus Kylo Ren.
I really like this fight.
One of the things I really like here
is that Finn doesn't know how to use a lightsaber
and he's using it exactly as someone
who is not trained might use it.
He's striking very hard.
And now Rey gets the lightsaber.
Starts out with a stab but really telegraphs
what she's gonna do, pulls it back.
All right, she got a good rising strike.
This is a cool fight.
It's not really using anything
that I'd call a very historical technique.
For the most part, swinging these weapons
like they're clubs and trying to bash through it.
And I totally buy that for Finn and Rey, too,
as far as I know has never fought before with a lightsaber.
What he does have going for him is that he attacks a lot.
And that's always a good thing to do,
to constantly keep pressure on your opponent,
especially if they're wounded.
So, next we've got Obi-Wan versus Grievous here.
Okay, immediately goes into a useless stance.
All right, if I could use four swords at once,
I might do a spinny thing, too.
He had a chance, two of his arms were used, two were not.
He could've just stabbed him right in the middle there.
He's gonna let one of his hands get cut off.
He'd rather lose piece by piece, literally.
All right, I don't know.
Obi-Wan does some really ridiculous things in there.
Sticking out his hand like that
and putting the sword above his head.
I don't know what that stance is gonna do
other than poke out his eyes.
Let's move on.
Next we have one of the all-time great sword fights.
This is Luke versus Vader in Empire Strikes Back.
So, Luke keeping a very centered stance.
This is called "jodan-no-kamae" or long point.
Even though he's not angling it correctly,
when Vader retreats from Luke,
he keeps the sword pointed right at his face.
Luke makes a very beginner mistake
in that his sword comes up as moves forward.
So that's a fine time to talk,
when you're separated from the person.
One of the things that really distinguishes this
is that there is a really high emotional stakes here.
It starts out with Luke, you know,
really working hard, putting in a lot of effort,
and Vader almost toying with him.
He's using one hand.
It's only after Luke gets our of the carbonite chamber
that Vader switches to two hands
and starts to really take him more seriously.
Next we have Obi-Wan and Anakin against Count Dooku.
Good, I'm glad he actually used his force power there,
because if I had the ability to push things
and pull things in the middle of a fight, I would.
Now, they're dancing.
Very bouncy swords here.
That was a nice bind.
As much as I don't like this fight, and I don't,
there are a couple things here that I did like.
Anakin, something that he did,
is he bound up Dooku's arms and used the lightsaber
to cut right through both of them.
It wouldn't work with a real sword.
You don't have the leverage when you're underneath
to slice right through someone's arms like that,
but with a lightsaber, you can pass right through.
So I think that was a really good example
or lightsaber fighting as opposed to sword fighting.
What I don't like is the sabers are just
bouncing, bouncing, bouncing, bouncing.
When two swords clash into each other, they bind.
And sometimes they do that in Star Wars,
and sometimes they don't.
Next we've got Palpatine versus Windu.
So first thing he does is pretty cool spinning technique
and immediately kills one jedi, kills another one.
Now he's getting all these spinny things.
I'm not really sure what that's about,
although he looks pretty good doing it.
Some angry pushing again.
Mace Windu takes a high stance, vantag or jodan.
I love what Sidious does.
If you're fighting more than one opponent,
you wanna take as many of them out as fast as you can.
One of the things I really hate that he does
is every time he tries to stab,
pulls back his saber like this,
and then thrusts it forward.
If you're gonna stab someone,
all you need to is keep your sword
in front of you and extend your arms.
Another thing is one of those lightsaber sins
where they attack above the person's head.
You don't need to stop an attack that's going to miss.
That said, I kind of like the way they were fighting here.
Now we've got Yoda versus Dooku.
He couldn't pick up his lightsaber.
And now there's a flying muppet.
Bouncy, bouncy, he's like a little Pokemon.
Oh, now it's time to talk again.
Oh boy, all right.
Obviously this doesn't really look
like any real sword fighting at all.
One of the things that makes Yoda cool
is that he's wise and old.
Some of the best sword fighters I've ever seen,
masters who are 80 years old,
70 years old, even 90 years old,
their strength comes not from their movement,
but from the simplicity of their movements,
how they don't need to move a lot,
how they can do so much with so little.
And I think that's what they could've done with Yoda
and really missed a great opportunity there.
Next we have Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan versus Darth Maul.
One of those Star Wars staples,
blocking behind your back.
Don't know how they do it, I couldn't do it.
Qui-Gon's showing that terrible grip
that you always see in Star Wars.
You just don't hold a sword like this.
Once again, Qui-Gon attacking above Maul's head,
not really doing anything effective.
Some nice spins here that have no practical use.
Kind of some wild swings by Obi-Wan here.
This is a really cool fight, right?
But it's not a sword fight, this is dancing.
Very kung fu influenced.
A lot of theatrics, a lot of jumping around.
That said, it's a very amusing fight and I enjoy it.
Okay, so this is my list based on
the clips that I've seen today.
Bottom of the list, the Grievous Obi-Wan fight.
After that, I'm gonna put the Yoda and Dooku fight.
Next, we've got the Obi-Wan and Anakin against Dooku.
To Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan against Darth Maul.
Windu and other jedi versus Palpatine.
After that, Finn and Rey versus Kylo Ren.
Number one, Luke versus Vader.
Lots of emotional energy.
A lot of real technique, but also the right amount
of movie magic and filmmaking and a very effective
use of the force powers on each of them.
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