Star wars Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace

Hello and welcome back. I am going to go into the first episode and Return of the Jedi will come later, mainly because Return is my favorite and I want to savor it.

So this battle is a duel unlike any other in the cinematic universe. For starters, This was the first movie for Star Wars 16 years after Return of the Jedi. An unprecedented amount of time for any sort of comeback in cinema. A true innovation that had to be as climatic and stunning as the players and scripted details that had to be in place for the perfection that takes place.

Qui Gon Jinn (Liam Nelson) and Obi-wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), Two Jedi Knights face off against the Sith apprentice Darth Maul (Ray Park). Now for the most part all the audience has known of lightsaber battles up until this movie have been the ones that seem like fencing. This one is the start of something brand new, acrobatics and force powers overwhelm the Jedi knights and the audience as this is something completely new and truly unseen in Star Wars. The jumping, dashing and force pushing allow this lightsaber duel to be something for all ages and allows everyone in the audience to feel like children rooting for their favorite heroes as the lines between good and evil are made very clear.

Maul says nothing. He simply bars the way of the large group of people. The two Jedi knights come forward and state with solid confidence, “We’ll handle this.” No confusion about what was about to happen, the three combatants took off their outer cloaks, and all lightsabers clicked on and the steady and familiar whir could be heard and the audience shuddered with anticipation. For the Jedi each pulled out their familiar single hilts, but the Sith pulled out the vicious double bladed lightsaber and the audience was prepared for the best that George Lucus had to offer after 16 years.

The Knights attacked and the Sith defended. Each side probes the other’s strengths and weaknesses. The teamwork of the knights was countered by the ferocity of the Sith. Though Maul was steadily being pushed back his use of the Force proved to be more and more of an issue for the Jedi as he pushed Obi-wan from the ledge and he fell to a lower platform, successfully separating the two Jedi and allowing Maul to achieve the upper hand. Qui Gon moves into single combat against Maul and though the two are different in terms of experience and battle style, Maul comes out victorious and now faces an alone Obi-wan and his inexperience has been shown in his own youth. Obi-wan engages in the same single combat and is successful at slicing Maul’s double blade in half and the Sith becomes no less dangerous as he uses his free hand to once again force push Obi-wan down a pit, and kicks Obi-wan’s lightsaber down the pit. Obi-wan feels the Force and uses it to attract his former Master’s lightsaber to his hand and in a mighty force leap, he jumps over Maul and slices him in half and the Sith is defeated as he falls down the pit that his enemy leapt out of.

The Music of the scene is simply awe inspiring as not many people can listen to the Duel of the Fates and not feel the power that went into the making of the scene and the struggle of Dark and Light between the forces.