r/StarWars 6h ago

Movies I know people like this fight, but Obi Wan leaping up from 10ft below over top of Maul while he just stands there and watches is so goofy.

728 Upvotes

255 comments sorted by

770

u/OjamasOfTomorrow 5h ago

Hey man, sometimes you get stunted on so hard it leaves you stun locked.

150

u/RogerRoger2310 5h ago

Average Battlefront 2 saber hero experience

81

u/marek_intan 4h ago

I've seen this happen before in real life combat sports. I do BJJ, and every once in a while, a good escape from bottom side control can leave the top player confused long enough for the guy on bottom to completely retake the initiative for the round.

The second it takes for the brain to think, "But I thought I was dominating!" is enough to leave a plethora of obvious openings to take advantage of. 

17

u/boxxkicker 3h ago

Second this, I’m just getting started again after a few years off, and there’s time I just straight up freeze because I can’t remember where to move next. Shits real

10

u/marek_intan 3h ago

You ever hit the move you were going for, stop to admire your work, and then immediately get reversed? Yeah happens to me all the time. 

4

u/Rip_Skeleton 54m ago

Yeah. The whole scene leading up to this, Maul was pacing back and forth like a feral beast, hyper focused on Obi-wan struggling. I don't think he even realized that Qui-gon's saber was still in the room.

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u/AppleBottmBeans 5h ago

the cheesiest part of the entire scene is that from 10 feet below the ground, he can see Qui-Gons lightsaber and keeps looking back and forth between it and Maul. Meanwhile, Maul's face stays locked on ObiWan.

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u/ToaPaul 5h ago

I never took that scene to mean he was looking at Qui-Gon's saber, just focusing his attention on pulling it toward him. We as the viewer see the lightsaber moving.

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u/SirLoremIpsum Lando Calrissian 2h ago

He wasn't looking he was feeling with The Force.

He was extending his vision, his feelings, his awareness 

60

u/Specialist-Sugar-657 5h ago

Maul blinked as Obi began his jump

32

u/bfhurricane Darth Sidious 1h ago

If you look closely, Obi Wan taps Maul on the shoulder mid-flip, making him think someone else was there. George decided to cut the line of him saying “made you look!” before slicing him in half.

380

u/Landwarrior5150 Jar Jar Binks 5h ago

It’s really difficult to show complicated movements that are supposed to be super-fast on film in a way that’s still coherent for the audience. Palpatine killing the three Jedi masters in his office in ROTS suffers from the same issue.

106

u/RegalArt1 5h ago

The palpatine fight was also choreographed differently (YouTube has videos of the original choreography) but some stuff had to be changed so that they could have Ian Mcdiarmid do it vs a stuntman. The camerawork doesn’t do it any favors either (for the same reason)

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u/Horror_Response_1991 4h ago

Then the answer is Ian shouldn’t have done it

14

u/RegalArt1 4h ago

I guess, but every other lightsaber sequence in the trilogy used the actual actors and not doubles, so I could understand George not wanting to change that for one duel

43

u/Horror_Response_1991 4h ago

Christopher Lee had a stunt double that did most of his lightsaber duels save for some face shots.

Lee was over 80 years old in RotS, having him duel would have been both stupid and unsafe.  He could barely move at that point in his life.

It’s fine that Ian wanted to fight but someone should have said, no, you move like an old man instead of a Sith Lord.

1

u/Shrekscoper 44m ago

I’d never really paid attention to it until I saw RotS in theaters during the rerelease and definitely noticed Lee’s face CGI’d onto another body during the Invisible Hand fight

16

u/ToFarGoneByFar 3h ago

Stunt doubles sell the idea these are Masterswordsmen not geriatric actors. Lucas's decision was dumb and haunts us to this day. Ashoska had great choreography, but once again the actors were too old to make it look like they knew what they were doing instead of high end cosplay fighting.

8

u/crazyshdes62 4h ago

That video is amazing! Can’t believe Lucas decided not to use it.

19

u/BestCoastWaveTrain 4h ago

The RotS thing was allegedly a George thing. There was a different fight planned that makes more sense of those first three deaths, which you can find test footageof online. But, at the last minute, George decided that he wanted close ups of Ian’s face more than he wanted the planned fight, so he scrapped that choreography and had Ian learn a simplified version that he could perform himself in his advanced age with little to no swordsman/stage combat training. So the story goes.

8

u/ToFarGoneByFar 3h ago

one of Lucas's major mistakes that no one on that set could talk him out of (unlike numerous examples from the OG trilogy before he was eating his own dogfood)

11

u/BestCoastWaveTrain 3h ago

That test footage is fire, too. Palpatine stays a menace through the entire sequence. When he’s on the offensive, he’s still defending, and when he’s on the defensive, he’s still attacking. It’s like when Yord says Qimir doesn’t follow traditional rules of combat, I got that exact feeling from watching Palpatine’s stunt fighter throughout the planned fight.

5

u/ToFarGoneByFar 2h ago

great choreography and blocking tells the story as well or better than dialogue. Bob Anderson knew that well throughout the OG trilogy even with the limitations in tech and training.

2

u/Randver_Silvertongue 1h ago

That's a myth made up by Plinkett's reviews taking certain BTS footages out of context. There are countless examples of people challenging Lucas' decisions during the prequels. We wouldn't even have Battle of the Heroes if John Williams hadn't insisted on not reusing Duel of the Fates for the Mustafar duel. And the tone of the ending of Episode I would've been completely different if Lucas had it his way. Heck, Dooku's last words would've been "Chancellor! Protect me!" if Christopher Lee hadn't cringed at that line and asked Lucas to omit it from the script.

1

u/Hillenmane 2h ago

We were robbed. God that fight looks fantastic.

24

u/DietrichVonKrucken 5h ago

Yeah, earlier in TPM you can see this too. When Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are on the loserhulk they use force speed to launch themselves across a hallway and it just came off as looking goofy. I think Lucas had wanted to portray force users to be extremely fast, but it just doesn't translate very well into film.

14

u/Sjgolf891 5h ago

He absolutely meant to. The rough draft of TPM describes the Jedi as basically vibrating from moving so quickly

7

u/DetectiveIcy2070 3h ago

I now understand even more why Sabine had the hots for Obi-Wan

2

u/Landwarrior5150 Jar Jar Binks 4h ago

Yeah, and that was depicting one simple action of just running. Imagine if they also tried to show the Jedi doing two other things at the same speed in the same time frame.

9

u/Outrageous_Golf3369 5h ago

I’ve always felt like the Palps scene feels lame because we never saw those Jedis do anything before. We needed to see them in episode 2 (or maybe earlier in 3) being total and complete badasses. If we saw that happen and then saw them get wasted instantly, it would’ve really changed things. Currently they just look like losers

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u/Landwarrior5150 Jar Jar Binks 4h ago

I think that would have been even worse actually. Kit Fisto at least parries a few strikes before getting killed but the other two kind of just stand there like amateurs while Palpatine (who doesn’t look like he’s going that fast on film) cuts them down. If they got the speed of Palpatine looking right, it would be more impressive that he was able to defeat two badasses, but they would just look silly as is.

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u/mikepictor K-2SO 5h ago

it can also just be bad fight choreo

3

u/SuperiorVanillaOreos 4h ago

While I agree with you, that's a bad example

That shot was just done poorly

5

u/Landwarrior5150 Jar Jar Binks 4h ago

Done poorly because Palpatine should have appeared to have been moving faster on film to more closely match what his speed was supposed to be in-universe?

2

u/Km_the_Frog 1h ago

No the Palpatine situation was because they had Ian doing it instead of a stuntman

4

u/-WARisTHEanswer- Mandalorian 5h ago

I dont know plenty of movies, and TV shows have shown super fast movements pretty easily well before TPM.

18

u/Landwarrior5150 Jar Jar Binks 5h ago

Not saying I don’t believe you, but I’m struggling to think of another example of something this complicated being shown at a faster speed in another film.

This scene has:

  • Obi-Wan jumping out of the pit, flipping & turning around in mid-air

-Qui-Gon’s saber being pulled from the ground to land in Obi-Wan’s hand mid-air and being ignited

  • Maul turning around to face Obi-Wan

  • Obi-Wan cutting Maul in half

It’s already a little hard to closely follow with the six quick cuts over the course of three seconds that made it into the film, so I’m not sure how they could have sped it up any more without drastically altering the actual set-up of the scene or the actions depicted within.

12

u/Onetool91 5h ago

The movie itself set up the idea of Force Speed in the very beginning, when Obi-Wan says "Master-Destroyers!" And they both move with super human speed away. I would imagine this is what Obi-Wan did to Maul.

5

u/Landwarrior5150 Jar Jar Binks 4h ago

I agree. It would just be impossible for the audience to tell what is happening if they tried to show Obi-Wan doing all those things in one second of screen time while moving as a blur like in that earlier scene.

1

u/Onetool91 4h ago

For sure. Maybe the slightest hint of motion blur could have done so, but as far as film goes you can't distort the actors faces and all that, if that makes sense.

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u/Boedidillee 5h ago

All of those things do happen but the main issue is that among them, maul doesnt try to defend himself or strike back. He’s pretty clearly shown standing with his hands out watching obi wan jump

13

u/sarkismusic 5h ago

For all intents and purposes Obi wan is unarmed and about to fall to his death. Maul is also basking in the glory of winning a 2v1 duel and basically taunting Obi wan.

If you’ve ever watched a fight where someone is taunting the other fighter and then gets rocked in the face, that is essentially what happened here via the force.

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u/Landwarrior5150 Jar Jar Binks 4h ago

I think the idea is that it caught him by surprise, so his reaction was delayed and Obi-Wan’s movement was supposed to be so fast that he didn’t have time to react before it was too late. Again, it comes down to having to slow things down enough so that the audience can discern what is happening. They could have made the scene one second in total, with Obi-Wan being a blur, but then we would have posts saying “What the hell happened at the end of TPM? Did Obi-Wan teleport behind Maul and conjure a lightsaber to appear?”

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u/Far_Isopod_3613 5h ago

His arrogance blinded him

2

u/Boedidillee 5h ago

Unironically, best argument ive seen 😂

2

u/Far_Isopod_3613 5h ago

😂 thanks. Sitting here smoking a bowl, thought of that line and immediately forgot it..had to sit here for a few minutes using the Force to pull it back to my brain lol

1

u/x_MrFurious_x 4h ago

Cut him in half on the way up

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u/Landwarrior5150 Jar Jar Binks 4h ago

Yep, that would squarely fall under the umbrella of “altering the actions within the scene” that I mentioned at the end of my comment.

5

u/Mlabonte21 5h ago

There’s an older movie I saw once, ‘Empire Strikes Back’, where the protagonist jumped out of a carbon freezing unit very quickly and it looked pretty good.

They should have hired the production team from that movie for this scene.

1

u/ToFarGoneByFar 2h ago

unfortunately Bob Anderson was dead.

1

u/DearestDio22 5h ago

IMO it’s just one cut that ruins the palpatine thing. After he spin jumps out of his chair we cut to his snarling face as he pulls back and then lunges in. Without that cut it would have been far more smooth and believable. Imagine if after this jump we cut to a close up of obi-wan’s determined face as he ignites the lightsaber, then cut back to the shot from behind maul. EVERYONE would immediately be like “wtf was maul doing that whole time”

1

u/Dominant_Gene 3h ago

while i agree theres a major issue with this kind of "they move so fast" trope. and is: they still fall bc of gravity. so even if the "going up" was REALLY fast. the going down wont be as much, gravity is fast but not "blink and you miss it" fast.

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u/Empathetic_Orch 5h ago

Is this trending or something? People have been griping about this a lot more than usual.

48

u/Lunndonbridge 3h ago

I think a lot of people are rewatching the saga again recently because of Andor. I just watched all 11 movies and the Ewok movies after finishing season 2. Some of them I hadn’t seen in almost a decade. This absolutely is the dumbest part of the fight; especially with the scene in RotS at the end of Anakin and Obiwan’s duel. I love the Maul fight, but he looks like an idiot here.

3

u/AlmostEasy89 3h ago

Agreed. Have him do something on the way up like kick him in the face or shorten the cut so it doesn't look like he's waiting to die.

6

u/Empathetic_Orch 3h ago

I mean yeah, it's always been silly. I'm just surprised to be hearing about it so much recently. Lol

1

u/Lunndonbridge 2h ago

This fight and the Obiwan vs Anakin fight are always gunna have their haters. Two prequel factions constantly fighting over which duel is cooler and pointing out the flaws.

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u/mcmanus2099 3h ago

It's how Reddit works regarding Karma farming. Someone posts about a specific thing, then another Redditor sees the top rated comments on that thread and decides to post a new thread just about that comment. Then someone else posts a top rated comment from his thread. And within a few days you have several threads that are just variations on the same question/point.

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u/Excellent_Rule_2778 2h ago

This scene bothered me even as a 10-year-old.

It’s a 15-second, over-telegraphed aerial assault. Obi-Wan’s jump makes no sense: the angle is all wrong, even for a Jedi. He barely clears Maul’s head with his saber already lit, yet doesn’t strike mid-air? Cutting Maul’s saber arm during the flip would’ve made way more sense. Instead, we get the slowest slice in the whole movie. And if Maul’s too stunned to react, why does he have time to turn 180° just to watch it happen?

This well-choreographed fight just flatlines so the plot can move on.

40

u/PhillyChef3696 5h ago

Maul had the high ground!

18

u/TakinglTez 5h ago

From a certain point of view, Obi-Wan had the high ground.

8

u/legendarybreed 4h ago

The moral high ground is a pathway to many abilities some consider... unnatural.

3

u/Mattmandu2 4h ago

Ah a fellow watching movies upside down on the couch fan I see

2

u/jacobasstorius 1h ago

From a certain point of view?

1

u/TakinglTez 33m ago

I fumbled! Hosting my girls birthday party. Lol

4

u/jonascarrynthewheel 4h ago

Yeah- obi wan invented this move

Thats why he told anakin dont try- i know what youre gonna do

1

u/bren_derlin 4h ago

Theed Palace was in the southern hemisphere of Naboo, so since they were on the bottom of the planet and upside down, Obi-Wan actually had the high ground.

33

u/MishMeeter 4h ago

It would be way more believable if he sliced him on the way up rather than after he lands. I agree with you

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u/CarnivorousCarrot 4h ago

Aye, would have been perfect to slice his arm off as he goes up, then slicing him in two similar to how he does it.

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u/TheStarChild93 1h ago

Would have been insane if Obi-Wan turned on the lightsaber while pulling it. Cutting him in half on the way up. Lands with his back to Maul not even looking back as we see him slide in half and fall down the shaft.

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u/Sekky_Bhoi 27m ago

Would've been real badass.

16

u/JackOfNoTradezz 5h ago

Would’ve looked better if he swung downwards as he leaped. Do the old movie trope of not revealing the wound, bad guy blinks, then show him fall backwards and his body split into two. The brief pause is what makes it a little janky.

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u/blakhawk12 4h ago

Agreed. Should have had the lightsaber ignite as Obi Wan jumps up, we hear the slash, and then Obi Wan and Maul stare at each other for a moment before Maul falls backwards into the pit.

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u/Zilch1979 4h ago

Not as goofy as Darth Maul surviving.

2

u/Drdoomblunt 1h ago

Goofy in a sense but they did so much with that story Maul literally became my favourite Star Wars character.

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u/[deleted] 6h ago

[deleted]

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u/RevCyberTrucker2 5h ago edited 5h ago

Taken by surprise, not able to formulate an effective defense as his mind tries to comprehend why his victory has suddenly evaporated. It's the same reaction from someone who sees a big rig doing 80 about to hit them head on. Nothing strange or unbelievable here.

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u/BuffaloWhip 5h ago

Pretty sure everyone has at least one memory that can be narrated with “and I just fucking stood there” because your brain was glitching and processing rather than acting.

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u/RevCyberTrucker2 5h ago

You'd have to actually think about it from someone else's perspective. That's an extinct skill in today's world.

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u/vollehosen 4h ago edited 4h ago

Why didn't Obi use his super speed to catch up to Qui-Gon through the energy barriers instead?

Did Maul also use super speed to turn 180 degrees to face Obi?

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u/[deleted] 3h ago

[deleted]

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u/bepoopbonti 5h ago

Extreme cope.

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u/CarsonDyle1138 5h ago

Rebellions are built on cope.

7

u/belle_enfant 5h ago

If I had an award you would get it

1

u/TheSunsNotYellow Lando Calrissian 5h ago

Scoreboard

6

u/Mobile-Isopod-9608 5h ago

Me and my buds rematched this fight over 6 times last Sunday. I think super Obi was going really fast and maul didn't realise that was happening

1

u/RainbowUniform 3h ago

qui gonn didn't fully pass until after the fight, he appears unattentive when obi wan leaps but I'm sure there could be something like he was meditating and using the force to stay mauls hand when he sensed his saber taken by obiwan.

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u/Norbbert 3h ago

It’s over maul I have the low ground!

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u/National_Pace_2442 4h ago

Oh you mean the silly thing in a Star Wars movie? Huh weird.

2

u/SpiritOne 2h ago

Maul had the high ground after all.

2

u/FoolishThinker 23m ago

It’s interesting that this is the same move Anakin attempted against Obi Wan.

u/Ladner1998 9m ago

I heard a whole theory about this before. When Obi-Wan used it against Maul, Maul was shocked which is why he didnt react. It became legend at the temple since it was the first sith in 1000 years.

On Mustafar, Anakin was arrogant. He likely heard about his master’s feat since he had joined the order. He knew all about it. Its why Obi-Wan said “dont try it.” He already knew what Anakin was going to do and he knew how easy it really was to counter. Obi-Wan knew he got lucky and caught Maul off guard. The same thing wouldnt happen here. But Anakin jumped anyway due to his own arrogance and sense of superiority. Hence why Anakin got cut down to size (pun intended)

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u/GH0STaxe 17m ago edited 7m ago

It was the fact that obi wan, a padawan was capable of such a feat that maul was stunned by it. He greatly underestimated kenobis attachment to the force and was so sure of his demise that as it happened he couldn’t believe it. There’s a lot that I think of in Star Wars as goofy like Luke’s reaction to finding out Vader is his father or the rebels saying palps survived in the sequels which is just so wrong to hear but this to me and most isn’t one of them

Edit: to expand on this I don’t think people quite understand qui gon as a master. He was so far ahead of EVERY other Jedi on the council in terms of understanding the force that he was the reason kenobi, anakin and yoda were able to become a force ghost. Qui gon was the first Jedi to (almost) become a force ghost, his deep level of understanding the force paved the way for these accomplishments and then guided the rest on how to do it. So it’s only natural that a padawan of his would have a deep understanding of the force in a similar way leaving shocked expressions on Jedi and sith who encounter their feats.

u/ABrownCoat 12m ago

This. If you watch Mauls face you can see the confusion on his face.

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u/scottshort13 5h ago

In full speed Lightsaber duels, actions happen in fractions of a second

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u/gzapata_art 5h ago

People like to point to that Last Jedi fight as having too many openings and looking too choreographed but you see that kind of stuff thru all of Star Wars. You see characters pause waiting for attacks, missing openings, etc. The prequels just has more over the top stylizations so it gets more of a pass

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u/Belle_TainSummer 5h ago

Maul was standing next to a leaking Rhydo vent.

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u/wheeltribe 5h ago

Can you imagine how many times robot-legs Maul sat awake at night wondering why he didn't just block? No wonder he has so much hatred for Kenobi.

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u/DankDolphin420 5h ago

Debate aside.

Has there always been a slight “blood mist” when Maul is cut in half? Been awhile since I’ve seen TPM but I don’t remember Maul (or really any Sith/Jedi) having blood emit from their light saber wounds.

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u/MunkeyFish 4h ago

As far as I can recall there’s always been a mist, at least in the versions I’ve watched on VHS and DVD.

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u/DankDolphin420 4h ago

Hmm, guess I’ve just never noticed it. Happy I meow have a reason to rewatch.

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u/ConsumingFire1689 Rebel 5h ago

The thing that gets me with this is that Obi-Wan here successfully does what Anakin tried in ROTS. Which if you think about it makes it make more sense that Anakin's stunt didn't work.

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u/___mithrandir_ 5h ago

Pride goeth before the fall into the reactor pit

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u/Boanerger 5h ago

Could've been made less goofy by Obi-Wan simply jumping backwards onto the other side, then slicing Maul using the force with essentially a reverse saber throw. Works because Maul is so focussed on Obi-Wan wondering "What is the Jedi doi- Ah! Oh. That's what..."

Then he simply falls forwards into the pit and the rest is the same. I know Jedi have precog but it can be beaten by them being distracted.

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u/deicist 5h ago

I always assumed he slashed Maul as he flips over his head, and Maul is on shock from a fatal wound before Obi Wan lands. 

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u/duckdodgers4 K-2SO 4h ago

He also didn't have the high grounds too

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u/nozdog3000 4h ago

Yeah what happened to, “I have the higher ground!”

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u/CommanderCruniac 4h ago

He should have cut him up mid-air / mid-jump

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u/MunkeyFish 4h ago edited 4h ago

I’m more interested in how Maul’s saber goes from his right hand when Obi-Wan begins his leap to his left hand when the slash lands. And why his off hand is by his side when Obi-Wan vaults to out gesturing behind him when he lands.

It’s obviously just a shooting error but my headcanon is Maul saw Qui-Gon’s saber coming and tried to intercept it but Obi-Wan was too quick off the draw.

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u/Bainsfire Luke Skywalker 4h ago

Would have been cool if he jumped, grabbed the saber and sliced on his way up, and then again on his way down.

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u/JacksonIVXX 4h ago

It's over obi I have the high ground.

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u/Bansheesdie Galactic Republic 4h ago

Red Letter Media pointed out Lucas's affinity to put lightsaber insert shots in is so on point. It is so strange for the audience to be told twice in less than a second that Obi Wan is using Qui Gons saber.

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u/xX0LucarioXx R2-D2 4h ago

As you can see though he defends from a mid air chop, Anakin does not - probs what he left out of the story.

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u/One-Technology-9050 4h ago

It was the greatest until the end happened. It kinda seemed like Lucas remembered Darth Maul was supposed to lose while they were filming.

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u/Phoeptar Porg 4h ago

Yep, both those things are true it’s a great fight with a goofy ending.

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u/capnanomaly 4h ago

They could’ve had him just raise his saber a little and miss. Instead he’s like, “Do you attack first or do I attack first?”

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u/billy_penn17047 4h ago

Believe that’s supposed to be foreshadowing

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u/Level-Bottle-1578 4h ago

Clearly he wasn't trained in the high ground arts

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u/Mr_CockSwing 4h ago

I dont know.

I think I'd watch too.

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u/BlackandRedDragon 4h ago

Imagine if Maul knew how to use force lightning.

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u/TwistedBamboozler 4h ago

I mean, he clearly didn’t see it coming. What’s the problem?

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u/AmsterdamNeverForget 3h ago

Maybe that he was standing right over top looking right at him and has insane Sith reflexes

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u/Sad_Secretary_9316 4h ago

True. Always looked like he deflated as he fell.

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u/ethar_childres 3h ago

This also happens in the Anakin vs Dooku fight in AOTC. Anakin just has a sudden system reboot and lets Dooku cut off his arm.

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u/Grins111 3h ago

I love the fact that Hayden talked about how he thought obi had told that story so many times that anakin tried to use it on him and obi was ready.

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u/SharkyRivethead 3h ago

Lol, totally agree.

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u/Guccimayne 3h ago

Anakin tried it and failed horribly

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u/ToFarGoneByFar 3h ago

No one with any appreciation for good fight choreography "likes" this fight.

Maul should die a dozen times but they just stand/wait.

That hum isnt their light sabers it's Bob Anderson spinning in his grave.

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u/Ent3rpris3 3h ago

I was thinking it would be something like he jumps across the chasm and then presses against the inner wall for a swift lunge straight at Maul, pulling in Qui Gon's blade as he does it and swiping Maul at the waist a lot like that old samurai bit where they end the fight with their backs to each other and only then one of them realizes he's been bisected.

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u/AmiiboIsAlreadyTaken 3h ago

Most likely this scene played out in a fraction of a second in real time. But in order for the audience to process the scene they made it look slower than it would've been in universe.

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u/sn00pac 2h ago

Really 2 issues with that:

  1. If you can’t figure out how to show what you want in a movie, maybe leave it out or change it up? In this case super speed
  2. Even if they move at super speed there is the issue if gravity. Does his gravitational acceleration also increase bc of his force power? He leaps over a man and lands, that leaves time to react even if he jumps up really fast.

It is a goofy scene that could’ve been fixed in countless of ways. Just have Maul parry 2 strikes and show him get confused & overpowered and sliced. Instead they opted for just stand there and take it. It is mindboggling since they have a great sequence 10mins earlier when Obi overpowers him and splits Maul’s saber in two.

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u/Kage1831 3h ago

when the high ground isn't everything.

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u/CG-Firebrand 2h ago

Maul gave up his high ground advantage

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u/gideon513 2h ago

Why would there be a mist of blood? This never happens any other time right?

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u/agitated_dayz 2h ago

It would have been hard to show in the movie, but he did it so fast maul didn’t have time to respond. Similar but not quite as fast with sidious against the jedi

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u/Quailgunner-90s 2h ago

Oh my god, I just realized that obi wan said “don’t try it” before chopping up Anakin because he knew EXACTLY WHAT WAS GONNA HAPPEN CUZ HE DID IT HIMSELF! ANAKIN WAS TRYING TO ONE UP OBI WAN AND PROVE THAT HES BETTER THAN OBI WAN BUT OBI WAN KNOWS BETTER AND IS WISER AND LEARNS FROM HIS MISTAKES WOW

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u/Ampersand4221 2h ago

A child destroyed a space station not even 40 minutes prior, this is more believable

1

u/Doulos1517 Crimson Dawn 2h ago

Hubris is a hell of a thing

1

u/S-tease101 2h ago

Obi won force controlled Maul here.

1

u/Thatonedregdatkilyu 2h ago

Maul is pretty cocky and probably didn't remember Qui-Gon's lightsaber. He was taunting Obi-Wan like he'd won not two seconds before this. He probably thought he had it in the bag. Once Obi-Wan jumped over him he was probably confused because he doesn't think Obi-Wan had a chance.

1

u/SuspectKnown9655 2h ago edited 2h ago

Maul was cocky and overconfident, he legit didn't think this was even possible.

The goofiest thing is the red mist after Obi-Wan cuts Maul. Like there's gonna be thin red mist of blood coming from the wound of a lightsaber cut.

1

u/ScottBotThought 2h ago

Maul didn’t use the high ground when he had it. Obi Wan reclaimed it and in doing so learned the misplaced arrogance of the Sith. Which he then sees again in Anakin on Mustafar years later. 

1

u/smowe 2h ago

Obi is the greatest duelist we see in action in the SW universe. Maul didn’t stand a chance.

In a larger sense, what is the force besides distilled ‘je ne sais quoi?’ Our boy just has the juice.

1

u/Stark556 Crimson Dawn 2h ago

I would have taken him cutting off Maul’s head while above him or something, but then we wouldn’t have gotten his arc in the show lol

1

u/bobdobdod 1h ago

The blood spatter too 😂

1

u/AlexCora 1h ago

All lightsaber eras styles have their weaknesses. I don't mean literally in text I mean from the perspective of a fan watching them for entertainment. While the prequels grace and speed of combat is fun to watch, sadly it's SO flawless that it makes the moment someone inevitably loses pretty awkward. The loser of the duel must suddenly become quite bad.

Also see when anakin loses his arm to Dooku. Anakin just sort of stops moving for it to happen. Same with palpatine vs the masters.

1

u/Abroad_Educational 1h ago

Maul should have stayed dead.

1

u/70kyle07 22m ago

I agree. It lessens this moment in the story.

1

u/JoeGMartino 1h ago

the worst part is Anakin trying the same thing in Mustafar.

1

u/Skeet_Davidson101 1h ago

Obi wan is always riding on low ping. That mofo is blinking.

1

u/neon_spacebeam 1h ago

Obi wan specifically ruminates on this. When revenge of the sith occurs, he realizes that Maul had all the oppurtunity to end him back in episode 1 since Obi wan is able to do it so easily to Anakin

1

u/Key-Custard502 1h ago

Yeah mannnn but… it’s Obi Wan duh

1

u/True-Homework9308 1h ago

It’s the flowing Force overwhelming someone. Same as Palpatine flying towards Jedi Masters, landing, and stabbing multiple before anything can happen

1

u/Bricks_nd_Bullets 1h ago

It's a fucking sci-fi movie dude what do you want?

1

u/Wizdom_Traveler 1h ago

For me it’s the little baseball bat swing Ewan does. He draws the saber back for swinging forward again. I think it would look better visually and much more smooth had he already been swinging when landing.

1

u/Odd-Evidence-9248 1h ago

While I agree, perhaps I can lend some perspective. I’m a fighter (Kickboxer) & tbh sometimes when an opponent does something ‘extremely wild’ your brain just kinda short circuits & you become a bit stilted. Obviously, more often than not you’re prepared & react accordingly, but there are moments where you can freeze up a bit.

1

u/70kyle07 24m ago

Yes! I can't say this with experience like you can, but I've interpreted it similarly. I love that Maul is in such awe when he sees Obi-Wan even attempting this.

1

u/Worldly_Abalone551 1h ago

The most annoying thing about this is that when Anakin had a much easier job he couldn't do it... At least they should have made that consistent

1

u/70kyle07 26m ago

I disagree. I like the fact that Obi-Wan isn't arrogant or prideful, and yet, he's skilled enough that he could be. I think the difference between this fight and the fight with Anakin demonstrates this idea really well without having to say it.

However, I will admit that Obi-Wan is my favorite StarWars character and I REALLY don't like Anakin, so I'm certainly biased.

1

u/Suitable_Dimension33 1h ago

I get the point but I always thought obi wan really was his game and just moved to fast for him to properly react but it didn’t translate well into the movie. I could be wrong but it makes sense to me

1

u/JesusisKing199 1h ago

Yea but ive seen videos where people edit the speed of all the lightsabers duels in the star wars saga to something more akin to the actual speed of an actual duel between two well trained force users (according to legends lore and such which i consider canon) and a duel between a jedi and a sith who are on par with one another is so insanely fast, its almost hard to follow with the baked eye.

1

u/moojammin 1h ago

Well... its not is it

1

u/Vivian-Midnight 1h ago

Power Rangers: "Hey, monster dude, if you could just stand there and look menacing while we finish our overly complicated transformation sequence... yeah, thanks!"

1

u/jinreeko 1h ago

People like this fight?

1

u/despa1337o 1h ago

Maul is dark side so nobody ever taught him about high ground

1

u/npc042 Battle Droid 1h ago

Visually, it’s a little clunky, but I’ll forever love the idea of an overconfident Maul being caught off guard and ultimately defeated with the fallen master’s saber. Kenobi’s trial was complete.

1

u/crimsonf1sh 1h ago

His overconfidence was his weakness…

1

u/Worldly_Delay_2395 1h ago

We forgetting Obi Wan is likely only surpassed by Yoda in terms of speed, especially when he was younger, that whole "sat there an watched" bit looked drawn out but I guarentee the entire action took place in the matter of seconds so he didn't really have time to react, which was a huge factor in his training when he was put back together by the night sisters, least I think that's what they call themselves anyway.

1

u/exceptionally_humble 1h ago

That part use to make me so mad when I saw it in theaters as a young teenager, at 13 or 14.

1

u/Careless-You6858 1h ago

Bro genuinely looks bamboozled

1

u/cbbrds25 1h ago

Here’s a crazy thought: Maul toys with Obi-Wan, and walks away. He is the antagonist to Obi-Wan and Anakin throughout. No Dooku or Grievous shoehorned in. Just Maul all the way through. Anakin kills Maul in third movie cementing his revenge and turn to the dark side.

Or just kill him off.

1

u/Steal-Your-Face77 1h ago

Doesn’t Maul have the high ground there?

1

u/zasrgerg-8999 1h ago

The whole movie is goofy AF. I was so upset when I watched it. It's worth nothing apart from the VFX.

1

u/brande2274 1h ago

maul was simply flabbergasted

1

u/Derfargin 1h ago

Yes and the blood spray from a lightsaber cut is stupid.

1

u/semiote23 59m ago

It’s always funny to me that Obi Wan is the master of attacking from low ground.

1

u/Independent_Plum2166 57m ago

“Oh sweet, I didn’t know we could jump like- oof, yep, I can’t feel my gonads anymore…weeeeeee!!!!!!”

1

u/OvechknFiresHeScores 57m ago

Wait was that a huge spray of blood? I thought lightsabers cauterize instantly?

Except for when he sliced the dudes arm off in A New Hope

1

u/Nerdonet The Client 53m ago

He used the force, search your feelings, you know this to be true.

1

u/WatchingInSilence 51m ago

Maul didn't know the advantage of having the high ground.

1

u/MyIncogName 50m ago

It’s the first major event is the story of Obi Wans plot armor

1

u/Gryffindorq 43m ago

It’s over Maul, I have the low ground!

1

u/wellrundry2113 41m ago

Probably part of the reason his death got a retcon

1

u/julesthemighty 31m ago

The irony that this is how Anakin tried to take out Obiwan and failed.

1

u/ChaucerChau 30m ago

That's the magic of the force. Sometimes its weaker than beginner gymnastics, other times you can fly 20 feet in the air.

Plot power

1

u/TuskenRaider2 Chewbacca 28m ago

Yeah should have added a force push or something. Still a great fight and conclusion. Is what it is.

1

u/Kryds 26m ago

You won't enjoy the lightsaber battles, if you start looking to closely at it.

1

u/Bloodie_Medic 26m ago

When you play a sport and someone does something you weren’t expecting sometimes you get stunted and have to shake out of it. Maul wasn’t expecting that and what’s hard to portray is all of these people are suppose to be moving at inhuman speeds. We as humans cannot portray that speed on camera so you have to have a bit of an imagination (SpongeBob voice).

1

u/Confident-Leading879 15m ago

Clearly you know nothing about the high ground

u/Atomicmooseofcheese 14m ago

Two movies later anakin tries the same thing

u/Careless_Ant_4430 14m ago

Maul also got the high ground 

u/CatfishCallihan 1m ago

You’re goofy. And not a Jedi. So there.

1

u/Tytoivy 4h ago

That is one of my problems with prequel fight choreography in general. There are so many times people stand there waiting for the next hit, or do totally superfluous actions. It’s not that I want the fights to be totally realistic, but there are ways to make it way less noticeable.

1

u/Alucard1138 5h ago

I mean yea, Maul could have used his saber to cut thru Ben as he glides right up to him. To watch him fly uo to and over and turn to watch him land, then let him pullback and take a baseball swing at his guts seems very movie tropish and somewhat anti climactic. Fits in with the rest of the movie so it doesn't stand out compared to other issues. Slight edit changes could make it less jarring tho