Forum Game: 5 movies you'll stop and watch

[Skye1013]

As the years have gone by, I've come to accept the PT more. I've always liked Ep. III well enough, and the others have grown on me.

I've always felt the duel between Obi Wan and Anakin in Ep 3 was the best bit of emotion in the entire series.

Yoda and Maul are my two favorite characters... and the fight scenes with the bouncy green muppet are just awesome (both when he fights Dooku and Palpatine)!

[Fridmarr]

Flight of the Navigator

Wow, I probably wouldn't have thought to put that on my list, but there's no doubt I'd stop to watch it. Good call.

[Brand]

I've always felt the duel between Obi Wan and Anakin in Ep 3 was the best bit of emotion in the entire series.

In the Prequel Trilogy, I would agree. The fight is intense and you never really get a sense that either is really beating the other. The battle seems to ebb and flow. Anakin comes out guns blazing and Obi-wan is keeping up with him, primarly on the defensive. They have their moments of stalemate but for the most part you can see that Obi-wan is really trying to wear Anakin down (which he obviously does). The problem lies, I think, in that it just goes on forever and I think that's attributed to the fact that Lucas obviously wanted Anakin to be burned (to keep in line with his later portrayals) but at the same time had to get them from the Space Port down to where the lava was. To be honest, I was kind of hoping that the coup de grace from Obi-wan would come on the large scaffolding that was melted and dropped into the river of lava thereby giving Ben the same closure (as Anakin could have been burned by splattered Lava from the eruption) and yet be more conceivable than him having to hoof it however many miles it took just to get back to Padme' on the launchpad. It also would have cut down a few unnecessary minutes from the fight as well as provide some satisfying conclusion. You can still show Palpatine finding Anakin on the side of the river of lava, existing purely on his hatred despite being melted.

As for the whole series, I'd say that the Lightsaber Duel in Empire trumps all of it because it was the single most shocking twist in the series (at least before the Prequel Trilogy). Luke's first real test with the blade against the Dragon. Vader toys with him at first underlining Luke's relative inexperience, but when Luke shows signs of natural skill Vader presses more and starts to beat Luke (with scrap metal of all things). A tense moment or two of relief is punctuated by Vader essentially overpowering and decimating him into submission. And at his lowest point Luke decides NOT to give in to Vader's offer, choosing oblivion over living a life against what he had come to believe in. It was such a brilliant moment that they rehashed it in Return of the Jedi (to much less impressive effect) with Palpatine forcing Luke to fight Vader again. Luke ultimately beat Vader, but the fact that he would choose to die in the face of the dark side (again) made it seem like the Empire was stupid. Hey guys, his dad had him at his mercy and he chose death anyways, maybe we should just kill him now instead of trying to turn him.

I digress.

Fight Club
Tron

Excellent choices.