Well said, ZkinandBonez. That is exactly how I see the Vader scene at the end of R1! And to say vader stands around and never moves quickly completely ignores his lightsaber duels in the OT.

Also, I disagree with the idea that his use of the Force in R1 is somehow excessive, “wasteful” (whatever that means), or out of character. He uses the Force as well as other tactics for intimidation multiple times throughout the OT (choking the various officers, jumping out at Luke from nowhere before driving him out on the catwalk in cloud city, pummeling Luke with stuff before knocking him out the window, etc., etc.). His display of wizardry and use of the lightsaber in the hallway is clearly meant to scare the bejeebies out of his enemies and it works. He’s routinely demonstrated to be a masterful tactician and this is just a natural extension of that. He’s alone in close quarters combat with an entire squad of enemy soldiers. Of course he’s gonna do everything he can to scare, disorganize, and overwhelm them any way he can.

Apologies to anyone for derailing this thread. I just really enjoy this debate.