Originally posted by: MTHaslettHere's what I might mean:
Anakin and Kenobi rush in and skirt Dukoo's space warily. Kenobi says "We'll take him together" and Anakin never says a damned thing.
Dukoo draws his sword and Kenobi rushes him. Kenobi and Dukoo fight in close up after close up. No pauses. No dialogue. Just all the fighting cut together. No cut away to Padme. Just fighting. Cut to Anakin in close up, standing. The context implies he can't find a way to get into the fight. Then-- Dukoo wounds Kenobi and down he goes. Without hesitation, Dukoo goes for the kill--
And Anakin jumps in. Kenobi tosses him the other sabre and the fight continues. No halting, no pausing (except to see Yoda coming) until Dukoo cuts off Anakin's arm-- (GREAT IDEA UPTHREAD TO MAKE THIS BEAT TERRIFYING WITH A HOWLING SCREAM SIMILAR TO WHEN LUKE LOSES HIS HAND).
Anakin gets tossed over to Kenobi and Dukoo finally pauses to catch his breath.
That's the idea in a nutshell -- let the relentlessness of Dukoo's attack make this fight special -- this would be the most relentless fight of the trilogy. Dukoo would become the guy who just doesn't f**k around.
The Anakin story up to this point is that of an apprentice who feels challenged, then loses faith, then finds faith again and goes into battle with his mentor -- In watching Dukoo and Kenobi fight, Anakin is building up his courage to jump in and play with the big Jedi -- something he hasn't had to do before. But when it counts-- he comes through.
The Padme material should, in my opinion, ALL be cut. She doesn't need to be seen here. Let the sequence end as Yoda gets his stick back and sees his crumpled allies and realizes they're in serious trouble. He sighs and we wipe out before Padme and the clones run in.
This would be a great improvement to the duel. It would cut the Dooku/Obi-Wan dialogue that doesn't make any sense, and tie into the RotS line, implying Anakin needs to get right into the battle that time around. My only reservation would be cutting Dooku and Anakin's little exchange: "Brave of you boy. I would have thought you'd had learned your lesson," "I am a slow learner." That's my favorite Anakin line from the film, but it just won't fit into this scenario unless Dooku's line can be altered to refer to taking care of Obi-Wan so quickly (which is possible). Also may I suggest the shot of Dooku activating his saber come from the Yoda portion of the duel, as that salute he does is a great shot, far better than when he turns on his blade to face Obi-Wan.
Originally posted by: MTHaslett
Here's my solution: As Dukoo gets away and Yoda picks up his stick, looking pretty down in the mouth-- the music hits a somber key and we cut to the shot of Padme lying lifeless in the sand until a clone runs up to her and she stirs to life... Cut to Anakin lying in a heap and continue from there. Postpone their reunion until we hear that Anakin's taking her back to Naboo and then cut to the wedding.
With Trooperman's ability to add Anakin dialogue, I think that the one place it might be nice to add some is at the wedding. If Anakin said a great line of dialogue that was charming and at the same time indicated his change and resolution to dedicate himself to the Republic and everything Padme stands for -- it would bring a resolution to the film that is really lacking. The original cut really just kind of ends.
Padme's stuff creates quite a problem indeed. The scene where she wakes up in the sand is pretty lame, but I don't think it would work if she just comes charging in with the clones at the end firing at Dooku's ship, would it? And where would her recovery fit? Anyway, these are great ideas and I hopw TM doesn't mind having to re-cut the duel again to incorporate them.
As for the end of the film, I see what you're saying MTH, but in keeping in true Star Wars tradition, the film must end with music and music alone.
Originally posted by: InfoDroidAnd Trooperman, PLEASE consider excising the Banking Clan guy from Dooku's conference room! Seriously, he looks like the stretched-out corpse of Peter Cushing. It needs to go.
