A lot of people don’t like Hayden because of his acting in the prequel’s but to me I think he is the perfect Anakin Skywalker

They honestly made a mistake bringing Christensen back for _Ahsoka._ Not because he's no good, but because when it comes to the saber duels, he is obviously so much better than everyone else that you can tell he's really holding back just so they can keep up with him.

The thing about the prequels that never gets old, is the younglings

Something really amazing here is that in the fight choreography, Count Dooku tries to go cut of Anakin's arm again. But because Anakin learned from that duel, he sees it coming and acts accordingly by dropping his saber into his other hand so he can move his arm out of the way and stay on the offensive since he didn't have to move his saber away from Dooku's body, not giving Dooku any chance to recover from the missed swing. Beautifully done.

The prequels were amazing, where actually good saber fights took place

The prequels had some truly incredible lightsaber duels. I really respect Hayden and Ewan's dedication to their craft in terms of their skill and practice for the lightsaber duels. And that move with the lightsaber switching mid battle was pretty neat ngl

Hayden had the perfect look & voice for anakin. I cant picture anyone else ever replacing him. GOAT

Prequels were the 3 most violent star wars films yet they were the ones that were made just before Disney bought Star Wars

People back then didn't appreciate hayden, now everyone's a fan of him. Why did we ever need that first step? Why can't people just appreciate how good of an actor and duelist he is from the start? He is one of the greatest actors i've ever seen, you don't feel like you're watching a person acting as anakin, you feel like you're watching anakin, he is an incredible duelist in real life as well, imagine trying to do half of what he's doing

And like 20 years later, we have Reylo baseball battling each other like toddlers. What an improvement.

Yo, that saber catch is smooth af. IDK how impractical it might be, but Star Wars has always been more in favor of the rule of cool, and that should have been in the movie.

I learnt Stage Combat from Kyle Rowling (Count Dooku) he was also the choreographer for the fights in Star Wars, he made a very big point that people unfairly were harsh on Hayden and that he was an absolute talent, very hardworking and a natural combatant.

It's not his acting, it's George's writing.

Hayden's a beast. He's so good people don't realize he MADE US hate him

Hayden’s skill and dedication reminds me of keanu reeves in the john wick movies

He's really good at acting with his body - all the duels, subtle changes in how he walks after becoming Darth Vader...

tbh he nailed the role. THe only parts that make ppl think he acted badly, and tbh I get it. Are interactions of him with Padme. Like the sand meme.

That same "catch the saber in the other hand to doge a swing" move is used to excellent effect in the fan-film Ryan vs. Dorkman II and I'm wondering if they were inspired to do that by this footage or if they came up with that idea independently. Amazing lightsaber fight if you haven't seen it, highly suggest checking it out

Anakin's Saber drop was epic

He has carried this seires. Im glad hes receiving the admiration he always deserved

Hayden never seemed like he had bad acting to me, growing up with it and now as an adult I still don’t see bad acting.

I had to rewind and slow down that moment where he drops the lightsaber and catches it on his off-hand several times because my mind was like "WHAT???"

He was so good and naturally talented that when he was brought back for Ahsoka they had to nerf him, you can just tell he wanted to let loose but he wasnt allowed to.

Once I saw this clip the first time, I have been so angry the took the saber drop out of this fight. It was so damn good. Such a missed opportunity. Hayden was a magician with that saber.

The droping the sabre thing. dope. We need a character that disengages their sabre several times mid battle to throw the enemy off balance.

The prequel fights were so badass!

just imagine if we could get just one more star wars movie like these

The Prequels have EVERYTHING man everything..Episode 1-6 complete statwars.

The Clone Wars we're also violent and they say that show is for kids. It's my favorite show

This really shows how dedicated Hayden was, imagine the amount of actual training and practice that is required to achieve this.

Lucas couldn't write dialogue to save his life, but his worldbuilding and casting are legendary

Hayden is the man

0:22 That is a sick move. Edit: It's also a counter to what Dooku did to him in the earlier fight I suppose; if he didn't do that he'd lose another hand.

We’re keepers of the peace not soldiers Cuts to every brutal Jedi kill

But we mustn't forget the importance of Thomas to these scenes.

The Prequels Are Fire Man

The prequals are just amazing. The issue with the writing is that the writing was less normal talking and more Shakespeareian, so of course, the lines sound dramatic, yet not natural.

0:20 This move is amazing

i still wish for "a revenge of the sith" director's cut version where the entire battle against the mighty younglings is shown

"The Chosen One" after all...

when you get a fresh, young actor and give him the role as a master swordsman in one of the biggest franchises in the world, there's no way that dude isn't gonna go 150%

His duel against Ashoka is one of the few good things about the show. There was so much intensity, style and character in his movement that completely set it apart from the sluggish action in most of that show.

I never understood the hate Hayden got back then. I was always behind him in Episode 2 & 3. May the non-Disney Force be with him. 🙏

If I remember right, the scenes with Ewan had to actually be slowed down because he was such a menace on set.

You can still see this in Ahsoka, it's clear that Hayden is holding back against Rosario.

Still sends shivers down the spine when I watch this mans duels

The Prequels just had a bit...too much talking and dragging into the first 2, but the Lightsaber duels in each made up for it. They were well done. The movies get brutal too, which is something star wars shouldn't be afraid to hold back on, due to the galaxy's nature. When disney bought Star Wars, they added on more dark elements, like showing the younglings being slaughtered, while George Lucas cut that down to a holo recording cuz it was too dark.

It is insane how much effort they put in

I always thought all the acting was spot on for a galaxy far far away. Also considering how Anakin was raised. He didn't have the best social skills. And we saw that done very damn well. He deserves all the love he didn't get back then. And some

Saw the video of the deleted scene for this and its ON ANOTHER LEVEL !

Hayden got hosed by bad direction. He was capable of the role.

Just proves they made the right choice when casting anakin/Vader

back when they actually had badass lightsaber fights

I've been a fan of Hayden since I saw him in the prequels. I saw him in Jumper and that just solidified my love for his acting. People whine about his acting in the prequels not realizing that it was the writing that was terrible and not the acting. He went based on what they wanted for the films, the lines were never on him. In Jumper he's awkward as hell and just so weird, BUT that's exactly who his character is in the movie. His character finds out he has these powers to "Jump" to locations he wants to go as a young teen and then he just becomes a loner for the rest of his teen years up until it shows him (Hayden) as an adult and then when he encounters the girl he had a crush on back in the day, he's awkward and weird not really sure how to talk to her WHICH MAKES SENSE. The fucking guy had been alone for most of his life, never making friends and never talking to people. The same can be said for Anakin, he was just a child when he was bought and taken from his mother in order to become a Jedi. He didn't know much of anything in life and he grew up to be this awkward guy who just didn't understand anything but eventually fell in love with a former Queen and they had to keep their relationship a secret.

Idk how ppl used to actually dislike Hayden. Anakin in episode 3 is my fav character ever in star wars and its mainly because of Hayden's performance

Hayden showing that he is more of an ACTor than an Actor.

Its incredible to think how many stuntmen gave their limbs and lives for this movie, and people were hating on it...

that catch was so badass

I really never understood the hate towards Hayden. I always thought the movies were amazing and found out years later people had some weird problem with him. Why? His acting is great, the saber fights were amazing and generally the movies were and are thrilling to watch.

I've watched this fight many times because it's so cool

He is the PERFECT Anakin Skywalker

This look good for Attack Of The Clones part 2

That hilt drop though!! That’s legit.

That saber drop move is SICK

Hayden could have been the next Keanu. Physically gifted, incredibly nice, star-level actor. But he never could wash away the prequel stain.

If I remember correctly new Star Wars actors have studied exactly what Hayden and Ewan do in order to get the combat and form right during training and when Hayden found that out he was like "I was just making shit up, why are they doing that lol" specifically I think it was his like twirl spin move that he does.

Honestly the prequels were pretty underrated for the novelty elements they put into the Star Wars franchise at the time.

That's some pretty tricky manoeuvring. He's better than I thought.

prequels are always such a fun watch. They dont have the best acting, cgi, or script but they have a charm you cant find anywhere else. And the lightsaber duels are so iconic too, especially Obi wan vs Anakin. Watching it with the boys and finnding all the iconic memes and scenes is also p funny too

hes quite a badass!

I had to slow this down to realize how impressive this is

The prequels got a bad rep but episode 3 is my favorite movie of the entire series

Hayden is so underrated as actor

Prequels have always been 🐐 you've all just now realized Hayden was perfection because we didn't appreciate it when we were younger

The Prequels were underrated.

This just solidifies Episode 3 being my second favorite Star Wars film.

"the prequels had everything man!" lmao

He is the chosen one...

Mace Windu: "We're keepers of the peace, not soldiers." Also Mace Windu: DECAPITATIOOOOOOOOOON!

He kill it at the asian youngling comedy stand up😂

Still, after all these years, the "no-look-cutoff" of Windu looks real badass.

I misjudged him to be half-assed, only now do i realize how dedicated and talented this beautiful man was/is.

nah him actually levitating that saver was just... oh my god.

0:28 I now want a version of the film where Anakin actually smiles like that after a beheading

Just like the younglings. Rewatching Star Wars never gets old.

I LOVE seeing the prequels get some love…. EPISODES 1-6 are my Star Wars canon.

say what you want. he was a skilled swordsman. Well done!

Clicked on this expecting to see Hayden yeeting some younglings across the set.

Mans got flow.

"its violent, therefore it's good!"

They actually had to slow down the footage for the fight scene between Darth Maul and Obi Wan in the phantom menace (the sequence when obi faces maul alone after qui gons death) because they were so quick. I love all the actors that put in the extra effort for the fights and along with some great fight choreography.

I think that Hayden had the same problem as Robbert Pattinson or Kristen Stewart. They are great actors which were given the instruction of "be as much of a plank as you can". Whenever there wre some time of emotion, the director probably yelled at them "NO NO NO, No emotion! We are on our emotionless-phase in cinema, because no emotions means profound and deep!"

Even if his acting back then was slightly inconsistent you can't deny that when it came to physical stunts and body acting he was goated,sometimes lines aren't everything

I never noticed the saber drop and catch until now.

Epic,better then what most people could do.

Hollywood is getting lazy. Hayden's saber play is head and shoulders above everyone else because they put a real emphasis on training the choreography back then. They don't do that now.

Hayden looks like young Arnold here.. :D

Hayden, Ewan and Ian McDiarmid were amazing in the prequels and all reminded me of LOTR so much with how much dedication and love they gave to their roles. Christopher Lee was also amazing in his role although sadly he was too old to do too many flash fights but even then he did do some pretty cool classy scenes. And lastly Natalie portman, my favorite hollywood actress, stunning in every single scene she had, truly a queen.

Back when lightsaber duels were respectable and taken seriously. How I miss those days

DAMN!