The sword fighting is based on that personal energy shields are a thing, but

1) The shields block fast-moving objects, so bullet-guns are useless, but slow moving objects, like a carefully placed blade can penetrate.

2) Lasguns (lasers) react with energy shields with explosions that rival atomic blasts, so you don't want to use those of the enemy carries a shield.



The movies are AV gems, but they're built on so much lore from the books that even the first movie of three hours has difficulty introducing the concepts and story. Watching the movies really requires that you've read the books to enjoy it somewhat.