Star Wars Episode III is awesome

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by dissention

Did anyone see the trailer for Mr. and Mrs. Smith before Star Wars? I loathe to admit it, but it looks good. Angelina Jolie looks absolutely jawdropping in it.

I did too - they are both just so beautiful, esp. her - though the story line looks contrived to me. I will see it though

[sodascouts]

My review: (HAS SPOILERS)

I admit I’m not the biggest fan of the new trilogy and largely went to see them as an extension of my adoration of the original trilogy. The first one was laughably bad, with its 8-year old hero and climactic imitation of the Ben-Hur chariot race, only with digitization instead of drama. There was no real humor (unless you count the infamous JarJar Binks). The second one was better, but dull.

The third one had no dull moments and was emotionally affecting. It even had some really cute humor in the beginning (largely due to R2D2), reminiscent of all the laughs we got in the original trilogy. JarJar Binks was reduced to a one-minute non-speaking cameo (George Lucas heard our prayers)!

We all knew how it would end, that it would be tragic, so it says something that Lucas was still able to surprise me. I was curious as to how he would make us hate a character that we’d grown to care about (theoretically, at least. I hadn’t really grown to care much about Anakin in the previous movies because they were so flat). He did it effectively by having Anakin kill children without blinking and choke Padme, establishing that while his turn might have began as a quasi-noble romantic move, it was nothing like that in the end. The Dark side cannot coexist with true love, and I’m glad he took care to establish that. I was disappointed in the abruptness of the turn. Anakin’s killing of the Samuel Jackson character was contextually understandable, as was his immediate reaction: “What have I done?!” However, in the next second, it’s “I will do whatever you command. I pledge my allegiance” and he goes and kills some kids. I just don’t understand how he went from being remorseful to amoral in a heartbeat.

The romance was indeed flat, but at least I did feel something when Padme cried out “You’re breaking my heart!” Therefore, while there wasn’t much chemistry, at least the lack of it didn’t kill the emotional power.

In the previous prequels, the special effects had been largely gratuitous and distracting. Here, that was not the case. They enhanced rather than detracted from the plot. The opening fighter sequence, while not very believable (they just fly into the ship, no prob! Come on!) was very effective visually. The greatest visual coup was the fight over the lava. That was spectacular – very realistic. It was also suspenseful. I keep thinking that at any minute Anakin would fall into the lava, but in the end it was Kenobi who brought him down after all. The fire was only secondary, as horrifying as it was (I had to look away when the flames reached his face). I still don’t understand why Kenobi didn’t put him out of his misery then and there but oh well, I guess it was necessary for the plot (although they could have made him believe Anakin was dead, which would be more believable).

Consistency gripes:

1) If Chewbacca had seen the power of the Force through Yoda, why did he join Han in dissing Ben as an “old fossil” with a bunch of “socerer’s tricks”?

2) Why wasn’t R2D2’s memory wiped clean? If he knew so much, why didn’t he speak up at any time during the original trilogy? (I did appreciate the inclusion of Captain Antilles). And I know this is leftover from Ep. 2, but why does he have rocket blasters here? He didn't in Ep. 4-6. Not to mention that Obi-Wan claims never to have owned a droid, but we see him with an R-4 unit.

3) The biggest one: Having Padme die in childbirth, even though Leia talks about memories of her mother in ROTJ. “Beautiful but sad.” She didn’t get any more face time than Luke did, and I find it hard to believe she got those impressions in the milisecond where Padme named her.

Overall I was satisfied. I went in knowing it could never be as good as the originals, but in comparison with the other two and even other current sci-fi movies, it came out on top. Action-packed and moving, it gets my vote as a movie definitely worth seeing.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I did too - they are both just so beautiful, esp. her - though the story line looks contrived to me. I will see it though

It looks like a complete rip-off of True Lies to me.

[macfanken]

Originally Posted by dissention

Again, compared to the previous two prequels, the acting was outstanding in this one, imo. I've yet to see a Star Wars movie with truly good acting, even the old ones. I mean, Mark Hamill in Return of the Jedi is painful and everyone comes off as amateurs because Lucas is such a bad director. Samuel L. Jackson was still horrific, though. Unwatchable. It's all due to Lucas because these are all talented and capable actors.

"The Empire Strikes Back" is the only Star Wars movie with decent acting IMO. I saw it recently on DVD, the first time I had seen it in years... compared to the new trilogy, the acting in "Empire" is almost Oscar-worthy! I think by "Return of the Jedi" most of the actors had gotten lazy in their roles or were under the influence of something and it definitely shows in their performances. As far as the new trilogy is concerned, all of the blame goes to Lucas... he really had some great, talented actors to work with. He seems to have a knack for getting the worst possible performance from his actors.

ps. I'm saying all of this without having seen the new movie... the theaters here are sold out until Monday.

[Moony]

Originally Posted by dissention

*SPOILERS*

I wept like a baby when Anakin was burning alive and Obi Wan said "You were like a brother, I loved you," and then Anakin cried and screamed "I hate you!"

Gah, I'm such a dork.

OMG ME Too! I just saw it with my little bro.... awesome movie. I LOVED it. So sad and depressign though.

Originally Posted by dissention

and for once I loved Ewan McGregor.

What? Can this be? *dies* Are you finally going to come around now ?

[sodascouts]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I did too - they are both just so beautiful, esp. her - though the story line looks contrived to me. I will see it though

I got kind of squeamish seeing Brad Pitt hit Angelina Jolie. I know they're supposed to be "evenly matched" and she was giving as good as she was getting, but it still makes me uncomfortable.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by sodascouts

2) Why wasn’t R2D2’s memory wiped clean? If he knew so much, why didn’t he speak up at any time during the original trilogy? (I did appreciate the inclusion of Captain Antilles). And I know this is leftover from Ep. 2, but why does he have rocket blasters here? He didn't in Ep. 4-6. Not to mention that Obi-Wan claims never to have owned a droid, but we see him with an R-4 unit.

I though the Jimmy Smits character said to wipe the droids memories in that scene on the ship -- but I could be wrong here

Originally Posted by sodascouts

3) The biggest one: Having Padme die in childbirth, even though Leia talks about memories of her mother in ROTJ. “Beautiful but sad.” She didn’t get any more face time than Luke did, and I find it hard to believe she got those impressions in the milisecond where Padme named her . . . .

SNAPS for that catch

[thepoetinmyhear]

Originally Posted by sodascouts

My review: (HAS SPOILERS)

3) The biggest one: Having Padme die in childbirth, even though Leia talks about memories of her mother in ROTJ. “Beautiful but sad.” She didn’t get any more face time than Luke did, and I find it hard to believe she got those impressions in the milisecond where Padme named her.

That one isn't even the biggest one for me as it could just be the way Leia's jedi-ness works. The biggest one for me is when Ben says (in ESB) "That boy is our last hope." and yoda responds, "no there is another." O-k-a-y, noe we see that Ben was actually AT the birth of the twins. Did he just forget suddenly?

[sodascouts]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I though the Jimmy Smits character said to wipe the droids memories in that scene on the ship -- but I could be wrong here

He just said the protocol droid, unless I heard wrong.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by thepoetinmyhear

. . .
That one isn't even the biggest one for me as it could just be the way Leia's jedi-ness works. The biggest one for me is when Ben says (in ESB) "That boy is our last hope." and yoda responds, "no there is another." O-k-a-y, noe we see that Ben was actually AT the birth of the twins. Did he just forget suddenly?

I got the feeling when he said that in ESB that Ben knew and was thinking the same thing. But, it has been awhile since I saw it.

[sodascouts]

Originally Posted by thepoetinmyhear

That one isn't even the biggest one for me as it could just be the way Leia's jedi-ness works. The biggest one for me is when Ben says (in ESB) "That boy is our last hope." and yoda responds, "no there is another." O-k-a-y, noe we see that Ben was actually AT the birth of the twins. Did he just forget suddenly?

Good catch! Although maybe Ben is a sexist.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by sodascouts

He just said the protocol droid, unless I heard wrong.

You probably heard it correctly and misheard the word protocol But, didn't R2 have something done to him by the sand people on Tatooine?

[sodascouts]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

You probably heard it correctly and misheard the word protocol But, didn't R2 have something done to him by the sand people on Tatooine?

They fitted him with a restraining bolt but that did not affect his memory. It simply forced him to comply with their remote-control gadget. lol

[dissention]

Originally Posted by Moony

OMG ME Too! I just saw it with my little bro.... awesome movie. I LOVED it. So sad and depressign though.

I felt a little uncomfortable watching it with three year olds in the audience, though.

Originally Posted by Moony

What? Can this be? *dies* Are you finally going to come around now ?

Never. I just thought he was good in it.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by macfanken

"The Empire Strikes Back" is the only Star Wars movie with decent acting IMO. I saw it recently on DVD, the first time I had seen it in years... compared to the new trilogy, the acting in "Empire" is almost Oscar-worthy! I think by "Return of the Jedi" most of the actors had gotten lazy in their roles or were under the influence of something and it definitely shows in their performances. As far as the new trilogy is concerned, all of the blame goes to Lucas... he really had some great, talented actors to work with. He seems to have a knack for getting the worst possible performance from his actors.

ps. I'm saying all of this without having seen the new movie... the theaters here are sold out until Monday.

He's much like Demille in that he couldn't direct an actor if his life depended on it. In the end, a bad performance is mostly due to the director and Lucas is the pits. Granted, it doesn't help that his actors have to spew out those horrid scripts that he writes. But I was pleasantly surprised with the acting in this new one, and hopefully you are, too.