Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Happydude
seeing as how i haven't watched any of the other SW movies...or at least haven't payed attention when watching them, i don't think i'll be seeing this one until after i see the rest in the order that they were released....and that's not going to be anytime soon, i'm way too lazy to go rent them.
|
Just see the third movie. The other two aren't worth it, and Episode III's plot isn't so complicated that you need to see two whole other movies to understand it. In fact, all you need to know is:
Anakin (played by Hayden Christiansen) - he turns into Darth Vader. Right now, he's a regular Jedi.
Padme (played by Natalie Portman) - Anakin loves her. He loves her a lot.
Obi Wan Kenobi (played by Ewan McGregor) - He trained Anakin.
Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious (played by Ian Mcdiarmid) - he's EEEEEEEEEVIL.
General Grievous (voiced by some tech guy) - he's an organic thing in a droid or something like that, and he leads the droid army. Personally, I think he's doing this because he's mad about having such a silly name.
Count Dooku (played by Christopher Lee) - he's even more badass than Sarumon. Unfortunately, he doesn't stick around long enough to get mad about his even sillier name.
Clone Army (played by Temeura Morrison) - they're a bunch of clones of Boba Fett's dad. And they dress like Stormtroopers because, well, that's what they are.
There's also Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu, but he's just a dude on the council. And there's also Yoda, but you don't need to know his exact history or anything. You can just sit back and watch him doing the Yoda thing.
Anyway, I liked the movie overall, and I didn't really like the first two that much in the end. It has some great moments. The first shot of the two ships flying along and then looking downwards to see moviedom's most massive space battle was well done. The lightsaber battles got a little rote towards the end, but they were also well done. The Order 66 sequence was awesome to behold, and John Williams outdid himself with the music there (you may not be able to sing the music from that part right now, but I guarantee that music had an effect while you were watching it). Obi Wan's last words to Anakin were touching and hit all the right notes. Plus, all the fanservice was fun to watch (although it got annoying after a while because there was this one woman to my right who did three little happy claps every time she saw something she recognized from the original trilogy. Lady, it's just a guy named Antilles!).
Moreover, there was some actual good acting going on in here. It won't win any awards, but Ewan McGregor was channeling Sir Alec Guinness almost perfectly. And I am now convinced that the Force was at work when Ian McDiarmid was cast as the original Emperor in Return of the Jedi. They both have scenes that they knock totally out of the park.
Samuel L. Jackson, unfortunately, is still completely wasted.
Now about Hayden Christiansen and Natalie Portman: there will probably be some debate about how well either did their jobs. Personally, I think they can both act just fine. Check out Christiansen in Shattered Glass or Portman in Closer for which she received an Oscar nomination (and deserved it). These are two young people who can act and can even look like they love each other. But the dialogue they are forced to speak! More experienced actors can get their way around Lucas' dialogue, but it's too much for these two lovers. And I can't help remembering how interesting all the sparks and one liners flying between Princess Leia and Han Solo were.
Anakin's turn to the Dark Side also ended up being murkier than it had to be. The scene where he swears allegiance to Darth Sidious went too fast. He had just killed someone, and then Lucas has him suddenly kneel down and swear fealty. I ended up sort of understanding on an intellectual level why he become Darth Vader, but it all could have been much better developed and that scene in particular should have taken more time.
As for the infamous "NOOOOO!" line: yep. Cheesy. The thing is, that kind of thing has been done before. When Qui Gon Jinn was killed in The Phantom Menace, Obi Wan screamed out the same way. In that case, it worked just fine. Ok, so Ewan McGregor is a good actor. How about Mark Hamill? He had the same reaction to "Luke, I am your father." But that also worked just fine. Something about the delivery and the camera work when Darth Vader said it just made the whole thing seem hokey. I think Deathshand has the right idea when he proposes making the whole scene silent right after Vader hears about his wife's death. Or if he had to say the word "no," it could have been a quiet moment where he falls to his knees or something and just whispers it out in between breaths. It's a shame, really, because everything up until that moment was just done so well from Anakin being left in a volcano to Darth Sidious finding him and laying a hand on his forehead to the transformation of his body.
Oh, and I was also starting to get annoyed by the screen wipes that were going on. Those kinds of things make sense when you're switching plot lines, but not when you're cutting in between scenes back and forth.
Overall, it was a good movie and a fitting end to the trilogy. Let's hope Lucas doesn't get any ideas about filming episodes 7-9 (he says he won't). Lucas may be the premiere special effects wizard, but I'm certain that another director, almost any other, really, could have done a better job with the acting, the dialogue and the pacing. Still, this one isn't bad. It could have been grand and great. It could have been as legendary as one of the original movies. But instead, it's just good. Frankly, if this hadn't had the name Star Wars attached to it, I think it would have still drawn attention but also would have ended up being just another science fiction action adventure to be forgotten in a decade.
Star Wars *Spoilers*
Hybrid Mode
