![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flewellynWell, today I saw Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Roman Numera^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HSith. Today, I saw the last movie. Today, I finally
saw how it all came together. Today, the saga finally, finally ended.
Now, I know exactly how much you're all dying to hear what I thought. But, I'm gonna tell you anyway.
First off, before the cut tag, let me say that Lucas is at his best, in my opinion, when he's dark. Dark, moody, painful movies are where he comes into his own. He really can't do happy,
not well. This doesn't mean he's a good director (he'd be a great director of animation or special effects), but it does mean that his films are most enjoyable
when his characters are most upset and angsty, and when ominous and terrible things are happening. So, Episode I: sucked. Episode II: good but uneven. Episode III: still on the level of cinematic junk food, but nonetheless ROCKED!
It wasn't perfect, of course: some of the dialog was rather stilted and some of the acting was rather poor, but these are things which we've all come to expect from Star Wars, even at its best. So, good points and bad points.
Good: Surprisingly, Hayden Christiansen was...watchable. He was quite decent, in fact. If I were the Academy, I wouldn't be knocking on his door with a Best Actor nomination, but on the other hand, he was (I think) better than Leonardo DiCaprio in "Titanic", and look how they fellated that one! Anyway, in "Clones", Christiansen struck me as mostly whiney. He didn't seem so much "future Dark Lord of the Sith" as "spoiled teenaged brat". Here, though, he was more genuinely torn. I genuinely cared about what happened to him, and why he made the choices he did.
Bad: Why, oh why, oh why do they not give Natalie Portman something to DO?! All she does for most of the film is look hot (which she does amazingly well) and sympathetic. And, of course, tearful. She's a great actress, if you give her something to work with, but she was wasted here. Eye-candy aside.
Good: Ian McDiarmid and Ewan McGregor were quite good. McDiarmid's Palpatine was both believable (within the confines of the Star Wars universe idea of believability, that is) and deviously vicious. He was, indeed, pure buttery evil. I always wondered, when seeing "Jedi", how this guy could have taken over a galaxy. Well, now I know. And McGregor's Obi-Wan was a splendid hero, both disarmingly amusing and all-around badass.
Bad: They killed off Count Dooku too soon! You don't waste Christopher Lee like that! Same problem that he had with "Return of the King", I suppose; he plays such good villains that, if they're lackeys, they have to be killed off quickly so that the real villian has a chance to shine. In his next villain role, he should be the evil master, dammit!
Good: Mace Windu's death scene. Now THIS was a Jedi who I could see engraving his lightsabre with "Bad Motherfucker". Palpatine made chop suey out of three Jedi masters in rapid succession, and Windu not only fought him off, but actually won! If Anakin hadn't done the whole betrayal thing, he would have killed the Emperor! Yeah, he definitely earned his robe there. Only thing that would have been better is if he'd said "Does Yoda look like a bitch?! Then why you trying to fuck him like one?!"
Bad: Padme's death scene. YAWN. I know it's mean, but I was hoping she'd check out in a more exciting manner. I was hoping, honestly, that Vader would kill her, directly. Something nice and brutal, to signify the change was complete. But, oh, well, guess we couldn't have that. Mustn't spoil the record of Natalie Portman having nothing exciting to do, ever, eh what?
Good: R2D2 kicking ass. I think he was always my favorite character, in a way. Spunky, creative, clever, and with a wry sense of humor. The fact that he only beeps and squeaks doesn't detract from this at all.
Bad: The opening space battle was...errr....a bit hard to follow. And confused. And, dare I say, almost uninteresting. Also: General Grievous? What the hey?
Good: Lucas actually had the guts to show Anakin get ready to kill the younglings. There's your PG-13 right there. (This doesn't mean I like it when kids die; it's just that, in so many movies, the little kid always escapes, it's become hackneyed, and it was nice to see Lucas, the king of hackneyed, actually NOT do something formulaic for once.)
Bad: Droids cannot learn the Jedi arts, dammit! The Force is supposed to be of LIVING things! Oh, but here I go, getting upset about inconsistencies in Star Wars...that'll learn me.
Good: Wookies.
Bad: They said "midichlorians". Again! Dammit, Lucas!
Well, that's basically my thoughts: good action flick, very Star Wars, almost as good as "Empire". Now, why can't we have current George Lucas go back in time and bitchslap the George Lucas of 1999 and 2002, huh? Show himself how to do things? OH, well, I'm sure someone will write a fanfic about that. I pray it's not a slashfic...
saw how it all came together. Today, the saga finally, finally ended.
Now, I know exactly how much you're all dying to hear what I thought. But, I'm gonna tell you anyway.
First off, before the cut tag, let me say that Lucas is at his best, in my opinion, when he's dark. Dark, moody, painful movies are where he comes into his own. He really can't do happy,
not well. This doesn't mean he's a good director (he'd be a great director of animation or special effects), but it does mean that his films are most enjoyable
when his characters are most upset and angsty, and when ominous and terrible things are happening. So, Episode I: sucked. Episode II: good but uneven. Episode III: still on the level of cinematic junk food, but nonetheless ROCKED!
It wasn't perfect, of course: some of the dialog was rather stilted and some of the acting was rather poor, but these are things which we've all come to expect from Star Wars, even at its best. So, good points and bad points.
Good: Surprisingly, Hayden Christiansen was...watchable. He was quite decent, in fact. If I were the Academy, I wouldn't be knocking on his door with a Best Actor nomination, but on the other hand, he was (I think) better than Leonardo DiCaprio in "Titanic", and look how they fellated that one! Anyway, in "Clones", Christiansen struck me as mostly whiney. He didn't seem so much "future Dark Lord of the Sith" as "spoiled teenaged brat". Here, though, he was more genuinely torn. I genuinely cared about what happened to him, and why he made the choices he did.
Bad: Why, oh why, oh why do they not give Natalie Portman something to DO?! All she does for most of the film is look hot (which she does amazingly well) and sympathetic. And, of course, tearful. She's a great actress, if you give her something to work with, but she was wasted here. Eye-candy aside.
Good: Ian McDiarmid and Ewan McGregor were quite good. McDiarmid's Palpatine was both believable (within the confines of the Star Wars universe idea of believability, that is) and deviously vicious. He was, indeed, pure buttery evil. I always wondered, when seeing "Jedi", how this guy could have taken over a galaxy. Well, now I know. And McGregor's Obi-Wan was a splendid hero, both disarmingly amusing and all-around badass.
Bad: They killed off Count Dooku too soon! You don't waste Christopher Lee like that! Same problem that he had with "Return of the King", I suppose; he plays such good villains that, if they're lackeys, they have to be killed off quickly so that the real villian has a chance to shine. In his next villain role, he should be the evil master, dammit!
Good: Mace Windu's death scene. Now THIS was a Jedi who I could see engraving his lightsabre with "Bad Motherfucker". Palpatine made chop suey out of three Jedi masters in rapid succession, and Windu not only fought him off, but actually won! If Anakin hadn't done the whole betrayal thing, he would have killed the Emperor! Yeah, he definitely earned his robe there. Only thing that would have been better is if he'd said "Does Yoda look like a bitch?! Then why you trying to fuck him like one?!"
Bad: Padme's death scene. YAWN. I know it's mean, but I was hoping she'd check out in a more exciting manner. I was hoping, honestly, that Vader would kill her, directly. Something nice and brutal, to signify the change was complete. But, oh, well, guess we couldn't have that. Mustn't spoil the record of Natalie Portman having nothing exciting to do, ever, eh what?
Good: R2D2 kicking ass. I think he was always my favorite character, in a way. Spunky, creative, clever, and with a wry sense of humor. The fact that he only beeps and squeaks doesn't detract from this at all.
Bad: The opening space battle was...errr....a bit hard to follow. And confused. And, dare I say, almost uninteresting. Also: General Grievous? What the hey?
Good: Lucas actually had the guts to show Anakin get ready to kill the younglings. There's your PG-13 right there. (This doesn't mean I like it when kids die; it's just that, in so many movies, the little kid always escapes, it's become hackneyed, and it was nice to see Lucas, the king of hackneyed, actually NOT do something formulaic for once.)
Bad: Droids cannot learn the Jedi arts, dammit! The Force is supposed to be of LIVING things! Oh, but here I go, getting upset about inconsistencies in Star Wars...that'll learn me.
Good: Wookies.
Bad: They said "midichlorians". Again! Dammit, Lucas!
Well, that's basically my thoughts: good action flick, very Star Wars, almost as good as "Empire". Now, why can't we have current George Lucas go back in time and bitchslap the George Lucas of 1999 and 2002, huh? Show himself how to do things? OH, well, I'm sure someone will write a fanfic about that. I pray it's not a slashfic...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-05-23 10:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-23 10:50 pm (UTC)the fiend
wheeze hack wheeze
no subject
Date: 2005-05-24 05:39 am (UTC)As for why the beginning was hard to follow, that is because most of what transpired beforehand occurred in the cartoon network's "Clone Wars" micro-series. Showing more detail on the cyborg general, having you met and grow fond of several other jedi (well at least I did), and leading up to the abduction of Palpatine by Grievous. Of course it wasn't very nice of Lucas to assume everyone caught the cartoon series so shame on him there.
I will also say the humor when it was there in this one wasn't so forced...most likely because Jar-Jar didn't really speak and C3PO didn't say any cheesey lines either, like the one in "Clones" when he said, "this is such a drag".
Oy, who wrote this shit I recall thinking...then I realized ah yes Lucas catering to the kiddies. Which is all well and good in a Disney movie but I mean come on!
There were a few questions I'd have liked to be answer that weren't but ah well. Such as how did Grievious come to be? When did Dooku and Sidious get together and decide to be all Sithy? Did any other jedi survive?
Ah well...questions to answers likely not forthcoming.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-24 07:03 pm (UTC)I was disappointed that Jar-Jar didn't get killed, but oh, well.
HI
Date: 2005-06-20 09:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 11:54 pm (UTC)*shake* He lasted as long as he did because Palpatine needed him to "beat" him in front of Anakin. He "might" have been able to take Palpatine if the Emporer actually fought, but Palpatine gave up, so as to be in a cowering position to make Anakin betray the Jedi. Once he did that, and Palpatine killed Windu, he had crossed over. As proof, Palpatine fought Yoda to a standstill, and since Yoda could beat Windu ...
Bad: Droids cannot learn the Jedi arts, dammit!
Knowing how to use a lightsaber is not the sabe as using the force. It just means you swing it really fast.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 01:35 am (UTC)Still say that Mace Windu rocked.