Attack of the Clones rant, revisited.

Eliza Hodgkins 1812 · 03-28-2005, 01:29 PM

It comes down to this:

Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and RotJ were FUN, the actors were FUN, and the characters were FUN. And I cared about all of them.

The new movies? The characters are a drag, save Yoda. And some of the Jedi. And instead of thinking the characters are FUN, I think, "Christensen, I've seen you in Shattered Glass and Life as a House, so I KNOW you can act. Better than this. I KNOW THIS! Portman, I've recently seen you in Garden State and Closer, and you gave two of the best female performances I'd seen all year, so I KNOW you can REALLY act. Ewan. EWAN! How can you now reflect any of Guinness' affability, charm, gravity, interest? When I know for a fact you can be affable, charming, weighty, and interesting?"

I must blame the bad writing and the bad directing. Why Lucas suddenly needed complete control over everything is beyond me. He used to work with more people, yes? The fact is, maybe it's the fun factor, but I never notice any painfully bad acting watching the other three films. Not even from Hamill.

But Christensen, McGregor, and Portam are fine actors in their own right, and whether they're characters are just sucky and boring, or the writing is terrible, or they have NO idea how to behave with blue screens, I have no idea. But the fun factor is seriously missing, save for a few memorable moments in Attack of the Clones that I really, really liked.

But one would assume that if Jackson directed the prequels, they'd have been better.

I blame Lucas.

Ghoulish Delight · 03-28-2005, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eliza Hodgkins 1812

But the fun factor is seriously missing,

Definitely bears repeating. Lucas took himself a little too seriously. All the fun is gone from the main characters. That's why Jar-Jar and 3PO's slapstick in the prequels stands out as SO much worse in the prequels than any of the comic relief in the originals. It's not because there wasn't comedy in the OT. It's because in the OT, the comedy wasn't "comic relief", it was integrated into ALL the characters. Han, Leia, Luke, 3PO, Chewbaca. They all had light hearted moments, lots of them. In the prequels, everyone seems "too important" to make quips and have silly banter, so all of it is lumped into either Jar-Jar or 3PO. So instead of comic relief, you get out of place slapstick. And instead of fun likeable characters, you get uninteresting blocks of wood whose emotions range all the way from angry to annoyed.

Kevy Baby · 03-28-2005, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eliza Hodgkins 1812

I blame Lucas.

Blame Canada!

Cadaverous Pallor · 03-29-2005, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

Blame Canada!

I suppose you could blame Italy, since they filmed some of it there.

03-28-2005, 01:29 PM	#1
Eliza Hodgkins 1812 Sputnik Sweetheart Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Long Beach Posts: 2,685	It comes down to this: Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and RotJ were FUN, the actors were FUN, and the characters were FUN. And I cared about all of them. The new movies? The characters are a drag, save Yoda. And some of the Jedi. And instead of thinking the characters are FUN, I think, "Christensen, I've seen you in Shattered Glass and Life as a House, so I KNOW you can act. Better than this. I KNOW THIS! Portman, I've recently seen you in Garden State and Closer, and you gave two of the best female performances I'd seen all year, so I KNOW you can REALLY act. Ewan. EWAN! How can you now reflect any of Guinness' affability, charm, gravity, interest? When I know for a fact you can be affable, charming, weighty, and interesting?" I must blame the bad writing and the bad directing. Why Lucas suddenly needed complete control over everything is beyond me. He used to work with more people, yes? The fact is, maybe it's the fun factor, but I never notice any painfully bad acting watching the other three films. Not even from Hamill. But Christensen, McGregor, and Portam are fine actors in their own right, and whether they're characters are just sucky and boring, or the writing is terrible, or they have NO idea how to behave with blue screens, I have no idea. But the fun factor is seriously missing, save for a few memorable moments in Attack of the Clones that I really, really liked. But one would assume that if Jackson directed the prequels, they'd have been better. I blame Lucas.
	Submit to Quotes