So I finally saw Episode III

[tracilicious]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

Sorry for the long post...

No! I'm loving this, and all the other reviews in this thread. I agree with so much of this stuff.

Were the special effects not that good? I'm easy to impress I suppose, and found the backdrops to be quite pretty.

I too loved R2D2! He was the only comic relief in the movie. They had a big opportunity to provide comic relief in Obi Wan's character because Obi seems like a whimsical kind of guy, but they failed big time. Instead he just comes across as a doofus.

I was quite disappointed in the Jedi massacre as well. Aren't Jedi supposed to be able to sense evil plots? There was a deleted scene with a female Jedi that was just terrible. I was so glad they didn't put that in.

Even though the movie clearly couldn't stand on its own, I still enjoyed it. Probably because it gives us more backstory for 4, 5, and 6. What I'm wondering is that since it is apparently obvious to every single person on earth except for George Lucas that the dialogue sucks hard, why didn't anyone mention it to him? Is he really that much of a god in Hollywood that no one is going to bring up these terrible flaws?

I'll say that I liked it better than two. Just because in two Annakin bugged the ever living crap out of me, and he did less so in three. Even though two makes more sense story wise. I liked one. You get a sense of excitement when you see him as a small boy and wonder how he became so dark. It's too bad the next two are such a disappointment. It's like they left an hour of film out that shows us why he turned. Especially the first kill (Dooku?). He debates for like a second and then throws his training out the window? I don't buy it. After that, I half expected him to leave Obi for dead.

I'm gonna go watch four now!

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

Is he really that much of a god in Hollywood that no one is going to bring up these terrible flaws?

That's the thing, this wasn't really made "in Hollywood". He funded it, he shot it. The only reason he involved anyone else was for Fox's distribution network. I heard an interview with a Fox exec who said that Lucas just completely blew off anyone who tried to talk to him about the movie. The man's a complete egomaniac, he thinks he's god's gift to movie making at this point and obviously doesn't listen to anyone's input.

[tracilicious]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

That's the thing, this wasn't really made "in Hollywood". He funded it, he shot it. The only reason he involved anyone else was for Fox's distribution network. I heard an interview with a Fox exec who said that Lucas just completely blew off anyone who tried to talk to him about the movie. The man's a complete egomaniac, he thinks he's god's gift to movie making at this point and obviously doesn't listen to anyone's input.

Ah, now I see. One of my favorite SNL skits of all time was the one where they made fun of George Lucas. He called himself God the entire time. I guess it isn't too far off from the truth.

Alex, I suppose the focusing on special effects worked, because there were moments in the movie where I found myself watching the background and forgetting about what the characters were saying.

I watched episode IV last night (or at least most of it, I fell asleep). It is such a fun movie. There's comedy and whimsy that is completely lacking in 2 and 3. It isn't like the world is any better in 4, 5, and 6 either. In fact it's worse. Did Lucas actually write these himself?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

Did Lucas actually write these himself?

Lucas wrote and directed the very first Star Wars script himself. And if you watch it objectively, you can see that it's the least polished of the original trilogy in terms of dialog, direction, and cinematography. However, all of those could easily be ignored due to the novelty and genius of the wholly original presentation of the story.

For Empire and Jedi, Lucas has a story writing and producing credit. The scripting and directing were handed off. IMO, the dialog, writing, direction, edtiing, etc. are superior in both of those movies. However, I tend not to compare them as a whole to the original because, well, it's the original and like I said I'm willing to forgive Star Wars some of its flaws because of the level of originality.

Then comes the prequels. Not only was Lucas never a particularly good screenplay writer or director to begin with, he has done neither for decades so he's even worse. He's insulated himself from the movie making world (heck, from any aspect of the real world) to an extreme degree. He's allowed his ego to grow to galactic proportions. So, completely forgetting the rather brilliant move he made for Empire and Jedi, he refuses to relinquish those roles and insists on doing it "his way". Feh.

We all should have seen this coming with the Special Editions. That was his true vision? That's what he truly wanted? Thank the lucky stars that at the time he made the original trilogy, he had budget restrictions and a studio to answer to to reign him in.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

Were the special effects not that good? I'm easy to impress I suppose, and found the backdrops to be quite pretty.

It isn't that they're bad, just that they're frequently unnecessary and sometimes distracting.

It is funny that in regular films the director usually does everything possible to screen out the confusion of the real world so that you can focus on exactly what you're supposed to. In computer animated films (and in many ways the last three Star Wars are just CG movies) to show off the technical skill as much of the distracting world as possible is crammed into the frame.