Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Like any good geek

So, tonight I saw Star Wars Episode III. I want to say that I was going in with low expectations. I tried awfully damn hard to lower my expectations fo the film, but I failed. But not completely. I went in just totally confused. And then in a matter of seconds, I had made up my mind and destroyed the entire popcorn staff.

Ok. I kid. About the killing that is. I entered unsure of what would be. Would I hate it or love it and in the end, I say neither. In the end, I enjoyed many scenes. I enjoyed the story. I felt what I think George Lucas wanted me to feel. Deep down Anakin still lived and that he was and still is a confused teenager trapped in so many lies.

What I hated. Dialog. Still. I also disliked that many scenes felt stilted and not fully fleshed out. Like he wanted one more movie to tie it together and just strung together the parts and pieces to attempt something greater, and missed. The acting felt better, but still vast room for improvement and I honestly don't blame the actors but the directing. Sometimes you should let the actors portray what they think the character would. The director is best when they explain the reasons and the actor believes, and vice versa as well. Hard line direction often leads to lack of full characterization.

Will you love this film? How the heck do I know? I will watch this again (on DVD, and pray that they have some extended scenes). I will hate Lucas, if he releases a special edition. Then my view that he has turned to the dark side will be complete. The evil money empire and it's Lord of the Sith.

So what do we have the 4, 5, and 6? We have 3 different versions that all minted fortunes and I fear the same for these as Lucas matures and his vision changes. I may believe that executives corrupted his vision for the films for original release, but I sure don't believe the special rerelease is his original vision. It is just a product of the time in between and the time long ago to create something not quite right.

So. Go spend the money and see. You may be disappointed, but you will at least be entertained if not enjoy it.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Have not seen it yet, and probably won't until it comes out on DVD. Although Spencer has so many damn Star Wars III Lego sets that I already know all the characters, the story line, the planets, the vehicles, etc. I'm dying to see what the Clone Turbo Tank really looks like (it's cool as a lego set).

Feedback from others I've talked to is that it's worth seeing. We'll see... I heard that from people on the first two =)

Princess Blogonoke said...

I agree wholeheartedly. The dialogue was super crappy. You're breaking my heart! Blah.
I'm pregnant. (guy) It's not a curse, it's a blessing! Blah.

Crap, crap and more crap. If I wanted to see crappy dialogue like that, I'd write it myself.

What entertained me the most from this movie was the special effects. Those were awesome. I really liked the iguana thing that Obi Wan rode on that one planet. I don't know why, but that giant iguana was awesome. Iguanas rock!

Unknown said...

If I wrote it, it would have to have more stupid dialog, such as:

Obi-wan (after hearing that it is Anakin's baby): I knew we should have made him a eunuch.

or

Emperor: Anakin, I might be your father.

ish said...

It was stilted a bit, but I thought it was way better than the previous two. It wasn't award winning but I didn't think it was distracting either.

I think bad dialogue is like the car you just bought. Once you start looking you notice it everywhere. But it wasn't really that bad. Use the same filter on 4,5,6 and you'd be upset too.

Compare:
It's not a curse, its a blessing.
...
I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything is soft and smooth
--
The first is trite, slightly cold, true. But the second is fully cringe-inducing. There was a definite improvement and it wasn't really a distraction the way it was before.