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Peter Bradshaw's review of Episode III in the GUARDIAN

#1 User is offline   ernesttomlinson Icon

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Posted 13 May 2005 - 02:44 AM

I've read the Guardian off and on both in print and online for a number of years. Peter Bradshaw, its resident film critic, is of a sort I don't care for much, supercilious and contemptuous, but in his review of Revenge of the Sith he gives us this astute comment:

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So why does Anakin desert the forces of light? It is his passionate love and concern for his pregnant wife, Princess Amidala, coupled with a sense of his own slighted dignity that are to be the tragic and fateful factors leading to the most unconvincing evil act you can imagine, an event weirdly neutralised by the bloodless unreality that surrounds everything. The vicious Anakin massacres - oh, horror! - a bunch of innocent Jedi children.


"Bloodless unreality". That's why the scene where Anakin ostensibly slaughters all the Tusken raiders is so flat and lifeless - everything else in the movie is flat and lifeless. Here's this bloodthirsty, vindictive act impressive only for leaving no impression. No doubt this slaughter of children is just as lifeless a scene.
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#2 User is offline   Lord Melkor Icon

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Posted 13 May 2005 - 06:24 AM

QUOTE (ernesttomlinson @ May 13 2005, 08:44 AM)
I've read the Guardian off and on both in print and online for a number of years.  Peter Bradshaw, its resident film critic, is of a sort I don't care for much, supercilious and contemptuous, but in his review of Revenge of the Sith he gives us this astute comment:
"Bloodless unreality".  That's why the scene where Anakin ostensibly slaughters all the Tusken raiders is so flat and lifeless - everything else in the movie is flat and lifeless.  Here's this bloodthirsty, vindictive act impressive only for leaving no impression.  No doubt this slaughter of children is just as lifeless a scene.


Why are you guys focusing only on negatives in the reviews, there more positive ones?

Do you want to hate this film before you see it?
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#3 User is offline   barend Icon

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Posted 13 May 2005 - 06:49 AM

not at all...

personally if i want to read a book or see a film, i always go for the negative review.

there's no point reading a 100% posative review because you won't learn anything.

negatives will adress the issues at hand.

if someone lists something they hate that you know is something you would like, you'll know it's okay. people who focus on the good never explain adequatley why something is good...

eg. saying the effects are spectacular means they were enough to impress someone i don't know that much about.
whereas if someone notes the weakness in the special effects you can assitain the sophistication of the effects.

welcome aboard BTW.

and totally cool choice of name...

It suggests you may enjoy my parody of:
Lord of the Rings
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#4 User is offline   Lord Melkor Icon

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Posted 13 May 2005 - 07:03 AM

Edited

Can I delete posts on this forum?

This post has been edited by Lord Melkor: 13 May 2005 - 07:05 AM

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#5 User is offline   Storm Icon

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Posted 13 May 2005 - 12:17 PM

QUOTE (Lord Melkor @ May 13 2005, 06:24 AM)
Why are you guys focusing only  on negatives in the reviews, there more positive ones?

Do you want to hate this film before you see it?

Most people do want to hate this movie before they see it. So far I've noticed that everyone gets annoyed when there is a good review of the film and seem to be jumping with joy when there is a bad review.
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#6 User is offline   Sagacity Icon

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Posted 13 May 2005 - 12:48 PM

I don't get annoyed about it; those reviews don't tell me anything. Right now, for me, the negative ones have the ring of truth. In the end, I think the truth will be somewhere in the middle. Toward the Dark Side. shifty.gif

This post has been edited by Sagacity: 13 May 2005 - 12:48 PM

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#7 User is offline   StarWarsIsUs Icon

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Posted 13 May 2005 - 01:11 PM

""Most people do want to hate this movie before they see it. So far I've noticed that everyone gets annoyed when there is a good review of the film and seem to be jumping with joy when there is a bad review. ""

I agree with you totally. Doesn't it make you slightly embarassed to be posting here in these forums? I know it does me. Even though I'm a total basher, I'm still giving this movie a chance. Looks as if our friends here have already made up their minds that they will not like it.
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#8 User is offline   Storm Icon

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Posted 13 May 2005 - 01:27 PM

QUOTE (StarWarsIsUs @ May 13 2005, 01:11 PM)
""Most people do want to hate this movie before they see it. So far I've noticed that everyone gets annoyed when there is a good review of the film and seem to be jumping with joy when there is a bad review. ""

I agree with you totally. Doesn't it make you slightly embarassed to be posting here in these forums? I know it does me. Even though I'm a total basher, I'm still giving this movie a chance. Looks as if our friends here have already made up their minds that they will not like it.

Yes, it is slightly embarassing at times. But I laugh at the people who have made up their minds that they are going to hate it, yet are STILL going to see the movie. This would be the equivalent of me wasting $13.95 to go see "Kate & Leopold".

Honestly, in order for me to like the movie I want to see the following things:

1. Mace Windu to die a horrible death.
2. Yoda to at least get slightly beaten up.
3. See an Imperial Star Destroyer that I am familiar with from the OT.
4. An intense space battle.
5. The Darth Vader mask (obviously this is a given).
6. Count Dooku to defeat Obi-Wan in a lightsaber duel...again.

It doesn't matter how bad the movie is, it can't possibly be worse than Attack of the Clones. And I also recently saw "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", so pretty much any other science fiction film has to be more entertaining than that.

If I really wanted to, I could come up with 50 flaws in "A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back".

This post has been edited by Storm: 13 May 2005 - 01:38 PM

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#9 User is offline   ernesttomlinson Icon

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Posted 13 May 2005 - 02:39 PM

I posted that comment of Bradshaw's largely because, with a few changed words, it exactly describes a scene from Episode II, as I say above. I think it's fair to conjecture that the analogous scene in Episode III will be just as bad.
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#10 User is offline   StarWarsIsUs Icon

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Posted 13 May 2005 - 03:28 PM

"" I think it's fair to conjecture that the analogous scene in Episode III will be just as bad.""

I do not think it is fair. It is unfair, if anything. I agree with you, if you apply those things to AOTC, but to apply them to ROTS, is like punishing a child for something they haven't done yet. It's like making your kid stand in the corner, because you know he will not rinch out his cereal bowl when he is done, even though he hasn't commited that mistake yet.

This post has been edited by StarWarsIsUs: 13 May 2005 - 03:30 PM

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#11 User is offline   jxw Icon

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Posted 13 May 2005 - 03:48 PM

QUOTE (Storm @ May 13 2005, 12:17 PM)
Most people do want to hate this movie before they see it.  So far I've noticed that everyone gets annoyed when there is a good review of the film and seem to be jumping with joy when there is a bad review.


Take a look at Rotten Tomatoes for TPM. Masses of positive reviews. Now look at AOTC. Masses of positive reviews. Loads of references to how it solved the problems with TPM. How it's a much better film.

Now let's look back with hindsight. TPM wasn't too bad, it was just too long winded and it had Jar-Jar Binks in it. It still wasn't very good though. AOTC was bloody dreadful from beginning to end.

The critics who are slagging off this film are the ones that have learned from experience. They understand the problems with the first two films and can see that nothing has fundamentally changed. The critics who are praising it (as they did TPM and AOTC) will damn it in a couple of years time (the same as they have done with TPM and AOTC).

If ROTS is the masterpiece some reviewers are touting it as, I will come here and praise it (after eating my hat). I think it is far more likely though that next year, the majority of people will admit that ROTS was a disappointment (yes, another one).

Unless George Lucas has dramatically changed in the last three years, I can pretty much guarantee that ROTS is not going to be very good. I can well imagine that in years to come, it will be regarded as the worst of all the Star Wars films. Whatever the case, as Chefelf has said, this film cannot rescue the prequels, however good it is.
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#12 User is offline   The Other Icon

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Posted 13 May 2005 - 04:31 PM

Well said jxw. I personally want ROTS to be good. I want it to have that spark that the OT has, but as I read more of the reviews and look at what it has as its base (TPM and AOTC) I find myself taking the realists view that it's going to be mediocre at best.
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