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#1 User is offline   Vwing Icon

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Posted 19 May 2005 - 04:49 PM

Alright, let's get to it. Most of you know me, those who don't, here's the gist. I love Return of the Jedi, didn't hate Episode I or II but strongly disliked them, a dislike that has grown every time I've watched them.

Episode III furthers my dislike of the 2 other prequels. But hey, in baseball, .333's a damn good average. And I couldn't be happier this movie was made.

But I didn't feel that way until after at least the first 30 minutes. The opening scrawl sucked. The space battle sucked. I thought the red Star Destroyer was a big lego when the 2 Jedi fighters flew over it. Some of the effects were brilliant, but for the most part it was just plain old boring, even more boring, I would say, than some of the scenes in Episode I and II. The only saving grace was how at ease Anakin and Obi-Wan were, and it showed them as they should have been: calm, collected, and friendly.

R2's antics were ok, but certainly not hilarious, and I was almost embarassed by the battle droids.

So then we get to Dooku, in a very short, not-at-all emotional lightsaber duel. The ending draws some good parallels to ROTJ, but still has no true emotional resonance. The battle ends, and we go to Coruscant.

And all of a sudden, ROTS becomes a great movie. From the crap that was the beginning, we get a wonderful film.

Anakin's and Padme's scenes in AOTC are horrible. Their scenes in ROTS, however, are horrible only if you want them to be horrible. Not only did I not dislike their scenes, I liked them. Yes that's right. I liked the romance. Well, most of it. There was still the occasional horrible line, or overacting, or underacting, but for the most part, they were actually good scenes, helped immensely by a great atmosphere and wonderful music by John Williams (which, by the way, the album does not justice to whatsoever).

The movie packs a punch. Like JAWF said, no one spoke at the end. No one clapped. People just either sat in their seats quietly while the credits rolled, or walked out silently and slowly. And though this will sound ludicrous, that's exactly the reaction Million Dollar Baby and Crash got when I saw them. This is a tragedy. You're not supposed to clap. Oh, I smiled. As a Star Wars fan, you get plenty of excuses to smile. But you don't clap.

I had 2 problems with the movie. One was the beginning, as I said. The other was Anakin's very abrupt turn to the Dark Side, which only makes me dislike Episodes I and II more, because it was THEIR job to show his gradual transformation. Lucas painted himself into a corner, and amazingly does get out of it, but by cutting corners here and there, and doing some things with the character that you must suspend disbelief for.

Vader's birth, when you see him in the suit, is a fabulous scene. It's played over the music from Qui-Gon's funeral, and is cut simultaneously with Padme's Death. Vader is supposed to be awkward, and to ask for him to be the imposing figure we know in the trilogy is ridiculous and blatant, ignorant prequel bashing. His movements, even his voice, despite being James Earl Jones, are those of a scarred young man unsure of himself, his new body, and new life. His NOOOOOOOOOOOO! scream was a bit cheesy, but it instantly fades away into beautiful music, and is made all the better for it. And I got goosebumps when they put on the mask, and we hear his breathing and his voice for the first time. It was extremely powerful.

The end, amazingly, leads almost perfectly into Episode IV, despite being 18 years behind it, ending with a powerful version of my favorite theme of the saga (I'll leave you to guess what that is). And despite my complaints about the beginning, and despite the action being less exciting than it should have been, this was a great movie, driven, amazingly, by the dialogue, performances, and atmosphere. I hate making generalizations, but I would almost think that any open-minded Star Wars fan would have to come away at least liking this movie. Even Chef, whose 2 main reasons to hate Episode III will almost certainly be
1. Episode I
2. Episode II

It doesn't redeem those 2 movies. It makes them worse by comparison. There is only one prequel, and it is this movie. It is Episode III.

EDIT: Yeah sorry, I have no idea how to do white text. So I'm settilng for the yellow. Don't look at the yellow if you don't want to see what happens. Again, sorry smile.gif.

This post has been edited by Vwing: 19 May 2005 - 04:59 PM

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#2 User is offline   Storm Icon

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Posted 19 May 2005 - 04:59 PM

I'm glad to hear you thought it was a great movie. The only thing I will disagree with you on is the Star Destroyer. I've been obsessed with these ships for 15 years or so, so you can imagine the response generated from me when the opening of the movie pans down from the ROTS text to an overhead view of a passing Star Destroyer.

I don't think these Star Destroyers look quite as good as the old one's, but they are a neat variation of them.
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#3 User is offline   Vwing Icon

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Posted 19 May 2005 - 05:08 PM

Actually, let me clarify, the VERY opening shot of the star destroyer, after you get the lens glare from the planet, looks fabulous. It was immediately after that, when the Jedi Starfighters are skimming its surface, that I thought it looked like a red lego. Any way you slice it, ROTJ is still, by leaps and bounds, especially over this one the best space battle ever in a movie. I wouldn't even put this one over the first Death Star attack. It was a whole lot of nothing.
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Posted 19 May 2005 - 05:31 PM

QUOTE (Vwing @ May 19 2005, 05:08 PM)
Actually, let me clarify, the VERY opening shot of the star destroyer, after you get the lens glare from the planet, looks fabulous.  It was immediately after that, when the Jedi Starfighters are skimming its surface, that I thought it looked like a red lego. 

Ah, okay.

QUOTE (Vwing @ May 19 2005, 05:08 PM)
Any way you slice it, ROTJ is still, by leaps and bounds, especially over this one the best space battle ever in a movie.  I wouldn't even put this one over the first Death Star attack.  It was a whole lot of nothing.

I agree with you. The ROTJ space battle is flawless. The Death Star attack in ANH is also pretty decent. However, I don't think the focus was on the space battle as much as it was on Anakin and Obi-Wan weaving their way through the fleet and attempting to board Dooku's flag ship. Regardless though, it was nice to see a space battle.
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#5 User is offline   StarWarsIsUs Icon

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Posted 19 May 2005 - 06:35 PM

Thanks, Vwing. I can tell that my review of ROTS will probably be very close to yours, since our writing style is oddly similar.
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#6 User is offline   SPQR Icon

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Posted 19 May 2005 - 07:58 PM

Lucas put himself in the movie, but at least he didn't try to act like that horrible director/actor Pollack.

That's about the best thing that didn't happen.

i wish there was a jawa for once
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#7 User is offline   Vwing Icon

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Posted 19 May 2005 - 08:02 PM

QUOTE (SPQR @ May 19 2005, 07:58 PM)
Lucas put himself in the movie, but at least he didn't try to act like that horrible director/actor Pollack.

That's about the best thing that didn't happen.

i wish there was a jawa for once


Um...I'm going to respond to this by first by saying that I like Pollack as both a director and an actor, that Lucas had about a 1 second part that his kids wanted him to do and that I couldn't even begin to spot, and that there have been Jawas in the prequels...and then I'm going to back away slowly.
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#8 User is offline   Vwing Icon

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Posted 19 May 2005 - 09:59 PM

QUOTE (StarWarsIsUs @ May 19 2005, 06:35 PM)
Thanks, Vwing. I can tell that my review of ROTS will probably be very close to yours, since our writing style is oddly similar.


Well listen, I don't wanna hype it up too much for you, cause then you'll be disappointed no matter what. And hopefully I'll like reading your review, or else I'm taking a writing class smile.gif
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Posted 19 May 2005 - 10:01 PM

Aww. That's cute, Vwing. smile.gif
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