[diligent_d]

Finally dragged my ass out to see Episode III. I'm not sure what the critics were thinking when they gave the film such great praise - I really don't. Most of my complaints are pretty standard on this board by now, but I felt like writing them out anyhow.

Readers Digest Assessment:
...What a travesty. Loud, obnoxious, overbearing, cheesy.

Some Random Observations:

- There were several times when the theater absolutely burst out laughing - when Palpatine changed into the "scary" Emperor and first gets up and talks to Anakin. I too felt uncomfortable, like I was watching a B-flick horror film. Post-Electroburn Palpatine (that's probably what they'll call the action figure) was a real ham and hard to watch. Dreadful. Of course there were other guffaws during the predictable moments that users have already mentioned - the Padme/Anakin scenes, the birth of Darth Vader, all that. There were a couple of groans of protest when Yoda referenced Chewbacca.

- I actually didn't mind Anakin in this one. I thought he was done well and actually felt bad for his character. Everyone on the Counsel shit on him in this film and I could tell that at first he was really trying to be a decent Jedi. So despite his performance in the last movie, I thought Hayden did well in this one.

- General Grievous was a joke. He didn't need to be in the film at all. His little spinning vehicle that he drives was the yet one more "cool-factor" contraption that annoyed the hell out of me. Why not have him get on a normal speeder bike? Again my complaint is with the consistency of vehicles from movie to movie. This was an example of a very loud and overbearing scene, one I found almost unbearable. And that creature that Obi Wan rode was also one of the most annoying things I've ever seen or heard - what with its constant honking and squealing.

- Kashyyyk. Yoda induced mocking laughter when he bounced on one of the Wookies backs. It only made me mad. Oh and call me Eddie Fisher but wasn't Chewbacca wasn't in the Command Bunker during most of the battle? If so does this mean he was a high ranking officer during the battle now too? Or perhaps he was just a guard? My money is that he was now a Wookie Officer during the Clone Wars. I just cannot take all the connections and coincidences. And the attacking vehicles in this scene make the newer vehicles in the OT look like technical dinosaurs. My dream when I was kid was always imagining the invasion of Kashyyyk with Walkers and Speederbikes and Star Destroyer bombardments. Not stupid droid vehicles based on 19th Century Water Wheel designs. Oh and I noticed the Wookies did a tarzan yell again when swinging from a vine. Is this just another example of George Lucas feeding the loyal fans a great, big shit sandwich?

- Space Battle at the beginning was very confusing. Couldn't tell what was happening half the time. Vulture Droids and Buzz Droids, huh? Cute. They seem more dangerous than Tie Fighters and far more cost-effective too. So...uh...I dunno, if you're the Imperials, why use Tie Fighters (which I love by the way - I only ask for consistency sake) at all in the OT at all when you can have swarms of droids gangbang an attacking Fighter instead?

- R2D2. I'm too pissed off to touch this one in depth right now. Oh look how funny it is when he vertically flips out of the Jedi Starfighter when it lands. And I won't open another can of worms with Jedi Starfighters themselves...

- Opera scene was cool. Not very original, but I still liked it. Pre-Electoburn Palpatine was good, very seductive.

- Mace Windu can go to hell.

- I actually thought it was kind of funny when the Younglings met their demise. The way I see it, this leaves ten or so less shitty child actors out there in the world now.

- Jedi's getting capped off by Clone Troopers. All Jedi have "Spidey" senses don't they? So a bunch of clod-hopper soon-to-be inept Stormtroopers kill them all off using the "element of surprise"? Not believable. It's only fair to mention that the rabble cracked up when the Emperor ratified Order 66. Instead of saying Order Six-six, he said it like Order Sixty-Six...it just seemed like the delivery was akward and clumsy.

- Plenty more observations (complaints) but I won't bother.

Overall, I'm not sure how people can say it was a better movie than ROTJ, but yes it is a matter of "opinion". My opinion is that this one wasn't even close to the caliber of ROTJ. Anyhow, I've now seen the film and I can now officially wipe the PT from my mind and leave the origins of Anakin Skywalker and the Clone Wars to the far more capable hands of my minds eye.

Now that I've seen the movie, I'm definately looking more forward to the "82 Reasons To Hate Episode III"

This post has been edited by diligent_d: 02 June 2005 - 12:09 PM

[Storm]

I've seen the movie three times now in the theatre, so here are my thoughts.

Quote

- There were several times when the theater absolutely burst out laughing - when Palpatine changed into the "scary" Emperor and first gets up and talks to Anakin.  I too felt uncomfortable, like I was watching a B-flick horror film.  Post-Electroburn Palpatine (that's probably what they'll call the action figure) was a real ham and hard to watch.  Dreadful. 

Despite the fact that I really enjoyed the movie and it is probably my third favorite of the Star Wars saga, I will admit that the acting from Palpatine in the Mace Windu scene was over the edge. The "No, no, you will die!" sounded really corny and after Windu had been killed Palpatine's voice just sounded like he was a toad with bad gas. But then again, his face did just get melted.

Aside from that, Palpatine was brilliant and Sidious was acted out well for the remainder of the movie.

Quote

Of course there were other guffaws during the predictable moments that users have already mentioned - the Padme/Anakin scenes, the birth of Darth Vader, all that. There were a couple of groans of protest when Yoda referenced Chewbacca.

The Padme/Anakin scenes still were not that good, but weren't unwatchable as in AOTC. I really liked the first scene they had together where they meet after Anakin gets congratulated for saving the Chancellor. You can tell the two are in love.

The scene were Padme is brushing her hair on the balcony seemed unnecessary, although I liked how Anakin just kept quiet and admired Padme's beauty while Padme talked about nothing. The good thing about these scenes is that they ended just when I was on the verge of getting irritated.

I thought the scene where Anakin is in the Jedi Council building and Padme is at home was extremely powerful.

I'm one of the few people who thought the birth of Darth Vader was done really well. I like how it showed him being constructed piece by piece, and the first breath through his mask was amazing. And him struggling to walk and screaming "Noooo!" was perfectly understandable. The guy just lost everything: his body, his wife, his friends, and his life as a Jedi. One of the things I just recently noticed about this scene is that Palpatine begins to smile once Vader becomes extremely angry.

And yeah, Chewbacca didn't need to be referenced but it definitely wasn't a reason to hate the movie.

Quote

- I actually didn't mind Anakin in this one. I thought he was done well and actually felt bad for his character. Everyone on the Counsel shit on him in this film and I could tell that at first he was really trying to be a decent Jedi. So despite his performance in the last movie, I thought Hayden did well in this one.

I agree. The only awkward moment was when he got angry about not being a made a Jedi Master in the Jedi Council room.

Quote

- General Grievous was a joke. He didn't need to be in the film at all. His little spinning vehicle that he drives was the yet one more "cool-factor" contraption that annoyed the hell out of me. Why not have him get on a normal speeder bike? Again my complaint is with the consistency of vehicles from movie to movie. This was an example of a very loud and overbearing scene, one I found almost unbearable. And that creature that Obi Wan rode was also one of the most annoying things I've ever seen or heard - what with its constant honking and squealing.

I disagree. How could anyone not like General Grievous? The guy holds four lightsabers at once! And it's nice to see a droid that is actually threatening, considering how so many of the droids shown are totally disrespected by everyone and are absolutely useless in battle.

I liked Grievous' vehicle because it's funny how he runs over and hits clone troopers as he is riding in it.

Also, he looked good too. The CGI with him was quite believable, unlike Jabba the Hut in ANH.

Quote

- Kashyyyk. Yoda induced mocking laughter when he bounced on one of the Wookies backs. It only made me mad. Oh and call me Eddie Fisher but wasn't Chewbacca wasn't in the Command Bunker during most of the battle? If so does this mean he was a high ranking officer during the battle now too? Or perhaps he was just a guard? My money is that he was now a Wookie Officer during the Clone Wars. I just cannot take all the connections and coincidences. And the attacking vehicles in this scene make the newer vehicles in the OT look like technical dinosaurs. My dream when I was kid was always imagining the invasion of Kashyyyk with Walkers and Speederbikes and Star Destroyer bombardments. Not stupid droid vehicles based on 19th Century Water Wheel designs. Oh and I noticed the Wookies did a tarzan yell again when swinging from a vine. Is this just another example of George Lucas feeding the loyal fans a great, big shit sandwich?

I assumed Chewbacca just to be a guard.

I'm pretty sure that Wookies just yelled like normal. I've seen it three times, and I haven't noticed the Tarzan yell so far.

The scenes are Kashyyk were too short to place any emphasis on.

Quote

- Space Battle at the beginning was very confusing. Couldn't tell what was happening half the time. Vulture Droids and Buzz Droids, huh? Cute. They seem more dangerous than Tie Fighters and far more cost-effective too. So...uh...I dunno, if you're the Imperials, why use Tie Fighters (which I love by the way - I only ask for consistency sake) at all in the OT at all when you can have swarms of droids gangbang an attacking Fighter instead?

The droids were used by the Separatists, not the the Republic which eventually becomes the Galatic Empire. They already have the clones, so why waste money building droids? And as we've scene before, droids are useless once the command ship gets knocked out.

Quote

- R2D2. I'm too pissed off to touch this one in depth right now. Oh look how funny it is when he vertically flips out of the Jedi Starfighter when it lands. And I won't open another can of worms with Jedi Starfighters themselves...

R2-D2 is stupid, but he's in there to get a few laughs from children in a darker movie.

Quote

- Opera scene was cool. Not very original, but I still liked it. Pre-Electoburn Palpatine was good, very seductive.

I agree. This was one of the best scenes in the movie.

Quote

- Mace Windu can go to hell.

I never liked Mace Windu. I said before the movie that I would be extremely happy if he suffered a horrible death. He did, so this was a good thing about the movie.

Quote

- I actually thought it was kind of funny when the Younglings met their demise. The way I see it, this leaves ten or so less shitty child actors out there in the world now.

I liked this a lot too.

- Jedi's getting capped off by Clone Troopers. All Jedi have "Spidey" senses don't they? So a bunch of clod-hopper soon-to-be inept Stormtroopers kill them all off using the "element of surprise"? Not believable. It's only fair to mention that the rabble cracked up when the Emperor ratified Order 66. Instead of saying Order Six-six, he said it like Order Sixty-Six...it just seemed like the delivery was akward and clumsy.

Before Order 66 was initiated, the clones wouldn't have had that thought on their minds. The Jedi's had less than 10 seconds to react. Even if they could have senses the deceit, it wouldn't have mattered. The odds of one Jedi escaping tons of clone troopers and droids on the other side are not good. Lucas could have showed them putting up more a fight, but it would have just been unnecessary. We know one way or the other they were going to die, so may as well just get it over with quickly. Besides, those scenes worked really well for me.

SERIOUSLY, what is wrong with the quotes?

This post has been edited by Storm: 02 June 2005 - 02:07 PM

[diligent_d]

Oh ya - and what the hell was with the cannons on the ships at the beginning of the movie ejecting expended shells out the back of them????? How stupid is that? Do you mean to tell me Star Wars is still lanquishing in the age of gunpowder?

This post has been edited by diligent_d: 02 June 2005 - 04:41 PM

[floppydisk]

No, from what I read in the visual dictionary, SW blasters use super heated gas to create lasers. That has to be stored somewhere, and shells could happen, but it's more likely that there would be a direct feed into the guns from a gas deposit somewhere in the ship.

[floppydisk]

Ehh.. .sorry for the double post, I forgot to reply to some of your reasons.

- I actually didn't mind Anakin in this one.  I thought he was done well and actually felt bad for his character.  Everyone on the Counsel shit on him in this film and I could tell that at first he was really trying to be a decent Jedi.  So despite his performance in the last movie, I thought Hayden did well in this one.
That doesn't change the fact that he's still a whiney, stupid, undecided bitch.

- General Grievous was a joke.  He didn't need to be in the film at all.  His little spinning vehicle that he drives was the yet one more "cool-factor" contraption that annoyed the hell out of me.  Why not have him get on a normal speeder bike?  Again my complaint is with the consistency of vehicles from movie to movie.  This was an example of a very loud and overbearing scene, one I found almost unbearable.  And that creature that Obi Wan rode was also one of the most annoying things I've ever seen or heard - what with its constant honking and squealing.
Yeah, the creature and GG are stupid, but there was no reason for speeder bikes on that planet. It was a bunch of catacombs and caverns. A big rolley thing might have been able to navagate the terrain better.

- Opera scene was cool.  Not very original, but I still liked it.  Pre-Electoburn Palpatine was good, very seductive.
I didn't think he was seductive at all. I could easily tell he was lying. I also think that the dialouge went something like this:

P:"Once there was a great Sith that was all-powerful"
A:"Really?"
P:"Ooh, yes..."
He was terrible at convincing people.

- I actually thought it was kind of funny when the Younglings met their demise.  The way I see it, this leaves ten or so less shitty child actors out there in the world now.  I rather liked that scene, but it doesn't make up for the kid with the stupid accent. I laughed at him.

- Jedi's getting capped off by Clone Troopers.  All Jedi have "Spidey" senses don't they?  So a bunch of clod-hopper soon-to-be inept Stormtroopers kill them all off using the "element of surprise"?  Not believable.  It's only fair to mention that the rabble cracked up when the Emperor ratified Order 66.  Instead of saying Order Six-six, he said it like Order Sixty-Six...it just seemed like the delivery was akward and clumsy.
I agree with you about order 66, but I think that if you have enough blaster fire being concentrated on one Jedi, he can't block them all.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Mnesymone]

I kind of liked it... but craploads of it were crap.
Grievous really hammed it up, with his voice, his walk, his cough, his insane lightsaber helicopter attack and the overall crapness.
Palpatine was good enough - Sidous and the Emperor sucked with the whole cackling lightning man. I would have been happy if the palpatine face wasn't done at all or if the normal face was like some kind of mask that he held together by his will and his face suddenly Sithed out when he revealed himself and started killing people - the red lightsaber was too silly for words... Red went with Vader because it gave him the appropriate force and menace, but the Emperor needed to appear more elegant and stately and a big red ligtsaber just looked silly on someone who should have had a pale saber of some muted colour. Anakin was much better, but the Padme/Anakin scenes were still painful. It was refreshing to see some friendly moments between Anakin and Obi-Wan.
Mister Darkside, my name for the not quite Vader-not quite Anakin we see on Mustafar really stole the show along with Obi-Wan in that final confrontation. The CGI was really improved, but still painful in moments, like the Wookie vehicles and the lizard steed (and of course, Grievous). Loved order 66 as a scene, though I admit when you poke around it does seem silly.
Oh, and I really groaned at seeing Yoda's ET impression and the bits of straight-up wookie talking with no human dialogue, but only winced slightly when Chewie was mentioned.
But buzz and vulture droids? Silly wankery.

[floppydisk]

Well what would you call the droids? That's just military lingo, they have it for everything.

And GG wasn't that bad, it was just his voice and his stupid fucking helicopter saber attack.

[jariten]

it was stupid, fun space opera for a saturday afternoon or a day home sick from school.

Please, please try to do what you just did with any (or all, even better) of the OT films and see what happens.

In the meantime, i`ll be in my office.

[diligent_d]

I don't have to with the OT. Simply because I like them.

[floppydisk]

it was stupid, fun space opera for a saturday afternoon or a day home sick from school.

Please, please try to do what you just did with any (or all, even better) of the OT films and see what happens.

In the meantime, i`ll be in my office.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wait, what do you mean? Are you talking to me? I'm confused...

[Dunedain]

SERIOUSLY, what is wrong with the quotes?

Bro, I'm with you on that one. A lot of the time my posts do the same thing. There's nothing wrong with the quote tags, but they're not being interpreted correctly. I don't know why that happens.

It's irritating, isn't it?

This post has been edited by Dunedain: 03 June 2005 - 04:09 PM

[floppydisk]

That is very strange. PM Chefelf about it, and include a link to this thread.

Help us, Chefelf. We need your help.



I'm a fucking nerd.

[jariten]

Wait, what do you mean? Are you talking to me? I'm confused...

No, just to anyone who`ll listen...

[Mnesymone]

I'll listen - I agree with you.
However - when I was talking about the buzz and vultures I was talking about the concept, not the name.
Missile-launched cluster of parasitic droids and fighters that walk on their cannon tips as handily as Artoo on his magnetic whee wheels.
Seriously.

[Jordan]

Saw it, hated it.

No emotions, no drama, nothing.

Padme's death, ob1 hacking at Anakin, Mace dieing, everything was just so damn lifeless.

The only scene I liked was the construction of Vader. But then Lucas turns him in to a frankenstien. The parallel of man to machine is good enough, but Lucas had him jump of the bed and then scream just like Frankenstein. PUke!