Chefelf.com Night Life: prequeldenial - Viewing Profile

As much as I hate the prequels, and I really, really do, I must give a free pass on this "inconsistency". This one I will actually let go.

When Ben says, "I haven't gone by the name of Obi-Wan since before you were born", he's off by a few days maybe?

It's a figure of speech that we all use. We all say stuff like that. We say stuff like, I haven't spoken to that guy since high school, when you probably ran into him a few times in your early college years.

According to the film, Obi-Wan is called Obi-Wan for the first few minutes of Luke's life. Then he takes him into hiding. Would you rather him have said, "I haven't gone by the name of Obi-Wan since you were a few hours old"?

Anyway, with the myriad of other problems to complain about in this film, I think we should really let this one go.

It also forshadows Vader's eventual return to the "good side". For the first time, Vader shows mercy. Earlier in the movie, he would've destroyed Piett. But he's softening.

This was quite a bit of good, subtle forshadowing. Remember when you saw that in Star Wars movies. I tend to think that if Lucas made this movie today, after the Falcon took off, and Vader left and didn't kill Piett, one of other officers would approach Piett and I think the scene would be something like this:

OFFICER
He didn't kill you, Admiral.

PIETT
I know. I can't believe it, Commander Cody.

OFFICER
Why do you think he spared you?

PIETT
I have a feeling that he's going to go through a big change soon.

Piett would then walk away. And two R2 units would chirp by, one of them would roll into the wall for much needed comic relief.

I may be being too kind. I think my idea for the scene would be too subtle for George.

Lucas has even attempted to throw "maximilism"(Great word by the way) into the classics. The Vader shuttle run from Bespin to the Star Destroyer (which we all know is just stock footage from ROTJ) is awful. Not only does he elimate "Bring my Shuttle" (A simple line that said so much. Think about it. Vader just lost Luke, and all his prisoners are escaping. He's pissed! He doesn't have time to politely say, "alert my Star Destroyer...blah...blah" ), but besides that, I guess he thinks we all had trouble figuring out how get got back to the ship.

One more think while I'm at it. While watching the prequels, I wondered how Anakin, who was portrayed as a complete moron, would turn into the cunning, wise, crafty, intelligent Darth Vader. Thank God, Lucas took care of that in the ESB S.E. By inserting the new dialogue in scene with the Emperor, (the Emperor tells him that Luke is Anakin's son and Vader says, "How is that possible".) Who did Vader think this Skywalker was? Did he think he was one of the Chicago Skywalkers? Didn't the Empire's intelligence figure out that he was on board the Falcon that was captured by the Death Star and was brought there with Obi-Wan? Didn't he remember that his wife was 9 months pregnant when she died? Vader couldn't do the math? Well, now with the S.E. change, Vader is a dumb ass too. So he's perfectly consistent with the Anakin of the PT. Good job, George.

1)Empire Strkes Back - Works on so many levels. An excellent film, not just an excellent Star Wars film. This film has a verisimilitude that the others just do not. It feels so real, even though it takes place in another world.

2)Star Wars (I won't call it A New Hope, mainly b/c Lucas wants me to.) Just a classic film. A beautiful told story from beginning to end. It just flows and makes you believe in something amazing.

3)Return of the Jedi - Has some problems, but still and excellent movie and a superb wrapping up of the story. Watching Luke walk unarmed into Jabba's palace and take them down is brilliant, so is the Death Star battle, so is the plot device of the Emperor setting a trap, so is the idea that the Emperor failed to consider the furry animals on the planet below (yes, my friends, I'm giving a shout out to the Ewoks, however, I will say that the Ewoks should have been played less for laughs). Overall, a film with a few flaws but excellent none the less.

4) The Phantom Menace - Extremely flawed and juvenile. However, it has a semblance of a story, albeit not a good one, but a story nontheless. It also has Qui-Gon Jinn. He seems to have walked out of the classic trilogy and into this mess. It has several, not many, but several wonderful moments that feel like you are in the wonderful world that you remembered as a kid. (Pretty much any moment that Qui-Gonn opens his mouth is great). The film also has the feel of something big. But overall, a pretty lousy movie.

5) Revenge of the Sith - A loud, obnoxious, illogical mess. However, it is fast paced and some of it works in spite of itself. But the fact that some of it works is a testament to the classic films, not this film. Seeing some moments unfold is very exciting and satisying, even though in the context of this film, they make no sense. Anakin's turn to the dark side is laughable and makes no sense. And unfortunately, this film contradicts one the most important elements of the backstory. Obi-Wan told Luke, "Vader helped the Emperor hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights". No, he didn't. Vader killed a couple of childrend while the lame clone troopers killed the Jedi. Overall, a lousy movie that is very entertaining, but it is a damn shame that Lucas doesn't care anymore.

6) Attack of the Clones - Awful, awful movie. Quite possibly one of the worst movies I've ever seen, not just a bad Star Wars movie. Nothing in the movie makes sense, the Jedi are portrayed as complete morons. This movie does nothing for the saga. Just a complete and utter wast of time. This was the movie that did in the series. After AOTC, there was no chance to save the saga. Lucas dug too big a hole after this one and thus, ROTS could only be so good. Just a godawful film.

That's my two cents. I'm a huge Star Wars fan and in time I will probably learn to pretend that the prequels don't exist, just like I pretend Rocky V, Godfather III, Supermand 3 & 4, Batman Forever, Batman and Robin, and the Matrix sequels dont' exist.