No no no... I disagree whole heartedly. The OT is much better thought through, it's more a whole and focused much more on the central narrative.
The PT is a bit of a mess. I never thought duel of the fates was so great... I mean it LOOKS good, but what the hell ig going on? In the podrace it's clear what's at stake: if Anakin with all odds against him doesn't win, the Jedi and the queen are stuck on tatooine to clean vaporisers for the rest of their lives.
In Duel of the Fates... its'about... err.... there's this black sith... and they fight Jedi.... for... because... well, they fight.... and at the end they still don't know anything... WHO TF cares?
The arena scene has a similar, although lesser feel about it. So they're gonna execute two Jedi, but what the hell is going on??? Lucas stuck the crucial suspense elements all the way to the back, hides it behind tons of eyecandy and after all while all this stunning looking battle stuff just ends up as...well... battlestuff. The PT has many such scenes, the OT has none! All in the OT is relevant to the story, in the Pt there's a lot of smoke and spectacle... but it's hard to grasp what's going on unless you watch the movies a couple of times and maybe read the novels. I'd say that is pretty bad filmmaking.
Seems like you got a good grasp on one of the PTs three major shortcomings...the other biggies being of course the acting and the script (these kinda go hand in hand, and are pretty self-explanatory).
A cult masterpiece????
I liked it when it came out, it seemed promising. The novel was pretty promising, even more so because this great and clever plot by Palpy (to use the war to destroy ALL major power factions in the universe so a take over would be easy after that) was a bity more distinct there.
However, when ROTS came out I couldn't help thinking what prupose AOTC has in the saga... and te answer is simple: none. The few plotlines that matter can be told in a few minutes. The things that are rather essential are way too hidden.
It also has the worst acting in the saga. The love scenes are ridiculous, unbelievable and there's no reason thinkable why Padme would fall in love with Anakin... let alone marry him. The only crucial plotline in AOTC is a complete failure. ESB has much less romantic screentime but is infinitely more romantic than AOTC.
The CGI is not as well developed as it is in ROTS (take those horrible shots with the Shaak, or OB1 jumping off a wire on Kamino). But, I agree, the end battle look good, despite the fact that the Jedi seem to suck.
rotj's final duel has more emotion and brilliance than most of the pt put together imo... from john williams' score to the palpable (sp?) rage felt by luke during the closing parts of the duel... and the constant interplay between palps, luke and vader is to me, one of the greatest parts of the ot... watching luke try to redeem his father...
and...
EWOKS!!! but seriously... they're awesome...
i do agree, but for this one thing... if maul killed obi, the queen would have been next... and so on...
other than that, yeah, i agree...
the only parts worth watching in aotc are: kamino, the Colosseum battle, and the ensuing fights (jedi v dooku and clones v cis)
Sure, the queen would have been next... but it all has too many steps you have to take offscreen to understand what is going on. And then it comes to UNDERSTANDING... a cerebral activity. There's no experience or emotion involved with those consequences.
So sure, AOTC has some very nicely made sequences, I agree. But unfortunately, with all the intended detective stuff, the lost planet, Sifo-Dyas, the hidden concept of using the war to destroy the banking guild/technounion/tradefederation in one war, and (most importantly) the fact that officially we don't know that Palpy is the Sith Lord (a major error IMO), AOTC had potential but usd very little of that.
Gender: Male Location: Impacting nations and generations
I agree with all of those points.
AOTC did handle very well all of the Tatoonine stuff, and the death of Shmi, turning Anakin from a strong Jedi who went against the rules sometimes, to an angry, sad, and driven to power Sith Lord. (again, as you said, that's off-screen and its an understanding).
But it's an important change, that starts with a darkside outburst killing, and then grows subtly from there.
Tatooine is okay, I just feel the acting sucks. Hayden is trying too hard to be someone... some Vader without a suit or something. I lack authenticity in his acting, which he does have in Life as a House and he also has it more in ROTS.
KMC Community Forums
Oct 19th, 2006 03:42 AM
