like my first post for so long, havn't been here for yonks
...I'll guess I'll just keep to bulletpoints...
- Lucas wrote the originals based on all his little geeky studies of mythology, generic conventions, binary oppositions and the fine details of storytelling. This is evident in the OT because its just so damn good, but all that knowledge he used for the first trilogy seemed to waste away. We don't have a young, naive kid rebelling against a tyranical evil Empire (a very strong story), we have an arrogant man being arrogant (that was the best I could come up with).
-The heavy use of CGI, not unexpected I know. Yet perhaps, the CGI use isn't a major issue, more of a lack of story. If there was just a little cabin full of old car seats and LED lights, I wouldn't be overwhelmed, but give me a little cabin full of old car seats and LED lights and a story, I'm exuberent.
-Haydyn Christiensen, isn't a bad actor as such, he's not great, but neither was Mark Hamill. My main annoyance with him is that he just doesn't seem compelling enough to watch, theres nothing really fascinating with him, and nor can I take him seriously when hes being "moody".
-Natalie Portman isn't a bad actor either, from decent films like Garden State and even Closer we can see that, she works well as a romantic co-star. Maybe epic sci-fi franchises just aren't here thing, or as I have heard, Lucas just can't direct his actors well.
-Ewan McGregor, as someone said earlier, is great as Obi-wan, but he just isn't old Alec.
-I'm not too sure who I should be following in the story. Do I follow Anakin, who I know is going to turn a little twisted in a few years, Obi Wan, a character that feels yonks away from Old Ben? or Padme, caught helpless in the sidelines (like I felt when I saw Jar Jar not in mortal peril)? All the characters seem to change sides all the time, and I just don't know who to root for. Yes, yes, it may be different etc. but it just doesn't work.
- Jar Jar isn't a crowd favourite, they learnt this after Episode 1.
- Never work with child actors! (evidence to support that Phantom Menace.
- Personal opinion here, but I enjoy the old lightsaber fights much more, even the Ben and Vader duel for laughs. I think for me its just the culmination of the music, the darkness with the sabers humming and the slow movement, especially the regular close-ups of Luke crying/whatever.
- On the whole of the PT saber fights, it all feels like eye candy to me. Gone is the epic space western fought in heaps of metal with engines against an evil Empire, now were just left with a bunch of monks running around in there bed dress, practically dancing the Footloose with a torch in there hand.
I may edit this in the 15 minutes or so that I have left... 😖hifty:
I think you guys have hammered why the OT > PT! and I agree
The only respect to which the new films are superior to the old ones is basically the advancements on technology and special effects though only a little [look at the flying scenes in death star ep 6!] and has not always been a good thing either [who prefers puppet to cgi yoda? etc. and who likes all these goofy droids?]
Also the lightsaber duels are more varied and creative [Dooku and Maul having their own styles] and were more skillfully choerographed PHYSICALLY not emotionally than the old films - certainly an improvement on the Vader versus Kenobi in ep 4 where it looked like two kids picking up toy sabers for the first time in their lives
Originally posted by DeVi| D0do
So true. Almost nothing in AOTC is important...
the most important thing in the movie is showing how palp' created the army for his empire and how he got them to be the republic army (the war). the only film that show more then two jedi fighting together and jango was in it.
the best film is ep' III. it so dark and moody, showing how anakin is confused and ultimatly falls, it also show the jedi being wiped out which is good considering every other movie has the good guy winning (exept ep' 5). it also shows how smart the sith are and how the old ways of the jedi are outdated.
Originally posted by moviefreak_173
I can not watch the duels at the end of ROTS at all, And let me tell you why. I will start with Yoda versus Sidious because it is easier to explain why I hate it and see it as pointless.1. The Music- it was a reused cue from TPM. There should have been epic music with a sad tone as you watched two great beings destroy the senate which symbolized democracy.
2. A good rule of editing is, that if you leave a scene and you don't know anymore than you did when you entered that scene, it should probably be cut.And that is the case in this scene. We know the exact same thing when we leave the scene as we did when we entered it. The real reason why this scene is here is not for symbolism, but as a poor ass way of showing the cause of Yoda's exhile.
Now for my reasons of hating the Anikan verus Obi-Wan duel.
1. It is suppossed to be The Duel of Duels. Sadly it is not. The only real difference between it and any other duel is that it is packed full of CGI and it has Lava Surfing. I wanted to see Anikan doing everything in his power to kill Obi-wan. I wanted to see him resort beating the shit out of Obi-Wan by hand not just by lightsaber.
2. Not enough emotion. I can't believe Obi-Wan and Anikan are that emotionally attatched, because all they did in the last movie was bicker and fight. Twenty minutes of fighting side by side and a few jokes together at the beginning of Episode 3 is not enough for me to believe that they are that close. So the emotional part of the duel is lost to me.
3. George and his stupid CGI goofiness. When Anikan and Obi-Wan are fighting across the pipes during the duel a droid flies up and does the little "what the crapt" moment and pulls me completely out of the moment. And then later when Anikan jumps onto the head of the same kind of droid to escape the lava falls this droid does another "what the crapt" moment as the camera focuses on the droids face instead of Anikan's. It is stuff like this that pisses me off. The viewer doesn't care what a stupid droid in the background or foreground is doing, we care about the characters and their actions. All these droids are doing is destracting the veiwer and showing off CGI.
I don't care if you agree with my reasons or not not but these are my reasons for hating two duels that had so much potentiel until George screwed them up. 😠
I agree with you..Also Anikins Dialogue in that scene pissed me the hell of...NO emotion and NO one would say the words "from my point of view the Jedi are evil" in that kind of situation ..crappy writing..
There is NOTHING strong about the dialogue in that scene. I was like WTF? in the cinema..I actually laughed at that moment..Lucas and his CRAP script writing 😠 I was trying to feel the emotion of this scene but it just wasn't really there...
Originally posted by preysin
the old ones look stupid and lack good effects. esb was okay but episode III was much better and better ending. mark hammill looks stupid compare to hayden.
I think you look stupid and lack good effects. 😐
FX don't make a movie. The plots of the OT kick the asses off of the PT.
Originally posted by preysinlack good effects?? during the time of filming in the 70's half or 3/4 of all the effects in starwars was totally new....they were constantly inventing new ways for special effects and film making. think alot of people are forgettin this or just dont know. so for the time period that was cutting edge technology. you cant compare movies that were made +20 years later to the originals and say the effects sucked.
the old ones look stupid and lack good effects. esb was okay but episode III was much better and better ending. mark hammill looks stupid compare to hayden.