The Star Wars Thing:
So here I am, just returned from viewing Episode III, and I felt the need to thrust upon you my opinion of the film. I know opinions are like assholes and blah blah blah and can't we all just get along... Let's just say right now that the opinions expressed here are my own and if you disagree blah blah blah. Okay? Here we go:
Dissapointed.
Putting it down in text like that seems to help me come to grips with it. I wanted so badly to love this movie. I wanted so badly to love the first two prequels. I'm not going to go into full "basher" mode and trash those films either. No, they weren't that good. But both of them had moments and scenes that I genuinely liked. So did Episode III. There were a lot of things that Lucas got right. There was some beautiful eye candy. There were some character moments that were spot on. And he did manage to tie up the story in a tidy manner that leads naturaly into Episode IV, the original Star Wars. Lots of good stuff in this movie, and on the whole, 2 steps higher than the previous prequels.
But let's face it: 2 steps up from pretty damn low is still pretty damn low.
I know that better critics that me are going to pick apart (or praise) this movie, so I'm going to cut to the chase of what bothered me. It wasn't the few truly clunky bits of dialogue, and it wasn't the few embarasingly bad moments. They were pretty forehead-slapping bad, but they were outweighed by a lot of well-done bits. The part that really got to me was the pacing.
Episode III is one of the most poorly paced films I have ever seen. Even Episode I, possibly the worst movie Lucas has ever made, had a very logical and straightforward plot progression. You may not have liked it, but the movie had a flow. Most movies have a flow.
Episode III was like riding in a car with someone who is chewing the hell out of the clutch. Start stop start stop spurt spurt BRAKES... It starts out well enough, with the first 20-30 minutes whizzing by quite nicely, and then you hit this huge patch of exposition and the trouble starts. Not only does the film slow down considerably, but Lucas tries to compensate by throwing in these battles and chase scenes within all the tedium. I understand the impulse to bring the speed up a bit, but intstead of giving the pace a little boost, the effect is starts and stops. This movie lurches forward and then slams to a halt so many times that you actually start seeing double.
Before I seem too mean, I have to say that I think Lucas had a huge and unforgiving job ahead of him. He had an awful lot of story to cram into 2 and a half hours in order to get us where we needed to go. I know that's got to be a huge challenge, and as I said, in terms of wrapping up the story, he scored big. I loved the way this film ended. You could absolutely feel how it would just slide logicaly into the original 1977 film, and that's a big achievement. It's just that the ride to get to that place was so damned unpleasant.
I don't know... Star Wars will always occupy a special place in my heart. I grew up with Star Wars. I am the Star Wars Generation. And there are plenty of things to like about the prequels. They may not have been good movies, but they are significant movies. They pushed the envelope of digital technology in film in a major way. I think it is fair to say that they shaped the entire industry. Let's face it, love him or hate him, (and does anyone love him?) without Jar Jar Binks we probably would never have had Gollum.
And the prequels are enjoyable. Despite the fact that they are not good films, I enjoyed watching Episodes I and II. I loved the podrace. I loved Darth Maul. I loved seeing the Jedi get badass in Ep II and I loved seeing Yoda kick some ass. I loved how the clones are the precursors for the Stormtroopers and I loved watching palpatine become the Emperor. I loved a million things in both of those movies and I loved lots of things in this one too. The betrayal of the Jedi? Great. The final battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin? Awesome. The whole last 15 minutes of the film (excluding one horrible horrible someone should break Lucas' legs moment with Vader)? Perfect.
But now that the Star Wars tale is over, and the story is complete, I have to say I just don't feel like the journey was worth it. And after nearly 30 years, that's a terrible thing to feel.
So here I am, just returned from viewing Episode III, and I felt the need to thrust upon you my opinion of the film. I know opinions are like assholes and blah blah blah and can't we all just get along... Let's just say right now that the opinions expressed here are my own and if you disagree blah blah blah. Okay? Here we go:
Dissapointed.
Putting it down in text like that seems to help me come to grips with it. I wanted so badly to love this movie. I wanted so badly to love the first two prequels. I'm not going to go into full "basher" mode and trash those films either. No, they weren't that good. But both of them had moments and scenes that I genuinely liked. So did Episode III. There were a lot of things that Lucas got right. There was some beautiful eye candy. There were some character moments that were spot on. And he did manage to tie up the story in a tidy manner that leads naturaly into Episode IV, the original Star Wars. Lots of good stuff in this movie, and on the whole, 2 steps higher than the previous prequels.
But let's face it: 2 steps up from pretty damn low is still pretty damn low.
I know that better critics that me are going to pick apart (or praise) this movie, so I'm going to cut to the chase of what bothered me. It wasn't the few truly clunky bits of dialogue, and it wasn't the few embarasingly bad moments. They were pretty forehead-slapping bad, but they were outweighed by a lot of well-done bits. The part that really got to me was the pacing.
Episode III is one of the most poorly paced films I have ever seen. Even Episode I, possibly the worst movie Lucas has ever made, had a very logical and straightforward plot progression. You may not have liked it, but the movie had a flow. Most movies have a flow.
Episode III was like riding in a car with someone who is chewing the hell out of the clutch. Start stop start stop spurt spurt BRAKES... It starts out well enough, with the first 20-30 minutes whizzing by quite nicely, and then you hit this huge patch of exposition and the trouble starts. Not only does the film slow down considerably, but Lucas tries to compensate by throwing in these battles and chase scenes within all the tedium. I understand the impulse to bring the speed up a bit, but intstead of giving the pace a little boost, the effect is starts and stops. This movie lurches forward and then slams to a halt so many times that you actually start seeing double.
Before I seem too mean, I have to say that I think Lucas had a huge and unforgiving job ahead of him. He had an awful lot of story to cram into 2 and a half hours in order to get us where we needed to go. I know that's got to be a huge challenge, and as I said, in terms of wrapping up the story, he scored big. I loved the way this film ended. You could absolutely feel how it would just slide logicaly into the original 1977 film, and that's a big achievement. It's just that the ride to get to that place was so damned unpleasant.
I don't know... Star Wars will always occupy a special place in my heart. I grew up with Star Wars. I am the Star Wars Generation. And there are plenty of things to like about the prequels. They may not have been good movies, but they are significant movies. They pushed the envelope of digital technology in film in a major way. I think it is fair to say that they shaped the entire industry. Let's face it, love him or hate him, (and does anyone love him?) without Jar Jar Binks we probably would never have had Gollum.
And the prequels are enjoyable. Despite the fact that they are not good films, I enjoyed watching Episodes I and II. I loved the podrace. I loved Darth Maul. I loved seeing the Jedi get badass in Ep II and I loved seeing Yoda kick some ass. I loved how the clones are the precursors for the Stormtroopers and I loved watching palpatine become the Emperor. I loved a million things in both of those movies and I loved lots of things in this one too. The betrayal of the Jedi? Great. The final battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin? Awesome. The whole last 15 minutes of the film (excluding one horrible horrible someone should break Lucas' legs moment with Vader)? Perfect.
But now that the Star Wars tale is over, and the story is complete, I have to say I just don't feel like the journey was worth it. And after nearly 30 years, that's a terrible thing to feel.
posted by CommonWombat at 1:28 AM
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