Replies

Saying that that love story is "needless" is like saying that the one in Terminator is needless. Without Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor having sex, John Connor wouldn't exist, which obliterates the entire premise of that movie. Without Anakin Skywalker and Amidala having babies, you don't have Luke and Leia Skywalker in the first 3 movies. Where's the "needless" in this?

Anyway, I got the first two DVD's for my birthday the other day (I would've preferred to have gotten the first seasons of "24" and "The Shield", but what're you gonna do?). On second viewing, the movies are pretty good. Of course, with a DVD, you can zoom right past all the Jar Jar scenes in the Phantom Menace as if they didn't exist, as well as the painfully written love scenes of Anakin and Padme. Scenes which, after viewing it again, weren't all that bad. The scene where they're on the couch next to the fireplace made me cringe the first time I saw it and it still does, but subtract it from the viewing and the rest, with the exception of the occasional line here and there, is fine. Same goes for Anakin's supposed whinyness. There's really only one scene where he really whines and he's grating on the nerves (It's when Padme comments on how mature he becomes, at which point he starts to whine, whine, whine). Other than that, he's a good character. Upon a second viewing, watching it just by myself, I liked Anakin a lot better. And the rest of the movie is damn fine Star Wars viewing. From Jango Fett, to Yoda and Mace Windu, to Obi-Wan's mission, to the Clones, to the beginning of the Clone War, Palpatine's machinations, Count Dooku, etc.

The movies have problems, no doubt about it. Jar Jar being the #1 problem of TPM (I also would've liked some backstory on Darth Maul. That scene where they're separated by the force fields would've been a great opportunity for them to talk, but so much for that), and the occasional Anakin or Anakin/Padme scene. But overall, I think they're damn good movies.

Though thinking about it, there's one element that these movies are lacking that the first ones had. There's no roguish type. In the first three you had Han Solo, who was a good guy, but he was a merc, too. In these, either everyone's squeaky clean, or everyone's the epitome of all evil. There is no grayish, morally ambiguous character like Han.

As for the last movie, here's hoping George Lucas doesn't repeat the mistakes which he made in the first movie. And here's hoping that Jar Jar gets what he deserves in the last one. I want to see that filthy bastard DIE!