Posted on 05/19/2005 12:32:37 AM PDT by timtoews5292004
I just thought I would share a few thoughts about the latest star wars epic with my fellow freepers before I crash completely. Its a little after 3am ET here as I write this. I attended a midnight screening of the film, in lexington, KY. In my opinion it is the best of all six. It finishes off both trilogies completely, and leaves nothing to be desired. I give the film 4.5 of 5 stars, with minor points taken off for slightly wooden dialogue, and a few over the top FX. The over the top FX may be too much for the children of some freepers to handle, thats what makes it a 4.5. I will try and keep this review spoiler free, for those yet to view it, or if you have not followed the film's development.
As far as the Prequel Trilogy, after watching all three, I can honestly say that Episode III is done well enough that you could probably actually do without Episode I and II and you could pick right up. It dovetails perfectly into the original trilogy, and all the loose ends presented in the first two prequels are tied up. With the exception of one line from Chancellor Palpatine, you could walk in off the street having never seen the other two films, pick up at the start of this one, and easily see how all the films fit together. The acting is excellent, the dialogue is well written, and except for one drawn out line from Padme, is concise and too the point.
The scale of this film simply blew me away. Everything was so BIG. The expansive environments, the detail, everything. If you can, see this film on a digital projection, as it will show things that normal film cannot.
Anakin's turn to the dark side begins altruistically, but turns tragic. The Jedi Purge sequence is one of the most heart breaking in ANY war film, I think. The saber fight scenes are a lot more brutal than the other 5 films, and result in several beheadings, a couple disembowlings, and about a half dozen sets of hands/arms being lost. From that angle, the combination of the blunt nature of the way the purge was carried out, with the saber scenes, is what makes me think it might be too much for a younger audience. It is PG-13 for a reson after all. If you have kids 10-under I'd watch it first yourself before deciding whether you'd take them to it sight unseen.
The theme of a progression from a democracy to dictatorship was a heavy handed undercurrent, although that theme has been woven through all six films. Just about every major society has corroded from within, and the same happens in the star wars universe.
I think that is all I can say without spoiling it for those of you yet to see it. freepmail me if you want to know more details, spoilers and such. I've got the day off from work tomorrow. Or is it today. either way, I'll be around.
A possible topic for the scifi ping list?
There were a few segments of this movie that were absolute home runs- the last 30 minutes among them- but there were many, many areas that were done hastily. This film could have been made much more dramatic, and it really seemed like the entire first half was filler space for some video game promotion or something.
The way the Jedi fall and the way Anakin turned were too hasty, lacked drama, and could have been much more than they were. The movie was a skeleton, when it could have had all sorts of meat on it. I'd give it 2.5 out of 5 at best.
Oh, and Hayden Christenson is the worst actor ever.
Also, on a political note, I have no clue how the media tried to portray this as anti-Bush. They GROSSLY INFLATED that...especially the French over at Cannes. They're absolute morons if they thought this film was anti-Bush.
It is simply the greatest movie I have ever seen, EVER!!!
Just saw it.
Most of the acting was awful, and Anakin's fall to the dark side was so half-assed that it nearly made me laugh out loud in the theater.
Sofa King wrote:
Just saw it.
Most of the acting was awful, and Anakin's fall to the dark side was so half-assed that it nearly made me laugh out loud in the theater.
--> I guess Howard Dean does a better job at showing his dark side huh? They should have put him in the film LOL
I'll probaly go see it when the nerds stop going to see it but i'll take a John Wayne movie over a Star Wars movie any day of the week may I recomend SpaceBalls.
They did. He's Palpatine. Or, if you're a Dum, Palpatine's Cheney.
I've always seen Palpatine as more Stalin,the bureaucrat who would be (and does become) Czar. No charisma. Say what you will about Hitler, he had charisma.
The last "Starwars" i've probably ever sat and watched aand understood , probably was the one where they destroy the deathstar ( i thnk, it's been sooo long).
Do you think i'd be able to follow the movie if i just watched it without seeing any of the previous "Episodes" that they showed in the theaters ? I basically know, Darth is bad, Luke is "good". ewoks, jubba da hut, basic stuff like that, i'm not a 'hardcore' War's fan at all. Is it worth seeing it just for the effects? lol
Actually I think that was a calculated move done in order to get more people to see the movie.
To me this will rank as the 2nd best Star Wars, closely behind The Empire Strikes Back.
All things considered, I believe Lucas did a good job of putting the pieces together. It makes me appreciate how the saga ultimately ends, something I must say I was very disappointed with when I first saw "Return of the Jedi".
What surprised me was the tepid applause at the end in the theater I attended. Granted, it was past 2:30 a.m., but I got the feeling that most of the "faithful" were disappointed by this film.
The way I see it, Palpatine's charisma is not the "look at me! look at me!" type, but rather the, "I feel your pain" kind.
To me, Palpatine's "charisma" lies in his ability to appear to have absolute empathy. I can almost hear him now, "I feel your pain...."
sorry for the double post! I thought the first one didn't work....too little sleep!!!
My favorite scene was when Yoda eludes Order 66, kills his two attackers and then jumps on the Wookie's back. Yoda is so cool in this one.
SPOILER ALERT: The only apparent inconsistency I saw was that Leah is separated from her mother at birth, whereas in RotJ she tells Luke she remembers their mother and that she was "very beautiful, but very sad." Before this movie I had thought that Padme dies later on, not in childbirth. If I had to explain this away I would say that Leah was confused in her memory and was really remembering her adopted mother. Extreme and tragic irony it is that the killer of his wife Anakin turns out to be.
How did Hayden Christenson ever get this role? He is a BAD and annoying person. I refuse to call him an actor.
This could have been a great movie.
Special effects were super. Will wait for DVD before seeing it again.
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