Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Stupid (Lightweight it is)

FrontPage Magazine ^ | June 6, 2005 | Don Feder

[evets]

shit this hits

[jjbrouwer]

Is there a better movie out this year ?

Try Cinderella Man and Layer Cake.

[Rum Tum Tugger]

Then there’s Anakin’s less-than-credible conversion to the Dark Side of the Force.

That is the fatal flaw in the entire Star Wars series.

I saw the movie this weekend and while I enjoyed it, I thought that Lucas' rationale for why Anakin converted to the dark side was very weak.

The story line behind why Anakin converted to the dark side has to be the most important element in the success of the movies as a package and Lucas fumbled.

It is obvious that Lucas never had a master plan that tied all 6 movies together. When it came to 1, 2 & 3, he was making it up as he went along and he failed to make it what it could have been when he failed to come up with a brilliant conversion story for Anakin.

[Oberon]

Did anyone seriously expect Citizen Kane?

The most damning thing about is, apparently Mr. Lucas did.

[A Ruckus of Dogs]

But to do this, the writer has to give the actors something to work with.

I agree the dialogue needed work but Ewan McGregor did fine with it. Anikin and Padme didn't.

[af_vet_1981]

Yoda fighting was the highlight for me, im glad we caught the matinee price.

I liked the Obi Wan duel and this movie really tied the other 5 all together. I've not been that interested in the continuity of them until seeing this movie.

Where in the World is Carmen San Diego Syfo Dyas ?

[FReepaholic]

...Was this Death star being built by union labor? ...

Actually, it was a government contract and they went through several redesigns and rebids over the years.

Basically, after 17 years they were right back where they started from.

[MarkL]

I agree as well. Lucas is a lightweight. Compair Lucas's utterly unconvincing exploration of the dark side with, say, that of Shakespeare (Richard 3rd, Othello, Lear, Macbeth, etc). Lucas has no real conception of evil, none. He cannot imagine the seduction of unchecked egoism or much of anything else as it pertains to evil. I watched that movie laughing the whole way through, especially that BDSM scene with the Master and his boy, geesh what corn pone. Lucas thinks evil runs around cackling loudly and walking like a zombie and saying stupid lines in a menacing voice.

Of course he doesn't have a clue about evil. He's a liberal. They don't recognize evil, except possibly for pro-lifers and other conservatives...

Mark

[ClearBlueSky]

I am an OT fan. The series went from ' I want to make a modern myth' to ' this is a kiddie movie'- and it shows.

Lucas has NO concept of normal human intimacy. He was a failure at marriage, he adopted his children. He admits he would rather not deal with actors( or people in general, I would imagine). So, of course- he attempts depth, angst, emotion and intimacy and refuses to let competent script writers get involved.

The heart changed in 20 years. The idea behind the series changed drastically. When you go from a mythical viewpoint to a merchandising one, it shows.
Of course big money is being made- but if that was an indication of quality the porn industry would sweep the Oscars every year.

[Theresawithanh]

Another reason I loved the first movie was that I saw it as good vs. evil, and good won out, the same way the last episode probably would have affected me had I seen it. Since I didn't see it, I'll never know.

I think the politics stuff is just hype, Lucas's cashing in on the Farenheit 9-11 type of movie.

[faq]

Great movie it was. I can understand though how someone who wasn't a big Star Wars fan to be surprised how Anikin was drawn so easily to the dark side (and blame it to bad acting). Maybe we should have been given a refresher course on the powers of the dark side prior to his conversion. It was a different kind of movie compared with the original three. There was no likeable Hans Solo character. But, the movie had a story to tell and that type of character would not have fit in. I was very impressed by the imagination it took to produce the story and scenery.

[RoseofTexas]

I thought the opening was real cheesy! And the lizard moped has got to go!! CORNY! Other than that it was ok. Now we know why it came in third place this weekend!Lucas should have kept his trap SHUT as far as politics go!!

[af_vet_1981]

Try Cinderella Man and Layer Cake

I prefer real men and chocolate cake.

[Miles the Slasher]

I believe an anagram of "Sith" in the title "Revenge of the Sith" well sums up the descent into lunacy of the Star Wars series - bad acting, bad plot and characters which try ones patience (Jar Jar Binks, the Ewoks, etc).

[staytrue]

The obvious way to plot Anni's turn to the Dark Side was Faust

And Faust has been done so often, I'm sure that is why Lucas avoided it. Anni's turn started with the slaughter of his mom's killers in Episode II. It continued with his breaking of his training to have an affair with padme. Further along when he killed Count Dooku, which is something even Dooku would not have done.

After 9-11, my first thought was to nuke the bastards and if we had, we would have irreversibly gone over to the dark side. I'm glad for our compassionate, and christian president who had the morals and good sense not to do that.

Lucas did not want Faust. I think he wanted to show the difference between Christians bringing down the Roman empire and becoming the dominate religion for centuries and Hitler almost conquering the world. There were two very different paths to power.

[sionnsar]

LOL!

[Mr. Jeeves]

Lucas doesn't understand evil, but Ian McDiarmid sure does. He didn't have a great script to work with and Anakin's rationale for converting may have seemed weak, but McDiarmid delivered the best Star Wars performance since Harrison Ford in Episode IV.

And you can't blame him for the silly laughter while the Emperor was fighting Yoda. ;)

[KarlInOhio]

DANTE
My friend is trying to convince me that any contractors working on the uncompleted Death Star were innocent victims when the space station was destroyed by the rebels.

LOL! I'll have to rent Clerks to watch that.

However, major defense projects like that will likely use local labor. The Empire must have been orbiting Endor for some reason. Why? They were using Ewoks for the contracting jobs - Ewok electricians, Ewok plumbers, Ewok zero-gravity welders. Thus only Ewoks were killed, and they were so annoying that I really don't mind. Further research shows that Ewoks were likely nearly wiped out as a species in the few months following Return of the Jedi.

See Endor Holocaust for an explanation.

[jjbrouwer]

I'd stay away from Jar Jar then. He doesn't seem too real - or very manly.

[Lightfinger]

First, George Lucas is a libertarian, not a full blown liberal. If anything, his attack is against the Homeland Security Act/John Ashcroft. Ron Paul would have loved this movie for that reason alone.

Second, Hayden Christensen could not act his way out of a paper bag in this movie. I've seen Natalie Portman in other roles, same with Jimmy Smits, Samuel Jackson, and Ewan McGregor...all 4 are fine actors/actresses but only McGregor did anything worthy of the role. Thus, my blame has to go to Lucas's directing and writing.

Third, the 'conversion' of Anakin to Vader was corny, to say the least. "Oh my god, I helped kill Master Windu. Oh, well, I guess I'm an evil b*st*rd now...lets go kill some children." Please. Then at the end, after his first mission, he's already ready to toss the Emperor overboard along with Padme? Not even Hitler turned that evil, that fast. In approximately a week's time, he's gone from "We must try the Emperor in a court of law" to "I am a god, worship me."

Fourth, Anakin didn't slice and dice JarJar. JarJar survives the movies. That should bring some people nightmares...