Say what you want about SW today and the prequels, but from the stand point of pure spectacle and summer popcorn nonsense "Revenge of the Sith" should be one hell of an entertaining movie. If you rule out the acting and dialogue (such as it is), and go by the visuals (and action) alone , it should be worth the price of admission. And the acting (maybe not so much the dialogue) appears to be "better" this time around.
There is a flurry of bootlegged videos of the 7 minute preview that was featured at the recent SW celebration appearing on the 'net today (I don't have a direct link) and judging from what I saw, RotS should make up for whatever shortcomings the previous movies had and then some.
Have you seen this bad General (don´t know his name)? What the F+++ is that?!
He walks like a crippled vulture or something like that. This figure is typical for the new Episodes - it is made for kiddies and in the same style like this goddamned Jar Jar Mutation. Just a thoroughly embarrassing "bad guy"...
So I must admit, I´m already disappointed by Episode 3 - nevertheless I´m going to watch it in the cinema.
And that with the action/popcorn nonsense: as a former SW-fan it´s a pretty cold comfort that it contains more (brachial CGI-)action
I fully expect this movie will contain everything I've been hoping to see since the prequels were announced in the 90s.
I can agree that Jar Jar is a horrible character in every regard, the CGI has been overdone, the movies have been dumbed down, overmerchandised and "kiddified" to an extent, and there was the unforgivable stupidity of the Midichlorians, but none of these things have been enough to spoil the movies entirely for me.
Most of my disappointment has come from knowing what will happen and not seeing enough of it in the first two movies. The clone wars, the old Star Wars style, the big ships, character origins, Vader's fall and disfigurement, the emergence the classic Star Wars universe - all of this has been witheld and/or doled out sparingly.
But, all of this stuff has to happen at some point, so the third movie must be loaded with it. It does make sense. I've said it before - look at the trilogy not as three movies, but as a single movie in three acts. Each movie has fulfilled its purpose, and the third is where it all comes together. We're just not used to sequels being presented that way. Even the original Star Wars only really started taking that approach with ESB. The first was made as pretty much a stand-alone movie, since there was no guarantee it wouldn't be the last. This one was never intended to be anything but one story in three acts, something that only recently has become acceptible.
The Lord of the Rings, although its story simply stops abruptly at the end of each movie, is much more accepted, because we knew the story already, and knew what should be in each movie. And yes, it is an all-around better set of movies than the new Star Wars trilogy has been so far. But, Star Wars has the disadvantage of the fans already knowing what will happen, but not exactly when or how. A lot more room for disappointment when the first two movies do little but set the stage and move everybody toward where they need to be. But, that is their function. The climax, the answers, the big confrontations come in the third act.
I'm remaining optimistic about Episode III. I think it's foolish to write off the final act, just because the best parts (parts we know are coming) didn't come in the first two.
Post Edited (04-26-05 13:35)
"kiddified" - that´s the point. lol
Sure your´re right with your view on the fact that the audience already knew the plot of LOTR whereas the new SW-parts are kind of a surprise.
I have no problem with that. I have a problem with the style they present this plot.
For example: I have no problem with a story about young Anakin Skywalker. I have a problem with a 5-years-old little sucker wining "pod-races" (nothing against kids but he´s just a pain in the ass), I have a problem with DartMaul looking like Satan (he´s evil!) and all these Marchmallow-optics in the new SWs.
Hm, maybe I am simply too old to be fascinated by this new style of action-cinema. Don´t know...
> But, all of this stuff has to happen at some point, so the third movie
> must be loaded with it.
That might be exactly what could make it suck. Imagine if they'd blown up the first and second death star in the same movie, revealed who's related to each other and what would become of Han Solo all in the same movie... A big part of what sucked about the "first" two movies for me is that they squished up the backstory so that everything seemed to be happening in a very brief timespan, which isn't the impression I'd gotten before from the way people reffered to the Clone Wars and how archaic the Jedi religion was.
Star Wars III: Return of the Attack of the Phantom Spoiler:
http://www.spedro.com/nf_stiii.html
I don't think the story is squished up, it takes place over a twenty year span.
I think the only problem with the first two is that everyone was too distracted hating Jar-Jar to pay attention to Palpatine's manipulations in the background. Anakin has been no more of a whiny-ass than Luke was and Jar- Jar wasn't anymore annoying than C3PO.
I guess I don't get worked up over the prequels because I didn't see the originals as a child. I have only seen Eps 1 & 2 twice each. I have seen Star Wars at least 30 times, probably 20 of those in the theater. I remember when my wife and I were going together in 1981 and we were looking for a movie to go to, Empire was still in theaters and she asked if I had seen it and I said only 7 or 8 times. The LOTR movies are the only thing I have deemed worthy of watching more than once in a theater in 20 years.
I'll probably like this last one a lot.
Somebody said Darh Maul looked like satan and he was boring or something.....I don't remember what it said exactly....but I thought he was the only good thing in the Pantom menace...I mean red double blade light saber,wearing black robe,looking evil,horns/thorns (whatever) in his forehead .....and those sweet moves...man.....that's how I'd think someone who practiced the way of the force (whatever) should move...not like Samuel L Jackson or Anakin(haydensen is it?)fake ass martial arts thing...they really suck....I was so bored with that first movie and then Darth Maul came in...i started to feel some hope that the end wouldn't suck as much as the first 3 quarters of it....and then...almost right after those thoughts.he get split in two...and then the annoying anakin kid "hold on r2...I'm flying ti-hi ti-hi..itä's on automatic pilot..ti-hi ti-hi"......i just wanted to die.
I agree. I thought Darth Maul was the only redeemable part of Episode One. It's too bad he was only in the movie for a collective 5 minutes, max.
Darth Maul reminded of Bobo Fett from the old Star Wars flims. Was in the films for like 20 mins max but popular as hell. Usually they have bigger parts in the other Star War stuff, like the comics or the novels.
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You can’t give it, you can't buy it, and you just don't get it!-Aeon Flux
Funny, I was just driving through the city a couple of days ago, and came up behind a minivan with the licence plate DRTHMAUL, and an Imperial crest stuck to the rear window. Couldn't help but think that getting chopped in half really settled him down.
speaking of Boba Fett..have you heard the news about a new live action Tv-show based on the time between Revenge of the Sith and A new hope. Some characters from the original trilogy is supposed to be in it. Man...i've wished for a live action boba fett series about him bountyhunting and stuff for a long time...But it may not even be about him,or even include him at all...i'm just spekulating...If you don't believe me check out Aintitcoolnews.com for more info.
or check this link for more star wars new tv-series:
http://www2.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Television&action=page&type_id=&cat_id=270355&obj_id=48637
His design was originally intended for one of the many council guys in the long boring congress scenes if I remember correctly. I liked Darth Maul. I thought he worked because he was kindof an opposite to Darth Vader. Darth Vader was always somewhat stoic and immovable where as Darth Maul was all p**sed and jumping around like a maniac.
Yeah..i know...but he died in the first movie so the chances to let him star in the new tv-series are very slim (even thought he was very cool....maybe even cooler than Boba Fett)
Dunno. Perhaps Maul was cloned?
Lol.
> I don't think the story is squished up, it takes place over a twenty year span.
Man, I'm such a dork, I can't let this go. No way is that a sufficient time span for people to start talking about Jedis like they were Druids. Han Solo acted like he'd never heard of Jedi powers, and he was sceptical that they would even work, that's like if people thought Navy Seals were just a legend. Also, refering to the Clone Wars (rather than the Clones War) implies a very long series of different conflicts with some common denominator such as being exacerbated by cloning technology, kind of like the Punic Wars. I've been assuming that since I was five! Why would they call a single war that involves clones, jedis, droids, and assorted spacy thingies... the Clone Wars? It results in the overthrow of the previous galactic government, wouldn't they call it the Revolution or something? The prequels simply must not be accepted as cannonical!!! *TWITCH* They're like Splinter In The Minds Eye, the Alan Dean Foster novel that came out right after the A New Hope, where Luke and Leia get it on.
Maybe he was just overhyped (I waited quite awhile to see both prequels), but Maul didn't do that much for me. I actually thought the Jar Jar effect would have worked better for a villain like that, it'd make him look all unreal and inhuman, and they could have done him with extra arms and no head. Neither Jar Jar nor the Ewoks where quite as bad as everyone says, IMHO.
In a preview I have seen this "Dark General".
What about that? What level or degree of JarJarism can we expect?
I think he'll be better than JarJar....even if he looks stupid....but he will still have a "childish cgi aura"..like them droids in the first movie....and for the record...the ewoks wasn't bad.....they were good for that movie (rotj)...at least the first 10 times i watched it......
*twitch* Apologies, but I can't help it.
Theef: this
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is an ellipsis. It is to be used sparingly, and for emphasis! Writing... your posts... with lots... and... lots... of them... is just about... as visually... umm... what should I say... annoying? ... as WRITING ALL IN CAPS ALL THE TIME IS.
(Sorry.)
I'm with the "turn the brain off, expect nothing, go see it anyway" crowd. I'm gonna cheer when Palpatine fries someone in a fit of rage, and when he utters the words "Arise, Lord Vader." I'm gonna grind my molars and develop TMJ watching Hayden Christensen act badly in such an ultimate villain role. When it devolves into droids zapping droids on a smoky battlefield, my eyes will glaze slightly; I will awaken with a small start when something relating to Vader then happens, or Padme appears in something revealing.
Watching and listeningto the guy who plays Palpatine is basically worth the price of admission, for me, by itself.
On a side note: Yoda's lightsaber fight in episode II: crowd-pleaser, or cheesy CGI?
Yeah, Palpatine is one of the characters I enjoyed in the old trilogy. He is a "good" evil character, absolutely interesting and not exaggerated like DarthMaul.
His developement into the Emperor is what remained interesting on SW...
ok.I second that. and Yoda's lightsaber fight in episode II: crowd-pleaser btw
On a side note: Yoda's lightsaber fight in episode II: crowd-pleaser, or cheesy CGI?
or both
Yeah...I second that too...acctually.