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OT: Episode II full review


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I always thought of myself as a Star Wars fan being 30 years old and growing up as a child loving the original trilogy, but my opinion was belittled upon the arrival of Episode I and II.

The bottom line is some fans are taking these movies way to seriously. The genre of Star Wars is like the bible to some fans. And treading upon their vision of the bible is blasphemy in their opinion. Lighten up, it's just movies.

And please understand that George Lucas has two things working against him where he can do nothing right no matter how much time and input he puts into making a Star Wars movie.

First off is what can technically be referred to as, the old Star Wars geek syndrome. George Lucas has a generation gap working against him where he is making the SAME type of movie that is being made for most summer blockbusters these days. But there is that generation gap of thritysomething Star Wars fans that remember "the good 'ol days" of blue screens and minature model special effects. Nobody's ****ing to the same extent about Spiderman and Blade II even though they are using the same campy looking CGI. The difference is this is the oh mighty holy Star Wars series that is scrutinized at every turn. And the older Star Wars fans are tapping their bible being the original trilogy at what the movie is supposed to be in their minds. Yea when I went to school it was on foot, in the snow, uphill, both ways, yadda yadda....."

The second thing he has working against him is that these are prequels. Every main character's fate is set in stone so Lucas can't stray too much on the plot. So what do we get? Everyone complaining that the plot is boring and predictable. Duh, you've already seen the end of this a thousand times since 1977, of course it's going to be predictable.

My solution to all you Star Wars officiandos who know Star Wars better than George Lucas is offer some solutions to what you would of done differently. All I see is the complaining on what is wrong, I rarely see any posted solutions. Or at least that are better than what Lucas is putting out right now.

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Absolutely useless movie trivia: To stay on topic, in the Empire Strikes Back, the scars and bruises on Luke's face that he recieved from the Wampa on Hoth are actually real scars and bruises Mark Hammill received in a car wreck the same week they were filming.

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Originally posted by KevinthePRF

IMy solution to all you Star Wars officiandos who know Star Wars better than George Lucas is offer some solutions to what you would of done differently. All I see is the complaining on what is wrong, I rarely see any posted solutions.

People seem to reading my original review as some kind of dislike of sci-fi / comic book / action movies, which isn't true. I really did like the first two Star Wars movies (the original and Empire), for example. I'm just pointing out how the latest installment could have been better, using the standards of the series itself.

I also didn't hate everything about Episode II. While I'm not wild about the digital effects, they were fine -- I just pointed out that they're not as realistic as some traditional non-digital effects can be. Certainly the effects alone didn't ruin the movie for me.

To cut to the chase, the best of the series to me (Empire Strikes Back) was a result of merging Lucas's powerful future vision, general story ideas, and technical expertise, with collaborators who fill out his strengths (a better director and better screenwriters, primarily). I also wish that Lucas were better in choosing actors -- maybe that should be left to the director he hires. Sure, he landed Harrison Ford before Harrison Ford was a big name (and he also got Alec Guinness, who was a big name), but many of his choices have delivered poor performances. That's partly bad direction, but certainly part bad actor.

In short, I wish Lucas would better recognize his limits, and hire partners who are better in the areas where he is weak. It's a shame to make these Star Wars films anything less than some of the best action / sci-fi films of all time. I say that as a Star Wars *fan*.

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Originally posted by KevinthePRF

The genre of Star Wars is like the bible to some fans.

That has a lot of truth to it. It's like Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek. It's religion for people who don't like religion. And I say that as a Star Wars fan. It's reflective of the lunacy of those fans, not the movies themselves.

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I have yet to see Attack of the Clones (which has to be one of the silliest titles for a sci-fi movie since those old American International potboilers from the '50s and '60s :laugh:), but if its snooze-inducing predecessor, The Phantom Menace, was any indication, well... Let's just say that I'm not expecting the very best out of Attack of the Clones.

I'm sure that Lucas' new film will be as technically polished as his last one was, but where's the drama? Where's the can't-take-your-eyes-off-of-them characters? For all of The Phantom Menace's amazing visuals, there wasn't one character -- not one! -- who grabbed me the way that Han Solo did in the original trilogy.

Moreover, Lucas seems to be the only one fretting about the (barely visible) matte lines in the original trilogy's optical FX. From a purely technical standpoint, the original trilogy -- and I'm not talking about Lucas' gratuitous and revisionist "Special Edition" re-releases here -- still looks and sounds great. To Lucas, they're woefully lacking, like trying to watch one of those creaky old Buck Rogers serials from the '30s on a modern high-definition TV. But to most everyone else, there's nothing wrong with them whatsoever.

In fact, I'd happily take a matte line-filled Empire Strikes Back, which is one of the finest written (thanks to Larry Kasdan) and best directed (thanks to Irv Kershner) science fiction films ever, over a state-of-the-art dullfest like The Phantom Menace any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

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Actually, there was on character who I found immensely appealing in Phantom Menace, problem was she only got about five minutes. The actress who played Vader's Mom was really good. The moment of giving your son away, while needing to accept what fate has handed you was touching.

I think Clones is superior. I actually began to like the young Kenobi. For me, it was a good, but not wholly satisfying movie. Strangely, the non Star Wars fanatic I took with me liked it better than I did. I do wish that there was more intimacy in the movie, that we got to know the characters a little better. On the other hand, as a grand war epic or as an adrenaline sprint, it works pretty well.

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