The Movie Whore on Star Wars Episodes 1-3
Rants and Ramblings, The Whore's Lists June 11th, 2008
You know I once read somewhere that Star Wars fans hate Star Wars. I have to say to a certain extent I agree. One thing I am not going to do is bash Lucas and the decisions he made with his mythology that he created. There enough people that have been doing that over the years. Away we go.
Episode 1 The Phantom Menace: Pod racing and Jar Jar Binks aside, I would have to say the first time I watched this at an advanced screening I loved it. I was working at a local theater,hence getting to see it early, and I can say that I saw this flick about 50 times during it’s theatrical run. The only I would even begin to fault Lucas for is the over use of CGI. Also I am not a big fan of the digital cameras that they are using these days.
As far as bad ass bad guys go, Darth Maul was the shit. He looked bad ass and the saber battle between Maul and Obi Wan was incredible.
One thing that always sticks out for me in this movie is the obsession of Qui Gon Jinn with transports. I think he asked “Do you have transports?” something like 4 times in this flick. It fit it was just excessive for my tastes.
Episode 2 Attack of the Clones: Hayden Christainsen aside, I dug it. How many of us had wondered what Yoda in battle would look like, well it was pretty damn awesome if you ask me.
We got to see the beginning of the Stormtroopers and the early versions of vehicles and ships that we would later see in episodes 4-6.
I also got into the masterminding of then Senator Palpatine. He was evil with an angel’s smile. The development of this character that would eventually become the master of of the galaxy. He was evil and he was good at it. He double crossed everyone and used people who never knew they were being used.
I even liked the story line of Jango Fett being the model for the clones. It explains so much.
Christopher Lee has taken part in more on screen sword fights then probably any actor in history. Having that kind of experience involved in developing the final saber battle made for one of the best sword battles the screen has ever seen. I said “one of” so calm down. Over all I was pleased.
Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith: Not so much. It had some cool visuals but I felt let down in more ways than one.
The one thing I was consistently happy with through each of these flicks was Ewan McGregor. He is a extremely talented actor. I think he did Alec Guiness proud with his portrayal of Obi Wan Kenobi.
Talk about one of the most fun fights in cinematic history, Palpatine vs. Yoda will go down in history as one of the more epic battles. This is what we watch Star Wars for, the fights and the space battles.
Now for the let downs. The anti climactic finish to the Obi Wan Anakin fight left me asking “Is that it?”
It had been an epic battle of equally matched foes until the end. It was a poor way to end the fight that we had all been dreaming of seeing ever since we learned it was Obi Wan that put Vader in his suit. Vader is a bad ass evil MF that can kill with a thought. I do not need that image ruined with him crying out after being told that his wife was dead. That right there had me walking out of the theater feeling as though some one had pulled a fast one. I understand the reason behind it but it opened the door to more questions.
Over all there were plot holes galore in these 3 movies and I will never be totally satisfied but then again I don’t imagine any of us could have done much better. Stay tuned for a look at the Episodes 4-6 coming soon. My final thoughts on the Episodes 1-3 is this. Leave George alone. It was his vision not ours and if he is happy with it then it does not matter how much we bitch about it. Remember that I said at the beginning. Star Wars fans hate Star Wars.
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June 11th, 2008 at 8:11 am
The Star Wars Universe is the allegorical epic of its day. I am convinced it will take its place with great tales like The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aenied, etc. All of the major archetypes for great story telling are portrayed and the story touches the human condition perfectly. I am convinced these films will be studied intensely in what will become our historical future.
June 11th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Agreed that the tale of “Star Wars” will be studied in the future just like the Iliad and Odyssey are studied. As far as Episodes 1-3 are concerned I was extremely unhappy with all of them. The overuse of CGI really got my blood boiling and the acting caliber of everyone besides Obi Wan and Palpatine was disappointing. The fights and special effect were right on, but I definitely think that episodes 4-6 were better without a doubt than 1-3. With Return of the Jedi being the best.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Forever will the human mindset favor classic and old versus new. If in fact, you can separate the classic value from episodes IV-VI and see all 6 episodes as one ~12 hour movie, it is hands down the greatest result of all film school generation directors and producers.
I think it is very shallow to write off the entire episode I because of Jar Jar like most ignorant fans out there. Jim, I was right there with you in the early screening. I was very pleased with it and will continue to always stick up for it. It had the “3 battle” ending much like Return of the Jedi (land, space, and lightsaber). The movie portrayed the adolescence of Anakin exactly as it needed to, right down to explaining the relationship with 3PO and R2.
Episode II was downright awesome. I had to see it 5 times in the theater the first week it came out. Okay, so a love story had to be shown. Big deal! Love is part of all of our lives and it certainly explained how Anakin went on to act the way he did after loosing such love. Aside from that, the ground war as well as the lightsaber fighting was very intense. Are you going to tell me that you DIDN’T experience boiling goosebomups when seeing the Star Destroyers take off behind the silhoutte of Palpatine? I heard almost every person that came out of Episode II say “III is going to be crazy.”
And so it was. Throw all blogging and everything that has happened in 2008 aside, the authors of Babeled and I went to see Episode III together. It was so good, I cannot even describe it. Okay, so it was a dark movie, but you expected that. For goodness sake the movie is titled “Revenge of the Sith.” The development and climactic transformation of Anakin and Palpatine was big screen drama to die for. At the end of the movie, which ended the trilogy, Vader was humanized and more importantly victimized. This is crucial in analyzing his actions in episodes IV-VI. I have written an article in the past called Star Wars Conspiracy Thoeries which states that Vader actually turned back to good a lot earlier than people think. The article has gotten a lot of attention (250,000 unique visits to date), so there must be something to it. My point is..Jim, I know you didn’t like Vader screaming at the loss of Padme, however, that was the point Vader realized that Palpatine made him kill his own wife. As soon as Vader was told that his son was alive in episode V, it became the “How do I screw Palpatine for ruining my life” campaign. Great post by the way!
Jonathan Carrs last blog post..Remembering Bobby
June 12th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Greg, I agree with you. Look at the number of message boards and fan sites dedicated to the subject matter.
Colt, I agree with you on the over use of CGI. I think George may have gotten a little carried away but the elements were all there to make something of epic proportions. I will still watch any of these 3 if only to get to my favorite parts.
Jonathan, WOW! For a while I had written off Episode 1 solely on Jar Jar and then I had kids and learned the difference between sounds my brain should hear and sounds that can be tuned out.
Overall George did a good job of laying the ground work for the next 5 movies with this venture, though I am still not convinced of the no father thing.
I jumped over and read you conspiracy article. Good stuff man. Let me know if your interested in doing a guest post sometime.