I wish Zhang Yimou had done the Star Wars prequels

JoeGKushner · Jun 19, 2007

Ranger REG said:
Would be even better if all the actors and actresses are Asians, and the films have an Asian motif.

Yeah, cause we all know Lucas took zero inspiration from Samuria films at the time and created everything wholecloth.

Ed_Laprade · Jun 19, 2007

sniffles said:
Part of what Lucas was going for in all the films was something like an old-fashioned serial, although he got away from that a bit in the prequels. Lucas is all about telling the whole story from beginning to end and explaining all the details. That isn't something Chinese films usually do. Like anime, they tend to dump you in at the deep end and let you try to figure out the backstory for yourself. I can't see Zhang Yimou doing a story like Star Wars.

Ok, I'm really confused here. First off, Lucas didn't do the whole story. There should be at least three more movies. (And, very early on, he wanted to do twelve!) Even more to the point, Star Wars does dump you into the middle of the story.

trancejeremy · Jun 19, 2007

sniffles said:
Part of what Lucas was going for in all the films was something like an old-fashioned serial, although he got away from that a bit in the prequels.

Well, I agree that's what he was going for, but I would argue that he nailed it almost exactly in the prequels, but didn't do that great a job in EP IV-VI. Those old serials were full of horrible dialogue and bad acting (and cringeworthy stereotypes, sometimes).

Ranger REG · Jun 19, 2007

JoeGKushner said:
Yeah, cause we all know Lucas took zero inspiration from Samuria films at the time and created everything wholecloth.

True. He should have been inspired by Samurai films, not Samuria. :lol:

Michael Tree · Jun 19, 2007

trancejeremy said:
I'm not sure he would fit the sort of style the Star Wars movies are aiming for, which is the old pulp serials. He's a more cerebral, art house style director.

Sure, but I want cerebral, art house style Star Wars prequels.

Besides, being in the style of pulp serials doesn't mean it can't be dramatic and good quality. Deliberately writing bad dialogue and hackneyed scripts to fit a 'style' is crazy. But then, I don't think Lucas deliberately wrote bad dialogue or hackned scripts.

sniffles said:
Lucas is all about telling the whole story from beginning to end and explaining all the details. That isn't something Chinese films usually do.

ANH and ESB start in the middle and go forward without much explanation aside from the initial text crawl, gradually revealing the backstory.

Mustrum_Ridcully · Jun 19, 2007

I am considering launching a new Starwars campaign (thanks to the SAGA edition).
In the pretext, I will explain to my players which part of Starwars and its EU will be part of the world cannon. I plan to say that the second trilogy is part of the canon, but with better dialogues and acting...

RangerWickett · Jun 20, 2007

To be fair, I didn't really like House of Flying Daggers. I'm familiar with Japanese culture, not so much Chinese, so maybe that's part of it, but I thought the drama was a little weak. I didn't think things were so important that people had to be so self-destructive at the end.

Also, there were no scoundrels. That was one of the main flaws of the SW prequels: no scoundrels. Just all these stuffy Jedi.

Ranger REG · Jun 20, 2007

RangerWickett said:
Also, there were no scoundrels. That was one of the main flaws of the SW prequels: no scoundrels. Just all these stuffy Jedi.

Including the most stuffiest of them all: Mace Windu.

They had a chance to make him a Jedi Superfly with an afro bigger than the queen's do.

Michael Tree · Jun 22, 2007

RangerWickett said:
Also, there were no scoundrels. That was one of the main flaws of the SW prequels: no scoundrels. Just all these stuffy Jedi.

Absolutely. "Han Solo Character" is standard Hollywood jargon for "the scoundrel character you put in a movie to liven it up and say the good dialogue", so it's amazing that the prequels didn't have one.

It's odd, but the younger guard in House of Flying Daggers, the womanizer, was more of a scoundrel than anything that was in the prequels.

Klaus · Jun 22, 2007

Insight said:
George Lucas is a capable technical director (maybe even a good one, maybe even a great one), but a poor acting director, and a poor writer of dialogue.

Lucas would have been better served to stay the visionary and power behind the scenes and hire more capable people to write and direct the actors in his movies. Kinda like his role in the Indiana Jones movies. No one would accuse the Indiana Jones movies of having the plot holes, stiff acting, and questionable decision-making that the prequels were fraught with. Why not do the same with Star Wars? Recognize what you are good at, and what are your weaknesses, and deal with it.

Insight has good insight. QFT.

I wish Zhang Yimou had done the Star Wars prequels

JoeGKushner

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Ed_Laprade

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trancejeremy

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Ranger REG

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Michael Tree

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Klaus

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