[article on MSN] How to save Star Wars.

[mojo1701]

It's like WW2 movies, vs. movies about Hitler's rise to power. You see a lot of the former, very few of the latter, because the latter are much harder to do, at least so they are interesting.

And just like SW, the earlier-set ones are political-type, whereas the later-based ones were more war-action dealies.

 

[Desdichado]

I think the storylines for TPM and AotC are fine, but the screenplays are what drag them down. The dialogue is horrible, the pacing is bad and drags horribly in spots, and TPM suffers from a very peculiar defect in which one leg of the multiple angle end battle scene has no tension or drama whatsoever (Annakin "accidentally" wins the battle for everyone? :\)

The acting isn't really that great, but as others have said, that's more likely a product of bad directing with bad material than actors who can't actually act well. Annakin was also spectactularly miscast in both movies -- one, because nobody believes that this little kid and this teenage queen could possibly have any chemistry, and in the second movie because nobody believes that a skinny, petulant and bratty teenager is going to become Darth Vader in a few years.

There were some early rumors that Ryan Phillipe was being considered for the part; my wife and I firmly believe that if he had been cast as Annakin in all three movies, it would have worked wonders. He's a good looking guy, but very masculine, and the ability to pull off the attractive and seductive, but also somewhat creepy bad boy that Annakin needs to be.

On the other hand, although I'm certainly not too fond of Jar Jar Binks, I don't consider him to be the movie breaker that many obviously do.

 

[jarlaxlecq]

I agree. I enjoyed Clones, although I thought the love story was weak and poorly written. Clearly, it's Lucas' weakness. But the rest of the movie, particularly Obi-Wan's story was well-done, and evoked a 30's style space opera.

I agree 100% here. The way the chapters worked on the ATC DVD worked it alternated between the whole love story and the obi-wan story, if you simply skipped the love story chapters and just watched the others, you'd find that it’s actually a pretty good movie.

To me TPM had its good points like the obvious manipulations of Palpatine, as well as Darth Maul and his double ended saber. But it was held down by poor dialog, stupid accents and "silly aliens" (Jungans) Also I personally the who Mitoco...however you spell it was the worse possible thing he did to the franchise. Trying to explain the Force? What the hell was he thinking?

Still ATC was a noticeable improvement IMHO over TPM and if that synopsis on enworld is any indication of Ep3. I still have hope. It can’t be any more disappointing then the matrix sequels



Lastly The Clone Wars "Micro Series" was actually really really good. If nothing else we have that.

 

[Klaus]

"Clone Wars" is perhaps the best incentive to starting a Star Wars RPG campaign...

Waaaay back in the day where software still came in 3.44 disks, I had a screensaver that had the original Star Wars: ANH screenplay (from Lucasarts). Well, guess what? Anakin Skywalker in TPM is just what Lucas had written for Luke Skywalker, and couldn't put on screen. The racing cars, the gang of friends.

Those parts of TPM would work best if Anakin was 15-16 years old. That way he would be believable as an expert pod racer with raw talent and a short temper, and those glances between Anakin and Padme at the end of TPM wouldn't be as WRONG!

 

[jarlaxlecq]

Am i the only one that saw the audition for the Anakin role on the DVD and thought that Lucas went with the worst one. I mean every other kid on that audition was better.

 

[myrdden]

I think the storylines for TPM and AotC are fine, but the screenplays are what drag them down. The dialogue is horrible, the pacing is bad and drags horribly in spots, and TPM suffers from a very peculiar defect in which one leg of the multiple angle end battle scene has no tension or drama whatsoever (Annakin "accidentally" wins the battle for everyone? :\)

The acting isn't really that great, but as others have said, that's more likely a product of bad directing with bad material than actors who can't actually act well. Annakin was also spectactularly miscast in both movies -- one, because nobody believes that this little kid and this teenage queen could possibly have any chemistry, and in the second movie because nobody believes that a skinny, petulant and bratty teenager is going to become Darth Vader in a few years.

There were some early rumors that Ryan Phillipe was being considered for the part; my wife and I firmly believe that if he had been cast as Annakin in all three movies, it would have worked wonders. He's a good looking guy, but very masculine, and the ability to pull off the attractive and seductive, but also somewhat creepy bad boy that Annakin needs to be.

On the other hand, although I'm certainly not too fond of Jar Jar Binks, I don't consider him to be the movie breaker that many obviously do.

Great minds think alike. These are exactly the points I feel bring down the movies (except perhaps the Ryan Phillipe point). I think the plot and meta story is pretty good, but the execution is kind of sloppy.

 

[Orius]

I think the storylines for TPM and AotC are fine, but the screenplays are what drag them down. The dialogue is horrible, the pacing is bad and drags horribly in spots, and TPM suffers from a very peculiar defect in which one leg of the multiple angle end battle scene has no tension or drama whatsoever (Annakin "accidentally" wins the battle for everyone? :\)

I agree. The fact that Anakin manages to save them all seems a little hard to swallow. I think the character is too young, and he probably would have worked better as a teen.

I think Lucas made him so young as to contrast the innocence of a child with the evil that is Vader. But he doesn't seem to fit right in the pod racing and space battle.

 

[mojo1701]

I'm just glad he didn't get the kid from A.I.

 

[Iron_Chef]

Ryan Phillipe is a good actor but not macho enough for Darth Vader; neither is Hayden. However, Hayden CAN act well if given good material --- see the excellent biopic "Shattered Glass" for proof. I thought Darth Vader should be a charismatic badass who lets his own ego seduce him into the Dark Side, not some whiny brat with a rat tail after his dad's car keys.

TPM is the worst movie ever made. Hands down. The absolute worst. Anybody with that much money who blows it that badly, beats out anybody else who made crap with less. AOTC was a step back in the right direction, but again suffers from being needlessly "cutesy" in parts or downright boring (the love subplot). Killing Jango Fett off so early was the same stupid mistake Lucas made in ROTJ. Hmm... Let's give the audience a cool anti-hero who is not a central villain (he is apolitical but merely in it for the money) and then kill him off as quickly as possible? A waste, though at least Jango got a much better death than Boba did.

Lucas has very little talent anymore and even less vision. He pissed it all away decades ago. Now, he's deluded himself into thinking he knows what he's doing, when it's clear to most everybody else (except little kids and die-hards) he doesn't. He can't write. He can't direct. All he can do is merchandize and fill the screen up with flashy nonsense that hurts my eyes.

And now Greedo shoots first? That's the kind of lame-o mentality that often sets in when you have kids, like replacing M16s with walkie-talkies in E.T.! Lucas wants to make it impossible to ever see the original versions of his films again, when those versions are the best. Why can't he digitally replace the Ewoks with Wookies? Why can't he do something cool instead of messing everything up even more? He's old enough to know better, isn't he?

 

[Klaus]

Jango's death was totally and completely underwhelming for me. He was supposed to be the matrix of the best army in the galaxy, and yet he backpedals and shoots uneffectively at Mace Windu.

Same with Darth Maul, and same with Anakin's attack on the Tusken Raiders. On that one, we should have seen Anakin killing the warriors with anger and much violence. And when he relays the story to Amigdala (heh), we learn that he didn't stop with the warriors. But he should tell her that witha bristling anger, not with a pout like a teen that was grounded and will miss the prom...

IMHO, Darth Maul should have been killed by Anakin in an outburst of rage that cemented his acceptance of the dark side, and then he earns his Dark Lord of the Sith colors by fighting Obi-Wan with a red lightsaber.