LightPhoenix
First Post
My feelings on the movie generally echo the camp of that it was an okay movie, but the directing sucked, the dialogue stunk, and that it probably would have been better if Lucas was just a writer, and not a director.
After each of the prequels I left with the feeling of wanting to see the original trilogy again. With the first two, it was because I felt so underwhelmed, I wanted to get back some of that magic that was lost. With RotS, I wanted to see the whole of 3-6 back to back, as a cohesive story. It was a very refreshing feeling, despite my issues with the directing and dialogue. I felt like there was a glimmer of magic afterward that just wasn't there after the first two.
I feel obliged at this point to discuss the movie by itself, though most of my thoughts are on the prequels as a whole. As always, the worst parts of the movie were Hayden and Natalie. Not because of the story, which I thought was acceptable... people do things for love that they wouldn't normally do otherwise. Rather, I think they have absolutely zero chemistry together, and that in general their acting just stunk. I don't blame either of them... I blame the director, since it's his job to set the tone and mood, and he needs to coax that in part out of the actors. I also think that they were rather dwarfed by the rest of the cast, which I chalk up to their lack of experience acting relative to everyone else.
I loved the way the Jedi were portrayed... very far from the perfect ideal that they claimed to be. It also set up the big rift between Anakin and the council, which ties back to Episode 1. The padawan are presumably taken young, so young that they don't know real life, only the controlled faux-life the Jedi teach. Anakin has already lived a good deal of life, and the seed of what can only be called humanity is already growing. It's because of the council's denial of humanity that drives the rift between them, since Anakin rightly believes they won't understand his problems. Ursula LeGuin raised a similar point in the opening chapters of The Other Wind (and the end of Tehanu).
I completely agree with everyone that says the passage of time was poorly handled.
After watching Episode 3, I came away with three general thoughts about the prequels in my head. First, I felt that 1 and 2 made a lot more sense, and saw how they fit into the bigger picture much clearer, and I think that made the movies a little more enjoyable. The Jedi could have saved his mother, but didn't; why would he expect anything more for Padme? Similarly, his slaughter of the sandpeople echoed the slaughter of the Jedi - both groups effectively killed people he loved. The Jedi twice so, once with his mother and presumably once with Padme. He isn't driven by justice, he's driven by vengence and anger - literally the stuff of the dark side, as told by Yoda way back when.
Secondly, I really feel that the first two prequels could have and should have been condensed into a single movie. TPM and AotC really seemed like the same movie to me, in that they tell Anakin's history, establish his character and set up RotS. Except that they both felt like they were dragging, even during the action scenes. RotS seemed a lot better paced to me, and while it wasn't perfect, I felt that it went by pretty well.
Thirdly, all three of the prequels felt very sanitized to me. I think part of the charm of the original trilogy is that they feel very gritty, very real. It doesn't feel like the focus of the movies is on the cinematography, on the flash and glitz. Not everything is done perfectly so, and that gives it character. A character which I feel the prequels lack. That's really where I think Lucas went wrong. Somewhere along the line I think he decided that it wasn't about the story, but about the digital revolution and CGI and fancy crap that doesn't mean a thing when the story isn't there.
After each of the prequels I left with the feeling of wanting to see the original trilogy again. With the first two, it was because I felt so underwhelmed, I wanted to get back some of that magic that was lost. With RotS, I wanted to see the whole of 3-6 back to back, as a cohesive story. It was a very refreshing feeling, despite my issues with the directing and dialogue. I felt like there was a glimmer of magic afterward that just wasn't there after the first two.
I feel obliged at this point to discuss the movie by itself, though most of my thoughts are on the prequels as a whole. As always, the worst parts of the movie were Hayden and Natalie. Not because of the story, which I thought was acceptable... people do things for love that they wouldn't normally do otherwise. Rather, I think they have absolutely zero chemistry together, and that in general their acting just stunk. I don't blame either of them... I blame the director, since it's his job to set the tone and mood, and he needs to coax that in part out of the actors. I also think that they were rather dwarfed by the rest of the cast, which I chalk up to their lack of experience acting relative to everyone else.
I loved the way the Jedi were portrayed... very far from the perfect ideal that they claimed to be. It also set up the big rift between Anakin and the council, which ties back to Episode 1. The padawan are presumably taken young, so young that they don't know real life, only the controlled faux-life the Jedi teach. Anakin has already lived a good deal of life, and the seed of what can only be called humanity is already growing. It's because of the council's denial of humanity that drives the rift between them, since Anakin rightly believes they won't understand his problems. Ursula LeGuin raised a similar point in the opening chapters of The Other Wind (and the end of Tehanu).
I completely agree with everyone that says the passage of time was poorly handled.
After watching Episode 3, I came away with three general thoughts about the prequels in my head. First, I felt that 1 and 2 made a lot more sense, and saw how they fit into the bigger picture much clearer, and I think that made the movies a little more enjoyable. The Jedi could have saved his mother, but didn't; why would he expect anything more for Padme? Similarly, his slaughter of the sandpeople echoed the slaughter of the Jedi - both groups effectively killed people he loved. The Jedi twice so, once with his mother and presumably once with Padme. He isn't driven by justice, he's driven by vengence and anger - literally the stuff of the dark side, as told by Yoda way back when.
Secondly, I really feel that the first two prequels could have and should have been condensed into a single movie. TPM and AotC really seemed like the same movie to me, in that they tell Anakin's history, establish his character and set up RotS. Except that they both felt like they were dragging, even during the action scenes. RotS seemed a lot better paced to me, and while it wasn't perfect, I felt that it went by pretty well.
Thirdly, all three of the prequels felt very sanitized to me. I think part of the charm of the original trilogy is that they feel very gritty, very real. It doesn't feel like the focus of the movies is on the cinematography, on the flash and glitz. Not everything is done perfectly so, and that gives it character. A character which I feel the prequels lack. That's really where I think Lucas went wrong. Somewhere along the line I think he decided that it wasn't about the story, but about the digital revolution and CGI and fancy crap that doesn't mean a thing when the story isn't there.
