SW:3 Plot [Spoilers!!!]

[EricNoah]

Well there's mediocre underacting and then there's mediocre overacting. I prefer a little overacting (as sometimes seen in the original trilogy) to the emotionless blah I got from the two prequels. Gimme some ham, I'd rather have that than gruel!

 

[Hypersmurf]

I'm trying to figure out why this -

Spoiler

"While dying, Grievous' eyes are ejected from their sockets."

- made it into a Plot Synopsis... :\

-Hyp.

 

[Pants]

I'm trying to figure out why this -

Spoiler

"While dying, Grievous' eyes are ejected from their sockets."

- made it into a Plot Synopsis... :\

-Hyp.

Spoiler

It's going to be one of Lucas's 'dramatic' moments, where the eyes slowly pop out of the headcasing, while soft music plays in the background. Cut to the eyes falling ever so slowly to the ground, while in the background we hear Grievous yelling 'Error! Error! Does not compute! Mine eyes! Error!' over and over again.

Finally the eyes fall to the ground and in an extreme closeup, we see a single tear fall from one of the cybernetic spheres. Oh how Lucas cried as he filmed this part.

 

[Vigilance]

Well there's mediocre underacting and then there's mediocre overacting. I prefer a little overacting (as sometimes seen in the original trilogy) to the emotionless blah I got from the two prequels. Gimme some ham, I'd rather have that than gruel!

Sure, but we know Vader and Luke are related for SURE when we watch the perfomances of Mannikin Skywalker in Ep I and Luke "Corvette Summer" Skywalker in SW. Those two guys went to the same acting school for sure

Don't get me wrong, Luke got a LOT better... but he was BAD in SW and so was Carrie Fisher. I defy you to watch SW and not wince when Luke yells "I see them... wait! Leia!" or when Leia says to Han "I knew there was more to you than money!"

Pure cheese... the movies haven't changed at all. People just expected these new ones to be deep and me and David Byrne are singing "same as it ever was".

And I skipped school to see Jedi opening day, and I'll call in sick to see Ep III opening day cause it's all about the lightsabre fights and I'm at peace with that

Chuck

 

[Villano]

Yeah I think the problem with everyone being disappointed by Episodes I&II is that the tale grows in the retelling.

Let's recap: Star Wars had awesome special effects (for its day) and cool lightsabre duels and some of the worst acting you will ever see anywhere.

Empire was a great movie, one of the best of all time.

Jedi had some awesome special effects (for its day) and cool lightsabre duels and some really really mediocre acting "There's good in him I feel it" argghhhh... I smelled ham too...

Then somehow because of the concerted use of the Force by millions of clones of the Comic Book Guy these movies became deep and philosophical and well written. Really Empire was the only well-written, well-acted movie of the bunch.

So Episodes I&II come along and they are... wait for it... full of fantastic special effects, cool lightsabre duels and bad acting.

Which is fine with me, the movies were always mindless fun to me.

So why all the talk of the franchise "going downhill". The franchise is what it always was (always excepting Empire- heck even Trek made ONE decent movie and it was the second one too).

Chuck

Who were bad actors in A New Hope? Peter Cushing? James Earl Jones? Alec Guinness? The thing is that these actors balanced out the weakness of Mark Hammil and Carrie Fisher. However, in Phantom Menace, the "big guns" Liam Neeson and Ewen McGregor, were as stiff and wooden as the rest of the cast.

Also, while Fisher and Hammil may not be anything to write home about, I don't think they can be compared to Jake Llyod and Hayden Christensen.

And the writing has indeed gotten worse. I'm reminded of an article I read about the WWE (at the time, still the WWF). Mostly, it was complaining about Vince McMahon's daughter, Stephanie, taking over the writing and how it really dropped in quality. They cited a line of dialogue something like, "Vince McMahon, my father, how can you do that to me, your daughter, Stephanie McMahon?!" When I read that, I couldn't help but think of the dialogue in Phantom Menace.

 

[Hypersmurf]

However, in Phantom Menace, the "big guns" Liam Neeson and Ewen McGregor, were as stiff and wooden as the rest of the cast.

I still have a lot of respect for McGregor's "young Alec Guinness", though.

I always enjoy it when someone is playing another actor's character (whether it's a younger or older version of the same character, or a replacement actor, or a 'body-switch' episode, or whatever), and they get it right.

One of the best examples I've seen recently was the kid from Joan of Arcadia playing the young cloned Jack O'Neill in an SG-1 episode.

But McGregor's Kenobi was pretty damned good, too, I thought.

-Hyp.

 

[MerricB]

Why is it that when you get young actresses to play royalty, they forget how to act?

e.g. Carrie Fisher, Natalie Portman, Thora Birch.

The only film so far in the Star Wars saga I don't love to distraction is Return of the Jedi.

Episode I has Qui-gonn Jinn, Palpatine, Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Duel of the Fates and Anakin's Theme.

Episode II has Anakin killing the Tusken Raiders, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Palpatine, Jar-Jar Binks being manipulated, and the Love Theme.

Episode IV has Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader, the Death Star, the Attack Run, and the original theme music.

Episode V has everything except good acting by Lando Calrissian.

Episode VI has even worse acting by Lando Calrissian. But it does have that final big space battle.

Cheers!

 

[johnsemlak]

Sure, but we know Vader and Luke are related for SURE when we watch the perfomances of Mannikin Skywalker in Ep I and Luke "Corvette Summer" Skywalker in SW. Those two guys went to the same acting school for sure

Don't get me wrong, Luke got a LOT better... but he was BAD in SW and so was Carrie Fisher. I defy you to watch SW and not wince when Luke yells "I see them... wait! Leia!" or when Leia says to Han "I knew there was more to you than money!"

Pure cheese... the movies haven't changed at all. People just expected these new ones to be deep and me and David Byrne are singing "same as it ever was".

And I skipped school to see Jedi opening day, and I'll call in sick to see Ep III opening day cause it's all about the lightsabre fights and I'm at peace with that

Chuck

I think people who criticize the acting of SW are missing the point of why it's a good film, if not the epic story (a. la. the Iliad) of our generation.

The strengths in Star Wars were, along with the revolutionary special effects, the story which created enduring archtypes which have become standard points of reference in the English speaking world and beyond. The film and the trilogy used very basic and classic motifs to full effect.

Of course, Star Wars wouldn't be good at all without the fine acting by Alec Guiness and some would say Harrison Ford, and others.

However, I think that Star Wars shows that good directors (which George Lucus was at the time) can make a film great despite mediocre actors to some degree. Acting is important but cinema is not theater, and acting is really one one of many, many factors that go into making a good film.

I would argue that Episode I has a far superior cast to Episode IV overall (though, crucially, it may lack someone with the brilliance of Guinness), but good actors didn't save that film.

 

[Zappo]

Honestly, I think that a big part of SW's success was due to its special FX.

 

[Knight Otu]

Well, if this is the plot,

Spoiler

how can Leia remember her real mother when she died at childbirth?"