Sunday 22 May, 2005
Execute Plan 66
Well, with Laura and Clay, we ended up going to see the movie every one is talking about. Personally, I've never been a huge Star Wars fan, so I've never felt that all the new movies violated me personally like many of my fanatical friends think. For me they are just a bit of lighthearted entertainment, good or bad.
And I actually quite liked Revenge of the Sith. Firstly, it had the best special effects I've ever seen, they were just amazing. Every time Yoda came on screen I just totally forgot that he was cgi - I just wanted to stroke his hair. I liked the story, how it tied all the new movies to the old ones, I especially liked the finishing scenes where they explain why all the characters from the original movies ended up where they were. There were some beautiful touching scenes, especially when all the Jedis are betrayed and killed - that scene had a very fitting soundtrack. Hayden Christensen had grown up a lot since the last movie and mostly potrayed his difficult character very well. And Yoda - finally they put the spotlight on him. I've never liked Yoda too much in the original films, now I'm a huge fan. The fighting scenes were beautiful, even more so in the fantastic settings like in the middle of the lava flows.
With all of that, I found it easy enough to dismiss all the bad things about the movie. Dialog is not only atrocious, it's in many places inappropriate - like Jedis joking in the middle of the battle. It was full of age old cliches that most directors would avoid like the plague, and George Lucas definetly doesn't murder his darlings. Lucas likes comedy - but doesn't have the appropriate skill to introduce it to the places it needs to be, instead he puts it in the middle of serious scenes that should be even scary. There were big holes in the plot, and Lucas likes to hint to backround stories that he hasn't had time to put into the film but that he loves - like the weird hybrid droid General Grievous (and don't you just hate the name?).
But I'm not complaining. I got my $8 worth.
Posted by kolibri at 22 May 22:59, 2005I advise reading 'Labyrinth Of Evil' by James Luceno. It has a load of interesting background-y stuff in it which might answer some of your questions... but I wouldn't know for sure, as I've not seen the film yet! A ton of backstory for Grevious, for example.
Most of the complaints about RotS centre on "Lucas can't direct for toffee".
You can't add any more comments, but if you wish you can email the author.