It's Sith-tastic!
May. 26th, 2005 11:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gogmagogWelp, went to see Episode III with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rathershady. (I like how I don't have to say what series it's episode III of, everyone just knows. XD )
OK, so it was better than the previous two. In fact, while it wasn't as good as some of the glowing reviews I read, it exceeded my expectations. Of course, my expectations were of a fiesta of suck, so that wasn't hard. XD
As always, the special effects and fight scenes were good. Plotwise, Anakin's temptation and descent into the Dark Side was pretty good (and very Oedipus Rex). So was the whole "overthrowing the Republic and creating the Empire" stuff. (It was also, I think, a pretty clearly a not-so-veiled jab at the current administration. I kept waiting for Palpatine to say, "I'm a uniter, not a divider." XD )
However, Vinnie and I were in agreement on the fact that George Lucas cannot write dialogue for shit, especially between two characters who are supposed to care for each other. The Anakin/Padme scenes were cringe-inducing, and even the fact that Natalie Portman was actually ZOMG ACTING FOR ONCE wasn't enough to save them. (Of course, it didn't help that she came off as the most airheaded bint in the galaxy, but look at the dialogue she was working with. XD )
But still, Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen did a creditable job with what they were given. So did Ewan MacGregor, but his was a little more lackluster (probably because he's got more talent and so is even more wasted on the movie). Ian MacDiarmid as Palpatine is enjoyably over-the-top and EBIL. Everyone else is kind of bleh. (Yes, even our "little green friend" Yoda.)
Also, there were a lot of TSTL (Too Stupid To Live) moments. (To be fair, some of them were dictated by the original trilogy.) For example:
Yoda: We need to hide the children.
Bail Organa: All right, I'll take the girl. My wife and I have always wanted to adopt a baby girl.
Obi-Wan: I'll take the boy to live with his family on Tatooine.
Yoda: Splendid! We'll put the girl with a socially prominent known Jedi sympathizer; no one will notice that their baby daughter has just suddenly materialized! And the boy will be perfectly safe if we put him with his uncle and aunt that he's related to through his evil psychic father; heck, we can even let him keep his name! Now I have to go to medbay, I think the Emperor's lightning has scrambled my brain.
And the less said about pregnant Padme, who while so far along that the babies are about to pop out, decides to don a miniskirted outfit and fly alone to a lava planet, accompanied only by a hapless droid, to confront her newly evil secret husband, the better. I mean, THAT'S sure to turn out well. Seriously. XD
I also thought the nods to the original series got a bit excessive. Why in God's name did they bring in Chewbacca? Or the newly-begun Death Star? Seriously, the moment we saw Vader rise up in the armor, we knew where this was eventually leading. Ya don't have to hammer it into our heads, "YES! THIS IS JUST THE PRELUDE TO AN EARLIER AND BETTER (ALBEIT CHEESIER) SERIES!"
And to be fair to the original trilogy, there was plenty of stupid dramatic cheese in this one as well. Padme dying of OMG A BROKEN HEART as soon as she pops those babies out, for example. (In fact, what are we supposed to make of a galactic civilization that can create coolie robot hands and all this nifty technology, but can't provide effective birth control or keep women from Movie Childbirth Death[tm]? This is obviously not a woman-friendly society.) And the lava fight, while cool, is pure cheese:
Obi-Wan: Yes, Anakin, let's move off the safe landing platform - leaving the woman you love and that I feel responsible for, who is heavily pregnant and whom you just nearly choked to death, lying on the ground motionless - in order to have an acrobatic battle on a skinny pylon floating on a gigantic ocean OF LAVA!
Anakin: Yes, Obi-Wan, let's! :D
Overall, though, I thought it was pretty good in a Hollywood cheese way. I certainly wouldn't mind eventually seeing it again.
It is kind of funny, though - this is the first time I've ever seen a Star Wars movie in the theater without my dad. I wasn't old enough to see the original trilogy in the theaters (well, I suppose I was technically born when Return of the Jedi came out in 1983, but I highly doubt I saw it given that I was a puling infant). But I did see the Special Edition rereleases, and then the two prequels - first with my dad and my stepbrother, then (after Nicholas started high school and hit that teen phase of not wanting to be associated with us) with my dad alone. In fact, I think Attack of the Clones was the last movie I saw with my dad - it came out the summer before I left for England, and I remember seeing it with him. I feel kind of sad that he wasn't able to see this one - I mean, he had to put up with Jake Lloyd and Jar-Jar, it seems kind of crappy that he wasn't able to see the big payoff. :(
rathershady. (I like how I don't have to say what series it's episode III of, everyone just knows. XD )OK, so it was better than the previous two. In fact, while it wasn't as good as some of the glowing reviews I read, it exceeded my expectations. Of course, my expectations were of a fiesta of suck, so that wasn't hard. XD
As always, the special effects and fight scenes were good. Plotwise, Anakin's temptation and descent into the Dark Side was pretty good (and very Oedipus Rex). So was the whole "overthrowing the Republic and creating the Empire" stuff. (It was also, I think, a pretty clearly a not-so-veiled jab at the current administration. I kept waiting for Palpatine to say, "I'm a uniter, not a divider." XD )
However, Vinnie and I were in agreement on the fact that George Lucas cannot write dialogue for shit, especially between two characters who are supposed to care for each other. The Anakin/Padme scenes were cringe-inducing, and even the fact that Natalie Portman was actually ZOMG ACTING FOR ONCE wasn't enough to save them. (Of course, it didn't help that she came off as the most airheaded bint in the galaxy, but look at the dialogue she was working with. XD )
But still, Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen did a creditable job with what they were given. So did Ewan MacGregor, but his was a little more lackluster (probably because he's got more talent and so is even more wasted on the movie). Ian MacDiarmid as Palpatine is enjoyably over-the-top and EBIL. Everyone else is kind of bleh. (Yes, even our "little green friend" Yoda.)
Also, there were a lot of TSTL (Too Stupid To Live) moments. (To be fair, some of them were dictated by the original trilogy.) For example:
Yoda: We need to hide the children.
Bail Organa: All right, I'll take the girl. My wife and I have always wanted to adopt a baby girl.
Obi-Wan: I'll take the boy to live with his family on Tatooine.
Yoda: Splendid! We'll put the girl with a socially prominent known Jedi sympathizer; no one will notice that their baby daughter has just suddenly materialized! And the boy will be perfectly safe if we put him with his uncle and aunt that he's related to through his evil psychic father; heck, we can even let him keep his name! Now I have to go to medbay, I think the Emperor's lightning has scrambled my brain.
And the less said about pregnant Padme, who while so far along that the babies are about to pop out, decides to don a miniskirted outfit and fly alone to a lava planet, accompanied only by a hapless droid, to confront her newly evil secret husband, the better. I mean, THAT'S sure to turn out well. Seriously. XD
I also thought the nods to the original series got a bit excessive. Why in God's name did they bring in Chewbacca? Or the newly-begun Death Star? Seriously, the moment we saw Vader rise up in the armor, we knew where this was eventually leading. Ya don't have to hammer it into our heads, "YES! THIS IS JUST THE PRELUDE TO AN EARLIER AND BETTER (ALBEIT CHEESIER) SERIES!"
And to be fair to the original trilogy, there was plenty of stupid dramatic cheese in this one as well. Padme dying of OMG A BROKEN HEART as soon as she pops those babies out, for example. (In fact, what are we supposed to make of a galactic civilization that can create coolie robot hands and all this nifty technology, but can't provide effective birth control or keep women from Movie Childbirth Death[tm]? This is obviously not a woman-friendly society.) And the lava fight, while cool, is pure cheese:
Obi-Wan: Yes, Anakin, let's move off the safe landing platform - leaving the woman you love and that I feel responsible for, who is heavily pregnant and whom you just nearly choked to death, lying on the ground motionless - in order to have an acrobatic battle on a skinny pylon floating on a gigantic ocean OF LAVA!
Anakin: Yes, Obi-Wan, let's! :D
Overall, though, I thought it was pretty good in a Hollywood cheese way. I certainly wouldn't mind eventually seeing it again.
It is kind of funny, though - this is the first time I've ever seen a Star Wars movie in the theater without my dad. I wasn't old enough to see the original trilogy in the theaters (well, I suppose I was technically born when Return of the Jedi came out in 1983, but I highly doubt I saw it given that I was a puling infant). But I did see the Special Edition rereleases, and then the two prequels - first with my dad and my stepbrother, then (after Nicholas started high school and hit that teen phase of not wanting to be associated with us) with my dad alone. In fact, I think Attack of the Clones was the last movie I saw with my dad - it came out the summer before I left for England, and I remember seeing it with him. I feel kind of sad that he wasn't able to see this one - I mean, he had to put up with Jake Lloyd and Jar-Jar, it seems kind of crappy that he wasn't able to see the big payoff. :(
