"It's only a flesh wound"
And "None shall pass"
Posted on 06/06/2005 11:32:51 AM PDT by quidnunc
What can you say about a movie whose most engaging character is a two-foot tall, pointy-eared, green alien? "Star War III: The Revenge of the Sith" is heavy on special effects but sparse on drama, romance, and emotion.
It’s also filled with director George Lucas’s muddled thinking. And, yes, it’s science fiction in the service of Michael Moore’s worldview.
Despite its record-breaking opening, the last Star Wars installment is bad cinema, because it is a poor narrative. The light-saber duels are fun. The alien creations are cool. The attempts to portray passion or the corruption of the human spirit (how a man loses his soul) are pathetic.
In Christensen and Portman, Lucas has found a romantic duo who belong in a remake of "Beach Blanket Bingo." As Anakin Skywalker, Hayden Christensen is a sulking, pretty boy who scowls a lot and attempts to project angst. His transformation from the basically-decent-but-flawed Jedi Knight to the evil Darth Vader is Faust Light.
As former Princess, now Senator, Padme (Anakin’s secret wife), Natalie Portman seems perpetually bewildered. (A condition that probably results from reading too much Jedi philosophy — "Thus Spake Yoda.") Her expressions span the spectrum from looking moonstruck to being perplexed over her husband’s increasingly erratic behavior.
Then there’s Anakin’s less-than-credible conversion to the Dark Side of the Force. The sinister Chancellor Palpatine seduces our young Jedi by promising to give him the power to save his beloved wife from death (of which Skywalker has graphic premonitions). Then, in the climatic scene — believing Padame has betrayed him — Skywalker/Vader tries to strangle his pregnant spouse. "Luke, I’m your father — and I’m confused as hell!"
That’s about all the space the plot deserves.
-snip-
I hit "view replies" because I KNEW somebody would post that. Well done!
Being a conservative, usually means being an optimist. Episodes 4-6 were uplifting victories while 1-3 were dark tragedies which is probably why you liked 4-6 better.
I was hoping he would be killed off in the 2nd movie ...
Cinderella Man looked very good in the previews. Do you think it lived up to them ? I did like Beyond the Sea, strangely enough, because it was about a real person and showed some of his flaws.
I went to see it with my son this weekend (he'd seen it already, and humored Mom). The dialogue had some splinters sticking out of it, but I tried to ignore it.
The bald-faced attempts to slam W were just embarrassing, and met with stone silence in the theatre - no little "yeah"s or anything. Just dropped right into the punch bowl.
I did get a kick out of the little Rainman droids in the beginning who said "OW!" and "Uh Oh!"
The first bootleg movie I ever watched and the price was right, $0.00 and I was a Star War fan.
http://www.newsmeat.com/billionaire_political_donations/George_Lucas. php
Some of Lucas' political campaign contributions
My guess is Lucas is conservative. His movies are about absolute good and evil and are not very nuanced. Also, eventually, individuals defeat and evil government. And in real life I think he adopted something like 30 kids.
So you're saying the Death Star is like the big dig tunnel project in Boston?
Solo: "I know"
That was the peak. From then on the dialog stinks.
Yup. And that line wasn't even in the script; it was Harrison Ford's ad lib.
Well, McGregor is a better actor. But he also had much better material to work with. For one, he didn't have any inane love scenes that were just dead. The guy who portrayed the emperor did a great job, too (with the exception of that maniacal laugh), but here, too, he was given something meaty to work with.
Nothing since '92? Not terribly active, I'd say.
This was a great movie. Lucas did just about everything right. The stories of episodes I and II needed to be told in order to set this movie up. Lucas is dealing with archetypes and the historical parallels are general themes that are only partially comparable to any particular case. Anakin goes through the heroic cycle almost step by step. As far as a reference to Richard III, the scene where Anakin holds the lightsabre to Palpatines's neck is right from that play. It's no surprise, however, that the neocons do not like this movie.
Actually, the "uplifting" parts of the series were some of the parts I liked the least. They were too forced. I like the dark parts of the story, probably because these are the more dramatic portions of the series. "Empire" especially. I liked a lot of the eps. 2 and 3 dealing with Anikan becoming Vader because it had the same dark edge to it.
I enjoyed the original "Star Wars", but Lucas kind of made the Empire tough, and Han Solo really was (originally) a bad guy. Parts of "Jedi" were dark, but too much was muppets and teddy bears. "Phantom Menace" was a waste, because it was all fluffy and cotton candy.
This is hilarious: http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=150
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.