Star waaars, St st st Star waaars, St st st Staaar Waaars, Star Wars is here

[Salinye]

Yeah, I don't think the movie had any "political" messages in it directed at Bush or the War. Infact, it never even occurred to me and I'm a politically minded person. I think the wheels were in motion for this long before the war in iraq ever took place and it didn't break character at all. If you read the books, it carries the same feel. :0)

My two cents!

~Salinye

[Callum]

I didn't notice any political statements... but a friend said that Anakin's line "If you are not with me, you are my enemy." is a quote from Bush. *shrugs*

After the second time through... I simply have to mention the worst lines ever. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I doubt this is a spoiler... but maybe you want to avoid it...

Obi Wan: "I can't bear to watch this any longer." had us in fits of laughter,
and
Padme: "Anakin, you're breaking my heart." brought a series of groans from the entire audience

[krunchyfrogg]

I liked it more the second time I saw it. I guess I'm just not a kid anymore, and the original magic of the series is gone. Once I accepted that, it was all good.

[T-D-C]

Originally posted by Callum: I didn't notice any political statements... but a friend said that Anakin's line "If you are not with me, you are my enemy." is a quote from Bush. *shrugs*

Its also a quote from other leaders in history. Bush is just simply the most recent person to use it.

[Mr. Mopery]

Saw it yesterday and I thought it was ok. I'd agree with those above that I enjoyed it mostly because it wasn't as bad as the previous 2.

The film felt really...detached...to me. I mean, there's this galactic war going on and we see just the tiniest fraction and get no sense of the scale. Even the opening scene basically just followed the two Jedi. You got no sense of the relevance of ANYTHING else.

In the first trilogy, on the other hand, you got to see some of the supporting cast. When they got snuffed it meant something. When a droid or clone was destroyed, I mainly felt a twinge of curiosity as to what value, exactly, a clone's life might have. And why Jedi didn't seem concerned at all about it.

As for the political statements, I have a feeling that in 10-20 years the stuff we see now as contemporary, anti-Bush sentiments will be seen in a more general light. That is, the themes of Authoritarianism (Fascism) vs Democracy are a lot older than we are. So yeah, they may be part of the film because of current events, but they reflect a much more universal theme.

Hobbes and Locke are classics now, but when they wrote it was about contemporary concerns. And it seems that everybody is just hypersensitive about partisanship these days. If the film had opened in 1991, probably everybody would have noticed and ranted about the racial themes.

Zeitgeist, Baby. Zeitgeist.

[Cerek]

<font color=plum>I saw the film yesterday and thought it was fantastic. I was especially impressed with the two final battles occurring simultaneously. GREAT EFFECTS!!!

I did notice some "political insinuations" in the film, then again the review posted in the other thread pointed them out ahead of time. Had I not read that review, I seriously doubt I would have made any connection between certain remarks being veiled pot shots at Bush. I definitely would NOT have considered Padme's comment to be aimed at Bush.

As for the two series, I liked both of them equally well. I though the first two movies in the current series were good films and fun to watch....and the "magic" of the original series has definitely lost some of it's luster. I saw Return of the Jedi on TV a couple of weeks ago and - to be perfectly honost - Mark Hamill's acting skills were wooden and his light-sabre skills were pathetic. He looked like a 10yr old swinging the Christmas-wrap tube instead of a master swordsman wielding a custom weapon (he supposedly made his own light sabre).

If nothing else, the athleticism and choreography(sp?) of the fight scenes in the new series is "light years" ahead of the original 3. Oh, the original series had it's shining moments to be sure...the original duel between Vader and Luke Skywalker was very well done, but many of the other fights Luke had were just pitiful. In particular, the one against Jabba the Hut and his minions when they take Luke and Co out into the desert to feed them to the worm.

As far as I'm concerned, the new series is just as good as the old series. The technology and special effects are much better in the new series, the dialogue and acting is about the same and I'm very impressed that Lucas keeps coming up with NEW angles on how to create dangerous opponents for the Jedi. Darth Maul used the dual light sabre and General Grevious pulls out an even BIGGER surprise. I was VERY impressed with that.

I will agree with <font color=white>Mr. Mopery</font> that the new series doesn't seem to capture the whole scope of the intergalactic conflict that the original series did. Then again, the events were already set in motion when Star Wars begins. This series was designed to show how the various characters - and especially Anakin/Vader - reached the point they were at in Star Wars. So even though there are galactic events occurring, the emphasis IS more on a few individual characters that are the key players in the coming conflict.</font>

[Link]

Great effects, yes that's about the only good thing I saw in the movie. I went to see it last night, didn't have too high hopes for it (although I heard numerous people praise it, including here on Ironworks).

To come to the point, George Lucas needs to stop writing dialogue. Now. For the rest of his natural life. I think the movie would have actually been better if the dialogues had been cut from the movie and all we heard was some music and sound effects.
Furthermore, I thought the storyline, how interesting as the fall of Anakin to the dark side may seem, was clumsy and vague at certain points. Some scenes felt totally alien in the whole of the movie and there were numerous times me and my friends were looking at each other, thinking: "What the hell was that? Why did he put that in the movie?" This includes almost all scenes where Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen make a futile attempt at forming a couple in love that is having difficulties in their relationship.

To get rid of some of my questions that have been haunting my mind since yesterday evening, I will formulate them here:
- Why did Anakin all of the sudden have no troubles beating Count Dooku in the beginning of the movie? And no, I don't count his Dragonball Z-esque remark of "I've become much stronger since last time". Dooku is a bloody Sith Lord and here he looked like a fumbling fool (well, against Anakin he did).
- Why was it again that Palpatine of all the sudden revealed he was the Sith Lord they had been looking for? It was not like he had anything to gain, Anakin obviously wasn't ready to be turned just yet.
- And can someone please tell me why Darth Vader had to strike such an inane pose and exclame a totally ridiculous "Noooooo" when he learned that Padmé had died. In thought he would actually attack the Emperor after that (after all, Palpatine had promised that Padmé would be all right when Anakin would master the Dark Force powers).

In short, I think Lucas tried to do too much in the last movie. He tried to end a conflict (the Clone Wars), he tried to show us some new exotic worlds ("What was the reason for showing Kashyyyk again? - Oh right, there was an attack there or something. Now that makes sense"), he tried to portray a couple in love with relationship-troubles (Padmé and Anakin), he tried to portray the rise of power of senator Palpatine and lastly he tried to portray the fall of Anakin to the dark Lord Vader.

So the story more or less sucked, the scenery sure as hell didn't. While I read some reviews that thought the special effects in the Lord of the Rings and numerous other movies topped the ones in Star Wars, I beg to differ with them. I thought the scene in the theater (with the flying creatures and the water-like floating balls) was quite a breath-taker, as was the canyon city with the giant lizard. Kashyyyk did very well too, although I had a more lush jungle world in mind after playing Knights of the Old Republic.

Kudo's also to General Grievous, possibly the most entertaining villain I've seen in a long time. I don't understand how he could've lost to Obi-Wan though.

The BEST part of the movie (yes, finally some positive news from my side) were the (dialogue-less) scenes of Anakin slaughtering all inhabitants in the Jedi-temple and the following murder of all Jedi ("Execute Command 66"). In these scenes the fate of the younglings was refreshing, but they seemed to use that for shock-effect too much in the rest of the movie ("Yeah, yeah, now we know already!")
The fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin was good, but nothing special. Haughty Anakin getting his legs and other arm chopped off was kind of an "eew"-moment, especially when he caught flame as well, but I liked it.

[ 05-20-2005, 09:57 AM: Message edited by: Link ]

[Cerek]

<font color=plum>I have to agree with at least some of your criticism, <font color=white>Link</font>. I thought the two most awkward - and really POORLY thought out scenes - were the ones where Anakon faced Dooku and (later) Palpatin.

These are two of the MOST PIVOTAL moments in Anakins turn to the the Dark Side, but Lucas seemed incapable of coming up with any really plausible explanation for Anakin's descent other than "well that's the way it's supposed to happen".

When he has defeated Dooku and Palpatin orders Anakin to kill him, Anakin says "I shouldn't", but when Palpatin repeats his command, Anakin acts like "Well, OK...if you say so - SWIPE" Palpatin later reassures Anakin that Dooku was too powerful to live.

Alright, if you want to say that Anakin is already being influenced towards the Dark Side, then it is semi-plausible that he would give in to his desire to kill Dooku. But later, when Palpatin reveals he is the Sith LORD, Anakin AGAINS faces the same doubt (Gee, I really SHOULD kill you, but I'm just not sure). PUH-LEEEZE. IF Anakin can justify killing the Sith Warrior, he sure as HELL should have no problem attacking the Sith LORD. Remember, as <font color=white>Link</font> correctly points out, Anakin is not ready to turn to the Dark Side just yet and the Sith Lord is the Public Enemy #1 on the Jedi Wanted List.

Palpatin does eventually stumble into the dialogue about being able to save Padme' from death, but Anakin should have already been swinging his light saber at the guys head LOOOONG before the dialogue reached that point.

I will agree with <font color=white>Link</font> that Lucas needs to stick to directing and STAY AWAY from scripting. These two scenes should have been very dramatic points in the movie. Instead, they were blatantly awkward and childish in their attempt to explain WHY Anakin moved to the Dark Side. </font>

[Timber Loftis]

Kudo's also to General Grievous, possibly the most entertaining villain I've seen in a long time. I don't understand how he could've lost to Obi-Wan though.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but according to the information in the video game, he has NO force powers. Big difference. Decisive difference.

[Jorath Calar]

Just came home from it, WOW, it was good, going in spoilerfree was refreshing, but I have come to the conclusion, Haydn Cristiansen is the worst actor on the planet...no scratch that... the whole galaxy... ever!

But he didn't ruin the film... (but it could have been so much better without him)


it had so many wonderful true Star Wars moments that I actually choked up in the end... when Ben delivers the baby... (sorry, couldn't resist )

Grievous was very cool, except the way he talked... and walked, looks ridiculous hunched over like that. but standing upright he lloked awesome.
At first I was a bit peeved when Padme dies, but then I had a bit of a revelation, all these years I thought when Luke asks Leia about her mother and she says she remembered only feelings, because she died when she was very young, she was talking about Padmé, but of course she was talking about her stepmom. silly me... [img]smile.gif[/img]


It's defenitly the best Star Wars movie after Empire

[ 05-20-2005, 04:24 PM: Message edited by: Jorath Calar ]