I'll admit my expectations were low. After an atrocious Episode 1 and an Episode 2 that only got semi interesting in the last 30 minutes, I had really given up any hope that the 3rd would be any different.
Luckily the movie is better than Episodes 1 and 2. Alot better. Don't get me wrong, the actors still all act mostly emotionless against CGI backgrounds...the dialogue is still mostly cheese (and not in the fun way of the old ones) and the Droid robots are still very very annoying....The love scenes are still utterly devoid of feeling....and the over complicated sequences of space dog fights and saber duels are still low on excitement factor and seem more like video game shoot outs. No single duel or attack sequence compares to say....the epic duel in the bowels of the Cloud City from Empire Strikes Back. No dramatic shockers like "I am your father" or "Leia...Leia's my sister.."
But having said all that, the film is still worth seeing...still entertaining on a visual level. And the last 40 minutes of the movie seem...for the first time in the prequel series...to really connect with the old films.
Awhile back I made a thread about my predictions for Episode 3. This was back when Incredibles first came out. For those of you who don't want to know anything about this movie until after you see it should not check out that thread. But in that thread I said what I expected to happen in the movie. And I was right. But not in a "Debra Salt is the killer in Scream 2 bitches, I so called that in the first half hour! Boo-ya!" kinda way. More of a "Anyone could have seen this coming" kinda way.
So no real surprises. Bummer. The reason Anakin turns could have been called years ago, and it was. And the terrible things he ends up doing for this reason seem abit too extreme because Lucas can't provide the neccassary drama.
The best parts of the movie involved Senator Palpatine, Obi-Wan, and...at the last segment of the movie, Padme. Why? Cus these are the best characters in the movie. They are the only ones who are able to sift through all the lame brain dialogue and make the most out the blue screen sets to really give us characters that are comparable to the old movies. The Senator, aka Darth Sidious aka The Empereror, is the movies chief bad guy. He is deceptive and seems truly manipulative. When he tempts Anakin about the power of the Dark Side he almost makes it seem like it wouldn't be such a bad idea. Hayden Christensen, the pretty boy I tore apart in my rants about Episode 2, is finally given some decent screen time. He isn't whiney anymore. Anakin's all grown up with a pregnant wife. The similarities to Luke are done pretty well. It just sucks that he doesn't have any decent lines in the entire movie, his character is all image. The downward spiral he takes to become Vader isn't quite as believable as I hoped, but this is mainly due to the daft emotional miss-fires in the script. At least Ob-wan (Ewan rocks my balls) can be trusted to make the last scenes feel somewhat compelling. The final battle between him and Obi-wan that has been building up since we first saw Vader's face in Jedi (or for those who remember, that quick peek we got in Empire before the random officer strolled in the room) is nice and elaborate. Like I said earlier, the excitement isn't nearly as intense, but anyone who ever liked Star Wars will be pleased to see how it happened. Obi-wan nearly breaks down during the duel, like he is fighting family.
Like the trailers show off, you do see Vader in the famous dark helmet...but in a way I sort of hoped it didn't get showed. It's abit of an odd transition from charred flesh to "more machine than man" and hearing Vader talk with dialogue you could never imagine him saying is going a bit too far. The Vader at the end of Episode 3 looks like our guy at least.
... I can't deny that I did enjoy the movie. The movie is loaded with more fighting than politics, bullshiit romance, and cuteness combined. Its rated PG-13 but after seeing it I can't see why. Whats wrong kids, burned human flesh too much for you? The violence is on par with say, Return of the King: Lots of fighting, very little gore. Sure, limbs go-a-flying but not before the stumps burn black and shut with a brief orange glow. And the movie is very nicely paced, no long agonizing scenes with bad child actors talking to obviously fake aliens in cute kiddy vernacular, no distracting scenes of two lovers with zero chemistry rolling around meadow smiling and holding hands. All the classic characters (except Chewie, whose appearance is waaaay disappointing. He basically stands there with his arms crossed growling once and awhile. WHERE ARE MY ARM RIPPING SCENES DAMMIT!!!) get a good scene in. Even R2-D2 has some pretty good scenes that even made me applaud.
The movie is about as close to the previous three as we're going to get and despite the fact that this film isn't near the brilliance of the originals (which were, in their time, new and exciting while the prequels in the present film era are generic and average) it also is better than the other two (especially Phantom) by leaps and bounds. I've refrained from saying anything that might spoil it for you guys plot-wise, but the movie gets a positive reaction from me. Me. The biggest critic of the previous prequels in the universe.
Prophet's Rating: ***
And thank the maker...Jar Jar doesn't say ONE peep. At all. Ever. Of all the obvious hints Lucas failed to notice, at least he got this one.
Luckily the movie is better than Episodes 1 and 2. Alot better. Don't get me wrong, the actors still all act mostly emotionless against CGI backgrounds...the dialogue is still mostly cheese (and not in the fun way of the old ones) and the Droid robots are still very very annoying....The love scenes are still utterly devoid of feeling....and the over complicated sequences of space dog fights and saber duels are still low on excitement factor and seem more like video game shoot outs. No single duel or attack sequence compares to say....the epic duel in the bowels of the Cloud City from Empire Strikes Back. No dramatic shockers like "I am your father" or "Leia...Leia's my sister.."
But having said all that, the film is still worth seeing...still entertaining on a visual level. And the last 40 minutes of the movie seem...for the first time in the prequel series...to really connect with the old films.
Awhile back I made a thread about my predictions for Episode 3. This was back when Incredibles first came out. For those of you who don't want to know anything about this movie until after you see it should not check out that thread. But in that thread I said what I expected to happen in the movie. And I was right. But not in a "Debra Salt is the killer in Scream 2 bitches, I so called that in the first half hour! Boo-ya!" kinda way. More of a "Anyone could have seen this coming" kinda way.
So no real surprises. Bummer. The reason Anakin turns could have been called years ago, and it was. And the terrible things he ends up doing for this reason seem abit too extreme because Lucas can't provide the neccassary drama.
The best parts of the movie involved Senator Palpatine, Obi-Wan, and...at the last segment of the movie, Padme. Why? Cus these are the best characters in the movie. They are the only ones who are able to sift through all the lame brain dialogue and make the most out the blue screen sets to really give us characters that are comparable to the old movies. The Senator, aka Darth Sidious aka The Empereror, is the movies chief bad guy. He is deceptive and seems truly manipulative. When he tempts Anakin about the power of the Dark Side he almost makes it seem like it wouldn't be such a bad idea. Hayden Christensen, the pretty boy I tore apart in my rants about Episode 2, is finally given some decent screen time. He isn't whiney anymore. Anakin's all grown up with a pregnant wife. The similarities to Luke are done pretty well. It just sucks that he doesn't have any decent lines in the entire movie, his character is all image. The downward spiral he takes to become Vader isn't quite as believable as I hoped, but this is mainly due to the daft emotional miss-fires in the script. At least Ob-wan (Ewan rocks my balls) can be trusted to make the last scenes feel somewhat compelling. The final battle between him and Obi-wan that has been building up since we first saw Vader's face in Jedi (or for those who remember, that quick peek we got in Empire before the random officer strolled in the room) is nice and elaborate. Like I said earlier, the excitement isn't nearly as intense, but anyone who ever liked Star Wars will be pleased to see how it happened. Obi-wan nearly breaks down during the duel, like he is fighting family.
Like the trailers show off, you do see Vader in the famous dark helmet...but in a way I sort of hoped it didn't get showed. It's abit of an odd transition from charred flesh to "more machine than man" and hearing Vader talk with dialogue you could never imagine him saying is going a bit too far. The Vader at the end of Episode 3 looks like our guy at least.
... I can't deny that I did enjoy the movie. The movie is loaded with more fighting than politics, bullshiit romance, and cuteness combined. Its rated PG-13 but after seeing it I can't see why. Whats wrong kids, burned human flesh too much for you? The violence is on par with say, Return of the King: Lots of fighting, very little gore. Sure, limbs go-a-flying but not before the stumps burn black and shut with a brief orange glow. And the movie is very nicely paced, no long agonizing scenes with bad child actors talking to obviously fake aliens in cute kiddy vernacular, no distracting scenes of two lovers with zero chemistry rolling around meadow smiling and holding hands. All the classic characters (except Chewie, whose appearance is waaaay disappointing. He basically stands there with his arms crossed growling once and awhile. WHERE ARE MY ARM RIPPING SCENES DAMMIT!!!) get a good scene in. Even R2-D2 has some pretty good scenes that even made me applaud.
The movie is about as close to the previous three as we're going to get and despite the fact that this film isn't near the brilliance of the originals (which were, in their time, new and exciting while the prequels in the present film era are generic and average) it also is better than the other two (especially Phantom) by leaps and bounds. I've refrained from saying anything that might spoil it for you guys plot-wise, but the movie gets a positive reaction from me. Me. The biggest critic of the previous prequels in the universe.
Prophet's Rating: ***
And thank the maker...Jar Jar doesn't say ONE peep. At all. Ever. Of all the obvious hints Lucas failed to notice, at least he got this one.
:tup:
