Revenge of the Sith
Once again I'm left with not much to post. Work has let up a little bit, but school has kicked into high gear right away. I studied pretty much all day today, except for joining our friends for dinner, though I would have felt better if I had gotten more stuff done instead. I can't believe how much work these classes assign. It definitely feels graduate level now!
We did manage to get away for Revenge of the Sith last night, though we passed on "KaBoom!" (a fun fireworks show set to rock music) to see it. It was worth it. I mean, the acting has never been great, even in the original trilogy, so don't expect any Oscars, but it was a beautiful tie in to the next movie. Vader's descent made for good movie material. In fact, they could have just made this one prequel and I would have been happy!
We also saw one of Kat's labmates graduate. It really made it feel real that Kat's going to be up there soon. Soon Mrs. John Christopher Harris will be Dr. John Christopher Harris:-) That's how that work isn't it? Soon is relative though, might be 2 years. Then we went out and celebrated at an Irish pub. After years of searching, I finally found a place where I could taste Midleton's Irish Whisky, though the pleasure set me back $20. I suppose that's better than the $160 the bottle would cost, were I ever to win the lottery. Knew I should have gone to law school.
Since I didn't get the camera out, here's a pic from our visit to the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park when my sister Sarah and her fiance Eric visited last year.
posted by John Christopher @ 9:51 PM
2 Comments:
WARNING: THIS COMMENT CONTAINS EPISODE 3 SPOILERS:
Even though the acting wasn't stellar in the original 3, there was something natural about it. I was an 7 year old boy, yet the love between Han & Leia did NOT make me want to barf. In retrospect, Mark Hamill seems awkward at times, but I think Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher were pretty good. Maybe that's nostalgia.
I know Lucas tried to build continuity from the Episodes 1-3 to 4-6. It's one think to have a weak lead (Hamill), but it's completely another thing to direct your leads to act campy. It's my understanding that this is how Lucas directed Hadyn Christensen and Natalie Portman. Their "falling in love" scenes in Episode 2 were loathsome, unlike the "falling in love" scenes in "Empire". Instead of subtly showing them fall in love (like Han and Leia in "Empire"), Lucas shows Anakin and Padme together for 2 scenes and have them cheesily declare "I love you"... "no, I love you more" like 2 pre-pubescent middle-schoolers. I guess all that falling in love and character development was getting in the way of Lucas's special effects/CGI orgy. I haven't seen Christensen in anything else, but I know Portman is less wooden than what we see of her in the prequels (see "Garden State"). I've heard that Christensen is a good actor as well, which makes his performance in Episode 2 even more maddening. I think Episode 3 was fairly redemptive (for both the actors and the prequels in general), but WHY would you ever ask your actors to act like they don't know how to act, just because Mark Hamill was your lead role in the original 3? Lucas, you picked Mark Hamill because you were on a shoestring budget in 1976. Now you can afford real actors, so use them to tell your story. Don't waste them! Is continuity THAT important?
I agree that I could have done without the first two Episodes. Too much of Lucas's focus was on what visual FX he could orchestrate, and not enough attention to what made the originals a cult classic: story and characters. Episodes 1 & 2 had a convuluted story and poorly developed characters (badly acted on top of that). The visual FX should have ENHANCED a strong, character-driven story rather than detracting and distracting from the story. I think Lucas lost touch with that, and basically ruined what should have been a compelling story. Though watching Anakin's descent in Episode 3 was intriguing, the first 2 episodes could have done a better job at drawing in the viewer emotionally. Episode 1 & 2 did very little to make me care about Anakin. I did not really see much good in him in the first place, so his fall seemed less dramatic. He seemed more whiny and annoying than heroic. Is it bad to be indifferent toward the protagonist for the first 2/3 of the story? Episodes 1 & 2 seem an even bigger missed opportunity after seeing Episode 3. I could have cared so much more.
Maybe Lucas will go back and "fix" these like he "fixed" Episodes 4-6. (Greedo shooting first? Give me a break! First of all, how does Greedo hit the wall behind Han when his blaster is about a foot and a half away from Han's chest. What a terrible bounty hunter! And Han is a rogue smuggler! He shoots first and asks questions later. Whoops. It may have been okay for that sort of attitude in 1976, but that's not really PC anymore. Come to think of it, maybe we should clothe the statue of David, or maybe paint a nose ring on Mona Lisa, thus updating them for today's audiences. Okay, I'm exaggerating. You really can't compare awesome movies like 4-6 to crappy, dusty old pieces of art that no one cares about. Really, I was just trying to make a point. By going back and changing that scene, he changed Han's character and weakened his dramatic transition from selfish rogue to team player. Besides, it's a movie, for crying out loud, leave it alone, Lucas. I guess if any parents were planning to raise their children using the "Han Solo method", your update has made those kids just a bit more civilized. Other than that, you just enraged all the geeky fans, like myself, who cannot buy the original version on DVD because of your arrogant and idiotic changes.) Anyway, here are my suggestions for the "Special Edition" Episodes 1-3:
1. Chop Episode 1 altogether, or make it the first 25 minutes. Jake Sullivan-gone. Jar Jar-gone. Episode 1 is a waste of valuable story time. Show young Obi Wan "adopting" Anakin and introduce a little of the back story and pre-Clone War stuff. Pod racer scene-gone. We already know he can fly, we've known that since Episode 4. And midichlorines!?!? Come on, George, it's like you didn't even WRITE the Episodes 4-6. Stick to your own mythology. If the Force = mystical religion, then don't QUANTIFY it. It's faith, not a GRE score, so you can't measure it. All they would have had to say was: "Whoa, I feel a lot Force in young Skywalker. A lot." Leave it mystical, Lucas, you nimrod.
2. How about a personality transplant for Anakin. Instead of being a whiny baby ("the sand on Tatooine is all coarse, boo hoo hoo"), make him an emotional but LIKABLE character. Highly emotional and prone to rash decisions, but also highly devoted to loved ones: Obi Wan, Jedi Council, and later Padme. By Episode 3, these loves are clearly defined and, then, pitted against each other. This was done, but could have been done much better. And a side note, the Vader of 4-6 is cold and heartless, and probably would not have yelled "Nooooooo" for his lost love. I think a more angry/less mournful reaction would have been more appropriate.
3. General Grevious-gone. A wheezing, coughing, Jedi-killing cyborg? If a cyborg can kill Jedis, then they deserved to go extinct. Ridiculous and stupid villain whose sole purpose was probably to create a marketable plastic action figure with pop-off breast plate and wheezing sound effects (only $29.99)...
4. One thing that has bothered me is that the technology seems so much better in Episode 1-3 than in Episode 4-6. All the ships are sleek and sylish (and CGI) in 1-3, but by 4-6, they're all boxy and archaic looking. I can see the Rebellion having to use crappy old ships, but wouldn't the Empire continue to develop the technology from 20 years earlier? I know having cruddy ships in 1-3 would not satisfy Lucas's lust for jamming fake-looking CGI down everybody's throats, but where's the continuity, George? Oh, yeah, that's right. You used up all your continuity on bad acting.
... Not that I've thought much about this or anything... Still, I liked Episode 3 a lot. I thought Ewan McGregor was strong throughout as Obi Wan. When Obi Wan left Anakin/Vader for dead... good stuff. Overall, the first 2 prequels tarnish what should have been a classic and tragic tale of the fall of a hero. Instead, it was a story of a guy who was just okay, then really bad.
Yeah... what he said.
Post a Comment
<< Home