Saturday, May 21, 2005
Star Bores
Ok, I fully realize this header may be sacrilege in some corners..
My wife and I took 3 1/2 hours (if you include the approximately 10 previews shown) out of a beautiful afternoon today to take in the latest (and last, technically third - who can keep it all straight?) Lucas lovefest, and while I have heard many people spouting the "return to form", and "best of the series" hype, we both found it pretty boring. As with so so many Hollywood movies these days, the special effects overwhelm the story, and there's only so much of these computer generated scenescapes you can absorb in the context of a 2 or 3 second scene. I'm sure the programmers and designers are thrilled with the detail in the battle scenes, but they fly by so fast that it's often impossible to discern what the heck is going on. We rented Return of the Jedi just for comparison's sake, and maybe I'm just gettin' old, but we both thought that the older 3 movies just had a lot more "fun" in them. Where was the comic relief? The fuzzy cutesy aliens? The bumbling antics of C3PO? The sense of optimism and adventure amidst the fighting?
Further, neither of us found Anakin Skywalker's "conversion" to Darth Vader particularly believable nor particularly interesting. He is promised the ability to save his wife's life if only he surrenders his soul to the "dark side". However, he never seems to spend much time with her, and seems too focused on what others think about him to really care about her or what she thinks. He's obviously also not that hot on having kids with her, based on his reaction to hearing the news. It doesn't seem like enough motivation to start killing kids and anyone else the master wishes, with little sign of regret other than the occasional sob-less tear on the cheek. Meanwhile the movie jumped from battle scene to battle scene without spending any time on character development, often lingering on special effects laden scenes absent of dialogue.
Oh, and the whole supposed "anti-Bush" thing was totally overrated. A few lines here and there that could be stretched into a reference with the current administration, but if you aren't looking for them you'll miss them. I think Republicans have a paper thin skin about this stuff, they can't take any criticism of Dear Leader from any corner, even if vaguely in a scifi blockbuster, the majority of whose viewers don't give 2 shits about politics anyway.
We did notice one plot flaw watching both movies in the same day.. During Return of the Jedi, Luke and Leia have a conversation in which Luke asks her if she remembers her mother, and Leia says she does have some memories, "she died when I was young". In the latest and greatest, she dies in childbirth. Tsk Tsk.
Details details details.
For Sci-fi, my money's on the current Battlestar Galactica series on SCI-FI channel. Better writing, more interesting plot twists. Although I could do without the shaky camera space scenes that make it feel like you dropped in on an NPYD Blue episode.
My wife and I took 3 1/2 hours (if you include the approximately 10 previews shown) out of a beautiful afternoon today to take in the latest (and last, technically third - who can keep it all straight?) Lucas lovefest, and while I have heard many people spouting the "return to form", and "best of the series" hype, we both found it pretty boring. As with so so many Hollywood movies these days, the special effects overwhelm the story, and there's only so much of these computer generated scenescapes you can absorb in the context of a 2 or 3 second scene. I'm sure the programmers and designers are thrilled with the detail in the battle scenes, but they fly by so fast that it's often impossible to discern what the heck is going on. We rented Return of the Jedi just for comparison's sake, and maybe I'm just gettin' old, but we both thought that the older 3 movies just had a lot more "fun" in them. Where was the comic relief? The fuzzy cutesy aliens? The bumbling antics of C3PO? The sense of optimism and adventure amidst the fighting?
Further, neither of us found Anakin Skywalker's "conversion" to Darth Vader particularly believable nor particularly interesting. He is promised the ability to save his wife's life if only he surrenders his soul to the "dark side". However, he never seems to spend much time with her, and seems too focused on what others think about him to really care about her or what she thinks. He's obviously also not that hot on having kids with her, based on his reaction to hearing the news. It doesn't seem like enough motivation to start killing kids and anyone else the master wishes, with little sign of regret other than the occasional sob-less tear on the cheek. Meanwhile the movie jumped from battle scene to battle scene without spending any time on character development, often lingering on special effects laden scenes absent of dialogue.
Oh, and the whole supposed "anti-Bush" thing was totally overrated. A few lines here and there that could be stretched into a reference with the current administration, but if you aren't looking for them you'll miss them. I think Republicans have a paper thin skin about this stuff, they can't take any criticism of Dear Leader from any corner, even if vaguely in a scifi blockbuster, the majority of whose viewers don't give 2 shits about politics anyway.
We did notice one plot flaw watching both movies in the same day.. During Return of the Jedi, Luke and Leia have a conversation in which Luke asks her if she remembers her mother, and Leia says she does have some memories, "she died when I was young". In the latest and greatest, she dies in childbirth. Tsk Tsk.
Details details details.
For Sci-fi, my money's on the current Battlestar Galactica series on SCI-FI channel. Better writing, more interesting plot twists. Although I could do without the shaky camera space scenes that make it feel like you dropped in on an NPYD Blue episode.
