Revenge of the Sith finally

[triadruid]

So a bunch of us (19?) did in fact traipse out to the movie theatre last night to see RotS (after watching AotC so we'd remember what Lucas tried to tell us was going on there). Lucas promised to tie up loose ends, and I took him at his word. In that regard, I wasn't disappointed. This is more about the film itself than the plotholes/continuity in a larger series; there's too much nostalgia tied up in IV-VI to give them a fair appraisal, and I-II set most people's bar absurdly low.

• Actually, he did a fairly good job. Much better than the last two films, and tied up nearly every loose end, efficiently if not with a pretty bow.
• Yoda continues to be one of the best characters in the new trilogy, along with the droids (even if it was out-of-character for them to joke, get offended, or even talk); if they'd CG'ed Anakin, it might have been an improvement.
• I firmly believe that with the acting talent they had at their disposal in other roles, that Lucas' direction/script has to take the lion's share of the blame.
• One of the things wrong with the new trilogy, as we learned quickly while watching RotJ afterward, is that this series has no Han Solo. No one has ANY sense of humor, and they're all so damn...earnest.
• Gen. Grievous was entirely unnecessary and confusing if you hadn't read any spoilers. "Why is a droid coughing?" "Because he's a cyborg." Oh. Why?"
• Coatl-monsters (whatever Obi-Wan was riding on Utapau, that kept whooping in delight) however are entirely worthwhile.
• There has been a lot said about the triumph of effects over characterization, but the lightsaber/fight choreography was much better in this trilogy overall. Seeing actual Jedi fight, instead of home-schooled Jedi brats and cyborg has-beens (sorry, Vader), was a treat. The fight on Mustafar in the volcano was probably worth the price of admission by itself.
• The opening sequence Battle of Coruscant was utterly non-engaging, however. Too much going on involving people you don't know or care about, too early in the film. Contrast with the Battle at the Second Death Star at the end of RotJ.
• Jar-Jar does not, in fact, get executed, but there's always Flash movie fanfics to hope for.
• R2-D2 was as stunningly competent as ever, possibly too much so. -10 continuity points for not wiping his memory banks, Georgie
• It was nice to see "Duel of the Fates", my favorite John Williams piece from the new trilogy, make a re-appearance here.
• And as someone else already mentioned, the best acting of the day was probably when niveustigris took on "Mace Windu", "Anakin", and 2 other Jedi outside the theater while we were waiting. He was Darth Malice, dual-wielding lightsaber spoons; they had the new-generation neon lightsabers and full costumes. He almost won; one of them did get our extra ticket as a 'tip'.

Comments

[zylch.livejournal.com]

Jedi vs Jedi fights were ok. The Jedi vs droid (or cgi Jedi, for that matter) very much less so, as they looked like the director said "Oh, just wave the thing around a lot and we'll have the animators make sure you hit something."

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot to mention that entire trilogy (both of them, actually) make a LOT more sense, dialogue-wise, if you believe the entire thing has been translated from Galactic Basic into English. No sign of Roman letters on anything, after all...and it is a galaxy far, far away...

[kittenpants.livejournal.com]

Several times in the film, I was silently chanting, "It's just a bad translation, they're just dubbing in English dialogue." It helped a little.

The droids stole the show. The droids had more personality, humor, charm, and wit than the human characters. Which is a goddamn shame. I enjoyed the film, but certinly not for the acting.

In watching Return of the Jedi, I noticed a lot more people smiling. Even when facing certain death, Lando, Han, Leia, and even New Improved Stoic Luke 2.0 are cracking jokes and snappy one-liners, and grinning at each other before leaping out to shoot things. There's a lot of cheering, even over minor and inconsequential victories.

In the prequel trilogy, it seems that joy, humor, and charm have been completely bred out of the various species, but that the droids still carry on the imitation in their programming. If the Empire had to be created in order for people to learn to laugh again, you kindof feel that maybe it was worth it.

Which is not the point, I wager, that Lucas was trying to make.

[rougewench.livejournal.com]

As it was pointed out to me, when I made a similar comment about R2...he was the only character in the first trilogy (the original films) who knew what was going on. If you think about it...when he landed on Tatooine, he knew exactly where he was going...with C3PO trailing behind saying "where the hell are you going?"


D.

R2- Idaho

[druidevo.livejournal.com]

I've come up with a new perseptive for star wars, it's all actually about R2, I mean he's the only consitent character in all the movies.

It's sort of like how the entire Dune series (well House Atradies on) is actually about Duncun Idaho, since he's the only one that's in all of them.

R2-D2

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

I suspect watching R2 in the original trilogy now will take on a whole new dimension. I am perturbed by the fact that he could have explained several things at several points, given what he knew, but nevermind...it's a small thing.

At least in the videos I have, Han shoots first, as is proper for a pirate.