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My brother and I are going as soon as he gets off work (about 2). Yeah for me

Out of almost all of the posts made regarding the acting in the prequel trilogy, many are attacking them for their bad acting, with Anakin being especially "wooden" (as I think ALL OF YOU HAVE SAID and, conveniently, every critic report said without any variation of adjective). But to be honest, when directly comparing the two trilogies in regards to acting, there is little difference. The acting in the original trilogy was hardly outstanding to begin with. I think that after I reviewed much of why I begin to look at the acting and why there appears to be a discrepancy, I conclude that Han Solo was awesome enough to look beyond the acting and focus more on the story of the original trilogy. Could it be nostalgia and the mystic feeling that surrounds the original trilogy as to why everyone is ripping on the prequel trilogy for the plain acting? Again, I can't really see anyone in the original trilogy doing an exceptionally well job with acting except Harrison Ford (and McDiarmid). Although I will say it is much easier to follow the original three since there is much less conflict. But that is my opinion.

Overall, I loved the movie, and I rank it either first or second on my list of my favorite Star Wars movies, I can't decide if ESB is better or not. As mentioned before, Ewan McGregor did an excellent job playing the part of Obi-Wan and made the transition into the older form of the original trilogy very believable. And Palpatine was delightfully evil as I had hoped. And dare I say, I liked Hayden Christenson's performance much more this time around, since his emotions seemed much more legitimate and his passions were revealed more subtlely and skillfully.

In regards to the battles, I believe that Lucasfilm was more or less showcasing their technological capabilities as they were in the Ep's I and II. But I don't think it really takes away from the movie. I'll refrain from the plotholes and story problems and leave that up to the people that have been analyzing at such a ridiculous extent to the point that it seems to take away from the whole experience.

And yes, I too wanted to at least see Jar-Jar suffer a gruesome, excruciatingly painful death if not the entire Gungan race.

All in all, I take it as it is, an entertaining movie filled with a great story and awesome characters.

This post has been edited by TheEvilEye on 22nd May 2005 20:00

I felt it was okay. Not quite the calibre of interestingly fun that the orginals were, since the shiney special effects were nothing really special compared to most modern things, and of course, Darth Squall did cause some major problems with his cardboard cut out acting. Luckily, he's typecast himself with these roles so no one will touch him with a ten foot lightsaber.

Dialogue was iffy at points, but I feel you truly got what you paid for: you wanted a bad movie, you'd pick out the flaws and bumps. You wanted a good one, you'd ignore the flaws. You went in not really caring: you got an okay film, nothign special, but not a great dissapointment.

On one subject that does arise quite a bit other than the clearly wood-based material that the acting ability of a certain actor is made of, (BTW, corrugated cardboard) is a controversial line.

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The 'Nooo' bit. IMO, this was the end of Anakin Skywalker and the proper birth of Darth Vader. No more being a little wuss worrying about things: All he has is evil. The last bit of good Padme knew was there has just been ehavily repressed by her death, and it'll take a little fight on a Death Star about twenty years later to get it back...

It was still cheesy though, in hindsight.

This post has been edited by Del S on 22nd May 2005 21:00

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

Well, I saw it. I was pleasantly surprised. The acting was much better, the action sequences were excellent, and this one actually had a ghost of a story. Not to mention no speaking parts for Jar-Jar...

Here's my problem (movie spoiler):

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In the original trilogy, Leia says that she remembers her mother in a vague way. That would imply that she had to be at least one or two before her mother died, but Padmé kicks it at the end, right? Would it bother George to be consistent? Sigh. Also, what was the deal with Qui Gon at the end? Don't get it.

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Veni, vidi, dormivi.

Quote (karasuman @ 23rd May 2005 11:51)

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Also, what was the deal with Qui Gon at the end? Don't get it.

I believe that relates into how

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Obi Wan can later still communicate with Luke, talking to him "Use the Force Luke" and then later when he appears and speaks to him.

Well, I gotta say I was completely floored by the movie. I hadn't had that feeling since I saw the Butterfly Effect in theatres. I thought it was outstanding. The movie was indeed very much darker than the 2 previous ones, it just killed me when:

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Order 66 was issued. And all the Jedi just start getting murdered in the back. So depressing. Also Padme dying. Except for that really tall headed guy on the Jedi council, I always hated him.

I'm going to have to agree with EvilOne on the acting thing. Everyone's complaining about how weak it was (Especially Hayden), but come on, like Mark Hammill was better? Mr. "I'm a Jedi Knight, I'm here to rescue you."

I liked this one better than the old ones, just because of the feel of it after the great betrayal. This movie can be summed up in word: Betrayal. Practically every character in the movie was betraying someone or being betrayed.

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Best part of the movie for me was

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as the credits were rolling, I overheard some 20-something woman say to her friends, "I thought Obi Kanobi was going to die!"  Man, the whole way home I was joking about that with my wife.

Haha, well:

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When the Sith said "You will from here on be known as Lord Darth Vader", I yelled out "He's Darth Vader???"

I'm sure I gave the fanatics something to complain about.

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The clouds ran away, opened up the sky
And one by one I watched every constellation die
And there I was frozen, standing in my backyard
Face to face, eye to eye, staring at the last star
I should've known, walked all the way home
To find that she wasn't here, I'm still all alone

-Atmosphere "Always Coming Back Home to You"

Now keep this in mind as you read my post: This is the first Star Wars movie I've ever seen. Ironically, the last (in order of appearance) was my first.

I was quite impressed. A very clean, direct, yet precisely-articulated plot, complemented by a BEAUTIFUL score by John Williams (I had heard the Empire theme by itself before, and thought it was lame, but how he uses it is absolutely stunning).

While I didn't have the backstory to understand the origin of plot-items like Anakin's and Padme's marriage, General Grievous, Count Dooku, etc., I got the gist of it. Love, betrayal, greed, the dark side, and the dilemma, all those familiar themes that make great stories great (even going back to and past Shakespeare). I easily became familiarized with the phrase 'Emperor Palpatine', and I suddenly learned Obi-Wan Kenobi's plot-role and name-spelling. This was definitely a movie that, even if it had not been accompanied by a number of other movies, could have stood alone, and been rated with a full five stars.

Highlights include the music (again), Yoda's skill as a fighter (he's SO pwn a tonberry), General Grievous vs. Obi-Wan Kenobi, the juxtaposition of the creation of Darth Vader's image as we know it and the arrival of the twins (you'll know what I mean if you know the movie), Yoda vs. Palpatine, and probably a few other scenes.

The language and style of speaking seemed somewhat affected, but that may simply be the culture in that fictional society.

One of the aspects I liked about this film is the special effects. I'm not usually a person who compliments visuals, but the special effects were accurate, well-used, and appropriate. Plus, thankfully, there was no flaunting of blood or gore or destruction, as is seen in many modern films. (And thankfully, no sex scenes either, not only because I dislike them, but especially because they would do little other than drag the plot.)

I highly recommend this film. In fact, I think it just got me in the rest of the 'bi-trilogy'...(I'm already looking up 'Grievous' and 'lightsaber' on Wikipedia...)

As a last note, the Uber Space Dragon, Ridley, has had something to say about Grievous, noting the latter's lean body and sharp head and mean fighting skill:

<Ridley> NOBODY rips off of me and gets away with it.

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

What really impressed me about not just the third movie but all of the prequel movies was the job Ewan McGregor did. I never really liked Obi-Wan much from the originals, but after the job he did in the three movies I would have to say Obi-Wan is now second on my favorite charcters list (still way behind Han). He had the best lines in all the movies and...

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I have to admit when he was talking to Anakin who was laying dying, I almost shed a tear because you could feel the pain and hurt in Obi-Wan's voice of not just him failing Anakin but losing his brother

As with Hayden, I did not think his acting was all that horrible (play the video game, Anakin is even worse there he has no emotion, although I am not sure if Hayden did that). When it mattered he did a good job, but the whole "Nooooooo" thing I almost laughed seeing Vader do that, but you did have to feel sorry for the guy for being stupid and manipulated.

Samuel L Jackson and Ian McDiarmid (Palpatine) both did a great job as did Liam Neeson in Episode I. Natalie Portman, well I cannot really comment on her acting as that was not was I was focusing on when I was watching her

I would love to see Lucas finish off the series with the last two or three films but that is not going to happen. Besides you cannot have anyone play Luke besides Hamill and no one can touch Han Solo besides Harrison Ford. I heard Lucas wants to make two shows though about Star Wars, sorta like the whole "Clones War" cartoon (BTW, I saw a few of those episodes and I wanted to see who did the voice of Obi-Wan cause they did a pretty good job and it turned out to be the same guy who voiced Tidus in FFX. Also Wakka does the voice of General Grievous in it to, but I never saw that one.)

This post has been edited by BGrugby on 23rd May 2005 23:01

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War is for the participants a test of character; it makes bad men worse and good men better. - Joshua Chamberlain

U sir R a n00b >:-( - Cactuar

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 23rd May 2005 17:30)

This was definitely a movie that, even if it had not been accompanied by a number of other movies, could have stood alone, and been rated with a full five stars.

I agree, the movie itself was just plain outstanding IMO. It's just that it is held to such an unreachable standard, it's impossible to please everyone. It's not just in comparison to the old movies themselves, but the [in the expansive minds of fans during the past 25 years] untouchable halo-lined nostalgia that centers around the classics. I'd like to hear the opinion of more who have not watched the classics (at least don't remember them well, or haven't been around the hoopla in years past), if there are any.

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The clouds ran away, opened up the sky
And one by one I watched every constellation die
And there I was frozen, standing in my backyard
Face to face, eye to eye, staring at the last star
I should've known, walked all the way home
To find that she wasn't here, I'm still all alone

-Atmosphere "Always Coming Back Home to You"

I did enjoy this movie a great deal. The integral themes played out in this were very enjoyable. That being said, there were also quite a few flaws. Some of the dialogue was just too cheesy. I felt that it wasn't the acting in many cases, but the word choice.

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I would love to see Lucas finish off the series with the last two or three films but that is not going to happen. Besides you cannot have anyone play Luke besides Hamill and no one can touch Han Solo besides Harrison Ford. I heard Lucas wants to make two shows though about Star Wars, sorta like the whole "Clones War" cartoon (BTW, I saw a few of those episodes and I wanted to see who did the voice of Obi-Wan cause they did a pretty good job and it turned out to be the same guy who voiced Tidus in FFX. Also Wakka does the voice of General Grievous in it to, but I never saw that one.)

I totally agree, no one would could play those roles and get away with it.

Also, along the lines of shows like the "Clone Wars" cartoon, I would love it. I love animated shows because you can have the actor do so much more. If animated well enough, I feel the action is much more fluid. Also, with regular actors, I sometimes judge them based on previous roles (I know it's bad, but it happens). With voice actors, I don't necessarily have that problem. (Though he'll always be Spike Spiegel to me)

The movie was absolutely amazing. On so many levels. The visual cuts that referenced scenes from episodes 4,5,6. The story line. The special effects. They were all top notch. People complained about the dialouge I guess, but I had no problems at all with it. I didn't notice anything at all wrong with the dialouge, especially in comparison to a film like ep 2. If I had any gripes with it at all it was the convieniance wrap-ups at the very end of the film

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C3POs memory wipe and Obi Wan's training to commune through the force

It really felt like some of it was shoved in there just to fix some continuinty descrepencies.

BUT I LOVED IT.

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"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"

Okay, I have just got back from the cinema.
What this movie lacked is:

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Dying Gungans. But that's already been said.
Some buff when Anakin puts on the Vader getup. He excersised between episodes 3 and 4 or something?
Logic. Like when Yoda was holding to the senate platfor with his CLAWS instead of force-jumping (and don't tell me he couldn't.) Or all those Jedi just getting slaughtered by the clone-troopers. Just like that. Aren't they supposed to be JEDI?!? (as in "try it but you'll fail anyway 'cause I'm Jedi" sort of Jedi?)

This movie also had some moments, like:

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Obi-Wan saying: "I LOVED you, Anakin!"...
Windu deflecting Palpatine's lightning and scarring him.
Anakin looking badass for like five seconds (standing on the droid floating above the lava and swinging his lightsaber)
Yoda doing ANYTHING using the Force. Beat that.
And the super-fast pregnancy. From non-visible in the beginning of the movie, to birth in the end, after roughly two and a half ours.

And things that I absolutely loved:

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The animal Obi-Wan was riding. Sweet
Mace Windu vs. Palpatine - ubercool duel.
The elevator scene. ROFL, to put it simple.

I can say now unspoilered that first off, this movie has two major problems: Hayden Christensen (aka "Darth Squall") and Natalie Portman (aka "Senator Rinoa").
Other things than that would include the new style of lightsaber fighting wich includes much more jumping around and swinging the sabers in all directions, rather than trying to slash your enemy like in the old trilogy.
Many ships were designed to look somewhat like the ones from the old trilogy (finally!) but there's also lack of consequence in that (except maybe the star-destroyers and Jedi starfighters). The new ones look weird and impossible, unlike the old ones, that looked fairly believable.

And one more question concerning continuity:

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WTF happenned to the clone army in Episodes IV, V and VI ? WELL??

In all, the movie would be better off if not called Star Wars (like "Spirits Within" would be better off not called Final Fantasy), but it's watchable, and the best from the new trilogy.

Edit

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Oh yeah, and ain't it weird, that they had the unique, Vader-life-support-system-armor all ready? I mean, I thought they'd have something temporary before they made him that intimidating armor.

May the Force be with anyone planning to assasinate George Lucas.

This post has been edited by SilverMaduin on 25th May 2005 21:27

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"I fell off the mountain of words at around the 10,000ft mark. Tell my family...they owe me money." -Narratorway

"If you retort against this, so help me God I'll shove any part of your anatomy I can find into some other part. Figuratively, of course." - Josh

"We have more, can deliver tuesday." - Del S

Good old CoN

Quote (SilverMaduin @ 25th May 2005 16:23)

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

And the super-fast pregnancy. From non-visible in the beginning of the movie, to birth in the end, after roughly two and a half ours.

Yeah, I noticed that too. I mean, time wasn't really going by that fast in the movie (at least it didn't seem that way to me). I liked Natalie's character besides that.

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Many ships were designed to look somewhat like the ones from the old trilogy (finally!) but there's also lack of consequence in that (except maybe the star-destroyers and Jedi starfighters). The new ones look weird and impossible, unlike the old ones, that looked fairly believable.

Tie Fighters look believable?? Something that looks like that has about zero chance of flying. The Rebel ships I always liked though.

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And one more question concerning continuity:

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

WTF happenned to the clone army in Episodes IV, V and VI ? WELL??

Umm..

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Imperial Storm Troopers....

--------------------

The clouds ran away, opened up the sky
And one by one I watched every constellation die
And there I was frozen, standing in my backyard
Face to face, eye to eye, staring at the last star
I should've known, walked all the way home
To find that she wasn't here, I'm still all alone

-Atmosphere "Always Coming Back Home to You"

Quote (Tidu-who @ 26th May 2005 00:47)

Tie Fighters look believable?? Something that looks like that has about zero chance of flying. The Rebel ships I always liked though.

As a matter of fact, they do. The Twin Ion Engine fighters and their advanced version look okay for space-only machines.
Rebel machines were cool all right, well except the B-wings. I thought those to be a little far-fetched.

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"I fell off the mountain of words at around the 10,000ft mark. Tell my family...they owe me money." -Narratorway

"If you retort against this, so help me God I'll shove any part of your anatomy I can find into some other part. Figuratively, of course." - Josh

"We have more, can deliver tuesday." - Del S

Good old CoN

I watched the premier of the movie... Well they made all the parts fit in place, yet the latest movie is the only one with the bad ending, which is kinda odd. I mean if u'll ever wanna whatch star wars and won't have seen any of the parts, which will u choose, the old bad graphic 4 5 and 6, or the newer and better 1 2 and 3 (sure you can whatch all of them, but that'll take up quite a while). To make long talk short, the ending does not fit into the Hollywood movie type, and for that i'm in a way grateful and in another way dissapointed (stupid brainwashing makes u whish for a good end...)

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Here lies a great and mighty king,
Whose promise none relies on,
He never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.
of Charles V

EE's point is quite valid: Star Wars is notorious for its bad acting, back down to A New Hope. Of course, great performances from Alec Guinness (Obi-Wan) and McDiarmid (Palpatine) (let's not forget James Earl Ray's voice!) help balance it, much as in the prequels Neeson (Qui-Gon), McGregor (Obi-Wan), and McDiarmid even out bad showings by the likes of Ani (namely Ep II) and Padme. Let us not pin all the blame on them, however; many, including myself, have pointed out the atrocious dialogue Lucas issued.

I'd like to point out that I was one of the few that didn't rant about Hayden's performance as far as Episode III was concerned. Although aided by cool colored contacts, at the end he appears to be one genuinely pissed off, evil person. I was actually impressed when,

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on Mustafar, Anakin says "I HATE YOU" to Obi-Wan after he gets his three remaining limbs chopped off.

I've also got to say that I enjoy the lightsaber battles SO much more in the prequels. Yeah, the fighting is more "real" in the originals. So? I don't want to see what turns out to be a normal swordfights with cheesy 70s effects. I'd like to see what battling with the aid of the Force SHOULD look like: superfast reflexes, cool stunts, etc.

As far as the discussion between Anakin and Palpatine regarding the legend of Plagueis, the *implications*, as Rangers noted, are only too obvious that Palpatine was the apprentice of Plagueis

This post has been edited by The_Pink_Nu1 on 28th May 2005 06:36

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SPEKKIO: "GRRR...That was most embarrassing!"

Quote (The_Pink_Nu1 @ 28th May 2005 08:36)

I've also got to say that I enjoy the lightsaber battles SO much more in the prequels. Yeah, the fighting is more "real" in the originals. So? I don't want to see what turns out to be a normal swordfights with cheesy 70s effects. I'd like to see what battling with the aid of the Force SHOULD look like: superfast reflexes, cool stunts, etc.

For all I know battling using Force lets you forsee movements and react better in a battle. Therefore, the lightsaber style of style should have the less unneccessary movements the more skilled Jedi/Sith are fighting, whereas in "Revenge of the Sith" they swing sabers around pointlessly instead of aiming them at their foes. Truth is, if you would've done ANY fencing, kendo, kenjutsu or just goddam swordfighting, you would find these new lightsaber fights so bad and so stupid, that you can't possibly imagine. I actually thought that the best looking lightsaber fighting in ep3 was done by the young padawan Bail Organa saw.

My summarised opinion on the new lightsaber style: too much jumping around and pointless swinging of sabers - too little actual fencing.

Edit

By the way, my favourite lightsaber fight was Luke vs. Vader in Empire Strikes Back. Vader was the winner before the battle even started, and still you have to appreciate the effort made by Luke.
Comment to following post by Narratorway (read the post first, then unspoiler):

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and it was Harrison Ford, for CoN's sake. He wasn't whining about being in love. He just was in love. Plus, he was rather amusing/entertaining about it. ("You think that a princess and a guy like me...?",Leia: "I love you" Han: "I know.")

This post has been edited by SilverMaduin on 28th May 2005 08:40

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"I fell off the mountain of words at around the 10,000ft mark. Tell my family...they owe me money." -Narratorway

"If you retort against this, so help me God I'll shove any part of your anatomy I can find into some other part. Figuratively, of course." - Josh

"We have more, can deliver tuesday." - Del S

Good old CoN

It was bad and I won't see it again anytime soon. As for Evil Eye's comment, the fact that the first trilogy is a space opera, whereas this trilogy is a soap opera. The whole thing centers around a love story, which was not the case in the original. George just doesn't seem able to make that kinda thing work. The only reason it worked in the original was because of Han Solo and it wasn't the center piece. We didn't get that kind of character here, which makes sense. It's not the world for it. But doesn't change the fact this trilogy called for better performances than what was given.

This post has been edited by Narratorway on 28th May 2005 08:30

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Arts

Farts

Twarts

Quote (SilverMaduin @ 28th May 2005 02:40)

Quote (The_Pink_Nu1 @ 28th May 2005 08:36)

I've also got to say that I enjoy the lightsaber battles SO much more in the prequels. Yeah, the fighting is more "real" in the originals. So? I don't want to see what turns out to be a normal swordfights with cheesy 70s effects. I'd like to see what battling with the aid of the Force SHOULD look like: superfast reflexes, cool stunts, etc.

For all I know battling using Force lets you forsee movements and react better in a battle. Therefore, the lightsaber style of style should have the less unneccessary movements the more skilled Jedi/Sith are fighting, whereas in "Revenge of the Sith" they swing sabers around pointlessly instead of aiming them at their foes. Truth is, if you would've done ANY fencing, kendo, kenjutsu or just goddam swordfighting, you would find these new lightsaber fights so bad and so stupid, that you can't possibly imagine. I actually thought that the best looking lightsaber fighting in ep3 was done by the young padawan Bail Organa saw.

My summarised opinion on the new lightsaber style: too much jumping around and pointless swinging of sabers - too little actual fencing.

...Look at my post. That was the point. I don't care about seeing *normal* fencing (normalcy isn't exactly a big theme in something that takes place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, is it?) I'd much rather the pointless flips, swings, and so on. The lightsaber battles were cooler in the prequels, and that's what I was looking for.

This post has been edited by The_Pink_Nu1 on 28th May 2005 20:14

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SPEKKIO: "GRRR...That was most embarrassing!"

Quote (The_Pink_Nu1 @ 28th May 2005 15:14)

...Look at my post. That was the point. I don't care about seeing *normal* fencing (normalcy isn't exactly a big theme in something that takes place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, is it?) I'd much rather the pointless flips, swings, and so on. The lightsaber battles were cooler in the prequels, and that's what I was looking for.

I would agree here, I actually liked the more active fighting because that's what I imagined it would have been like with the long lost mystical Jedi's. Speed, deception, and most of all style. The Force was something mystical and almost forgotten in the originals, so I figure you'd be able to do more with it the stronger you were with it. I also thought that the Yoda/Dooku fight in AOTC was the awesomest thing ever when I first saw it. Some people just prefer the more realistic fighting though and I could see why especially if you had experience in the area. To each his own.

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The clouds ran away, opened up the sky
And one by one I watched every constellation die
And there I was frozen, standing in my backyard
Face to face, eye to eye, staring at the last star
I should've known, walked all the way home
To find that she wasn't here, I'm still all alone

-Atmosphere "Always Coming Back Home to You"