Sunday, May 22, 2005

Revenge of the Sith

I just saw Episode III with my parents (the last time I saw a Star Wars movie with them outside of the home was Return of the Jedi, and then I was in a car seat at the drive-in). I was disappointed. Now, to indulge my dorkitude by expounding upon my complaints about another installment of George Lucas's thorough mediocrity.

Sure, the story as a whole was solid, and the special effects were top-notch. The problem is that George Lucas is a total jackass.

Some might say the acting, but I'm not inclined to believe that all of those actors are really that bad. I think it's likely Lucas's poor directing abilities.

On top of that, he felt it necessary to give cameos. There is no logical reason why one of the wookies had to be Chewbacca. That's just silly. Going even deeper in this vein: why did C-3PO have to be in the prequels? He plays no relevant part--they don't need a translator, and his comic relief in the new movies is substandard. In addition, why did the clones have to be clones of Boba Fett's father? Boba Fett was originally intended to be a minor character.

And at the end, they give the droids to Captain Antillies. True, in the original movies they did belong to Captain Antillies, but this can't be the same person. In the original movies, Wedge Antillies (the only surviving pilot of the attack on the first Death Star besides Luke/the X-Wing pilot that made it to the center of the second Death Star) was not nearly 40 years old, as he must be if he's the same person. And I highly doubt that someone would have the exact same rank after 20 years, only in a different organization (because there was no "rebellion" at the end of Revenge).

Episode II was clearly the best of the prequels, but even in that movie the over-emphasis on cameos, using familiar characters, and special effects make the movie fall far short of anything that could be considered "good."

I hope that someone has gotten something out of this foray into my youth.

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