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Drpatti
Registered user
Username: Drpatti
Post Number: 19
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 7:46 am: |     |
Well, it all ended up as it needed to end--with everything in place. The Emperor has turned grey; Anakin has become Vader; Luke and Lea are born and sent off in opposite directions; Yoda and Obi-wan have gone into hiding.
I have to confess, I fell asleep a couple of times during the movie. (But then, I am running on a perpetual lack of sleep and have reached "that age" that if I sit still for too long, I fall asleep!)
Episode 3 is better than Episode 2, but I still have a bit of a problem with the movie flashing from scene to scene--5 seconds here, 12 there, etc. It is a bit taxing to follow. The acting is better this time, but then, it is much more highly emotional.
Anyway it was fun. Lots and lots of celestial swashbuckling. More comic relief than in Episode 2 (R-2 providing the most humor). Nothing from Jar-jar, which is disappointing.
The theaters were packed last night. I will go see it again when I am rested and when all the kiddies are in school, and I can give it a fairer review.
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Faith2
Registered user
Username: Faith2
Post Number: 43
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 8:54 am: | |
Hey Herbert!
Could you please shoot me an e-mail... I lost your information....
You can get mine from CRAZY Tracey if you've lost mine as well.
Peace
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Hrobinsonw
Registered user
Username: Hrobinsonw
Post Number: 160
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 12:28 pm: | |
Pw, where are you from? That is a rare name. |
Freeatlast
Registered user
Username: Freeatlast
Post Number: 381
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 12:36 pm: | |
Wheelers, are either of you related to Michelle or a Dr. Wheeler? I know them from the Fresno, CA area in the early 80's. |
Belvalew
Registered user
Username: Belvalew
Post Number: 446
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 1:06 pm: | |
Movie Review: I'm in agreement with Drpatti. There was so much information that had to be packed into the movie that there was never any real depth. You finally understand why Vadar walks around with that helmet on, you know why the twins didn't know anything about each other, and on and on. What doesn't make sense for me is that R2D2 was the navigation bot that Anakin Skywalker used when he flew. Why, then, did he not recognize him 18 years later when he turns up again with Laia? Anakin should also have recognized C3P0. Maybe it's hard to see through those black eye grids in the helmet.
The actors in this film are all accomplished thespians, and I've seen them give wonderful performances in other movies. The love story between Anakin and Padamai isn't that well developed, even seems wooden. Maybe in the far away galaxy that's the way true love looks, but then we had to show how Anakin's spin off into the dark side would effect his marriage. Still, he spun because he was so worried about his pregnant wife.
The fight scenes are glorious, the fantastic cities and the myriads of flying crafts are amazing. Perhaps my disappointment has to do with the fact that Episode III had to end on such a sad note with everybody either falling from grace, going into exile, or dying.
Belva |
Pw
Registered user
Username: Pw
Post Number: 445
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 1:29 pm: | |
Chris...can you send me the LOTR covers? Some idiot left a cd case of the trilogy on the plane and it saved me from having to buy the series, but there's no box. :-) (just kidding). Those seat pockets are bad news, I left my passport in there once.
Hrobinsonw...I'm in Florida.
freeatlast....No relations to a Michelle or a dr. Wheeler |
Hrobinsonw
Registered user
Username: Hrobinsonw
Post Number: 161
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 2:53 pm: | |
Pw, do you have origins in Mississippi? and Belvalew, that was a good question about R2 and C3PO. I will reserve judgement until tonight. |
Ric_b
Registered user
Username: Ric_b
Post Number: 253
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 3:54 pm: | |
The problem with going to see any subsequent Star Wars movie is that you can't help but compare it to seeing the first one. A long time ago... it was a groundbreaking movie. I can still remember leaving the theater just overwhelmed by it. And not being able to wait to go right back in and see it again. If I were to romanticize it, I would say it was like a first kiss (except my memory is only how scared, awkward..., nevermind). My point is that any of the following Star Wars just can't have the emotional and sensory impact of first seeing the original in the theater.
That being said, I still liked Episode III. It is certainly dark (but then I prefer Batman to Superman so dark movies are OK). |
Drpatti
Registered user
Username: Drpatti
Post Number: 24
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 4:56 pm: | |
Sorry, Ric, I will have to disagree.
The first three movies (IV, V, and VI) have a depth of quality missing in the Episodes I-III.
We broke out the Star Wars IV, V and VI today, and we all agree that they are much better for several reasons:
1. The main one is character development. In the course of about a minute, Anakin went from, "I shouldn't have done that" concerning slaying the Jedi about to kill the would-be Emperor, to "I will do whatever you say, master," to the Chancellor and being named Darth Vader. There was too much crammed into too little time. My (grown) children pointed out today that just about everyone could relate to Luke or Leia or Han, but you could not really empathize with Anakin or Padme. Their characters were not well-developed. We never really got to know them, and had a hard time empathizing with them.
2. Secondly, and this is the fly in the ointment as far as I am concerned, the acting was one-dimensional for the most part. Even Ewen McGregor was disappointing. I think Yoda did the best job of acting in the whole first 3 Episodes (with the exception of young Anakin, his mother, and Jar-jar in the first).
Watching Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Alec Guinness, Harrison Ford, really make it clear what we are missing in the first 3 Episodes.
I didn't like the obvious attempts to tie things together, like calling the Wookiee "Chewbacca" after the Wookiee battle. That was just too obvious.
Not that I think it is a total loss at all. I enjoyed it. It was fun. We will go and see it again. And it was, by necessity, predictable--everything had to up with everything in place for Part IV.
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Chris
Registered user
Username: Chris
Post Number: 793
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 8:01 pm: | |
Ha ha, very funny Pw......not! |
Drpatti
Registered user
Username: Drpatti
Post Number: 25
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 10:53 pm: | |
Hey, Ric..
That sounded a bit terse. I didn't mean to contradict you--just to put my vote in for the dramatic superiority of the last 3 Episodes. I enjoyed the others; I just don't think they had the same power to draw the viewer into the characters...
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Pw
Registered user
Username: Pw
Post Number: 446
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Friday, May 20, 2005 - 5:46 am: | |
Hrobinsonw....No, I have no origins from Mississippi. Did I even spell that right? That proves I'm not from that state. |
Hrobinsonw
Registered user
Username: Hrobinsonw
Post Number: 162
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Friday, May 20, 2005 - 12:42 pm: | |
Pw, I think you got it right. Maybe your ancestors are from Mississippi. |
Pw
Registered user
Username: Pw
Post Number: 448
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Friday, May 20, 2005 - 1:53 pm: | |
I doubt it. They were Yankees. |
Drpatti
Registered user
Username: Drpatti
Post Number: 28
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Friday, May 20, 2005 - 2:50 pm: | |
From northern Mississippi, huh?  |
Ric_b
Registered user
Username: Ric_b
Post Number: 254
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Friday, May 20, 2005 - 4:44 pm: | |
Patti,
Do you think it was the acting, the script, or the story line itself that interfered with drawing viewers into the characters.
I am convinced that IF we could have be drawn into Anakin's character more from the start, his "turn" would have been all the more impactfull. But knowing the last half of the story first might have contributed to our attachments as well. |
Hrobinsonw
Registered user
Username: Hrobinsonw
Post Number: 167
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Friday, May 20, 2005 - 4:57 pm: | |
I loved the movie. I think that Natalie Portman is a very good actress. I think that Hayden Christiansen could have responded to her affection alot better than what he did. The only time that I can say that I felt him was when he was trying to convince her to join him at the end. |
Drpatti
Registered user
Username: Drpatti
Post Number: 29
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Friday, May 20, 2005 - 8:55 pm: | |
Ric:
quote:Do you think it was the acting, the script, or the story line itself that interfered with drawing viewers into the characters.
I think it was all of the above. The fault has to lie basically in the script and story line--even my son, the original Star Wars freak admitted that they simply crammed too much plot into too little time. If we had had time to watch the characters develop more, I think we would have been drawn into them.
Of course, had there been more time, then the actors would have needed to pull it off. We watched Episode IV the next day, and in the first part where Ben (Obi-wan--Alec Guinness) and Luke are talking the acting is superior. Our attention does not wander, because we are caught up in the conversation.
quote:I am convinced that IF we could have be drawn into Anakin's character more from the start, his "turn" would have been all the more impactfull.
I agree.
Interestingly, I think that the boy Anakin was more believable than the young man.
quote:But knowing the last half of the story first might have contributed to our attachments as well.
True!
But still everyone was sitting on pins and needles wondering how they were going to pull it off, that moment that Anakin turns. And I think it was anti-climactic--that it could have been developed better and extended for a stronger dramatic response. The script being the main weak link, but the inability to pull it off as written being a problem with the lack of depth (inexperience?) of the actor. In my opinion.
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