setsuko Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 My belief lately, however, is focused on the fact that GL should be kept far, far away from writing SW scripts and doing SW directing. Seriously, somewhere, he lost it. He was a genious at making state of the art effects for next to nothing (compare ANH with the Star Trek movie that came out at the same time), and he created a kick-ass universe, but he should have let somebody else do Episode 1, 2 and 3. There's no excuse for doing bad movies, just because you once made good ones, no matter if your name is Orson Welles or George Lucas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legameboy Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 YOU INSULTER OF GEORGE LUCAS I OUGHT TO CUT YOU IN HALF RIGHT NOW YOU NERFHERDER SITHSPAWN, BY ALL MEANS IT'S HIS UNIVERSE NOT YOURS SO JUST KEEP QUITE! THE STARWARS TRILOGY IS THE BEST TRILOGY EVER MADE! I LIVE STAR WARS, IT'S NOT JUST A MOVIE TO ME LIKE IT IS TO YOU. now that that is over with, setsuko, please dont insult starwars on a starwars forum, you could offend someone, thank you:p i hope you got the point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
setsuko Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 I don't insult Star Wars. I love Star Wars. I played Star Wars my entire childhood, especially with my elder brother and sister. And I love the setting George Lucas created, and he was a good producer, scriptwriter and director in ANH and ESB. He did insanely good things with almost no resources, the space scenes in ANH looks better than most sci-fi movies churned out in 2003! But as much as he did insanely good things with almost no recources, he has started to do insane things with insane resources lately. After the 'golden era' (ANH, ESB, and parts of RotJ. Parts of the Indiana Jones trilogy can be added here, though they also get's worse), the cracks starts to show. He becomes less suble in his directing, the dialogue becomes forced 'badam-dam-DISH!' at times, but all in all, he carries himself through with most of his dignity intact during RotJ. These are good movies, and they contain the qualities I look for in a movie; a proper script without too obvious plot holes, a few turns now and then (how many times, when you watched episode 1, did you think "what the "#%!% happened there!". Compared that to the chock when people first found out Vader was Lukes father), a quick and fresh trade of witty remarks (mostly by Leia and Han), excellent screenplay, and overall nice acting. But no way, NO WAY am I ever to say that he was an able director and scriptwriter in Episode 1 and 2. No, seriously, if we disregard the whole "star wars is the best and Lucas is holy" thingy, and start looking at it critically, the structure of the last two movies lacks what made the original trilogy great. First, look at the character. They are way less fleshed out, and remain clichés more than persons. I wrote about a lot of my issues with this in my "Why Darth Maul is a pale character" post, but here goes: The 'new' characters are not as complicated, and thereby less believable, than the 'old'. Vader had a raging battle with himself, his loyalties and temper the entire original series. Darth Sidious is just a powerhungry, anonymous 'bad guy' who doubles as a senator. Ooooh, original. Darth Maul? An angry guy who wants to kill jedi. Now that's a guy I can relate to! Leia, compared to Amidala? Am I the only one who felt that Natalie Portman read directly from the script all the time? Same goes for Anakin, sure, Luke was a whining farmboy (I never really liked him as a character, though he got better), but he was miles more convincing than Anakin. When Vader reveals their true bond, there's pain in Luke. When Anakin finds his dying mother? It was like an episode of Sunset Beach! And then, who was the most interesting couple to watch, Leia and Han, always bickering in the way everyone who has ever been in a relationship (or even watched a couple for 30 minutes) can relate to, compared to Anakin and Amidala, who goes from "-hi, I haven't seen you for a lot of years" to "-let's get married!" in a few scenes? It's not even close! Leia's and Han's "-I love you!" "-I know." lines are dynamic and living, while few moviegoers ever figured out why the heck Amidala and Anakin got married, other than because 'the original movies said so'. And I'm not even going to try to find a character that fills Han Solo's role, he was the most charismatic character in the series (much due to Harrison Ford performing one of his best acting ever), and Episode 1 and 2 falls short on charisma, and it is painfully easy to notice. Yes, I am biased, since I watched the original movies when I was young, but on a cinematic level, they don't even contend. The plotholes in the new Episodes are like black holes compared to those in the Classic movies. The pace of the original films are better balanced, and so is the scenography. We see more focus on the characters, and how the characters evolve, and less focus on 'beautiful CG views'. Yes, special effects makes a movie worth watching once. But a good characterdriven plot makes it worth watching many times. Also, there's a hint at things being more than exactly what you see on the screen in the classic movies, while those hints are extinct in the new Episodes. It's dumbed down, watered down. Yes, I could accept that it is aimed at a younger audience if the fact that they dumbed it down wasn't by adding insanely obvious plot holes, acting lacking geist, and pale characters. YES, it is harder to write a good story when the ending is already given, but there's no excuse to make such poor movies when you've created such a great setting. But no, I'm not flaming Star Wars. That would be stupid, I mean, I played with Star Wars toys for THREE YEARS before our neightbours got a video so I could see the actual movies for the first time, and if I wasn't hooked before that, I sure was afterwards (ESB was the first one I saw)! I love Star Wars. It is a profound and immense part of my childhood. But not even through that love can I agree with the thesis that George Lucas has been an able scriptwriter nor director the last ten years. It has nothing to do with it! If you see this as a flame, then it is a flame against George Lucas directing the last ten years, not against Star Wars or the Star Wars Galaxy! 'This rant was also brought to you by Setsuko Rants Inc; providing quality rants since 1981' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legameboy Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 oo, i get it, in the CRITICAL VIEW the first three were TRUE TO THE INSIDE movies, but the new ones are SKIN DEEP like my way of putting it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
setsuko Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 Hehe, well, I'd say that while the original cast was (and still is) interesting to follow through the movies, I wouldn't even flinch if amidala was cut into ribbons by frenzied droids, or if Mace Windu settled down as a bartender, or... my point is that the new characters are more there just to make sure that the plot goes from point A to point B so that event X happens, just because this is needed to support the old movies, it's harder to care for the characters. Much harder. And that is a symptome of really, really poor scriptwriting and directing. Truly, after the original series, I'd come to expect a lot more from Georgie-boy. And the acting is abmyssal in Episode 2. Perhaps it is because of the script, perhaps it is because of the fact that they did the whole movie with bluescreen, I don't know. But it's bad. Mind you, I acknowledge that there's flaws to the old movies too. It's just that they are easier to ignore, when in such great company (the acting, screenplay and script). EDIT: yes, I know these post can seem very pretentious, especially if it's not 4 am when you read them. But I think most of it has at least a grain of truth in it. A bigass grain the size of a sack of potatoes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legameboy Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 you forgot to put This rant was also brought to you by Setsuko Rants Inc; providing quality rants since 1981 thanks for the info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackrabbit Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 I agree with everything you've said Set. Simply put, the first movies had feeling. I can still remember Luke's scream when he found out Vader was his father. I remember the emotions that welled up inside me. I can also remember Anakin's crackly voice scream when Amidala fell out of the drop ship. [dorky voice]"No, we have to go back for her!"[/dorky voice] Sure, there were some cool moments in Episode 1 & 2 (Darth Maul fight, Jango, Yoda), but nothing that made the movie feel. They're all good movies though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
setsuko Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 No, legameboy, the last one was not a setsuko rant. You'll learn what a setsuko rant is, I tend do them frequently. Let's just say that anything with less than five stanzas are not a proper setsuko rant, unless the stanzas are ridiculously long. The second post was just a post, not a rant! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legameboy Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 oh like that one War with Iraq thread, *shudders*, im sure glad that one is over with Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
setsuko Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 That is because when I see people saying things that are wrong, I find it my duty to tell them they are wrong. And why. In a very detailed way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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