The Phantom Menace-Even though we waited twenty-four years to seen the beginning of this story most of us were disappointed. Not that there was a problem with the story itself but the inconsistencies started right from the very beginning. We're introduced to new characters, some of which were only hinted at earlier on and some that we never heard of. The problem with these characters is that they are plugged into roles that we were told were filled by other people, Yoda didn't train Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon did. Jar Jar Binks was a mistake from the very beginning, the character is annoying and the dialog is so slurred that half the time it is not understandable. The new character that deserved to live a little longer is Darth Maul, with his red and black skin/tattoos he truly looks like evil incarnate. The duel between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon and Darth Maul is one of the best sword fights that was ever put to film. The most haunting part of this sequence is the music by John Williams, it proves the point that music is a strong contributor to any scene on film. Seeing the beginnings of how Senator Palpatine, who later becomes the Emperor, manipulates all of the people around him is completely enjoyable. The advancement in the art of special effects from the earlier movies is so evident that the effects seem seamless with the live action. The other thing that must be said is that George Lucas can not write dialog even when the characters are like family. But as the beginning of a massive storyline it’s not that bad.
Attack of the Clones-Giving us a glimpse into the start of the one major event, the Clone War, that all of the characters are related to is one of those rare opportunities that not many storytellers get to do. Here we see the evolution of all the main characters in the story to the points that we become familiar with them. The other thing that is interesting to see here is the ships and machines in their early development stages. The introduction of Jango Fett as the bounty hunter that the clone troops, later to become Imperial Storm Troopers, are cloned from is an interesting twist to the storyline. The one thing that drags this movie down is the love story, there is to much time spent here and it slows down the progress of the film. For an action adventure film there is so much effort put into this part that you start to lose interest in the movie.
Clone Wars -This animated series was developed to fill in the gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, and it does its job very well. The battle and action sequences are so good that they could rival many live action fights in most movies. The best thing here is the introduction of new characters, Asajj Ventress, Durge and General Grievous, they are all strong characters that are well deserving of continuing on in the storyline. It is hard to believe that the General is the only one to advance on to the next film. To see our characters go through battle after battle, you begin to understand how they get weary and disillusioned.
Revenge of the Sith-Seeing the end of the war and how the Republic moves on to become the Empire is one of the best parts of this film. The make up job done on Ewan McGregor is outstanding, he looks like a young Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan. The two biggest transformations here is Palpatine into the emperor that we all know and Anakin into Darth Vader. I was hoping that Anakin's change would still leave questions in for me, so that the shock value in The Empire Strikes Back, when he tells Luke who he is, is still there. Unfortunately no, once you see this movie that shock is lost. The best part of this film is the ultimate fight scenes with Obi-Wan and Anakin, the way it is choreographed and shot it looks and has the feel of the samurai duels of the Japanese cinema.
A New Hope-Of all the films for this series of films this is the shortest of them, coming in at two hours and three minutes. Since at the time it was not known if this film was going to draw the audience in an almost clean ending was given, so that if it failed there wouldn't be many questions left open. When this movie was released in 1977 it set the bar for what science fiction movies had to measure up to, few made the grade many fell far short. The two big star veterans that were tapped for this movie are Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing, the voice of James Earl Jones was added in as the voice of Verizon, I mean Darth Vader. The introduction of these characters into the sci-fi genre is nothing short of amazing, thirty years after being shown to audiences the magic is still unstoppable. The special effects that are used here are completely old school, miniatures, models and costumes are used to achieve what is seen on the screen.
The Empire Strikes Back-Out of the six films this is still by far the best and will always be considered the cream of the crop. As the title implies this movie is the Empire flexing its collective muscles and is in control from the opening battle to the final scenes. The first duel between father and son is fought here and shows the showmanship that Lucas has with his storytelling. Having such a dark chapter in this series, just goes to show how this story progressed to the point of being an icon in the collective minds of the fans. The Empire is so overpowering in this movie you almost get the feeling that there is no hope by the end. Having Frank Oz create and work the puppet of Yoda is sheer genius, it shows how the craft of puppeteers is an art form that can truly never be rivaled. Of all the props that are used in this series, the Han frozen in carbonite is by far the best, and is a great transition of the character.
Return of the Jedi-The final chapter could have done without one of the biggest character mistakes of all time, the Ewoks are just too cute and cuddly to be in this series. When I first saw this movie in 1983 the crowd cheered when an Ewok was killed in the final battle. The duel here with Vader and Luke, bringing about Vader's redemption, shows how close father and son are. It seems at times during the battle that they are each pulling their punches, and neither wants to kill the other. This is also the time when every fanboy's dream came true when Carrie Fisher sported the Slave bikini and all of the hormones into overdrive. With all the good things about this movie it is hard to get past the idea that so much of it is geared towards merchandising toys.
To see this long story come to an end, leaves you wanting more and that's where all the books and comics have been essential. The expansion of the Star Wars universe and mythos is in complete flux, new stories are always being created and new characters being introduced. Now that I've seen the whole thing from beginning to end it is truly one of the greatest science fiction stories ever told, barring some small glitches, it is the ultimate good verses evil story. But nothing is ever perfect and there will always tomorrows in the future. So I say in closing: May The Force Be With You and never give a Jawa an even break.
No comments:
Post a Comment