Having said that, I think I got jaded on Star Wars when Lucas put the latest and greatest version into theatres. My thoughts coming out were, “Christ, Lucas, if it isn’t broken don’t fucking fix it.” It just looked really really BAD.
Overall I think the reason the movie didn’t flop was not only being in the right place at the right time, but also the characters had a certain amount of chemistry together and, to an extent, by themselves.
As for Hamil, he’s not exactly a one hit wonder. He’s done some other interesting work. I thought he was great as the Trickster when The Flash was still on TV, and he also does the voice of the Joker in the Batman cartoons. And of course he was funny as hell as Cock Knocker in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. But yes, being the whiney as hell Luke Skywalker was the pinnacle of his career.
If you want to see some REAL Star Wars bashing that’s very entertaining, watch Thumb Wars.
“Bad is bad! Good is Good! Bad bad good bad! Good bad good good bad good bad…good.”
I love the movies (the first three). I still react with surprise to hear people are only recently discovering that they aren’t particularly good. Consider:
“That wizard’s just a crazy old man.”
“Do you think a princess and a guy like me…?”
“It’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.”
“If there’s a bright center to the universe, you’re on the planet that it’s farthest from.”
The writing in the first was awful. Also, Return of the Jedi had three, count 'em, three burp jokes in the first 30 minutes. Three! Three. Three. And people seemed shocked to see Jar Jar Binks in Episode I. Come on, didn’t you guys watch the other movies?
And when have you seen a science fiction movie with better special effects? What we see in the original Star Wars movies is a heck of a lot better than the new ones, or any incarnation of Star Trek. Yeah, they’re low tech. But what does that matter? They work.
Well, I think effects in the recent movies are far richer. Compare the bar scenes in AOTC with ANH. Or the incredibly detailed cityscapes. And I find most of the space-fights in ANH far too phony-looking by today’s standards to be effective.
Dune came out after Star Wars. Seven years after. Maybe you knew that, but I’m curious as to how you saw Dune before Star Wars.
Today I still like Star Wars, but it really is for its camp factor. However, when it first came out it was the shit. Everybody went to see it. The word of mouth that the movie got was astonishing. My parents took the family to see it based on what friends had told them. Plus, nobody had ever seen anything like it. Sure, 2001 had some great shots of ships and that space station, but the battle for the Death Star involved FX that were in a class by themselves. In fact, I wonder if ILM would exist if Star Wars had bombed.
On the other hand, consider that Lucas used all his newfound CGI power to make hammy shlock: which is most apparent in the crappy additions made to the first trilogy.
And what Sanscour said about Mark Hamill. Plus, say what you will, he’s a genuinely NICE guy, and a decent individual. He’s also done a lot on Broadway, in order to be with his family, and he’s pretty HAPPY. And that’s what counts, right? Look at all the problems Fisher and Ford have had over the years?
And for what it’s worth, Hamill agrees with Murcielago about the prequels not having a Han type cynic.
I agree, it’s cheesy, but it’s FUN! I’m a major, and I do mean MAJOR SW geek.
Oh, and anyone who disses Ewan McGregor is first up against the wall when the revolution comes!
I don’t think there’s any question that they’re a lot more eye-catching. But personally, I think they’ve been implemented with a lot less craft. In many scenes in AOTC, I was often thinking the actors looked entirely out of place in front of all the pretty cg.
Mind you, I also think the YodaFight bit would have been far better if Yoda hadn’t been a hyperkinetic bouncing green superball, but had instead fought most of it standing utterly still, deflecting increasingly frantic Dooku-blows merely with his muppet-mind powers. (“I don’t believe it!” Dooku would cry out. “That is why you are failing,” Yoda says, all smug-like, before mentally throwing him into a wall.)
But topically, yeah–none of the films have been very good. I still maintain it’s nowhere near simple nostalgia that makes the original trilogy much more entertaining than the latter.
“But personally, I think they’ve been implemented with a lot less craft”
I think that’s true of many of the fight scenes where Lucas just appered to throw a bunch of stuff at each other with little purpose. I thought a lot of the urban background was terrific though and I rather liked the Yoda/Dooku fight.
BTW those of you who say that Star Wars is just a popcorn flick are right of course but there is no reason why such films can’t have decent acting and direction. Once again LOTR manages to be a successful blockbuster as well as a well-crafted film.
One scene in particular illustrates the difference in quality between the two series: the reaction to the fall of Gandalf and Obi-Wan. See the way in which Jackson uses cinemaphotgraphy, sound and music to heighten the drama and compare it to the Star Wars scene which is pure cliche. Compare Frodo’s “Noooo!” to Luke’s.
I saw Star Wars opening day. The matinee. I had refused to read any reviews because I wanted it to be entirely new. I put on my “May the force be with you” button they gave me at the door (so rare now I can’t find it in collectibles price lists), plunked down in my seat, and opened my eyes wide.
The “Long ago…” scroll was dopey. Princess Leia’s ship was impressive, comparable to 2001. Then the Star Destroyer kept getting bigger and bigger and BIGGER. I was blown out of my seat and through the back of the theater. After that it could’ve turned into a musical with an all-robot review and I wouldn’t have cared. I loved it with an intensity I had never felt. Yeah, the acting was lousy and the script sucked but the special effects were bleeding edge, worlds beyond anything else (remember how little of 2001 was really effects) that I had ever seen.
I have to amend my previous post. I didn’t mean to agree that the fight scenes in AOTC are worse compared to ANH. The latter has some really lame fight scenes IMO . For one thing the way the soldiers run and hold their guns is far too slack and unconvincing. The big fight scene between Darth and Obi-wan was completely lacking in energy as well. I thought the Yoda/Dooku fight was a lot better actually.
