An Angels blog
Pearly Gates: An Angels Blog
Pearly Gates: An Angels Blog
Pearly Gates: An Angels Blog

Navigate

Pearly Gates is...

Quick Reference

BP Player Cards:

ESPN Player Cards:

Baseball Cube:

Baseball Reference:

Recent posts

Links

Archive

Contact

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Josh is a bigger nerd than I am, because he saw the movie before me. Right?

Saw it this afternoon. Here are a few disjointed thoughts:
  • Better than episodes I & II, but that 'aint saying much.

  • I have to echo Josh's comments about the acting and Lucas' dialogue. Portions of the movie were cringe inducing (prime example: upon learning of Padme's death, Vader pulls out the most hackneyed move in the history of film. "Noooooooooooooooo!" C'mon George!).

  • I was disappointed to find that Hayden Christensen continued to play the dark lord of Sith as a whiney little bitch. Though he did stretch himself as an actor and added "brooding" to his list of adjectives this time around. How very emo of him...

  • The movie was about 15 minutes too long. When the only people still alive are Vader, Sidious, Obi-Wan, and Yoda (all characters in episode IV and beyond), the audience becomes well-aware of how the final battles end.
JOSH COMMENTS: I think one of the most disappointing things about how these three movies have been done is that even though it is a great overall story, the details are pretty crappy. This is especially evidenced if you have played any recent Star Wars video games (I have played Jedi Knight 2 and both Knights of the Old Republics), read any of the books (I have only read the book version of Episode 1...still way better than the movie), read any of the comic books (I have read several of the Clone Wars comics, or watched the cartoon series. Everyone seems to understand how to have characters act and develop in the Star Wars universe besides Lucas. In several instances these things can even make you question performing "light side" actions on a small scale (a la Qui-Gon Jinn) or if it is better to ignore small issues and only deal with the large ones. In other words, they have philosophized about the Force more and better than Lucas ever has or tried to. (The rest may be spoilerish...although I have tried to keep things vague). They have also had stronger evidence of a light side-dark side conflict than Anakin has. Anakin always seemed to be selfish and arrogant, but never particularly dark side until the moment he changed, which really was jarring the way it was done.

RICHARD ADDS: I think you're right about that. Throughout the movie I found myself thinking that I had seen it all, only done better elsewhere.

Oh, and the opera thing that Palpatine was watching? Total rip-off of FFX's Blitzball.

Comments:


To show how much of a nerd I am, I've already seen it twice. It was much better the second time, mostly because I'd gotten over the hype of this being the "last" SW movie.

I think Hayden was better this time around. Once Anakin goes dark, he gets a lot more intense and seems more interested as an actor. McGregor is terrific I think, despite the awful dialogue. The less said about Natalie Portman, the better.

I just wonder if George Lucas has any actual human contact with anyone other than his kids or his sycophants anymore, because he certainly doesn't seem to know how actual humans act anymore.

And yes, the "NNNNNNOOOO" was the worst moment in SW history. Yep, worse than Jar Jar, "Yippee!", Anakin blathering on about sand being rough, or even "I truly, deeply, totally Love You".

posted by Blogger frinklin @ 6:09 PM
I have to agree about McGregor. He is the best actor to happen to the series since Frank Oz puppetted Yoda in Empire. He absolutely became Alec Guiness' Obi-Wan in this movie. Also, Natalie Portman was terrible in this movie. Her acting has gotten worse with each movie.

posted by Blogger Unknown @ 7:09 PM
I thought Portman was quite good (not to mention stunningly beautiful) with the exception of the scene on Mustafar. I had to laugh at the "You're breaking my heart Annie!" line. But I put that one in Lucas' column.

posted by Blogger Richard @ 7:46 PM
Richard,

I love me some Natalie Portman--she's on my list of five--but the girl can't handle the blue screen.

posted by Anonymous Anonymous @ 11:01 AM
Richard,

I love me some Natalie Portman--she's on my list of five--but the girl can't handle the blue screen.

posted by Anonymous Anonymous @ 11:01 AM