Episode III

[London Geezer]

Anyone complaining about script and acting in this one should first get their memory wiped out and then watch any film in the original trilogy. Now there's some real turkey - Luke getting education from Obi-Wan, Luke telling Leia of being her brother... Actually, Luke doing anything. Even Harrison Ford manages to give shivers on some occasions.

Somehow people seem to forgive all this for the original films. Maybe it's just nostalgia, having seen it many years ago.

You see my problem is that i've wiped out all my memories of Ep 4 5 6. I seriously don't know what happens besides luke training, luke being leia's brother, vader being luke's dad. oh and the death start exploding. and the teddy bears. thats it.

 

[Diplo]

Awful things about Episode III (contains spoilers) :

• Lucas had 3 films to show the gradual change of Anakin into Vader but instead chose to make the transition last a couple of days, devoting a few short minutes of screen time to this pivotal event. Anakin went from good Jedi to ultimate baddy in what seemed like minutes. One minute he was telling Padme he loved her and was contemplating fatherhood, the next minute he was massacring Jedi children.
  
• And why did he convert to the Dark Side? For ultimate power? The cool outfits? No, because he had a dream that his wife would die in childbirth. Oh, right, well that explains it then. That is soooo convincing. Hey, they live in a society of spaceships, androids and magical powers but women still die in childbirth, apparently.
  
• When Palpatine reveals himself to be none other than a dark Sith Lord what does Anakin do? He goes, "Ummm, I think maybe I should tell the Jedi council about this." He then trots of to tell the Council who then send a couple of guys to arrest him (even though the fate of the galaxy rests on him being taken in). Nobody seems in the least surprised at this revelation, either.
  
  It also begs the question why the all-powerful Jedi Council couldn't detect, using their force intuition, the fact that the Supreme Chancellor was, in fact, a Sith Lord. Nope, despite all those eminent Jedi being around the Chancellor (who, lest we forget, had assumed absolute power) not one of them even suspected him. Gosh, amazing force powers there!
  
• Instead of an Epic Battle between the Jedi and the Clone Troopers we get five minutes of the Jedi getting their sorry asses kicked by a load of dumb troops. In one scene two Clone Troopers defeat a Jedi. Given clone troopers are the forerunner of the famously dumb storm-troopers this does raise the question: "Why are the Jedi so crap?". Most of them couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag.
  
• Yoda still looks like a CGI muppet on crack. Also, one minute he's walking with a stick and the next thing he's bouncing around like flubber.
  
• In the final battle between Anakin and Obi Wan on the lava planet how come neither of them were burnt to toast, even though they were inches above molten magma? At one point they stood on a bare metal frame immersed in molten rock. Doesn't heat conduct in this corner of the galaxy?
  
• Why did the Battle Droids suddenly develop camp voices? Yeah, lets design the ultimate killing machine and then give it a comical voice - that will scare the enemy!
  
• After defeating Anakin, Obi Wan tells him how he loved him like a brother. Then he walks off and leaves Anakin, who is still alive, to burn slowly to death. Nice one!
  
• General Grievous. Just everything. The cough. Worst bad guy ever. And what an original name!
  
• Lucas, having realised the script needs Padme to die, decides that she will simply, "Loose the will to live". Like most of the audience...
  
• We've waited since 1977 to hear Vader's first ominous words. We didn't quite expect them to be, "Anyone heard from Padme, recently?". Still, even that was better than the cringe-worthy, "NOooooooooo!" Vader emits.
  
• Nathalie Portman is actually a good actor (see 'Closer', for example). However, if you give her the worst dialogue in recent movie history then she will come across as wet and stupid. Thank you, George.
  
• Far too much reliance on visually overpowering CGI that swamped the viewer with detail and yet managed to convey zero atmosphere. Can anyone recall any of the worlds in Episode III? Not one of them had the atmosphere or solidity of Tatooine. Half the film felt like one long advertisement for Industrial Light & Magic. Technically brilliant but devoid of soul or imagination.

 

[WhiningKhan]

You see my problem is that i've wiped out all my memories of Ep 4 5 6. I seriously don't know what happens besides luke training, luke being leia's brother, vader being luke's dad. oh and the death start exploding. and the teddy bears. thats it.

You're all set, then. Go ahead and watch them, then tell us how you really feel. Ep 3 just continues the tradition.

 

[London Geezer]

You see my problem is that i've wiped out all my memories of Ep 4 5 6. I seriously don't know what happens besides luke training, luke being leia's brother, vader being luke's dad. oh and the death start exploding. and the teddy bears. thats it.

You're all set, then. Go ahead and watch them, then tell us how you really feel. Ep 3 just continues the tradition.

I'll hate them. Not sure i want to waste 7 hours of my life like that.

 

[Frank]

I haven't seen 2 & 3, and I'm not planning to, either. If you look at the stuff that made the first three episodes (4-6) as great as they were, I think it's best not to spoil them by watching 2 or 3.

Like, space ships. In the old days, space ships were rockets or saucers. Plain and simple. And small ones, at that. But who doesn't remember the firs time the Star Destroyer sails along the screen? It kept on going and going. Massive as a whole city! Now THAT is a REAL Star Destoyer! WOW!

And the other space ships were great as well. Not just rockets, but things that looked build and battered, with a definite purpose. That was absolutely a very new way to look at it. While the ships in ep. 1 are just anonymous, smoothed CGI.

As we didn't really had computers at that time, it made sense to have people actually piloting ships, and even manually shooting the guns. Use the force! But let's get real: nowadays nobody believes things like that anymore. Computers rule.

Things like light saber battles stand out in my mind by the duel between Luke and Vader. Vader was such a real Bad Ass. Cool. Cold, even. Almost a robot. He just struts along and... uses that light saber the way it was meant to be used. Nothing flashy about it whatsoever. Chilly, yes. Inhuman? Definitely. Convincing? Absolutely.

But in ep. 1, they first introduce dual bladed light sabers, and have everyone wave them around as if it is a harmless stick. Sigh. It's just a show. Convincing? Not at all. And the baddies wear a stupid mask, and are showmen as well. Bummer.

I want to remember Dark Vader as the ultimate Bad Guy, not as a stupid brat.

Anyway, that is my take on it. YMMV.

 

[JaylumX]

Ep 3 is quite possibly the worst film i have seen this year. I usually screen films *cough* before i pay for this but i watched this cause my uncle wanted to watch it. I watched...i pissed myself laughing and i felt cheated. Every thing wrong with the picture, Lucas a talentless tosser....and WTF was Yoda saying. Every time he talked, i was like "WTF is he say"......ironically i thought he was the best actor of the bunch.

 

[Simon F]

Awful things about Episode III (contains spoilers) :

• Lucas, having realised the script needs Padme to die, decides that she will simply, "Loose the will to live". Like most of the audience...

• 
  And, IIRC, in "Return of the Jedi" Leia remembers "her real mother" and that (paraphrasing) "she was always frightened", so that's something that'll have to be re-edited.
  
  
  Yes, there were a lot of silly things in EIII but I still enjoyed it. I believe SW was meant to be an "updated" version of the old cinema serials from the 40s and 50s and I think it was fine as action entertainment.

 

[poopypoo]

color me in Diplo's camp on this subject. In particular, I am pissed about the waste of good drama. The whole point of this trilogy was to witness Anakin's great fall, and we get a couple of minutes of crappy dialogue and a NOOOOOOooooooooo.

I'm really not bothered so much by the CGI and the camp. If he wants to flex some computer muscles and make some kiddies laugh, sobeit. But please, when you have the best part of the storyline come around, try and make it AT LEAST as good as Empire.

I also agree with DiGuru's comments on style, though. 70s Star Wars was so comparatively BRUTAL. It was never gory, of course, but Star Destroyers were more like rusty old battleships than nuclear subs, the Millenium Falcon was more like a Ford model "A" than a GTO, and Jedi dueled more like Henry V than Crouching Tiger. They inspired decades of great "retro futuristic" scifi movies, and I suspect all the new movies will inspire is the careless use of big-budget rendering farms.

 

[Diplo]

But please, when you have the best part of the storyline come around, try and make it AT LEAST as good as Empire.

I don't think it's any coincidence that Empire (regarded by many as the best Star Wars movie) wasn't directed by Lucas (it was directed by Irvin Kershner and the screenplay was by Lawrence Kasdan). If only Lucas had been executive producer on the recent films and left the directing and screenplay to people who know how...

 

[CMAN]

Episode three is awesome. If you don't respect I'm going to fart in your mouth. You gotta admit it's the best out of the prequels.

 

[JaylumX]

Nah, I prefer Ep 2. At least i had fun watching that...a decent experience mind. Ep 3 is only slightly better than Ep 1 and Ep 1 is the worst movie i have seen in history. I couldn't stop laughing at the shear banality of it all.....it was really embarrasing.....the most embarrasing moment was when *SPOILER ALERT* The emperor finally convinces Anikin he is Darth Vader. I bowed my head in shame...it was truely awful /*Spoiler*

Terrible film. I could live a million years and still not be able to finish describing how awful this film is.

 

[jvd]

well its up to 339m for the usa and 344 over seas . It will most likely hit the 400 mark or so before it stops . Alot of people did enjoy it and rumor has it lucas has an imax version coming out in july which will give it more legs

 

[London Geezer]

well its up to 339m for the usa and 344 over seas . It will most likely hit the 400 mark or so before it stops . Alot of people did enjoy it and rumor has it lucas has an imax version coming out in july which will give it more legs

That's different. That means that many people went to see it.
I hate star wars and forced myself to go, because u just have to. And i regret it now.

 

[Diplo]

That's different. That means that many people went to see it.

Exactly. Once you've seen the others you feel obliged to see it just for sake of completion. Besides, when did box-office takings have anything to do with quality of a movie?

 

[WhiningKhan]

I also agree with DiGuru's comments on style, though. 70s Star Wars was so comparatively BRUTAL. It was never gory, of course, but Star Destroyers were more like rusty old battleships than nuclear subs, the Millenium Falcon was more like a Ford model "A" than a GTO, and Jedi dueled more like Henry V than Crouching Tiger. They inspired decades of great "retro futuristic" scifi movies, and I suspect all the new movies will inspire is the careless use of big-budget rendering farms.

I believe that to be at least partly intentional, reflecting the difference between the united Republic and situation between Empire and Rebellion.
The Rebellion would be expected to have their equipment somewhat scruffy looking, while the Empire just didn't care about much else than brutal effectiveness.

Also, in the new trilogy we spend most of the time in Coruscant while it still was prospering centre of the galaxy - you'd expect it to be a bit more shiny than remote hell-holes like Tatooine and Bespin, and the places, people and equipment in original trilogy had seen a couple of decades worth of imperial oppression. Somewhat naive, but you should expect SW to be naive.

And regarding the style of the original trilogy - as a whole it worked OK (especially at the time), but I don't see a problem in updating the look a bit with the new material. For example, I have never really understood how Vader could be considered a perfect, threatening bad guy. A tall bloke with a ridiculous plastic mask, having a box of cheap-looking switches on his chest, with clumsy physique.

 

[davefb]

Awful things about Episode III (contains spoilers) :

• Lucas, having realised the script needs Padme to die, decides that she will simply, "Loose the will to live". Like most of the audience...

• 
  And, IIRC, in "Return of the Jedi" Leia remembers "her real mother" and that (paraphrasing) "she was always frightened", so that's something that'll have to be re-edited.
  
  
  Yes, there were a lot of silly things in EIII but I still enjoyed it. I believe SW was meant to be an "updated" version of the old cinema serials from the 40s and 50s and I think it was fine as action entertainment.

• 
  
  I think she says she remembers "her mother",, NOT "her real mother".
  I just assumed that meant she remembered her adopted mother who of course would have been frightened as she was looking after one of vaders kids!!..I watched 4/5/6 after watching 3, thought the continuity better than expected.
  As for "oh he changed to darth in 2 days" . EH ??? That has to be the most barking statement ever. from the START the kid has a temper and is concerned about his mother,, I thought the transition was really good , unrequinted love, it's yer classic premis!! Did you miss all the times Yoda mentions annakins fear and anger ? ?
  In fact when you then watch 4/5/6 the way vader betrays the emporer makes even more sense than it used to !
  agree with you simon , thought it was really good entertainment!
  [edit]
  actually isn't leia replying to lukes question about "OUR" mother...

 

[Frank]

Besides, when did box-office takings have anything to do with quality of a movie?

That would be lateral thinking. Box-office takings set precedents for new movies. If we all go and see crap, we get crap, as that would be defined as a quality movie that makes lots of money.

 

[rabidrabbit]

On screen the Anakin to Darth Vader could have been done better.
It did feel like a little too short time and felt a bit too exaggarated, and all that "fear" mainly because of some stupid nightmare.
On the other hand, Palpatine was very close to Anakin, almost like a father to him though it was only hinted at the prequels. Anakin had already been under the influence and manipulation of Palpatine for several yearrs, enough time for Anakin to really trust Palpatine and start to believe he's ultimately right and the "good guy".
Actually now that I think of it, it makes Anakin rather believable character, it just didn't come through well enough in the films. He's not this one dimensional bad guy usually in films, but a multifaceted confused psychotic more like a real person would be

The killing of the "younglings" was a bit extreme. Maybe if this wasn't Star Wars it wouldn't felt so out of place
Though, I think the whole love thing and turning into darkside because he wanted to save Padme was just a lame excuse for his hunger of ultimate power. His real hunger was for power, not for love.

 

[sytaylor]

well its up to 339m for the usa and 344 over seas . It will most likely hit the 400 mark or so before it stops . Alot of people did enjoy it and rumor has it lucas has an imax version coming out in july which will give it more legs

That's different. That means that many people went to see it.
I hate star wars and forced myself to go, because u just have to. And i regret it now.

You could have had a wank too...

I enjoyed it, just like I occasionally enjoy a burger king. I know its wrong, I know its crap, but once every couple of months its just awesome.

 

[rabidrabbit]

I bet it's just a lousy date l-b went to see EPIII with.
He didn't "get some" that night, so everything connected to that traumatic memory has now a "bad vibe" in his mind