Fritz said:
Personally, I thought the prequels made Vader look like more of a jerk than a cool evil sith lord like the original trilogy did.
I think the writing on ALL of the Star Wars films are more similiar that some people would like to believe... yes, even the coveted Empire.
I think that the OT too made a cool character like Han Solo into a whining jerk as well. I remember when I first saw Empire (I was 17 at the time) that first scene Han has with Leia in the Hoth base was a little disorienting. Since when did Han talk like THIS in Star Wars?
"Don't get mushy on me, so long Princess!"
"Come on, you want me to stay cos the way you feel about ME!"
I guess a lot had happened in that three years. Maybe he hung out with Luke too much.
Then there was that VERY odd exchange in Luke's recovery room. We ALL know the lines by heart... but try to disect it the way we do with all of Anakin (Hayden) Skywalker's lines. Sure, we make Nerf Herder jokes now, but doesn't that dialog kind of suck... in the same way the dialogue between Anakin and Padme? Again, it has taken years for that dialogue to settle into where is it's so jarring.
And Han and Leia's famous romantic moment on the Falcon:
"HEY, your worship I'm only tryin' ta help!"
"You could be a little nicer though"
The way he said "nicer" he sounded more like a petulant little boy than a space pirate.
And Han at his whiniest is in Jedi when he has that strained moment with Leia at the Ewok camp:
"Could you tell Luke? Is that who you could tell?"
With lines like this, it makes you kind of wish that he never left the carbo slab.
But having said all of that... this is Star Wars and I love it. I too see the films as a whole rather than six films. And more importantly, they are George Lucas's films... like it or not. I HATE when people talk about having Peter Jackson helm the prequels... the conceit that some other director would have made these films better. Sure, he had enough money to buy "better" prequel scripts. He didn't have to pen these prequels himself. But the fact that he DID makes me believe that these aren't just films to market for him... like some people have cynically claimed. He didn't want to create some mindless production line, making the films in a way that they would make even MORE money. I don't think he isn't the money grubbing movie mogul that people make him out to be.
I think he went through the painful process of writing these films for himself because of the creative impulse... the drive he had as an artist to make them. It is simple as that. It is his vision. His film saga. And I think he wanted to keep it that way. I admire that he pushed himself to be the one to bring it to screen, warts and all... and not just phoned it in to another artist.
Spielberg once said that Lucas is VERY protective of his films... and that he asked to direct one of the prequels but Lucas wouldn't let him. In the end, Lucas did relent and let Spielberg have a swing at some conceptual work on Episode III.
So if you want a Peter Jackson film to watch, I can recommend at least three for you... just not that last monkey picture. And I usually like monkey pictures.
But if you want to see a Lucas film, flaws and all, well I can recommend quite a few as well.
