Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12/18/15)

[Rorywan]

Wasn't trolling. But I respect your difference of opinion.

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

His ideas and stories were 90% "borrowed" from others "out there." His brilliance was in synthesizing all the old cliches into a new hybrid.

My favorite hybrid

 

[cilantropants]

ROTS may not be as good as Jedi but its very close. Its by far the best of the PT.

That's like saying the wipe is the best part of a poo.

 

[RavenEye]

ROTS may not be as good as Jedi but its very close. Its by far the best of the PT.

Obi-Wan and Commander Cody Woot!

 

[RavenEye]

That's like saying the wipe is the best part of a poo.

Well ya know... some of those Japenese... oh wait wrong thread.

 

[spindrift]

ROTS is nowhere near as good as ROTJ- and I think that was a much much weaker film than the first two OT films!
I do respect all opinions- the PT just has left an awful awful taste in the SW legacy

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

ROTS is nowhere near as good as ROTJ- and I think that was a much much weaker film than the first two OT films!
I do respect all opinions- the PT just has left an awful awful taste in the SW legacy

 

[VintijDroidGutzz]

I actually think I said it best about a page ago.

 

[jye4ever]

Apples & oranges really.

One - a great mix of craft & talent coming together.

The other - a video game with the occasional real person thrown in.

yup

The SE didn't 'future proof' the Originals at all as it turns out since the added CG is pretty dated now

yup

 

[Wor-Gar]

I've really come to hate "Duel of the Fates".

It keeps ringing in my head when I visit this thread.

 

[Gully Foyle]

Wasn't trolling. But I respect your difference of opinion.

And I respect yours, Rorywan.
Apologies for suggesting that you were merely trolling, when in fact you were (apparently) expressing your honest opinion.


The "Prequels" (a horrible neologism) are a soft target. It's become fashionable and hip to denounce them.
And this is because they are--by and large--really effin' lame.
And while RoTS is obviously the best of the three, I feel I must gently mock those who find it superior to anything pre-1983ish.

Sure, Jedi had its flaws, but it had a core group of characters who--as a viewer--I cared about. It had solid characterization. I was invested in the outcome for those folks.
The stakes had been established and they were high stakes.
Sith, on the other hand, had characters I didn't give a rat's ass about, and the fate of most of them was a forgone conclusion.
The rest was mere eye candy.

Perhaps being free of any predetermination will allow these new films to spread some new wings, so to speak.

Despite my snarky cynicism about those chances, I welcome a pleasant surprise.

So far, however, the marketing campaign for this endeavor seems to be running on (A) pure nostalgia for the Gen-X&Y crowds and (B) faith in the abilities of Jar Jar Abrams to deliver a compelling story that's not a derivative retread.

Perhaps I'm just a Moff Tarkin underestimating their chances?
I hope so.

But Disney is The Empire. They run the flamin' Death Star now . . . so may the Farce be with you.

_____

 

[Rorywan]

Well, here's the thing.
This is my take on Star Wars as a whole.

There has only been one incredible Star Wars movie, and by incredible.. I mean a perfect amalgamation of story, theme. tone, character, dialogue, VFX, design, music and cinematography.

And that movie is obviously The Empire Strikes Back.

What comes down the line after that. The original, I'm calling it Star Wars because I never like the "A New Hope" add on. Star Wars deserves every bit of praise it gets. It created a new cinematic legacy. It's incredibly beautiful from an artistic standpoint, the sci-fi visuals and VFX quite rightly changed the world. It's pulpy Flash Gordon origins left it down from a cinematic masterpiece in my opinion, it was entirely George Lucas' intention but over the years I started to find it a little dull outside the visual bang and John Williams score. Love the characters, love the dialogue, but as a whole just not as textured and layered as Empire. It's incredible but flatter thematically.

Now Return of the Jedi, I have always believed Jedi got away with holy murder. I adore the Emperor in Jedi, I love seeing our hero's back in action. But as a movie it's very uneven. A lot of it is incredibly cheesy. The performances are not great in places. Even things like Yoda's death were lacking the cinematic strength and perfection we had seen in Empire. I don't know.. it just felt like we had stepped down in sophistication. Still love some of it, and I'm not even going to mention the Ewoks. The plotting, characterisation, and story contrivances are no better than anything in the prequels. The brother/sister thing. God. Solo turned into a cheesy cartoon character? yikes.. Imagine it written down on paper.. rather than through rose-tinted, popcorn and toy filled, eyes.


The prequels. The best thing about the prequels is the trailer for The Phantom Menace. There I've said it. But.. I enjoy a lot of things about the prequels. On an entirely different level than the OT. It truly is apples and oranges. Some of the acting is awful, terrible stuff. Ewan's wig and fake beard get a special mention. As does Christopher Lee's inability to remember his lines in AOTC (honestly watch his mouth). The design, art and VFX though? generally I found the imagery thrilling. I felt they were like glorious animation projects. The slapstick comedy I detested though, particularly in AOTC.

But.. Sith is different. If you can forget about the previous two and any dislike you had of them and watch it fresh. It's like an incredibly dark, operatic animation/VFX piece. The music in it is incredible. Lucas actually managed to hit a few genuine emotional notes in it which he failed to do in TPM or AOTC. The scene where Padme is looking out the window at sunset, where Anakin is contemplating what he is about to do, is as strong as anything in Star Wars. The Order 66 montage is operatic and very cool IMO. As is most of the final battle. Yes, there is **** in there as well. But I still feel Sith works on a lot of levels. It feels tragic, and at times epic.

Does it compare to Empire? Not in a long shot. It's a computer generated fairytale. I feel it gets tarred and feathered, understandably, by the failings of the previous two. And I do feel it's comparable to ROTJ. It never reaches the highs of Jedi, But never ever reaches it's lows either. Overall it is a more successful balanced movie, which doesn't feel like a load of different movies thrown together to make the finale of a trilogy.

 

[Rorywan]

I will also add. Anyone expecting another Empire from Force Awakens is going to be disappointed. After reading the Vanity Fair article, it seems the overriding reaction that everyone has had to seeing actual footage from the movie is that it's fun, witty and humorous. Anyone else get that from the two teasers released so far? Nope, neither did I.

It's the most worrying thing I've read so far. As that's what JJ did to Star Trek.

This is going to be something very commercial. It's Disney now. As much as JJ is bitching/joking about JarJar, lets wait a couple of years before slapping him on the back and laughing along with him. I thought it was very wrong of him to take the piss out of Lucas like that.

JJ sir? Yousa in no position to take da pizz outta JarJar.

 

[creature4000]

My favorite hybrid

I love those murderous little bastards!

 

[Cixx]

What i expect outta TFA is a proper sequel to ROTJ. Without ****ing laden political boring jargon, slapstick comic relief, overuse of CGI at every opportunity, top tier actors made so boring you'd rather pick your scabs, background story's just for the sake of ya know background story's. Hell, you give us that and there will be little to complain about and god damn we got us a SW movie.

/insert tie fighter engine sound here

 

[VintijDroidGutzz]

And while RoTS is obviously the best of the three..

I'm sorry.. no.

Such untruths should not be perpetuated here, please. I agree with a lot of what both you & Rory have said, but come on.

I'm gonna keep reminding y'all; Gungans & all the stupidity of that as negatives, TPM still punishes the other two all day, every day.

 

[RIDDICK]

Gotta love OT fanatics:

"fek Lucas for ruinin' mah nostaljah!"

 

[jye4ever]

I'm sorry.. no.

Such untruths should not be perpetuated here, please. I agree with a lot of what both you & Rory have said, but come on.

I'm gonna keep reminding y'all; Gungans & all the stupidity of that as negatives, TPM still punishes the other two all day, every day.

I will give it to Rory though, he has layed down the BEST and most plausible explanation and breakdown I have ever seen of why ROTS works for him not only over the other 2 prequel movies but also in comparison to ROTJ, it was a great read.

Now that I got that out of the way, he's ****ing crazy!



I believe that Gully is correct on why ROTJ works even with GL mucking it up with his merchandising priority by that point, almost derailing the entire movie.

 

[Rorywan]

Now that I got that out of the way, he's ****ing crazy!

I expect no less Jye!

 

[a-dev]

Gotta love OT fanatics:

"fek Lucas for ruinin' mah nostaljah!"

Pay this man no mind. He is young and naive! He knows not the will of The Force.