 |
| Lucas claims that he knew they were brother and sister right from the start, if so. . .eeechhh. |
1. Star Wars still works. The narrative is solid and fast paced. The characters are well defined and interesting. I like the idea (which I think comes from Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress) of initially telling the story through two secondary characters (R2 and C3PO) and the world making setup is done in a convincing way. The kids enjoyed the film, although my 9 year old not as much as my 5 year old.
2. Coincidences. Normally I hate coincidence as a plot device and and in Star Wars it's a big ugly coincidence that the escape pod Princess Leia sends out crash lands so damn close to the farmstead of her own twin brother. BUT this only really becomes a coincidence when we learn Luke's family history in The Empire Strikes Back. In Star Wars he could be just some random kid whose father happened to be a Jedi and a pilot. OR maybe you could say it was the machinations of The Force which brought the pod so close to the Skywalker farm. (That feels like cheating to me).
3. The Special Edition is irritating. (But at least we didn't get the new and even more horrifying Blu Ray.) I don't even know if you can rent or buy the original Star Wars anymore but the one we got from the DVD shop was the remastered, "improved" special edition with lots more special effects, the appearance of Jabba The Hut and the notorious scene where Han Solo and Greedo both go for their guns at the same time but Solo is quicker on the draw (in the original Star Wars Han Solo just shoots Greedo under the table). None of this stuff is necessary and often it's invasive. The special effects done with 1990's computer technology are not that good and look pretty cheesy and the entire scene with Jabba is a bit of a disaster. These "improvements" slow down the momentum of the story and take you out of the film. Lucas should release the original print on DVD or if it's already out there make it more generally available.
4. Less Is More. In the prequels we learned that too much politics, too much Darth Vader, too much pontificating about The Force were all bad things. In Star Wars the balance is just about right.
5. The acting is good enough. Sometimes Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill are a bit shaky but everyone else is excellent, including the many British character actors and day players.
6. The ending is great. Death Star blows up, everyone gets medals (except Chewbacca and the droids), John Williams cues the orchestra, titles. Perhaps The Star Wars saga should have ended with one film. I love Empire Strikes Back but it doesn't really end properly and I have grown to hate Return of the Jedi with its retread of SW, its Ewoks and the weird ghosts of Yoda, Obi Wan, Annakin etc. I won't even talk about the prequels because in my universe they don't actually exist (like Alien3 and Alien4).
7. Star Wars is not my favourite sci-fi film (thats probably Blade Runner) but it is a good solid, family entertainment and without doubt a classic of the form.
40 comments:
I've seen them all. I don't exactly know why. It's kind of a case of one thing leading to another, I think. Interestingly, there was an initial 'pusher'. I was down in L.A. visiting my aunt when it came out, and my friend wanted me and his girl friend to see it. I liked it. I didn't go head over heels over it, but it was very fun at the moment.
Both my nephews are very obsessed with it, the younger one because of the older, I'd guess. I realized from early on that there is an attention to detail that the true Star Wars fan has that I could never in a million years hope to summon.
My older nephew thinks that the Empire is actually good, but he is privy to a lot more back story than I could ever hope or want to take in, so I can't argue with him.
With Star Wars I could never get past the bad acting of the principals (Guinness excluded) and the wretched dialogue. Both are Lucas' fault; he had a tin ear for dialogue and he was notorious for being uncomfortable directing actors. The reason Empire is so much better is that he handed the directing over to Irvin Kershner, who was no Scorsese, but at least he was experienced at directing. Compare the acting of Fisher, Hamill and Ford from SW to Empire and you see a huge difference. Someone's actually giving them guidance on emotional tones and line readings.
Love, love, love Star Wars and watch it every christmas.I agree that the new additions are unnecessary and annoying. And dont even start me on the new trilogy.. ill break out in tourettes..Bollox
Blade Runner isnt as much for the kids is it? Theres so many 1980's movies they have yet to discover.
Loved Star Wars and Empire. I will never forget the eight-year-old-wailing-grief I felt walking out of the Continental Theater after Han Solo was frozen in carbonite.
I've used it to teach some basic storytelling techniques. In fact, today in class, we talked about its first scene as an example of in medias res.
It's still a text with which many of my freshmen are familiar, though the partisanship over who loves and who hates the prequels can lead to some passionate outbursts.
What I take away from the prequels is the stunning epiphany that Lucas no longer understood his own creation. He'd glutted himself on so much of the mystique surrounding the movies, he forgot how to tell a story.
I was so moved by Star Wars that I, as a kid with no allowance and who helped support the family with my paper route money, purchased the album. Which was a huge disappointment because it didn't have the bar songs and the other sounds I'd loved. Just the orchestral music, sigh. Perhaps I should give it another listen.
I was too young to notice acting quality. I just knew the story was for me.
Seana
My kids hadnt really heard of it before we brought it up. They hadnt heard of ET either.
I agree that Empire is the best one.
Cary
I cant agree with you there. I think Hammill and Fisher are pretty shaky throughout but Harrison Ford is good throughout and I think he assembled an impressive cast of British character actors for the other parts.
Everyone gets better by Empire and then they get let down by the story in Jedi
Frankie
I dont even know if you can get the original film anymore. Lucas seems strangely embarrassed by its purity and lack of crazy shit in every background.
Shulla
Its amazing what happened to Lucas. He completely forgot everything. Each scene in the prequels is so static and dull witted. He was more interesteed in world building than the characters or the acting.
There's an old screenwriting trope: if the scene is about what the scene is about you're in deep shit. In other words have some depth or emotional conflict or something...but all of that is lacking in the prequels. They're a complete disaster. Its to Roger Ebert's eternal shame that he gave Phantom Menace 3 and a half stars and to Blade Runner he gave 3.
Shulla
Its amazing what happened to Lucas. He completely forgot everything. Each scene in the prequels is so static and dull witted. He was more interesteed in world building than the characters or the acting.
There's an old screenwriting trope: if the scene is about what the scene is about you're in deep shit. In other words have some depth or emotional conflict or something...but all of that is lacking in the prequels. They're a complete disaster. Its to Roger Ebert's eternal shame that he gave Phantom Menace 3 and a half stars and to Blade Runner he gave 3.
WAy off topic, I got an unsolicited piece of news from one of my coworkers today. She had read Fifty Grand last year, and a couple of weeks ago, she was reminded of it and decided to give it to the people who lived in front of her and had just been to Cuba. They actually have been in a Cuban music band with her boyfriend. Today she told me she was accosted by the guy she gave it to and he told her that he had stayed up till all hours reading it, and it was so good he was going to give it to all his friends.
"That guy really knows Cuba," was the other thing he said.
Sheiler
It certainly provided me with the escapism I craved from the dreary civil war which was engulfing north Belfast in the 1970s.
Seana
Thats great! Perhaps everything balances out: one of the reviewers on Amazon said that I clearly not only had never been to Cuba but I was obviously some kind of goon of the CIA and the anti Castro Cubans from Miami.
Yeah, I was a little worried that this might be a Cuba can do no wrong group, but apparently, like you, they like the people. The government, not so much.
I always thought Luke stumbled on the princess's message because it was meant for Obi and Obi was living close to Luke to keep an eye on him.
But I lost interest as soon as I clapped eyes on the Ewoks. Cheap, cheap, cheap.
I can't decide at what age my boy will be old enough to watch Blade Runner. He has to appreciate and understand it, not just be not traumatised by it.
David
Yeah that would make it much less of a coincidence which I have to say I like better. Coincidences ruin plots for me so you can imagine how I cope with Dickens.
Definitely wait until he's 11 or older so that he can appreciate the I've seen things speech.
Dont understand the problem with Ewoks.Whats not to like about teddy bear families living in the woods.The cutest characters in the whole thing. Did you see the baby Ewoks- come on
Well, story was never a Lucas strong point, was it? I remember going to see American Graffiti when it came out and liking it (but then getting very annoyed at the nostalgia craze it helped usher in) but really it only has any meaning because of the Vietnam War hanging over the end of it. Maybe Lucas was a master of subtext.
In some ways Star Wars is similar in that the "big events" are before and after, as they were for American Graffiti.
I'm just glad Lucas never tried to make sequels and prequels for that one.
Oh, and Ewoks are okay, as long as you never do this.
Or maybe you should do it, I'm not really sure.
I'm probably the odd one out here, but Star Wars never did it for me, I just can't stay awake to finish them. That being said, my husbands dog has the nickname of "Wookie" because he tends to sound like Chewie talking at times.
A lot of Red Sox fans were doing their Luke Skywalker impressions last night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbOjS0Ah7_o
Frankie
Have you heard about the new Ricky Gervais sitcom following Warwick Davis around? Warwick was my favourite ewok.
John
American Graffiti worked because of the characters. They interacted well together. He also allowed his actors to improvise and make up their own lines which I think helped quite a bit. And then theres the fact that he had two cowriters which probably helped.
John
That ewok father is a nut.
Glenna
You are NOT alone. A surprisingly big minority are just bored rigid by SW.
Matt
What a choke, eh? I liked that graph in the Times showing the nature of the collapse. It'll be interesting to see how Peter Gammons and Pete Abraham spin this one over the next few days.
Lucas also forgot about sexual tension and self-interest. I think even the "real" Star Wars movies would not have worked without Han Solo anti-hero journey (which of course Lucas undercuts in the "revised" movies).
Perhaps, his real failure in the prequels was having Anikin be so young-- you just can't pull off a Macbeth with a teenager.
This is the problem with the contemporary industry perception that speculative fiction belongs to a mythical "teen market" that craves nothing more than a fast pace, explosions, and nudity.
Blade Runner, Close Encounters, and even ET were stories with character and theme, rather than just special effect orgies. And those are all movies kids STILL watch.
I'm with Glenna. I loved it when it first came out. The next installment made me think Lucas was just in it for the money, and that was it for me. My kids love them all, though.
Shulla
Have you seen those T shirts people have put out that say "Han Solo Shot First" which illustrate the point that he was a selfish bad guy who had to make more of a journey to help at the end. Lucas has suppressed the print of the original Star Wars where Han Solo did shoot first. The Star Wars in the national film registry is, I believe, the tinkered with special edition from 1998.
And yet the man can't be unaware that he should have left well enough alone. There's a famous photograph of Lucas wearing one of those Han Solo T shirts on the set of Indiana Jones 4 (another franchise which should not have been touched). I suppose he was wearing the t shirt ironically, but really he should have done some thinking about this.
Lew
The prequels have got to be about the money theres no artistic reason for them at all.
Matt
Nice series of charts from Nate Silver explaining the epic nature of the Red Sox choke:
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/29/bill-buckner-strikes-again/
Matt
And actually Pete Abraham's take is pretty interesting. Good journalists subvert your expectations:
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2011/09/carl_crawford_a.html
You forgot the major draw of Star Wars: it's got Angus MacInnes as Gold Leader. As everyone knows, he went on to film history as brainwashed hockey player Jean LaRose in Strange Brew.
Craig
And Ewan McGregor's uncle was the only other X wing pilot to survive.
He later played Gordon Urquhart in the classic Bill Forsyth film, Local Hero.
Star Wars will be forever linked to Elvis’ death in my mind. I heard about Elvis after walking out of the theater and it’s always been a bummer association for me.
Even at the young, impressionable age when I first saw Star Wars, I remember thinking Carry Fisher’s acting was awful and soooo distracting. It’s difficult to eat up scenario loaded with the likes of R2-D2, C-3PO, light sabers, multiple suns, but Fisher manages to do it. Thank goodness her acting (somewhat) improved later.
Not one of my favorite movies, by far, but entertaining. I lasted through two sequels but have seen none since.
Holden
I agree she got better. But she's an even better writer than she ever was an actress.
Maybe we should just blame Joseph Campbell. He's the one who claimed Lucas had created a work of transcendent ethical philosophy. Maybe George was just trying to live up to his own legend (ha ha).
My art history teacher in college had us watch Dark Crystal in preference to it, because she thought it had a better take on light and darkness in our natures.
Seana,
Jung would probably agree with you given Crystal's emphasis on duality and integration of the self...Hmmm now thinking of a compare and contrast lesson between the two to show how filmmakers use color archetypes to represent worldview. Thanks:)
You're welcome. I wonder if there is much of a crossover between audiences.
Post a Comment