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August 11, 2003
Review: (Movie) Star Wars
Like most every human being on earth, I hate Jar Jar Binks. Unlike most human beings, I am a dedicated fan of the Star Wars Franchise. Perhaps this biases my thinking, perhaps not. Either way, When A New Hope was re-released with (Gasp) extra footage, I was literally 4th in line...
I'm not so dedicated to the movies that I know what fan criticism tends to sound like, nor could I really point to a site where such things run rampant. I grew up on those stories, Luke, Leigha (I knew they would be Brother and Sister after I saw Empire for the first time), Han, Vader, and storm Troopers. Truth be told, I've always detested Yoda, and the new episodes just added more reasons for that. I wonder if he wasn't a tool for the Emperor...
The thing that always got me as a child is how much of a big, epic struggle these movies told. The movies fairly burst free; no single film could tell the whole story. There was much going on in the background, things that we never saw but affected everything around them. The Emperor's decision to suspend the Senate, for instance, radically changed the nature of the whole story. This necessitated the building of the Death Star (or, more likely, its use). In watching the story unfold, there is a definite sense that this offhanded remark is an ending, and now we are seeing the beginning of a new story...
In A New Hope, the Emperor is not seen, or heard from. His actions are carried out by henchmen evil enough to destroy whole planets as a form of torture. If his minions are that bad, we are left to wonder, how bad must he be?
In The Empire Strikes Back, we see the Emperor, and he lives up to our wildest expectations of Badness. With a rasping voice, he micromanages his employees, this time sending thousands of men off to capture one. His Chief henchman this time is Lord Vader himself. Vader is a man so capriciously evil that he will strangle admirals for problems not theirs. The mere fact that the emperor is willing to place this much time and effort in the hands of one so blatantly bad lets us know how much greater the Emperor's evil must be, and therefore we understand why the Hero's work against him...
The Heroes are a motley crew; ragtag and mercenary. There attributes are legendary, so I won't go over them again. Interesting to note, though, that Leigha is who the audience identifies the Alliance with. Indeed, all the way up until the Yavin scenes, she is all the Rebellion we know about. Despite her status as princess and protagonist, she isn't even second in command of this group. Indeed, she is more a courier...
We don't see too many gatherings of the Rebellion in the first two movies. Only at the end of the first, (for the strike at the Death Star), and at the beginning of the Second, (during the Battle of Hoth) do we see such groups. The first movie brings them together, and the second (symbolically) rescatters them...
It isn't until the third movie that the we see all the elements assembled in one place: Jedi, Darth, Fleets, Ground troops, and Emperor. It all builds to a crescendo and explodes in a meaningful array of violence and re-birth. The Emperor is dies, the Second Death Star is destroyed, Vader is redeemed, and the Jedi have Returned. While the books make it clear that they don't all live happily ever after, we are free to imagine this if we wish...
The first movie in the second trilogy is disappointing principally because it is so small. The events are local; given relevance only because of the political system under which they labor. It is the events within that system which make for the interesting story, but Lucas chooses not to tell us about that. He merely tells us that it is there, shows us a glimpse of what might be, and exiles us once more to Naboo...
The fall of one government and its replacement by another is something quite routine in parliamentary democracy, so the only real relevance it has is that which we the audience choose to give it: We know that Senator Palpatine will become Emperor Palpatine, and that he is using these events for his own ends. This could yet be a compelling story; perhaps he hadn't set out to become evil in the first place. Perhaps we get to watch a once good man become corrupted by his own power. No. Lucas Chooses not to tell this story. Palpatine is also Darth Sidious, an evil Jedi. We know that he is twisting this entire story, manufacturing this entire non-crisis so that he may grab power. We the Audience can only sit in unheard horror as we scream: No! Jar Jar! Don't go in that Room! Amidala! Don't call for the vote of no confidence in the old Chancellor! And, since we know that Anakin is Vader we are left dumbstruck by Yoda's decision not to train him, or at least keep a close eye on him. But it is too late. We know things the characters do not. A small story takes on a note of inevitability...
The Second movie in the new Trilogy regains much of its epic scope. Yes, the love story is poorly written, and the political story is either really stupid, or Palpatine is really clever. Did he not think anyone would notice all those clones showing up out of nowhere? Perhaps this is what the 3rd movie is all about. We shall see. But it works because it regains that epic feeling. It does with strokes what the 1st movie could not do with 15 minute segments. It is a bigger movie and, for all its chunkiness, a better one...
None of this makes the movies less than enjoyable. There is, however, a real feeling that Lucas is floundering, unsure of what to say next and how to say it. Perhaps The difference can be summed up by saying that I didn't think about Lucas at all during the 1st trilogy, but do all the time during the prequels...
As it stands there is still a lot of room for the 3rd movie to make the trilogy epic, grand, and worthy. The movies will have my affection almost despite what Lucas has done. He still knows what stories are interesting to tell; he seems to have lost his touch with telling them...
Posted by Andrew at August 11, 2003 04:56 PM
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Comments
The last two Star Wars movies have given me an extreme hatred for Lucas, almost to the point of ruining the first three. Okay, not quite to that point, but...
There are so many things wrong with the prequels. The dreadful dialog, the wooden acting, pointless characters like Jar Jar that exist solely to show off ILM's technical prowess. As someone, I forget who, wrote, while the originals set up a world completely divorced from our own, allowing the audience to completely immerse themselves, the new ones bring in pointless debates about campaign finance reform and oh-so-subtle names like Nute Gunray.
I think Lucas' big mistake is that he seems to be trying to make the new ones appeal to a new audience, when he should have targeted them to people our age, who grew up with Star Wars. Or maybe he's just a total hack.
Regardless, I'll see the next one on opening day.
Posted by: Aaron at August 11, 2003 07:10 PM