OT: Star Wars Episode 2...

[tesco samoa]

And the sound of the ships is fantastic. Especially when they enter planet atmosphere.

You will like the sound that the mines make.

Notice how I do not give away anything about the story

[geoschmo]

I would be interested to hear along with people's opinions of whether or not they liked Episode 2 (and 1 for that matter) how old they are and whether or not they saw the original when it hit the big screen 20 years ago.

I have a theory, and it may be wrong, that the new movies are not so bad, even in comparison to the originals. They only suffer by comparison because our expectations are so higher. When Star Wars hit in 77, nothing even close had ever been seen by anyone. I think that seeing Star Wars for the first time in 1977 was probably the closest our generation could come to the way the people first seeing movies in the early part of the century. It was that much of a step above what else was out there.

We were so blown away that we overlooked a lot of it's faults. I can remember even as a ten year old thinking Luke was a major whiner, but Han Solo was very cool. There's your awesome character development. Luke didn't really become more than a cardboard cutout till late in the Empire Strikes Back IMHO. So Annikan is right on pace, no?

And was Jar Jar Binks really any more annoying than C-3PO in the original? It's called comic relief. They are supposed to be annoying aren't they?

I think a lot of older people were expecting that same "blown away" feeling this time around. The problem is the state of the art is so much better now, because of Star Wars in large part, that that just isn't possible.

For those of you that are younger and saw Star Wars later, maybe even after movies like Aliens or other more recent sci-fi flicks, what did you think of Eps1 and 2 compared to the originals?

Geoschmo

[Phoenix-D]

"I would be interested to hear along with people's opinions of whether or not they liked Episode 2 (and 1 for that matter) how old they are and whether or not they saw the original when it hit the big screen 20 years ago."

I haven't seen the Star Wars movies *period*, besides Ep.1. I disliked that. I've seen bits and pieces of the others, and wasn't hugely impressed with them either.

Phoenix-D

[Puke]

taking the plunge in about two hours. if any SF locals are on this board, and you see a skinny hair-farmer with 3 day scruff and biker leather at the AMC Van-Ness, thats me. make a rude gesture or something.

[Atrocities]

The one thing I look for in a movie is character development. I remember seeing Star Wars for the first time and thinking that Luke Skywalker was a cry baby and Leia was just a bad actress, but Vader, and Grand Moff Tarkin, now those guys were something. Bad acting aside, I found that I cared about the characters in the movie. From the lowly rebel soldiers who valiantly died to defend the doomed transport to the Captain who's neck make a funny cracking noise that at the age of 9 I did not fully understand. We were introduced to C3PO and R2D2 very cleverly, as well as a mysterious lady in white. Then came these really cool looking guys in white metal uniforms followed by a bad guy that you just could not believe unless you seen him with your own eyes. Man this bad guy, Darth Vader, was one cool, I mean evil dude.

The story gets better, we meet Owen and Auntie B, and they too were good actors. Then Obi One, Alec Guinness played the part in such a way that you instantly loved the character. Then we meet Han and Chewy. Sure Harrison was a tad bad in the first movie, but by Empire he had his second wind and was off and running with the part in a way that you couldn't help but love. Even Carry Fisher's acting by the second movie had improved. Marks, well what can any of us say, he was still a whiner.

The point is, Star Wars gave us some very strong characters that you quickly identified with and understood. It was easy to get involved and care about them and feel what they felt. Bad acting aside, the characters alone carried the movie. The SFX were icing on the cake, the cat's meow, and the whisky in the chilly. A good story, great characters, and awesome "Oh my god that was soooo cool!" Special Effects made Star Wars Star Wars

The same formula worked well in ESB and ROTJ. Although by Jedi the story line had decayed a tad, ok a lot, but it was still our favorite characters doing the deed, fighting the bad guys, the cool bad guys with the really neat ships.

Ep1 was from the start, a movie that should have been made without Jar Jar. However, he had a purpose, what exactly I do not know, but he had one. Qui-Gon Jinn played by Liam Neeson (sp) was the only character in the movie aside from Anikins mother that really drew my interest. The movie had a lot to offer, if you were 9. The one thing that Star Wars had that Ep1 and 2 did not was all age appeal. I remember my dad and mom watching the movie and saying that they had never seen a movie like it and that it was very enjoyable to watch.

My dad and mom did not say that about Ep1 and have no interest in seeing Ep2.

When you boil it down, Star Wars is not a spiritual journey but simply a movie series written by a man who at first had a truly visionary concept, but now, 20 + years later and counting, has gone blind by commercialism and profit margins.

Don't get me wrong, I think Lucas is a man of great talent, who should realize that his vision has become far more than what he can invision; should pass the reins onto a new generation, and for the love of god, allow someone else to write Ep3.

I feel that EP2 was poorly told. I honestly believe that it could have been told far better if someone would have been brave enough to stand up to Lucas and say: "George this isn't going to work." But alas, no one did, and now we have a movie that I am embarrassed to take my 5-year-old nephews to see.

I also strongly disliked the violence that was committed against the fake animals of the movie. I do not believe that was Star Wars, and I whole heatedly feel that it was a tad over kill, no pun intended, both for this movie, and for it's PG rating. (It was good action, but sad nonetheless.)

[ May 20, 2002, 22:14: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

[Puke]

well, now i can say ive seen it. i do agree with Atrocities about Lucas losing vision and the story falling apart ever since Jedi, but i thought this film was pleasing, overall. I find myself compelled to watch the creation of the empire and the fall of the jedi knights. i hated ep1, but i am now looking forward to 3. I found the largest faults in 2 with c3po.. just awful.

but overall, it was good. im not one to nitpick about Ratings, and i dont mind that they killed animals. i guess im just not very sensitive to those kinds of things, but i dont see killing animals as any worse than killing people, and we have been killing people since we had people to kill when we first crawled out of the ocean.

ah well. all that aside, i wasnt spiritually moved. i was entertained though, and it was nice to look at.

[Growltigga]

Puke, I agree with you - I wasn't really looking for a revelation in this movie (unlike what I was with Fellowship of the Ring ) and although I could see the flaws, I thought it was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours at the weekend that didn't involve DIY, household chores or mowing the lawn

However, Jango is Da Man

BTW, I am going to be in Novato for a couple of days next week going up to Santa Rosa. Anywhere near you?

[Dravis]

I agree with Atrocties. The caracter development sucked. Lucas is loosing his touch, I wish he would let someone elso do it.

What I did like in the movie was Yoda. That was wicked cool to see his kick some @$$. That and the special effects, they were quite good.

[Ragnarok]

Welp, I finally got to see EP2 Last night. I thought it was a huge upstep from EP1. More then 10 times better. Development of the charactors wasn't the best I agree but it was still alot better then in EP1. For instance - the relationshop between Annikan and Obi-Wan was pretty good. The way they would pick on each other was pretty good.

But - I do not agree that Lucas shouldn't write EP3. I think if someone else starts writing the next movie now, it will screw up everything. Cause they won't see EXACTLY where Lucas is wanting to go with it in EP3 to lead up to EP4, 5, and 6. So I think Lucas should write EP3 but take suggestions on how he can make it better from the crew. But again, someone else writing now would mean disaster for the series.

Yoda... Well there's hardly any words to discribe him... Other then he's the cool person around. Enjoyed him, I did. I'm finding myself talking like him now. The friends that I went with all started talking like him just for the fun of it and now I'm doing it all the time. But he kicked some serious @$$ and I'm gratful for that. One of my friends that went is like only 5'3 or something like that. (Whereas I'm 6'5) and I told him after movie "See, little guys can still kick some arse!" lol. He just laughed at that.

Senater Padme. OH MY GOD! That's all I got to say about her. She's freakin hott guys. Much better wardrobe in EP2 then EP1. Which I'm super grateful for that. *cough cough* I'll go see it again just for her.

But in conclusion - Bad charactor develpment but the action made up for it. Lucas shouldn't have someone else write EP3. Yoda is awesome. And Padme, well she's hott and that's about it. Really cool too. lol. But there's my two cents since I've finally got to see it. I'll probably go again sometime, or just wait till it comes on video and watch it then. But all in all it was a good movie and I'm now looking forward to EP3. Thank you all and have a good day.

[zen.]

Don't forget the Spoiler Space, gang...half of the stuff I read I would NOT have wanted to know about if I didn't already just see the movie.

I'm inclined to agree with Geoschmo and Will. As Star Wars, my friends agreed that it was disappointing, but I'm really beginning to wonder if they're just forever seeking the 'gee whiz!' effect of the first movie(s).

As a stand-alone movie, I feel that it was more decent than as 'two of a series'...I was entertained and got my matinee money's worth. It had the scenes that were promised in the trailers, scope AND scale, and scenes that made me go 'wow'. I agree that character development was at an all-time low, but I don't have the expectations that some people did. It was leagues better than the first one, especially in utilizing CGI to enhance and further the story versus for the the sake of using it. Plot holes aside, their biggest crime might simply be putting too much activity into too little time. The movie was decent length, about 2:22 or so, but character development could have progressed given additional time, at the risk of making the movie 'slow'. Although I question Hayden Christensen's acting ability, I'm not sure much could be done with the lines he was given.

All in all, I'd probably see it again for some key scenes alone. For a movie that tries to deal with some adult issues while maintaining a 'PG' rating, it's all right.

As a side note for mention of Empire Strikes Back, which I also feel was still the best of the series: rumor has it that one of the reasons that it turned out that way was because of director Irvin Kershner...one of the only people who wasn't a yes-man to Lucas. http://www.salon.com/ent/col/srag/19...ner/index.html

zen

::edit:: I made a link! woohoo!

[ May 20, 2002, 17:08: Message edited by: zenbudo ]