It’s
been almost twenty years since “The Phantom Menace” came out. I still
can’t believe how long it took us all to accept how awful that movie
was. So I thought today it would be fun to pretend it was twenty years
ago, and we still live in a world with only three Star Wars movies. If
you recall this simpler time, you may recall that of those three “Return
of the Jedi” was considered the “bad one”. Where it ranks today is
another discussion for another day. Instead I wanted to talk about this
movie, which was my favorite of the three.
Released in 1983, this movie did not wow critics or fans. And I get that, I mean another death star battle? I give then credit for using Lando at least but it was still dull. Also I will admit as I have aged that the Ewok’s beating the empire’s best troops like that is kinda…stupid. True Vader’s redemption could be considered too easy. And don’t get me started on that revised ending I will always prefer the original. So ok it wasn’t the strongest movie, but I still love it. Here are five reasons why, aside from the fact that it was the first Star Wars movie I was old enough to really appreciate in theaters.
Obi Wan’s Cameo
I loved Obi Wan’s cameo with Luke after Yoda dies. By the way it was well done, but why did Yoda have to die in this movie? Anyway the scene with Obi Wan talking to Luke is great. I always thought it was such well written and delivered bit of exposition. It;s good to finally find out who Vader is and that, yes Luke has to defeat him. Yeah I know the continuity is a tad off. Whatever, I’m sure there’s a novel that clears it up somewhere put there.
Ewoks/The Forest Chase
The one action scene I loved was the chase through the woods on the..motorbikes? whatever they were. It’s true, the effect has not aged very well and it’s kinda cliched today being copied to death. But at the time that was quite an action scene and very well put together. That scene of course leads us to the Ewoks. Yeah Yeah I know what I said. The final battle was lame as heck, it was obvious Lucas was pandering the to the kids with that. Despite that, I liked the Ewoks themselves. Especially Widget. I think my favorite thing is that we never hear them speak English, or even get subtitles, and yet we know what they are saying and feeling. That’s a nice touch. By the way who else saw the Ewok TV movies? They were BORING.
The Emperor’s Scenes
Forgive the name drop but there is a reason why To Boldly Flee spent so much time parodying those scene between The Emperor, Vader, and Luke. They are so well done! We can feel Luke resisting his anger, and we delight as the Emperor enjoys every second of it. Course Ian McDiarmid is fantastic. Then we get probably the best light saber fight of the original trilogy, as Luke finally beats Vader down with the music blaring away. Just a great tense scene which kinds of makes up for the lame Ewok fight and the “on repeat” Death Star fight going on at the same time. Vader saves his son and I think they handled Vader’s redemption and death pretty well, especially in hindsight now that we know who Anakin is. At the time people still weren’t sure who or what was in that costume.
Luke and Leia’s scene
Yeah there are two big dialogue scene, the Obi Wan one I already mentioned. And this, one of my favorite scenes in any of the movies, even the more recent. This is that scene where Luke and Leia talk in the Ewok kingdom. Yeah some people complain that it slows the movie down, which I guess it does, but it’s one of the best character moments in the entire franchise in my opinion. The way Luke tells her that she is also related to Vader, and you can really feel the weight of that news on her. Especially when Han Solo comes out at the end and she goes to him. But man, Hamill and Fisher were just amazing in that scene. As I said before it would take until the end of “Last Jedi” to get a scene nearly that good between them again. (I’ve talked about the rushed ending of this movie before so will refrain). The music is perfect also, it was John Williams of course it was. And again, we’ll ignore that a lot of what is said here does not match with the continuity later on.
That “too long” Opening
Yeah the opening to the movie gets a lot of criticism for being a tad long. I guess it is by Star Wars standards. But I liked it, heck I even had the “Jabba’s Palace” play set as a kid. Why do I like it? There a few reasons I guess. For one thing all our characters appear and have something to do. We get some comic relief from our droids who, let’s be honest, kinda vanish for the rest of the movie. But more than that, the scene takes time to let the events play out. We get to know Jabba and his minions (and that Jabba effect is still effective today), so that when they are finally defeated they aren’t just blank faces. It would have been so easy to just have Han Solo saved in the first five minutes and then pretend the whole freezing thing never happened. Instead we are led to believe he may not be saved, and it’s a well done moment when he is. Of course his reunions after he is saved are still fun. Because we got see them play out, when Leia kisses him, Chewy excitedly hugs him, and even exchange a few barb’s with Luke. I suppose the ending battle could have been quicker. It almost could have ended after Luke kills the monster and it does seem to take forever for Han to save Lando (and yes Bobba Fett deserved a little better) but despite the nitpicking it’s still one of my favorites because all our characters are involved (even our poor comic relief droid’s). I mean how can you resist the moment when R2D2 reveals he has the lightsaber and shoots it off to Luke? Oh, and there may be one other little reason I love this:
Carrie Fisher, will always be missed.
I still love this shot
So there you have it my friends, five reasons I love this movie. I know Empire is a classic but I think this one gets some stronger character moments in it, and these moments keep the film from being the worst Star Wars movie today. Do you guys agree or disagree? Comment and let me know. So hey, which do I think is the worst then? “Attack of the Clones” was just god awful.
Released in 1983, this movie did not wow critics or fans. And I get that, I mean another death star battle? I give then credit for using Lando at least but it was still dull. Also I will admit as I have aged that the Ewok’s beating the empire’s best troops like that is kinda…stupid. True Vader’s redemption could be considered too easy. And don’t get me started on that revised ending I will always prefer the original. So ok it wasn’t the strongest movie, but I still love it. Here are five reasons why, aside from the fact that it was the first Star Wars movie I was old enough to really appreciate in theaters.
Obi Wan’s Cameo
I loved Obi Wan’s cameo with Luke after Yoda dies. By the way it was well done, but why did Yoda have to die in this movie? Anyway the scene with Obi Wan talking to Luke is great. I always thought it was such well written and delivered bit of exposition. It;s good to finally find out who Vader is and that, yes Luke has to defeat him. Yeah I know the continuity is a tad off. Whatever, I’m sure there’s a novel that clears it up somewhere put there.
Ewoks/The Forest Chase
The one action scene I loved was the chase through the woods on the..motorbikes? whatever they were. It’s true, the effect has not aged very well and it’s kinda cliched today being copied to death. But at the time that was quite an action scene and very well put together. That scene of course leads us to the Ewoks. Yeah Yeah I know what I said. The final battle was lame as heck, it was obvious Lucas was pandering the to the kids with that. Despite that, I liked the Ewoks themselves. Especially Widget. I think my favorite thing is that we never hear them speak English, or even get subtitles, and yet we know what they are saying and feeling. That’s a nice touch. By the way who else saw the Ewok TV movies? They were BORING.
The Emperor’s Scenes
Forgive the name drop but there is a reason why To Boldly Flee spent so much time parodying those scene between The Emperor, Vader, and Luke. They are so well done! We can feel Luke resisting his anger, and we delight as the Emperor enjoys every second of it. Course Ian McDiarmid is fantastic. Then we get probably the best light saber fight of the original trilogy, as Luke finally beats Vader down with the music blaring away. Just a great tense scene which kinds of makes up for the lame Ewok fight and the “on repeat” Death Star fight going on at the same time. Vader saves his son and I think they handled Vader’s redemption and death pretty well, especially in hindsight now that we know who Anakin is. At the time people still weren’t sure who or what was in that costume.
Luke and Leia’s scene
Yeah there are two big dialogue scene, the Obi Wan one I already mentioned. And this, one of my favorite scenes in any of the movies, even the more recent. This is that scene where Luke and Leia talk in the Ewok kingdom. Yeah some people complain that it slows the movie down, which I guess it does, but it’s one of the best character moments in the entire franchise in my opinion. The way Luke tells her that she is also related to Vader, and you can really feel the weight of that news on her. Especially when Han Solo comes out at the end and she goes to him. But man, Hamill and Fisher were just amazing in that scene. As I said before it would take until the end of “Last Jedi” to get a scene nearly that good between them again. (I’ve talked about the rushed ending of this movie before so will refrain). The music is perfect also, it was John Williams of course it was. And again, we’ll ignore that a lot of what is said here does not match with the continuity later on.
That “too long” Opening
Yeah the opening to the movie gets a lot of criticism for being a tad long. I guess it is by Star Wars standards. But I liked it, heck I even had the “Jabba’s Palace” play set as a kid. Why do I like it? There a few reasons I guess. For one thing all our characters appear and have something to do. We get some comic relief from our droids who, let’s be honest, kinda vanish for the rest of the movie. But more than that, the scene takes time to let the events play out. We get to know Jabba and his minions (and that Jabba effect is still effective today), so that when they are finally defeated they aren’t just blank faces. It would have been so easy to just have Han Solo saved in the first five minutes and then pretend the whole freezing thing never happened. Instead we are led to believe he may not be saved, and it’s a well done moment when he is. Of course his reunions after he is saved are still fun. Because we got see them play out, when Leia kisses him, Chewy excitedly hugs him, and even exchange a few barb’s with Luke. I suppose the ending battle could have been quicker. It almost could have ended after Luke kills the monster and it does seem to take forever for Han to save Lando (and yes Bobba Fett deserved a little better) but despite the nitpicking it’s still one of my favorites because all our characters are involved (even our poor comic relief droid’s). I mean how can you resist the moment when R2D2 reveals he has the lightsaber and shoots it off to Luke? Oh, and there may be one other little reason I love this:
Carrie Fisher, will always be missed.
I still love this shot
So there you have it my friends, five reasons I love this movie. I know Empire is a classic but I think this one gets some stronger character moments in it, and these moments keep the film from being the worst Star Wars movie today. Do you guys agree or disagree? Comment and let me know. So hey, which do I think is the worst then? “Attack of the Clones” was just god awful.
No comments:
Post a Comment