Star Wars - Episode III - Don't Worry, No Spoilers

I haven't felt much like posting the last week. Perhaps its because we had a four day weekend (since I don't work on Fridays) and was busy going out and having fun. Or maybe I just needed a breather and some time to focus on some other things. Either way, I'm getting back into the swing of things.

I saw Star Wars last week. It was fairly enjoyable. If they had not let Hayden Christiansen talk it would have been 100 times better. Somewhere between the last film and this one, Natalie Portman learned how to act. She was less wooden and much more animated. Of course, it helped that she was absolutely stunningly beautiful as well - clearly more beautiful than previous films.

Ultimately, the movie just doesn't have what it takes though. Much like the previous two, some of the magic is missing for me. Take the scene where Anaken rises with the Vader suit. I was anticipating that it would be one of those tingly moments when you hear him breath and see the suit. But, it really wasn't. Instead, it was like watching Frankenstein, only somehow he miraculously had James Earl Jones' voice. Plus, the Vader suit, while totally cool in 1978, looks a little dated next to the surrounding technological advancements made possible by LucasFilm.

Further, the movie is nearly wrecked by the passage of time. Some films, like The Two Towers, find ways to express the passage of time. "Three days with no rest and no food..." said Gimli near the start of that movie. You could follow the events on some sort of sequential time table. Not so in Star Wars. In fact, the only way to tell time was to see Portman suddenly appear more and more pregnant as the movie progressed. Plus, there are a series of instant galaxy crossings that simply don't make any sense at all leaving you wondering, were the two scenes happening at different times or did Lucas just blow it? (I'm going with blow it.)

The other really glaring weakness is when Anaken turns to the dark side. I knew it was going to be a very difficult task to make that believable, mostly because Episode II was horrid in that regard with Anaken coming off as little more than a winy brat (aside from killing all those sand dudes). And to Lucas' credit, he tried really hard to establish Anaken as a falling star. But in the end, I found it difficult to believe. I mean really, when Luke Skywalker is tempted in Jedi, it's more believable and if Mark Hamil is outacting you, then it's time to hang up the cleats and find a new profession.

Anyway, the long winded point of this is that I think Lucas is ultimately very gimmicky. The first two - Star Wars and Empire (clearly the best of the six) - were amazing for the attention to detail. But things started to break down with Jedi (Ewoks anyone) and it became much much worse in Episode I. Jar Jar, the whole microcosm of the first film, amazing effects versus terrible acting and poorly written dialogue, etc. Does anyone seriously believe that Anaken and the Princess were really in love? Does anyone really believe that Anaken could have turned to the dark side on the premise that his love for her was strong enough for him to take whatever measures that he could to save her life? I don't think so. Once the love story gets botched, the movie collapses like a house of cards. If Lucas had paid more attention to the finer details, I don't think anyone would have serious problems with the movies. But as is, the whole prequel project, while fantastically successful financially, is bordering on the "lets just pretend this never happened" precipice.