Star wars

[Ms.Trick]

I'm quite disappointed, I just don't get why Star Wars is sooo successful!

I'm watching them in the order of the story, not in the order of the release date, and first episode was okay, it's watchable, but it's so far from being that great! I just finished episode 2 but I'm not in love, at all!

I know I compare the uncomparable, but when I think about the Lord of the Rings,

- The special effect are amazing. As I'm currently in the newest Star Wars movies, who've been released around the same time, it's really poorly made I think!

- The story is better written (thanks to Tolkien's superb work) and easier to follow. In Star Wars, so many things happen out of the blue, the story is going in every sense so I'm completly lost.

- The fight scenes in LOTR are a treat to watch. In Star Wars, I was more like Meh.

- In LOTR, I'm like in the movie since the first second. The first time I watched it in long version, it was just to vaguely see what it looked like and I actually spent the whole movie trying to remember to breathe and to not just stay mouth wide open of surprise. With Star Wars, I feel more like I keep watching it because I want to have seen the whole serie once in my life. And for the two movies, it's been at around the last 30 minutes I got hooked.

- Characters have layers in LOTR. Even tough there is still a kind of manicheism inherent to fantasy and tales, we get to know many different aspect of their psyche, their history, their own demons...
The character developement isn't that well executed in Star Wars. Of course we see Anakin's character's grow because we see why he became Darth Vador, which is what interest me the most in the series to be honest. Otherwise, the characters seem too much...one-dimensional. And also, we don't get to know them much. We just know them in the role the are supposed they have (except for Anakin and Amidala). For the others, it's more "I'm a Jedi" and it's all we know about it. We only see the surface of them.

- The esthetic in LOTR is sumptuous. The scenes are...choreographed. Sometimes it's like looking at a painting that moves and has great music. Star Wars isn't even esthetic (then again, I talk about the prequel, not the old movies).

And, the movie could have gotten better if we had seen Anakin kill everybody after his mum died, or at least if we had seen a little bit more of the fight. I thought this was going to be an epic scene, and it was just cut. Talk about disappointment.

So right now, I'm really left with a feeling of "That's what everybody is so crazy about? That old messy story?"

I just don't get it!

Fortunately, the music is frigging awesome!

What do you guys think?

Do you love Star Wars? Why? Do you think it's really genius? Why? Is the success justified? Is it just the prequel that is bad? (I've read that somewhere). In a very unjustified LOTR/Star Wars comparison, which do you choose?

 

[Big Damn Hero]

Oh lordy I love Star Wars. But IV, V, and VI are the best by far, and I actually think you get more out of I II & III if you watch IV V & VI first. I think it's unfair to compare it to LOTR just because the first SW film was made in 1977 - that's over 30 years ago! And the effects and budget that they have now just doesn't exist.

Erm, I'm tired, I'll come back properly later 😛

 

[InsaneMystic]

IV and VI are awesome. III is pretty good (though noticably worse than IV and VI), I and V are ok. II is atrocious.

Overall, do not rate the hexalogy on parts I-III, you'll be doing it a huge disfavor... back when they didn't have all the flash-bang-hugeness of modern CGI, they still had to focus more on actual storytelling and on acting/characters... and boy, does it show in this case.

 

[Ms.Trick]

Oh lordy I love Star Wars. But IV, V, and VI are the best by far, and I actually think you get more out of I II & III if you watch IV V & VI first. I think it's unfair to compare it to LOTR just because the first SW film was made in 1977 - that's over 30 years ago! And the effects and budget that they have now just doesn't exist.

Erm, I'm tired, I'll come back properly later 😛

Yes I know, but I actually only have seen I and II so far, which were realeased around the same time than LOTR, so that's why I'm so disappointed in the esthetic, because it's recent, you know, and I expected better of it 😀 It's certain that I will be less harsh for the older movies, the ones from 30 years ago.

And I thought it would be more interesting to see it in the order of Anakin's transformation, but I guess I was wrong and I really should have listened to my mum :tongue3:

 

[Username]

I've seen all of them, and I wish I was the kind of person who loved these movies but honestly I had no idea what they were about, I couldn't follow the story at all... so I just thought that they were really boring.

 

[JCoatsworth]

I love Star Wars! But, like so many people, only the three old ones.

The story is great and the special effects are great, if you think about the time the movies were made.

I think the thing which makes the new Star Wars movies bad in the first place (of course that's only my opinion) is that they are too political.
That's just so boring. And I think I read somewhere that in Episode 2 they filmed everything in front of a bluescreen and did the backround in the computer.
That's just so George Lucas... He always wants the modernest things. Even Yoda is just made in the computer.
In Episode 1 he was still a puppet. At least when he wasn't walking or something.
Thank god Steven Spielberg saved Indiana Jones from things like these. He's old school😎

Anyway, I think the main reason for Episode 1's success ($922,379,000 at the box office!!!😱) is that it was the first Star Wars movie since 1983. Everyone wanted to watch it in the movie theater.

I think the only thing that's throughout awesome is the music. But I still prefere the music of the old SW movies.
But seriously, what would Lucas and Spielberg do without John Williams? He's a genius!

All in all I love episodes IV - VI.
I-III are OK, but damn boring sometimes.

 

[StarSlayer]

I fricken' LOVE Star Wars, mainly the originals (episodes IV, V, VI). I love the story, I love the action, I love the humor, and I love the characters. They are just fun blockbuster movies. My brother and I can quote them non-stop, lol. For me, the prequels are hit or miss. I think episode I is okay, episode II sucks, and episode III is the best out of that bunch. But, the originals are classic. 🙂

Whenever someone says they've never seen Star Wars, I pretty much feel like this 😀
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ujxLRNm3D4[/ame]

 

[Bluebird]

I'll much prefer the original movies, and by original I mean NOT the special edition ones with the totally unnecessary added cgi. That was just stupid. But yeah, they're pretty good films. The prequels took themselves way too seriously though, and Hayden Christensen is really wooden. I thought Anakin should have been much more charismatic, maybe a bit more like Han the Early Years or something, so there was a bigger change in his character once he went all evil-like.

 

[JCoatsworth]

I'll much prefer the original movies, and by original I mean NOT the special edition ones with the totally unnecessary added cgi. That was just stupid. [...]

Oh, yes!
What the hell is the point of the cgi in the cantina scene with Greedo?!
Han shot first!!

 

[This Year's Girl]

I like star wars (I've only ever watched them one time, and that was actually only last year). The 3 movies that was made more recently made me bored out of my mind though. Well, not episode I, I liked that one quite a bit, but in II and III It was way to much fighting and special effects for me to care, especially in episode III. I just wanted it to be over when I watched it, lol. Some of the characters in the newer movies was interesting, but over all I thought they were nothing special. But the 2 original ones! I loved them! They were so much better and so much more than I thought they would be! But to be honest, I'm waaaaay much more a Trekkiegirl! In Fanboys I would be the guy defending the statue 😀

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jvap3iLpUY[/ame]

 

[InsaneMystic]

But to be honest, I'm waaaaay much more a Trekkiegirl!

So, you're not really an Oompa Loompa, but a Ferengi? (Would be cool with me, as we all know, Ferengi women don't wear clothes.... (sw))

 

[This Year's Girl]

So, you're not really an Oompa Loompa, but a Ferengi? (Would be cool with me, as we all know, Ferengi women don't wear clothes.... (sw))

I just have one thing to say about that, mister:

 

[Doppelgang]

The first one I remember watching was return of the jedi, and I thought it was just great with jaba and especially the ewoks, I later watched episode IV and thought also really good, its like the ultimate epic space movie, episode V I found was a bit slow moving and ponderous, Episode I was pretty good, Episode II I could never bring myself to watch through it, and Episode III I havn't seen yet, but if what other poeple have been saying is right and its a lot better than episode II than it might be worth giving it a go at somepoint.

 

[Mumrik]

I grew up with the original trilogy. My mother is a huge sci-fi fan and I totally inherited that. Episode VI is my favourite movie of all time. It's just so... eek. I may need to watch it now. 🙂 To be fair, I also grew up watching Star Trek. And Trek vs. Wars fans are ridiculous. 😛

I think it's a huge mistake to watch them in story order, because I-III aren't the best told stories and you do get more out of the films if you watch them in release order - oh, I'm not one of those people who say I-III are pretty much the worst thing ever (afterall, it gave us Yoda kicking Dracula's butt. You couldn't have done that with a puppet. That's also the only reason why I don't absolutely condemn Yoda being CGI in II and III). A friend of mine didn't know anything, and I mean, ANYTHING about the movies - I don't know how she managed that, pop culture is chock full of references to them after all - so it completely spoilered the Luke & Leia and Darth Vader reveal for her and they lost so much of the emotional impact they still have for me. And I've known these movies by heart since I was five. And, in this case, it's definitely not the nostalgia goggles, as with other movies I grew up with and adore (like, uh, Labyrinth, for example).

But I think you'd have a completely different experience than mine (because in my heart, I'll always be that little girl who's entirely fascinated by these movies) and older fans who first watched Star Wars in the '70s anyway, (afterall, something with the scale of Star Wars was never seen before. At least, that's what my mom tells me), simply because of how advanced filmmaking is nowadays. They can't hold up to that, I'll give you that. And Lucas' determination to completely destroy the original movies by having to update them again and again steals much of their magic. He should have left them alone. I still prefer to watch my old tapes with the cheesy 80's commercials inbetween than my new DVDs. But, in the end and at the bottom of things, it's still a space fairytale, nothing more, nothing less.

ANYWAY, I rambled and I'm sure I haven't made any point other than that maybe, I like Star Wars. Just a little.

 

[Spikefan31]

I think that because I watched Star Wars (at least the original trilogy) before Lord of the Rings, my loyalty lies with the former. Lord of the Rings is great and all (I mean, the music and scenery is brilliant. That can't be denied), but I find the characters in Star Wars much more interesting and that overall, the films are funnier. I watched all 3 LoTR movies with my friends a few weeks ago, and they thought Gimli and Legolas were hysterical, so much so that they rewound the DVD and watched this one scene over and over. I didn't find it that particularly funny. IMO, Han Solo is much funnier. Also, Frodo annoys me A LOT. 😀

Also, I'm one of probably only a few who really like the prequel trilogy. Most likely because it was released during my childhood. Not that I hadn't already watched the original trilogy, but still...

 

[Ms.Trick]

Just watched Star Wars III and it was really good and I followed the story! I was okay and II was...well so atrocious that I made this thread 😀

 

[JCoatsworth]

Just watched Star Wars III and it was really good and I followed the story! I was okay and II was...well so atrocious that I made this thread 😀

I think I is the best. Maybe I think it because it's the one I've seen the most (talking about the new movies of course).
It had some pretty boring scenes and I never liked the pod race, but it still had some pretty cool fighting scenes. Most of all the one with Darth Maul.
I also liked Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn.

II was pretty bad I think. Anakin becomes an arrogant jerk. I hate him in Episode II.

But III holds up well.
And am I the only one who thinks that Mace Windu is the mightiest Jedi after Yoda?
I mean he easily could have killed the Emperor. But Anakin-jerk screwed it up.

Well, but thanks to that he becomes Darth Vader and everything turns out pretty well😀

 

[InsaneMystic]

I think I is the best. Maybe I think it because it's the one I've seen the most (talking about the new movies of course).

I gotta give ep I one well deserved credit... if you've just drunk an entire bottle of wine, it's one of the best comedies you'll ever have seen. :lmao:

 

[Mumrik]

And am I the only one who thinks that Mace Windu is the mightiest Jedi after Yoda?
I mean he easily could have killed the Emperor. But Anakin-jerk screwed it up.

Mace Windu was pure awesome. But what else would you expect? He's Samuel L. Jackson!

 

[Old Master 3.0]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fvWgJz6ees&feature=player_embedded[/ame]



I be a fan of "Star Wars", in all it's incarnations, progeny, and offshoots. I say it proud. I say it loud.

That first ever "Star Wars" was quite the cultural phenom back in that sweet, blessedly archaic period of 1977.
The combination of such brilliant technical effects in the service of a simple, fast-moving adventure story had never been seen in an American movie.
Actually, let me amend that. "2001: A Space Odyssey" had brilliant effects also, but it required it's audience to use their noggin too much, thus confusing...and boring...a great many moviegoers.
Going back to "Star Wars", that opening shot of the Imperial Starship flying in from top screen filled (and still does) me with the happy and the awe.
The music was cool too. Sublime ear candy. Say what you will about the plot, dialogue and acting, but the first "Star Wars" is a superbly-crafted film that never wanes. Relentless marketing made it omnipresent. The series' popularity would only snowball from there.

Overrated? Well, certainly all things under the sun will have it's detractors, and I begrudge them not their opinion.

"Star Wars", while the plot was simple, looked absolutely AMAZING for the time period it was made in.
It wasn't just people sitting around talking in some gorgonzola-rific mock-up of a space station, either. There were gunfights, lightsaber combat, and dogfights between starfighters. All the time.
The poor, media-starved sci-fi geeks...of which I am a card-carrying member...lapped it up with a spoon.

It was a retelling of a classic myth: the hero's journey, and all that yackety-blah. "Star Wars" has one of the most detailed, thorough mythologies of any work of fiction in the English language, second to none except for the world of LOTR.

Again and again I say the special effects were absolutely revolutionary at the time. Younger folks can't really appreciate just how revolutionary.

It was a seminal piece. It revitalized the entire sci-fi genre.

Memorable characters, good or bad. Lame or cool. They are memorable. Even non-fans knows who friggin' Darth Vader is and what he stands for.

I won't disagree here...."Star Wars" has degenerated some since it's inception. It's a movie, not a lifestyle and so it should remain. However, for all the things mentioned above, Star Wars and it's ilk (yes, I even liked the new chapters) is still an enjoyable flick.



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