STAR WARS!!!

[Patty McPat]

Okay not to get anyone's hopes up but a friend of mines co-worker saw the special screening of "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" in Vancouver (A little background this guy hated "Episode's I & II") he has now informed my friend that his order of favorites for the film has changed from "Episode IV" then "Episode V" then "Episode VI" to "Episode IV" then "Episode V" then "Episode III". He says that it appears that George Lucas decided to make this one for the fans and not his kids...well maybe that means he's not completely batshit fucking loco...but we'll all know soon enough...I already got my tickets for opening night.

[Lord Chrusher]

I think that after the drivel of Episode I & II, we will not expect Episode III to be any good and thus if the movie is still bad it might still be enjoyed.

Also the same reason any one watched the last Matrix movie: If its going to be a train wreck you have seen enough so far that you want to know how it crashed.

I am not going to rush out and get open night tickets (it not LotR); I think the first week will surfice.

If this post is illegable, it is because the author is on strong painkillers and recoving from the removal of his wisdom teeth.

[Kathleen]

I'm in the Pat camp - I have great faith in episode III. Kevin Smith has said it rocks, and I respect the opinion of Kevin Smith. I told Graham that when he gets to Prince George we have to go on a date. A date to see episode III.

[Bec]

I hated episodes I and II too. My order of favorites is like this: V, then IV, then VI. What can I say, I found the long drawn out "NOOOO!!!" and the hand getting cut off really dramatic when I first watched it back in '97. And now I find it really hilarious - so there's a lot of levels of enjoyment for me there.

He says that it appears that George Lucas decided to make this one for the fans and not his kids...

Was I and II intended for kids? It didn't seem that way with the whole sitting around for about forever listening to make-believe political figures talk about zzzzZZZZZ....

Oh sorry. I drifted off there just thinking about it.

Edited to add: I'm still looking forward to ep III. One of my friends and I watched every Star Wars movie in the theatre together since the special editions, so we sort of have to continue the tradition. Anyway, this can't possibly suck as hard as eps I and II. *fingers crossed*

Edited again to add: There better not be any Jar Jar! *shakes fist at air*

[Kramy]

What's up with everyone hating Jar Jar? I may not be a diehard fan, but I rather enjoyed ep I...although I haven't actually gotten around to seeing II or III yet.(they'll come out on tv in a few years - or maybe on a plane)

The older ones had less graphics....MORE GRAPHICS GOOD...muh.

[Dana]

Heh. I think I'm looking forward to not watching Episode Three. I may have to go, though, if a friend of mine from highschool comes into town to watch it. *Sigh*

[Caradiva]

Waaaaahhhh!!!!! I want a ticket to starwars too! But I'm in China!

[Dana]

That's OK, if George Lucas has anything to say about it, it will be in theatres for about a million years, and will still be playing when you get back to North America.

[Bec]

If you go to a night market or something you'll probably be able to get (pirated) VCDs of episode III, maybe even before its official release. But it could also end up being pirated copies of Return of the Jedi disguised as pirated copies of Revenge of the Sith. You must be cautious.

[Jer]

WOW! First one in line (6:00 am) First one in the theatre (10:00 pm) Just released that breath I've been holding 3:15 am. Best of the new trilogy, and not. for. kids.

[Alex Steacy]

I'm gonna have to agree with Jer here. Definitely not for the young 'uns, best out of Ep1 & 2.

I really need to see it again because I spent half the movie asleep in an attempt to kill an obnoxious headache, so I missed most of the film. Suxor.

[ontarianfrog]

What's up with everyone hating Jar Jar? I may not be a diehard fan, but I rather enjoyed ep I...although I haven't actually gotten around to seeing II or III yet.(they'll come out on tv in a few years - or maybe on a plane)

The older ones had less graphics....MORE GRAPHICS GOOD...muh.

episode II on cbc or ctv on sunday night.

happy watching!

[Alex Steacy]

What's up with everyone hating Jar Jar? I may not be a diehard fan, but I rather enjoyed ep I...although I haven't actually gotten around to seeing II or III yet.(they'll come out on tv in a few years - or maybe on a plane)

The older ones had less graphics....MORE GRAPHICS GOOD...muh.

Me-sa racial stereotype dat sellum lotsa merchandise, mastuh!

That is why I don't like Jar-Jar.

Also, boo-urns to the ludicrous amount of CG in the new films. The old movies were great because there was some subtlety to it. Now everyt single scene in EP 1-3 is so busy with detail that it's impossible to look at even if they didn't have the wildly sweeping camera shots.

Models still look better than CG. Real light falling on a real object beats digital light falling on a digital object in my book.

[Crazylikeafox]

I liked it. I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, so I don't really have a favorite Star Wars, but seeing evil win was great. I would say more, but knowing me I'd probably give something away.

[Bec]

Just got back from Revenge of the Sith. I was kind of bored in the beginning, but it got interesting in the end. I would have to say best one out of the three prequels. I could even go so far as to put it right up there with The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, it's so much fun when evil wins.

One thing that struck me watching this one was how much Hayden Christensen looks like Mark Hamill. I didn't notice that with the last movie. So good casting, I guess. Except for how he tends to say his lines in a monotone.

And Jar Jar was only in a crowd scene for like three seconds. And he didn't have any lines at all. So yay!

Yoda and R2D2 kicked ass.

And I can't help but notice how it closely resembles current politics, sort of. Here are a few lines:
"So this is how democracy ends... with thunderous applause."
"If you're not with me, then you are my enemy!" (they changed it just enough to have it not be an exact quote of a certain president, but still)
"democracy, blah blah, democracy" (Okay, this one is not an actual line... they just mentioned democracy a hell of a lot)

I loved that the senate?congress?legislature? got a little destroyed. Take that you stupid set! That'll learn you for being so boring!

[The Hitman]

I'm glad to know that the C-Span of the future will feature more explosions.

[DP]

And I can't help but notice how it closely resembles current politics, sort of. Here are a few lines:
"So this is how democracy ends... with thunderous applause."
"If you're not with me, then you are my enemy!" (they changed it just enough to have it not be an exact quote of a certain president, but still)

I haven't seen ep3 but I have noticed a lot of people making this connection (it was made at Cannes originally, I think). Anyway, I strongly suspect it's just pulling at straws...

Those general sentiments really apply to any dictatorial coup (Caesar, Lenin, Hitler, etc.) and really only apply to Bush if you think he's somehow curtailed democracy/freedom in the US (read as: 2000 election, Patriot Act) and set up a totalitarian state (read as: nothing, he hasn't done that).

And the whole "if you're not with me then you're against me" is just an old cliche... there's no indirect quoting of anybody, I think.

Anyway, it just seems like some people want to paint Bush as pure evil, and assume that everyone else does as well, and so find hidden meanings where there could very well be none at all.

[Bec]

Yeah, that's true about the cliché. I guess that means politics is full of clichés. And RotS is also full of clichés. But it was still a lot of fun (politics... less fun). My friend and I almost died holding our laughter at just about every line.

We may have disturbed some people, though, when Darth Vader was like "NOOOOOOOO!" and I said to my friend "Like father, like son." For that, I'm sorry.

I don't think it's really any kind of "hidden meaning". It's not so much "hidden" and more "Ouch! Did you just hit me over the head with an anvil?!" It made me think, dude, Lucas, are you trying to make some kind of commentary on current politics here? Because quit it and just give us more explosions and lightsaber fights, please. (About an hour later...) Ah, that's better. Thank you.

[Crazylikeafox]

you weren't just imagining things, Lucas did say his movie was about America. But when I watched it, I didn't really see anything that couldn't apply to other countries as well, maybe even Canada (I don't know Canadian politics, so I can't say that for sure). I guess you can see a warning to all countries with Democracy, but quite frankly I would suggest just watching the movie without looking for a political message. Of course, that's how I always watch movies. But It's a good idea anyways.

[Tapir12]

I was very dissapointed with this film, but I was less dissapointed than I was at episodes I and II, so this was the best of the new ones. That dosen't mean, however, that it didn't suck, because it did. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the actors. Those were some awful lines. It was definetly pretty to look at and full of action but... well.... it didn't work. I won't go into all the reasons because I'd be typing for hours but I'd say my biggest complaint *spoiler warning* is how fast Anikin became evil. One minute he's sticking to the jedi code and then next he's bowing before Palpatine.

Best part of the movie? When they played Luke's theme music at the end.

[Mike, the fr3shmaker]

I quite liked it, it's no Empire Strikes back, and it fails to make up for 1 and 2, but it was pretty damn good nonetheless.

[possible minor spoilers]
A few of the lines were really poor--the theatre actually broke out in laughter at Vader's "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Also, Vader's turn is a little unbelievable, it goes from: "hey, Mace Windu was just about to break the Jedi Code and kill Palpatine, so I'll defend the unarmed man" to "time to go off and kill my entire order and some small children now, all of 5 minutes later".
[/spoilers]

The political messages were a bit heavy-handed, granted, but they could be applied across a large gamut of eras, not just our own.

[Ghostfyre]

All I have to say is "Power to the little guys!!" R2 and Yoda wooped ass in this one. I'm not sure what was cooler, R2's oil slick or Yoda's duo de-cap. *Small spoiler*

[The Hitman]

I thought the R2 oil slick thing was retarded. I think George Lucas should seriously consider making a real movie instead of manually masturbating his fan base with kitsch and self-reference. It felt so fucking self-conscious.

I did kind of enjoy the movie, in as much as it was fun in parts. I really enjoyed the fight choreography and the special effects were good, but that didn't save it from being an essentially vacant movie. I think it's a fantastic idea for a story and I am very much a fan of science fiction, but all the 'story' parts were just emotionless line-reading shoehorned in between explosions. I've seen enough 'cool stuff' to last a lifetime and I think it's all totally pointless with no context to place it in. The fall from grace of a character we never cared about anyway has absolutely no relevance to anything, especially not when the entire film feels so much like George Lucas rushing around with ideas for new action sequences involving yet another minor character with a bit of the old 'Do you like me yet? How about now?'.

Edit: I'd actually like to take an idea from an old friend of mine into a new context. The original Star Wars movies were good because they were heavily inspired by old westerns and drive-in adventure movies, the new ones are bad because they are only inspired by the original movies that were heavily inspired by old westerns and drive-in adventure movies. It might explain why everything feels so watered down and distant.

[Alex Steacy]

I thought the R2 oil slick thing was retarded. I think George Lucas should seriously consider making a real movie instead of manually masturbating his fan base with kitsch and self-reference. It felt so fucking self-conscious.

I did kind of enjoy the movie, in as much as it was fun in parts. I really enjoyed the fight choreography and the special effects were good, but that didn't save it from being an essentially vacant movie. I think it's a fantastic idea for a story and I am very much a fan of science fiction, but all the 'story' parts were just emotionless line-reading shoehorned in between explosions. I've seen enough 'cool stuff' to last a lifetime and I think it's all totally pointless with no context to place it in. The fall from grace of a character we never cared about anyway has absolutely no relevance to anything, especially not when the entire film feels so much like George Lucas rushing around with ideas for new action sequences involving yet another minor character with a bit of the old 'Do you like me yet? How about now?'.

Edit: I'd actually like to take an idea from an old friend of mine into a new context. The original Star Wars movies were good because they were heavily inspired by old westerns and drive-in adventure movies, the new ones are bad because they are only inspired by the original movies that were heavily inspired by old westerns and drive-in adventure movies. It might explain why everything feels so watered down and distant.

Now THERE'S something we agree on. Hear hear.

[headbomb]

I agree with Alex, who agrees with Hitman.


Another thing I hated about this movie is it's trying to be "big". Like 1000 rpm 4 lightsaber robots? Come on... Oh and btw, a coughing droig WITH NO LUNGS is retarded. The fight scene were over the top and way too fast. Lucas should have gone back to RotJ-style fights, where you could believe that besting a weaponmaster require weapoon-related skills and not 10 years of tap-dancing classes.