My Big Star Wars Post

I finally saw Force Awakens for a second time (this time in glorious IMAX 3D), and I wanted to make an omnibus post of sorts for Star Wars.  Without a doubt, Star Wars is my favorite movie franchise.  Besides baseball, it's my favorite anything pop culture-wise.  What's funny is, I did not see any of the movies until I was about 10 years old.  But once I watched the original trilogy, I was immediately hooked.

I came upon Star Wars at what happened to be an opportune time, right around when it got a resurgence in the mid-90s.  The Thrawn trilogy, easily the best Star Wars expanded universe, was published between 1991 and 1993, and that really got the Star Wars thing going again in a big way.

  Then came a host of video games, toys, the release of the special editions, and of course the prequels.  I joined Star Wars Insider with the first edition.  I have read around two dozen of the novels, many of the comics, and played most of the video games, not to mention my large toy collection.  Star Wars speaks to my geekdom.

There's not much to say about the original trilogy.  It's nearly perfect.  Even Return of the Jedi, which many people feel is not worthy of the first two, is my favorite.  You see, I'm a Luke Skywalker guy, and that's the movie he really shines.  Before getting into my ranking of the movies, I wanted to write a little defense of the prequels, and perhaps a few legitimate complaints about them.

YES, THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!  IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN FORCE AWAKENS BY NOW, WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU?

Defense of the Prequels

Some of these points have been written about before, but I think they need to be repeated.  The prequels are not that bad.  Yes, compared to the original trilogy they are, but they still have quite a bit going for them.  Here's a few main points:

Jedi

Probably the biggest thing going for them is that we get to see the Jedi in full action.  In the original trilogy we get two old Jedi who cannot do much, a menacing Darth Vader who has seen his best lightsaber days pass him by long ago, an Emperor who does little more than talk and shoot lightning, and a young kid who's trying to figure out the whole Jedi thing.  In the prequels, we get to see a host of Jedi doing pretty great stuff.  From the beginning, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are kicking droid butt and using force powers we hadn't seen like force push and speed runs.  All that is great to see on screen.  The prequels also have easily the three best lightsaber duels in any of the movies.  As much as we love to hate on Phantom Menace, the fight between Darth Maul and the two Jedi is one of the best fights in any movie.  And I really do not get why people even hate on the climactic fight in Revenge of the Sith.  It's pretty powerful, seeing two old friends try to kill each other.  If nothing else, enjoy seeing Jedi do their stuff in the prequels.

World Building

Taken literally, we see twice as many worlds in the prequels than we got in the original trilogy.  And they're all pretty fascinating to see.  The Star Wars universe looks more like a universe thanks to the prequels.  We also get to see more of how the universe works.  We get to see how a republic can change into a tyranny.  We get to see how the Emperor manipulated everyone to gain power, proving just how powerful he is.  So much more of the universe is fleshed out.  That has to be a good thing.

The Cast

Hate who you want to hate, the prequels have a loaded cast.  Natalie Portman, Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson, are all big name stars.  Then you have some pretty impressive bit players from Brian Blessed to Terence Stamp to Christopher Lee to even Dominic West, Joel Edgerton, and Richard Armitage.  Oh yes, I have not even mentioned Keira Knightley, Sofia Coppola, and Rose Byrne, all attendants for Padme.

  There's some pretty impressive actors here.  I know what you're saying: what about the Anakin boys?  I'm not going to defend Jake Lloyd, but I can defend Hayden Christensen.  Yes he's annoying, but he's supposed to be.  He's supposed to be a whiney teenager who's having an identity crisis.  I think he does pretty well.  In fact, when looked at more closely in light of Luke (especially in the first movie), it makes even more sense.  And I will always say the look he gives after his mother dies is one of the most chilling I've seen.  While we're at it:

The Road to Vader

The prequels had one job: show us how a normal kid who's supposed to save the universe ends up being the epitome of evil.  I think they do a pretty good job of this.  We get to see the conflict in Anakin.  We get to see major events that set him on the course.  We get to see Palpatine acting as puppet master.  It's not perfect, but you can definitely see that it make sense how he turns.  In some ways it makes the original trilogy even more powerful, because we see how somewhat similar events Luke lived through but he rejected the Dark Side.  This is where I hope they continue to go with the new movies.  See Rey, and maybe even Kylo, get tempted and how she (they) deals with it.

Visuals

No, I am not defending the overuse of CGI.  I am saying that despite that the movies are very beautiful to look at.  This goes back to the world building, the planets and the scenery are stunning.  Like the original movies they are beautiful, but in a different way.  Yes they are a bit too "clean", not as gritty as the originals, but that's ok because things are a bit newer.  They get worn down as the rebellion kicks in.  I'm ok with it.

Legitimate Beefs

Phantom Menace

Let's get the big one out of the way.  The Phantom Menace is not a good movie.  Darth Maul is great.  Naboo is beautiful.  That's about as far as I can go supporting it.  It was made even more obvious trying to watch it with a 6 year old.  How in the heck do I explain a trade dispute with him?  Why is there so much politics?  Jar Jar is pretty bad.  The pod race, while I appreciate the nod to Ben Hur, goes on a bit too long.  The stuff with Anakin flying the fighter is way too convenient.  It started the problem (at least in my mind, since it was the first time I noticed it) of many big event movies where there are multiple sides of a battle going on, everyone starts to lose at the same time, everyone is going to die, then something happens and it's all resolved quickly.  This, what I call "Phantom Menacing", is the main reason why I did not like the first Avengers movie nearly as much as many people.  Watch it again, it's basically an identical end battle.  And then there's Jake Lloyd.  He's not good.  Anakin is way too young, and it makes the romance in Attack of the Clones that much worse.  I still maintain the prequels could have been even better if it started with Attack of the Clones, there was a full on Clone Wars movie, then ended with Revenge of the Sith.  In fact, I like to watch the Clone Wars cartoon that came out between the movies in just this fashion, and it works pretty well (and it's just over 2 hours).  We don't need to see baby Anakin.  It's hard to defend Phantom Menace.

The Writing

There's a considerable lack of that "something" that made the original trilogies so much fun.  Very little good banter between the characters.  Forced relationships, of course most notably the dreadful romance between Padme and Anakin.  So much talking to explain politics and economics.  Even though there's a good amount of action in the prequels, they still drag quite badly at points.  Just get on with it.

The Music

This is one that most people probably do not get.  I love John Williams.  I am not blaming John Williams.  This is squarely on George Lucas and whoever edited the movies (I don't really want to blame the wrong person).  The second and third movies are very poorly scored, especially during the action sequences.  Most of it is tracked from Phantom Menace or earlier scenes in such a way that it is obvious and jarring.  I would love to hear what Maestro Williams intended for those scenes, particularly the huge fight on Geonosis.  Why mess with the best?

CGI

Way too much of it.  Some of it looks ok, some of it is pretty bad.  This went far from one of the things that made the originals so good.  We could see this coming with the special editions, but the prequels were way over the top.  Luckily Abrams has largely fixed this problem with Force Awakens.

There are probably other things, but those are the major points.

Defense of Force Awakens

Star Wars fans can be impossible to please.  They don't like the prequels because they're too different from the originals.  They don't like Force Awakens because it's too similar.  What do you want?  I left the Force Awakens, both times, being pumped and ready for the next one.  How could there be a better reaction than that?  I'm here to dispel some of the issues some people have mentioned, while admitting a few issues I have.

Lightsabers

            One of the biggest complaints I've heard, and honestly one that I had, was the ease with which Finn and Rey used the lightsaber.  And how easily they defeated Kylo Ren.  I went into the second viewing to pay attention to this in particular, and I have to say I was wrong the first time.  If you watch closely, they both struggle.  Finn in particular is kind of flailing around and Kylo Ren is playing with him.  You also have to remember that he got shot by Chewbacca's bolt caster, a hit that knocked others way out.  So he's hurt, but he's still playing with Finn, like a cat with its prey.  That is until Finn gets a lucky shot in, then Kylo gets made and puts him down quite easily.  After Rey gets the lightsaber, she too is not fighting very well, until she summons the force.  So you can chalk up her skill from a.) her use of her stick as shown in the beginning of the film and b.) her use of the force.  It all makes sense when you think about it and watch it again.  The one issue I do still have is where the heck did they get Luke's lightsaber?  Maz Kanata does say that's a story for another day, so maybe we'll find out some day.

Lack of Emotion

            This is especially surrounding the death of Han Solo.  I will answer that in two ways.  First, each character does get their moment to react.  Second, they don't get much time BECAUSE THEY'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR!  When you're in their situation, you don't have time to pout, as Han himself said, "Escape now, hug later."

It's Just a Copy of the Originals

            My first reaction to that is, so what?  My second reaction to that is, you're not looking at the movie enough.  Yes, there is a circularity to the story, but is that not because it's a timeless story?  And anyways, it's not exactly a copy.  An orphan, who is strong with the force, meets up with an older mentor who dies, and that mentor must face an evil guy in black.  Yes, there are more similarities, but there are also a lot of differences.  Honestly, I don't really think this is something worth discussing.  People wanted to be reminded of what made them love a galaxy far, far away, and that's what they got.  The alternative was the prequels.  And we got some interesting new characters whom I want to follow.  There's nothing wrong with that.

The Starkiller Base Was Weak

            Alternately: it's just a bad copy of the Death Star.  This again is a no-big-deal for me.  It's not supposed to be a major center of the story.  It's a big bad weapon that destroys some planets and must be destroyed.  The true focus of the story is Rey, Finn, BB-8, and the search for Luke.  The Starkiller is a fairly good setpiece for the final battle.  It had to happen somewhere, and any way it makes sense since the Empire was always trying to build the ultimate weapon as we see in IV, VI, and going back to III.

CGI

            This is actually a plus and minus for some people.  Yes, there's relatively little CGI, more like the originals.  But yet Snoke and Maz, the two biggest CGI characters, are not done well.  I actually don't have a problem with Maz and don't really see why people do.  Snoke I can understand, but remember all we're seeing is a hologram.  Give them time.  It's not like the original Emperor in Empire Strikes Back looked great.

The Characters (Poe, General Hux, Captain Phasma) Weren't Fleshed Out Enough

            I think we had plenty of character development for one movie.  We can (and will) see more of them in the next movies.  The one that I really want to know more about is the "old friend" Lor San Tekka (Max von Sydow).  Surely we'll find out more about him?

There Weren't Any "Iconic" Scenes

            I beg to differ.  What's better than Han and Chewie back on the Falcon?  How about that awesome dogfight on Jakku?  And then there's my personal favorite, Rey winning the lightsaber with the music going in the background!

A Lack of Variety

            All we see are X-Wings and TIE Fighters.  Where are the A-Wings?  B-Wings?  Y-Wings would have been perfect for the bombing run!  Where are the TIE-Interceptors?  What about new star fighters since Return of the Jedi?  This is probably my biggest problem with the movie.  The first time around I did not really mind it, but after hearing someone else complain about it, this really stood out to me the second viewing.  They really need to fix it, and explain it that this wing of the Resistance only had X-Wings, but others have more?  I don't know, but they do need to address it.

The Ending

            I have to admit on the first viewing I thought the movie went on too long.  I thought it should have ended when Rey and Chewie departed in the Falcon.  Now, I guess I can see it's ok to end it the way it did, since the movie was all about the quest to find Luke so you had to put a bow on it.  I did think it was cool that Luke was hiding out in the real life monasteries of Skellig Michael off the coast of Ireland.  Jedi are, after all, Catholic monks.

Again, overall I found the movie to be engaging, fun, with some really interesting characters.  I'm excited to see what happens with Rey and Luke and if they're really related like so many people think.  I'm excited to see if Kylo Ren continues to be pulled by the light side (like an anti-Luke).  I'm excited to see more Finn and Poe. 

That's not to say it's perfect.  Again, I want to know how Maz got Luke's lightsaber.  The rathtars were legitimately kind of dumb.  Finn seemed to know a lot for someone who worked in sanitation.  But these are relatively minor qualms.

Now, the ranking, worst to best:

The Phantom Menace

            Can there be any doubt?  I are pointed out most of the major issues with it.  Definitely should have been skipped.

Revenge of the Sith

            There are quite a few good things going for this movie.  But it all seems a bit rushed, particularly Order 66.  This is where a full on Clone Wars movie could have helped the pacing as the first half hour or so could have been in another movie.

Attack of the Clones

            I will not defend the romance.  I will say I love the detective stuff with Obi-Wan (he's almost a better Batman than Christian Bale).  I particularly like the space battle in the asteroids and love the seismic charges with the delayed sound blasts. 

The Force Awakens

            See my above comments.  Any movie that makes me immediately want to see a sequel has done what it's supposed to do. 

Return of the Jedi

            As previously mentioned, my favorite.  The Pit of Carkoon is my favorite scene (and favorite score) in any of the movies.  How can you argue against a movie where the entire last hour is one giant (good!) battle with three high-stakes parts to it?  And c'mon, the Ewoks aren't that bad.

Star Wars

            A revolutionary movie in many ways.  The beginning of the great new mythos.  It's not perfect, but it's darn exciting.  I still say Luke staring into the sunsets is the most iconic image in any of the movies, and one of the most iconic in film history.  Lucas knew what he was doing.  Han shot first.

The Empire Strikes Back

            Not only the greatest Star Wars movie, not only one of the greatest science fiction (though I hesitate to call Star Wars science fiction-it's a space western or space opera) movies of all time, one of the greatest movies period.  Very nearly flawless.  The introduction of probably the most famous theme in movie history.  One of the greatest lines in movie history ("I know").  One of the greatest shocking revelations in movie history.  The best cliffhanger ending in movie history.  Somehow it took me until about the fourth or fifth viewing of the trilogy to realize it is the best, but now there's no doubt.