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.
