More Star Wars Madness
Movie Review: Star Wars: Clone Wars
The animated adventures of Obi-Wan, Anakin and friends. Roughly 2 hours in length, this series began on the Cartoon Network as a series of 5 min short episodes divided into 2 seasons. I didn't like the 'Samurai Jack' style of animation at first but it grew on me. The first series just shows a series of battles and situations from the Clone Wars. There's lots of action and we get to see close up how powerful the Jedi are and how adept the Clone Troopers are at fighting. Unlike the movies, here the Jedi have near god-like powers and are seemingly undefeatable. Compare the scene in Episode II when a group of nearly 100 Jedi are surrounded and nearly defeated by the Droid army to the episode here when Mace Windu, alone and without his lightsaber, defeats a much larger of robots with little difficulty. Amazing to watch but the animated Jedi seem to be on a different power scale here. The 2nd part of the series is the best part and it ties really well into Revenge of the Sith. Anakin is put through his final trial and officially becomes a Jedi Knight. General Grievous is introduced and after seeing him whip some Jedi ass the story finishes with the Robot armies attacking Coruscant and kidnapping Chancellor Palpatine. This of course is where Revenge of the Sith starts so it almost necessary viewing to fully understand the story. 8.5/10
Movie Review: Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
Definitely the best of the new trilogy. Prequels are a tricky thing because while the audience knows what will eventually happy (in the sequels) there is plenty of room for a film maker to flesh out details and add things that will change how we perceive future events. That's exactly what Lucas did here and I think he did it well. It's very ironic that Anakin eventually crosses to the dark side for love. However, once his original incentive is gone it's a bit of a mystery why he doesn't revert back. The real weakness of this movie was the romantic dialogue between Anakin and Padme. Some of it just stunk. And not a mildly annoying stink but a 2 month old, moldy tuna sandwich kind of stink. While I'd expect this from Lucas (there were real clunker lines in Episode II) Tom Stoppard is credited with helping, if not rewriting, a lot of the dialogue. Tom Stoppard is one of my favourite playwrights, it's pretty hard to believe that the author Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, and Shakespeare in Love could come up with this drivel. It's also interesting to see that Ron Frick is given a cinematography credit. 8.5/10
Movie Review: Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi (DVD Special Edition)
Someone recommended I watch this one after seeing the new part 3 so that I would have a better understanding of Vader's sacrifice at the end when he decides to save Luke and kill the Emperor. That was a good call. I wonder know if Vader was really trying when he fought Luke here. He defeated him easily in Episode V, but was outmatched here. Vader was supposed to be the most powerful Jedi of all but here he loses to Luke who's only had minimal training. The major change in this DVD version is the fact that Hayden Christensen's body is superimposed over the original Anakin Skywalker actor at the end of the movie when Yoda and Obi-Wan make their final bow. I know that Lucas did this to tie the two trilogies together but it really doesn't make much sense. If Anakin had redeemed himself in order to appear alongside the other Jedi again why wouldn't he show up as he was when he died? 8/10
The animated adventures of Obi-Wan, Anakin and friends. Roughly 2 hours in length, this series began on the Cartoon Network as a series of 5 min short episodes divided into 2 seasons. I didn't like the 'Samurai Jack' style of animation at first but it grew on me. The first series just shows a series of battles and situations from the Clone Wars. There's lots of action and we get to see close up how powerful the Jedi are and how adept the Clone Troopers are at fighting. Unlike the movies, here the Jedi have near god-like powers and are seemingly undefeatable. Compare the scene in Episode II when a group of nearly 100 Jedi are surrounded and nearly defeated by the Droid army to the episode here when Mace Windu, alone and without his lightsaber, defeats a much larger of robots with little difficulty. Amazing to watch but the animated Jedi seem to be on a different power scale here. The 2nd part of the series is the best part and it ties really well into Revenge of the Sith. Anakin is put through his final trial and officially becomes a Jedi Knight. General Grievous is introduced and after seeing him whip some Jedi ass the story finishes with the Robot armies attacking Coruscant and kidnapping Chancellor Palpatine. This of course is where Revenge of the Sith starts so it almost necessary viewing to fully understand the story. 8.5/10Movie Review: Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
Definitely the best of the new trilogy. Prequels are a tricky thing because while the audience knows what will eventually happy (in the sequels) there is plenty of room for a film maker to flesh out details and add things that will change how we perceive future events. That's exactly what Lucas did here and I think he did it well. It's very ironic that Anakin eventually crosses to the dark side for love. However, once his original incentive is gone it's a bit of a mystery why he doesn't revert back. The real weakness of this movie was the romantic dialogue between Anakin and Padme. Some of it just stunk. And not a mildly annoying stink but a 2 month old, moldy tuna sandwich kind of stink. While I'd expect this from Lucas (there were real clunker lines in Episode II) Tom Stoppard is credited with helping, if not rewriting, a lot of the dialogue. Tom Stoppard is one of my favourite playwrights, it's pretty hard to believe that the author Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, and Shakespeare in Love could come up with this drivel. It's also interesting to see that Ron Frick is given a cinematography credit. 8.5/10Movie Review: Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi (DVD Special Edition)
Someone recommended I watch this one after seeing the new part 3 so that I would have a better understanding of Vader's sacrifice at the end when he decides to save Luke and kill the Emperor. That was a good call. I wonder know if Vader was really trying when he fought Luke here. He defeated him easily in Episode V, but was outmatched here. Vader was supposed to be the most powerful Jedi of all but here he loses to Luke who's only had minimal training. The major change in this DVD version is the fact that Hayden Christensen's body is superimposed over the original Anakin Skywalker actor at the end of the movie when Yoda and Obi-Wan make their final bow. I know that Lucas did this to tie the two trilogies together but it really doesn't make much sense. If Anakin had redeemed himself in order to appear alongside the other Jedi again why wouldn't he show up as he was when he died? 8/10
posted by Jason at 12:11 AM
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