[markl]

Rented this last night. Yes, it's a killer reference DVD in terms of sound and in terms of special effects, and moderately more enjoyable than the abysmal Phantom Menace.

But still...

I don't know, what happened to this series? The writing is just awful, almost embarassing. The attempted dramatic scenes are miserable. The acting is terrible (though given the material they have to work with, it may not be entirely their fault) and the casting just leaves you scratching your head (just what are Jimmy Smits and Samual Jackson doing in this movie?)

I was 7 years old when the original came out in '77 and it literally blew my mind as did the two sequels. Am I just being sentimental, or are the older episodes just as silly as the two new ones? To me, even looking at the older episodes recently, they just seem to have so much more heart and soul than the new ones. You actually care about the characters.

Anyone get their first exposure to Star Wars through the new films, and then see the old ones? What's your take on the old series vs. the new one?

Mark

 

[x1lexure]

There is just something diffrent about the new ones. I can't name it but it's definatly there.

 

[elipsis]

Quote:

Originally posted by markl I was 7 years old when the original came out in '77 and it literally blew my mind as did the two sequels. Am I just being sentimental, or are the older episodes just as silly as the two new ones?

The old ones really are pretty silly. George Lucas has always had the ability to coax utterly poor performances out of otherwise great actors, and he never has been much of a writer, either. The difference here is that these films had all the benefits of digital tech and unlimited budgets, and I think the added slickness really makes the shortcomings of these films stand out MORE.

Also, he's attempting, with this series, to marry the space fantasy genre with some kind of half-assed political intrigue story. It's not working.

 

[hokiefritz]

The old ones were a little silly, but at least I cared about what happened (I too was 7 when Star Wars first came out though). Everyone I knew cared too, again 7year olds. heh

The latest batch of movies I don't even care about the story or the characters. All I can do is cringe at the dialog and crappy acting. Very disappointing. The Phantom Menace seemed like they were just cashing in on the first trilogy's huge success. They seemed to have made more effort on the Clones, but it still was a disappointment even though I didn't expect much after what they did with episode I.

Some excellent special effects and Yoda kicking ass, but that's about it. The latest movies are very awkward and not in the least bit moving.

 

[CaptBubba]

I think the the new ones take themselves too seriously. The old ones were funny at parts, plus the new ones have a CG "feel" to them. The most ships you ever saw in the old ones were four, maybe five or six, never more. Now there are 20million ships flying about and 1,000s of stormtroopers, ect. There is just too much.

 

[Calanctus]

Saw the Phantom Menace only, not AotC--and it sucked so badly I'm not sure I want to see 'Clones' at all. Whereas 'The Empire Strikes Back' is for sure one of the best sci fi movies of all time.

 

[fyrfytrhoges]

the first trilogy was much better in terms of the story, the acting and the special effects, ( I personally hate digital effects, and no one will ever change my mind about them, they look fake and thats all there is to say about that ) and the new trilogy seems to be to me a huge cash cow for lucas, I mean whats the deal with going back to add effects to a 20 year old movie in the first place, its sacrilege if you ask me. I think the movies seem "forced" to fit into a mold which was set more than 20 years ago and can never be duplicated again. Just my opinion though because I know how strongly peoples opinions are on these particular movies...

 

[kelly]

The direction and acting of Star Wars (e4) is equally crappy compared to Phantom Menace (e1).

My favorite is Empire (e5) and by wide margins.

Clones (e2) was not nearly as bad as Phantom (e1) in any respect.

I liked it.

 

[arnett]

of the new star wars films, i've only seen the Phantom Anus. i won't see the new one. when i was walking out of the theater after having just seen the Phantom Anus, i made myself a promise that Lucas would never get anymore of my money. IMO, he should be punished for making such crap.
as many of you know, i think the Phantom Anus is the worst film i've ever seen. it really scares me that people actually enjoy that film.

question: does the new film have that kid again? you know . . . the worst actor in the history of motion pictures? he's sooo bad, you can't even laugh at him.

markl, i too was 7 in '77. star wars was unbelievable. nothing else was like it at that time. i'm not a big fan of the first three nowadays, but in the originals the actors could actually act. imagine that.

 

[andrzejpw]

Hmm, I dunno. Personally, although the new films aren't as good as the originals(just something about them. . .), and Empire SB will always be amazing, I found myself really enjoying aotc(let's not talk about phantom menace, k?) The only bad part? The acting. The relationship/serious scenes are just terrible. I laughed when Anaking said <monotone voice> I killed them. I killed them all. Even the women and the children.

Then, padme says there there?

Pretty bad acting . . .

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Try this: watch all the parts in Ep 2 that don't include Anakin and Padme together in them!! You'll enjoy the movie much more.

As to why they left Samuel Jackson in the movie, i think it was a lawsuit type issue. His part was SSSSOOOO bad in Ep 1 he threatened to sue if they wouldn't let him try to redeem his name!!!

I think that some of the acting in the original SW was just as bad!! Harrison Ford seemd to stretch to make his character work in many scenes. Especially when he came out of the carbonite in RotJ. Don't get me wrong, overall I think he did a great job, but there are some scenes where he didn't do so well.

And give the kid from Ep 1 a break: how many of you could act at all at 9 years of age!! They auditioned tons of kids his age and he did the best, leave it at that. Maybe the trick would have been to change the script and cast an older kid instead so that someone who could really act well could do the job.

I didn't particularly mind Ep 1, and neither did my wife and many of my friends. I also found the plot twists and subtelties in Ep 2 to grip you and draw you in to the movie quite effectively. Who was manipulating what for what purpose really was quite intricate.

Let's face another thing: no one has EVER produced 5 movies in the same series before. EVER!! Lucas is paving new ground that no one else in the history of the industry has been able to do. Many movies die on the sequel while he is now producing his 6th movie in this series!! And these movies are still grossing in the 100 of millions of dollars each and every time. While I don't laud everything about these movies, overall I have enjoyed all of them quite a bit.

And yes, Lucas should have left most of the love scenes out of the movie s they were poorly done and detracted from the movie overall.


My .03 worth!

 

[elipsis]

Quote:

Originally posted by ServinginEcuador And give the kid from Ep 1 a break: how many of you could act at all at 9 years of age

That kid from the Sixth Sense. I don't know how old he was, but he could have easily passed for 9 around the time of that movie. There are excellent child actors out there.

 

[redshifter]

the original trilogy was old-school 1970's (and '80's) sci-fi--a product of their age that can never ever be recaptured. i didn't like ep. 1, but after seeing it again on dvd it has grown on me. i watched episode two again last night and i really enjoyed it.

i think the writing, acting and dialog in the prequels are about on-par with the first trilogy.

the real problems with the new sw movies are:
1 - they look but don't feel like the the originals. you simply can't make a 1977 style movie in 2002.

2 - lucas can't seem to build climaxes like in ep. 4. parts of ep. 2 come close, but no cigar.

3 - the cgi looks fake, and not fake in the cool way the optical effects and creature masks in ep. 1 did.

 

[Lampshade]

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that when star wars came out it was a much more unique movie. Both in terms of putting Sci-Fi into the mainstream and visual effect. Then again Maybe the new movies are just to complex a story when you look at all thats having to take place. The acting is not the best, but it could be worse. And the CG feeling is definatly there.

 

[Ebonyks]

I was born in 1986, and saw my first star wars movies only a few years ago. It's not just you. Sure, the first few movies are silly, ridicilious fun, but the new ones just take themselves so seriously, and the actors are truly absymal, without being campy.