|
There has been so much attention surrounding
this movie, I don't know what I can say that is going to change anyone's
preconceived notions. So if you already just know that you are going
to hate this movie, don't bother reading any further.
To give some background, I saw Star Wars (or
as the hard-core fans call it, A New Hope) in the theater when I was
6 or 7. I remember liking Chewbacca, and digging R2D2. I didn't see
the other two movies until years later, so I can't say that I grew up
as a big fan. However, most of my college friends were huge fans, so
I kind of got absorbed into the whole thing. Since college, I've probably
seen each of the movies about 40 times or so.
Despite what the critics said, I found this movie vastly entertaining.
By this time, I'm sure you all have heard what the movie is about. For
me, the purpose of this movie was to introduce young Anakin Skywalker,
the boy who will grow up to father Luke and Leia, and eventually fall
prey to the Dark Side and become Darth Vader. Sure, there was a plot
beyond that, but the point was to set up the eventual fall of Anakin.
Here are some of the problems that various critics had of the movie,
and my responses to them:
Jar Jar Binks is annoying and ruins the movie.
Yes, Jar Jar is probably going to be annoying to anyone over the age
of 8. And for the first third of the movie, it seems like he is in every
single scene. But once the travelers leave Tattooine, Jar Jar's role
becomes much smaller. Plus, without Jar Jar, we would never have gone
under water and seen all the cool monsters that attack their submarine.
By the time the movie was over, taken as a whole, I was over my hatred
of Jar Jar.
Ewan McGregor was woefully underutilized - all
he did was pilot ships and answer the phone. While this is somewhat
true, this wasn't Ewan's movie. This was Liam Neeson's movie. The next
movie will be Ewan's movie and the third movie will be whoever plays
Anakin's movie. I did wish that Ewan had gotten more screen time, but
we already know his character. There were a lot of new characters in
this movie - there wasn't a lot of time to go back and re-develop characters
we already know. I think the young Obi-Wan will be more fully fleshed
out in the next two movies and from what I've seen, Ewan will be playing
him.
Jake Lloyd and Natalie Portman are not good actors.
I thought Jake Lloyd did a fine job. I think it must have been
an incredible challenge to interact with CGI characters like Jar Jar
- you try acting with someone who is not there! I thought Lloyd was
cute without being saccharine, and the scenes between him and Portman
were well done - they showed his admiration and liking of her, and foreshadowed
their characters' future together without being creepy. I think some
people felt Portman's portrayal of the queen was wooden - I took it
as a 14 year old trying to act regal, which is what her character was
doing. When she was playing the handmaiden, she did a fine job.
There isn't enough foreshadowing that Anakin
will become Darth Vader.This I do not get at all. There was
so much foreshadowing. Every time they talk about Anakin (or Annie,
as they like to call him), they talk about how "the force is strong
with this one" but "his future is cloudy". And how Yoda,
who was so strong with the Force, was so unsure about training Anakin.
Here are the criticisms that I agreed with: the whole Anakin virgin
birth thing, and the Force midi-chlorian thing. I really think that
Lucas couldn't figure out who should be Anakin's father in a way that
would fit in with the whole mythology. So it was a cop-out. Maybe it's
just me.
I thought the best part of the movie was seeing all the little moments
that gave back story to the existing movies - the meeting of Obi-Wan
and Anakin, the origins of R2 and C3PO, the meeting between Amidala
and Anakin.
It was a bit slow until they got off Tattooine, but once that happened
the movie just flew by. I can't say enough good things about the light
saber battle at the end. It was just amazing. And the Jedis were just
so incredibly cool. We were joking all night about how cool it would
be to play Jedi mind tricks - just say what you want to happen, wave
your hand and BOOM! I kept going around all night trying to do the force
push - it hasn't worked yet, but I'm still trying.
Overall, and viewed in the context of the other movies, this one fits
in well and helps to set up the other two. But even taken individually,
it is a good movie - visually stunning and enthralling. I give it a
9 out of 10 - I took a point off for Jar Jar's voice and the virgin
birth.
|