I am actually planning on going to take my last algebra test in college in my last year (in about 5 years) dressed up as Darth Vader... but I don't like to go to cinemas....
I'll be seeing Ep. 3 but my expectations are very, very low. Ep. 1 was appalling. Ep. 2 was marginally better (go Yoda!) but anyone who can take three or four of the better actors out there (Natalie Portman, Hayden Christiansen, Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, etc.) and end up with completely wooden performances from them, and a sadistically boring plot to boot, does not deserve being lauded. And that's without mentioning the infamous and hated JJB. The first three movies were silly and cheesy but still rollicking good fun. The same cannot be said for the next 2. The effects improved dramatically but sadly at the expense of any kind of emotional attachment to the characters and special effects alone just don't cut it. I'm just glad we know Yoda survives because he definitely helped redeem Attack of the Clowns... I mean, Clones.
Hayden Christensen actually CAN act (Shattered Glass, My Life As A House)... it's just that George Lucas is such an awful director that he managed to make all the quite good actors in the second trilogy (Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Samuel L Jackson, Natalie Portman, etc etc) look really, really bad.
You can't blame everything on George Lucas's directing skills. Afterall, he DID direct the original Star Wars and mostly Return of the Jedi (Richard Marquand had no idea what he was doing Lucas had to be there helping him almost every day). He DID direct American Grafitti. I'm sure you guys would say that the acting in those movies weren't bad. The fact is, that in the prequels all the actors are ALWAYS on blue/green screen. Don't you think it would be kinda hard to have yourself sitting in one chair, and everything else around is bluescreen, while at the same time you are trying to act. Natalie Portman described what it was like in the lastest SW Insider: We're like little kids playing make-believe. We're stting on a green-painted box that's supposed to be a spaceship, or we're looking at a blue sheet that is supposed to be an entire city with ships flying through the air. It's so much more of an imagination leap than working on other films. So it is not necessarily Lucas's directing, I think it is just a matter of getting used to all the blue/green screen. There are actors who are still great even on the blue screens. Would you say Christopher Lee was bad in episode 2? And what about Ian McDiarmid, he was great throughout the whole trilogy, and especially in episode 3. Ewan McGregor wasn't all that bad, it's nice watching him grow from episode 1-3, and watch Obiwan slowly mature into how you see him in ep4. If you have seen Reveng of the Sith, you know how emotional his character actually gets and it is just so tragic. I personally think Ewan nailed his performance in episode 3 and I'd say that he was my favorite in the movie. And what about all the voice-overed and CG'd characters? Yoda of course is always good. Watto from ep1-2 was great, and so was Dex. And Grevous, he was uniquely outstanding. Now, as to the other characters. Sam Jackson is SUPPOSED to be the way he is, a bad ass. With Liam Neeson, I didn't find anything wrong with his performance. And now to Hayden and Natalie. I think most people hate episode 2 because Anakin is "whiney". HE'S A TEENAGER. Was Luke not whiney in ep4 and 5? In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin is grown up, and is a man. He's not whiney anymore. His performance is very well done. Natalie Portman on the other hand, I personally think she is the weakest in acting. Which doesn't mean she is bad, it's just that, oh I don't know, some lines just make you cringe. Her performance does have many good aspects to it, epecially during the end of ep3 when she gets emotional. So I guess you could blame Lucas for filming digitally and having everyone on bluescreen to affect the acting. But then again, there are people who are hardly, if even, affected at all, and it's just another new obsticle for actors/actresses these days to acomplish and overcome. I mean, someone has to keep the technology moving in the film industry, and that one person is George Lucas.
I think that performances on the first three SW (ep IV, V and VI) were kinda crappy... but I still love the movies. Still, Hayden Christensen has the academy award of crappy performances...
Yes, that is something I was going to say as well. The dialouge in the Originals weren't much better than the Prequels. All of the Star Wars movies are B-rated movies if you are talking about acting and dialouge.
Uhm... actually, I thought episodes 4 through 6 were pretty crappy in terms of acting. As for using blue/green screen as an excuse for weak acting, uhm hello, they're ACTORS! They're supposed to be able to act, whether or not there's someone or something opposite them. People from the theatre can act wherever they happen to be. Ewan McGregor definitely gave his best performance in episode 3, I'll agree. But Anakin was just as whiny in 3 as in 2. And Ian McDiarmid? He was AWFUL, just appalling, in Revenge of the Sith. I've known drag queens who were less over-the-top and stupid than he was. The problem with Natalie Portman wasn't her acting, it was what she had to work with. Talk about your classic window-dressing/damsel in distress. It was criminal how Lucas made no proper use of her. Oh I'm so sad from Anakin dying I'm going to die in childbirth for no reason. I never believed those two were in love. She was written as the weakest character. All she got to do was look sad and worried about whiny-brat. Having seen all these actors in other movies, I still cast the blame squarely at Lucas, for his horribly boring writing and his lack of anything amounting to directing. It's just sad that so many people worship the man so he can get away with being less than mediocre.
Ok, it's obvious we have two different opinions about Star Wars in general and George Lucas. And it's obvious we could go back and forth, so I'm just gonna control myself, let everything go and not argue
well, I'm not. Let's argue!!! Ahhh! Mi penis is bigger!!! ahh!!! I'm better than you!!! ahhh!!! *blinks* *blinks again* I'll get my coat... Ok, seriously: I really like star wars, all five movies I've watched I liked. Still, I wouldn't mind if they actually acted in the movie insted of just repeated the freking dialogues that are crappy enough. Anyway, I think that george lucas had a great vision, but should've asked someone skilled to direct the movies...
i personally loved the cinematography of the opening battle in rots, but it sort of felt like a downhill tumble after that. yeah, it was dramatic, and yeah it was tragic but i felt, like with all the prequels, it was a bit too rushed. there was a lot of story to get across and at times it was kind of overwhelming, and i am a big star wars fan! i feel sorry for the mom trying to enjoy the movie with her three teenagers and being so helplessly lost that hayden was the only highlight of the movie. ...yeah, he was a big highlight for me, too. edit: did i spell cinematography right?
