Recently, I have seen a bevy of George Lucas haters. From the he-ruined-my-childhood-trilogy argument, to he's only money hungry and can't write worth jack, and he used racist stereotypes in episode 1. To be honest, I think it's all crap. People are jealous and way too picky and critical. There's no way that Jar Jar, etc. were purposefully put in as racial stereotypes. People are inventing criticisms, it's ridiculous. And so what if the guy isn't a great writer? He's the king of ideas. Just look at the original trilogy for crying out loud! And yeah, I'm sure people are going to bite my head off because he "kiped everything from Kurosawa", etc., but as Jon Favreau says, everyone rips off everyone else. Plus, I very much enjoyed episodes 1 and 2. I think they are fun, harmless, and while not classics, certainly decent movies. They by no means take anything away from the original trilogy. And I just want to add, that I think Revenge of the Sith is a fine title, because it describes exactly what is happening...the Sith are getting their freaking revenge. Deal with it! And now, let the criticizing and hating on Josh and George Lucas begin.
Posted by Josh Melton at July 28, 2004 12:36 PMI think the problem people have is that he made some cool movies when we were kids, and there was SO much potential for the new ones, and they just suck. it's a lot like the matrix actually, except much more ingrained, hence much more passion.
Posted by: bobw at July 28, 2004 12:57 PMSee, I agree with a lot of what you're saying. Yes, people with overly nostalgic views of the original trilogy cannot but be disappointed. Yes, Lucas does not deserve to be savaged for borrowing from other directors.
But here's the thing: those things aside, Episodes I and II still really blow as movies. The dialog is absolutely atrocious, the characters have the distinct ability to appear simultaneously paper thin and wooden as a clog, and the internal coherence of Lucas' plots has gone completely to hell. The greatest thing about Episode V and VI is that Lucas *didn't* direct them. Because the man can't direct to save his life or franchise. Never could. He's got exactly one movie in him, he just directs it over and over with increasingly bloated budgets (though you have to give him props for bankrolling the whole thing himself). I think the best thing that could happen to Episode III is for Lucas to give the director's chair to someone else like he did for Empire.
Let's not compare Episodes I-III with the original trilogy, as it wouldn't be fair to either. Let's compare them with current action-adventure blockbusters. Like, say, Spiderman and its sequel. Those movies are awesome. So were X-Men and X2. Episode I and II were most certainly not. And from the looks of it, Episode III won't be either. Too bad, really.
Posted by: ryan at July 28, 2004 01:05 PMPlease stop "talking" about movies.
Posted by: Blah, blah, blah. at August 1, 2004 06:12 AMI once heard some one say "The only way I'd see the new Star Wars movie, is if it was called Episode III: Sorry about the first two." and I couldn't agree more. Not only did he completly sell out, but the movie, in every aspect, was terrible. Sure it had some good special effects, but there was so much of it, you began to choke on it. Acting was bad, there just wasn't really any heart or emotion in the thing. Bad from start to finish. Not even comparing them to anything else, just a movie in general, they still suck.
Posted by: Took at August 16, 2004 08:15 PM