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I just finished watching the first three Star Wars movies and the Clone Wars Vol. 2.  I know...why the hell would I do that?

It wasn’t as bad as I remember it being, especially episode 2.  When Lucas does it right, the movies really work. Sadly, he’s just not that good of a director.  He’s too literal and shows every reaction shot and every bit of dialog spoken by a person.  His camera placement isn’t very dynamic and most of the shots are very static.  His romantic moments are some of the worst ever committed to celluloid.  Stunningly bad.

There are lots of moments that make no sense other than they look cool on film.  Especially the final battle where Annikan gets burned up. 

The part he does get right is the politics and plotting of the Emperor.  Watching him place all the pieces together to take over the Republic is really brilliant.  You have to admire how long he had to work to set it all up.

Now I’m going to watch the last three and see how they compare.

Are you high?  Why would you do that to yourself?

Ugh.  Damn swedes are their mushroom farms messing with ya.

I have lots of free time and I’ve never seen all the movies together.  I’m curious to see how it all stands up as complete story.  But mostly, I have too much free time.

Finished the whole franchise and I have to admit, it’s not as good as it used to be.  I don’t know if I’ve just grown out of it or if it really wasn’t that good to begin with but I got really bored with episode’s 4 and 5 and found episode 6 to be much better than I remembered...well except for that horrible ending song.

Did you watch the old version or the Special Edition version?

Special editions.

Stefan Halley - 08 February 2008 10:21 AM

The part he does get right is the politics and plotting of the Emperor.  Watching him place all the pieces together to take over the Republic is really brilliant.  You have to admire how long he had to work to set it all up.

This is actually the part I hated the most.  Surprisingly, I wasn’t that intrigued with the inner workings of the Trade Federation. 

I think this goes right to the heart of the chief failing of the last three movies:  Lucas’ nearly unquenchable desire to explain everything in excrutiating detail.  Even the Force comes in for a geometric proof.  Ugh.

These flicks needed more good v. evil and less exposition.  That’s what made the whole of the first three movies better than the sum of their often mundane parts.