As much as I enjoyed TFA more than R1, I'm really glad to see so many people who enjoyed the film. Even if R1 didn't exactly achieve what it could have, it's exciting to see that Disney are capable of making good spin-off films.
I liked the architecture, the aforementioned green plains. We've largely only seen hostile environments in Star Wars, so this served as the perfect contrast to this. It also didn't look as familiar as Endor. I just think it's a beautiful setting. I'm not talking about artworks here - I haven't even seen those.
I liked the battle scenes, the podracing, the scene with Anakin before Council, the scenes with Padme and Anakin (with the queen in disguise). But you sure make me think a lot about the movie I like the least out of all the PT
That's fine, I can understand recognizing some of the conceptual design behind the films themselves, and some of it is quite good. Lots of it is bad though. Either way, IMO, the horrendously aged CGI drowns out any sign of quality or competence in just about every scene. They really do look worse and worse every year and with every SW release.
I will say that the podracing scenes have held up decently aside from occasional spotty and terrible CGI characters that crop up, and my god the sound design is incredible. The Jedi council stuff had potential to be excellent but is pretty botched because of poor writing. And it's difficult to take any scene seriously with Jake Lloyd. The only almost decent scene he had in the entire film is when he says goodbye to his mother, but he's basically getting fucking carried by the actor who plays Shmi.
Yeah, sorry, I read your posting wrong here. I liked the scenes with the Senate, because they gave the background that was only brushed over in like one scene in ANH. Palpatine acting as the guy with only the best interests in mind is something I liked about them specifically or his struggle with the Jedi later on.
Right, and again, the conception of the idea is fantastic, and Ian kills it as Emperor/Palp (aside from horrible direction in EP3, but that's more Lucas' fault). I do like the idea of Palp slowly taking over and fooling everyone. I wish they would have tied Plagueis into how he was able to deceive the Jedi into failing to sense that he was a Sith lord. The mythology introduced there has incredible potential but we only see it used in a single couple minute scene in EP3 (and again referenced in a line later on). That's a fucking shame.
I don't know why you would place such a huge emphasis on the opening crawl. The movie starts with them trying to negotiate with the Trade Federation, which quickly descends into sliced metal, blaster shots and explosions.
Even if your imaginary 'audience' was bored by the opening crawl, the first scenes should wake them up..
I put emphasis on the opening crawl because it explains to the audience what the fuck is going on. That's the entire point. The action doesn't mean shit if we don't care about the story and who is really enthralled after
that introduction to the Star Wars universe? I think you're gravely missing my point.
The fuck do I know?
His portrayal was immature, maybe I liked that.
Lol I was hoping you'd explain why you enjoyed his portrayal. Being immature isn't exactly a strength from a writing or acting perspective.
No. They catered to what I would mostly want out of a new SW movie, which TFA and R1 largely did not.
I'm absolutely willing to admit that TFA works out better simply as a movie if you leave out the SW part and ignore the contrieved story. In general the acting is better, there is no CGI to be unsure of and they focused on easily enjoyable adventure. But retreading an already told story in such minute manner and so unconvincingly without brining something new to the formula is what ultimately kills it for me. R1 didn't even have characters I cared about, let alone something to spark my interest with the things it does to shake up the formula. Until they went to Scarif.
'Surface familiarity'... all right..if we started listing the familiarities it would smell more like 'carbon copy'.
Just gunna respond to both these here.
OK.. so you're telling me TFA is a "carbon copy" so let me point out some differences to you you're so eager to glaze over to prove a shoddy point.
New ideas/components to the SW universe:
- Defecting Stormtrooper who wants to do the right thing
- Force user who struggles with the light side instead of the dark
- Old nonbeliever who now fully accepts the force and the Jedi as real after decades of reluctance
- Scavenger who makes a living by collecting scraps to survive, waiting fruitlessly for her family to return (and to discover who she really is)
- Father who wants to bring his son home and confronts him
- Father who is murdered trying to do just that
- Scene that brilliantly contrasts Vader's decision to save Luke at the end of ROTJ (Kylo murdering Han, which is not a "mirror" of Obi-Wan dying in ANH at all)
- Someone who uses a mask as a literal and figurative way of hiding his weaknesses
- A character who descends further into darkness instead of ascending out of it
- The force surrounding objects, direct images of the past, present, and future
- Using the force to completely suspend living beings and objects
- Using the force to read people thoughts, and to torture information out of them
- Awesome imagery of past battles, seamlessly tied into scenes in the film to expand the universe, provide visual information about what may have happened and how it's effected both Jakku and the main protagonist on the planet, which also ties directly into the storyline
- A storyline that shows the inner workings of the FO and Stormtrooper that uses a likable protagonist to both expand the universe and reveal their evil nature/purpose through his struggle
- An awesome confrontation/saber battle in a snow setting coupled with lots of character development.
- Countless instances of visual storytelling and character development that went over 90% of audience's head
Just as a start (the important thing is most of these differences directly relate to the characters and their place in the story). But.. it's just a copy of ANH! Right?! Since.. you know JJ used ANH as a backbone for driving the story forward (as he's said multiple times) it's the same exact movie! I'm incapable of using critical thinking in my SW films.
Now, I'm not pretending like they didn't reuse a lot of things from ANH, but again, those are largely surface criticisms (wow, look, A looks like B!), and lots of those people who are first to cry foul about rehashed material are also the first to check out of a deeper, more analytical conversation in regard to the things TFA does differently (especially with its characters and their interactions) and what it means for the story moving forward..
lol, no I'm not. I'm just legit shocked that you almost had to cry over it as an 11-year-old. If the first movie managed to disappoint you so deeply, then of course I can see why you hate it so much. But let's not pretend that the movies left their young audience largely in tears. Ep1 received mixed critical reception, but I don't know about the audience. I was a fucking 8-year-old at the time.
Jar Jar and Jake Lloyd are enough to even make some children cry, believe it or not. In all seriousness, thinking back, I may have exaggerated "almost in tears", but I was definitely crushed when I walked out. I don't think most of the audiences were on the verge of tears but I do think you need to look into fan reception of TPM. The hype died VERY quickly after release.
Again, you're downplaying the fact that a huge chunk of the audience was dissatisfied with TPM. Probably because you just admitted to not having a single idea of what initial reactions were. Age has nothing to do with that as this info is easily obtainable.
I think the SW universe has the potential for more. But clearly, this is not wanted. I get that. It can't have both for whatever reason.
It certainly does have a lot of potential for politics, just not in main episodes, which are built first and foremost as simple adventures. I think they could totally successfully use spinoffs and novels/comics/other mediums to delve deeper into this.
You know, I was half expecting this so I wanted to put in something like 'inb4 Jar Jar is hated by everyone.' Why would they still make toys about Jar Jar. He was just there for goofy and extremely childish humor.
Lol, what is this? You're totally deluded if you don't think the vast majority of fans dislike Jar Jar Binks. Again, you're lowering your standards by passing him off as "just there for goofy and extremely childish humor". That's acceptable to you? He is what people think of when they imagine TPM (hint: it's not a good thing). It's a running fan joke and has been for a LONG time.
Show me evidence of a significant number of people who enjoy him in the films. Do you think it was by accident he's hardly in EP2/3?
I said there wasn't enough of it, so it didn't have the impact and depth it should have had. Your answer to this is to remove it, which I don't agree with.
I never once said anything along the lines of "my answer is to remove it". Man.. you're really just not reading my posts. I said I don't think it should be a major part of the main films (specifically that it has "no place being a driving factor in the story", but that it can still be included in dialogue), which are adventure movies, and I stand by that. I think that's the general consensus too which is why you saw it almost completely gone in TFA. Back to the basics so we don't get a muddled and contrived introduction and unfocused storyline. Good decision.
ANH did things fucking perfectly. A few lines of dialogue here and there to give the audience important information/a sense of world building then we move on to the meat and potatoes of the story.
