Information Overload
In the past week, the internet has been inundated with previews, reviews and general information about the new Start Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith. As 7 out of every 10 fo these articles say, "This is the one we've all been waiting for."
Obviously, I'm super duper excited about next Thursday, the official release date. I can't wait to see it. I've been a star Wars geek my whole life and this is basiclaly the culmination of all of that. The official pay off, I suppose.
Most of the reviews have been very very positive. The buzz before the reviews was actually very mixed. It seems the Uber-Geeks got their hand son a copy of the script and let's just say it made for a less-than-promising read. This shouldn't surprise any one really, considering that George Lucas is as bad at writing dialog as he is at directing people. But it had the drones of people that LOATHED the first 2 movies all in a bind. Thankfully, with the more recent buzz being positive, famous geeks all over that have seen the movie are praising it for at least holding a candle to the original trilogy. These are the people that hated the first 2 installments of the new trilogy.
I suppose the Uber-Geek would file me under the column of "Star Wars Apologist". I read one review that said something along the lines of "this is not the ultimate Star Wars movie, but it's very good." The fact that someone is going in looking for or wanting the "ultimate Star Wars movie" indicates that the Uber-Geek had entirely the wrong expectations coming in. And the other folks, the ones that were big fans of the first trilogy, hated the new ones but wouldn't ever utter the phrase "Star Wars apologist" have a right to be disappointed but really should give the first 2 a little more slack. Fact is, those moives were still better than 95% of what is made today. No, they were not better than the Lord of the Rings movies, and I suppose by all rights they should have been. But they really don't totally suck. They have flaws, they don't have the same look or feel but they are still part of the overall story. And my feeling is: until the story's done, cut them a little slack.
Anyway, my excitement for this release started about 2 years ago when my friend Jim and I sat down one afternoon and outlined exactly what we thought would be the story of the 3rd movie. Everyone knows what happens in chapters 1,2,4,5,and 6, so all you have to do is connect the dots and you figure out what must take place in Cahpter 3. One of the things which has been established in the character of Anakin is that he has SERIOUS female abandonment issues. Therefore, you know, since at some point his wife leaves him and he doesn't even know he has twins, she is the driving foce that pushes him over the edge. You see, all the annoying scenes between Anakin and Padme in Episode 2 were needed in order to provide motivating factors for his turn in Episode 3. Lucas did the same thing in Episode 4 with Luke. He was whiney and annoying but there was pay-off. The problem with Episode 2 is that the payoff wasn't immediate so the annoying just seemed annoying rather than meaningful.
So that was then. More recently, I started getting excited when the first Lego set for Sith came out. And trailers started popping up. Jenn will testify that on dozens of evenings I've spent 10-15 minutes bouncing up and down in front of my computer in pure geek ecstacy as I watched a new trailer. And now the marketing push has come along and obviously being pelted with a non-stop barrage of Star Wars has helped send my excitment to stratospheric levels. Much to Jenn's chargin, I've been getting my Star Wars fix by playing my Start Wars Lego computer game every chance I get. Pure joy!
And this year, I'm also getting my fix by reading the reviews. The previous 2 releases, I didn't read anything. For Episode 1 it was because I genuinely didn't know where to find it and for Ep 2 it was because I knew it would all be negative Uber-Geek bitching. But this time, I've read the reviews out of curiosity, because I'm certain that I'm now able to form my own, unadulterated opinion. And in closing, I will explain how my excitement prior to each movie has been different:
Episode 1: I was excited for the pure fact that I was going to get to see a new Star Wars movie. That's it. It could have been as bad as Cool World and I would have been happy. The best viewing of the movie I had was #3 (and I know to this day, Jim will agree with me on that). I think I saw it a few too many times and the flaws became even annoying for me. But after the first viewing, I was fully satisfied.
Episode 2: I was excited because I knew it couldn't be as bad as Episode 1. Not that I thought Ep 1 was bad, but I was able to rationalize that this is a 3 part series where the movies probalby would not be able to stand on their own, so Ep 2 would help in bolster Ep 1. And it was genuinely better. And there was a lot more to look forward to. And many of the mistakes from Ep 1 (though not all) were fixed. And I was fully satisfied.
Episode 3: I'm excited because the Uber-Geeks like it. And if Lucas has pleased the people who have felt betrayed up 'til now, then I KNOW I'm going to be doing a lot fo bouncing.
Obviously, I'm super duper excited about next Thursday, the official release date. I can't wait to see it. I've been a star Wars geek my whole life and this is basiclaly the culmination of all of that. The official pay off, I suppose.
Most of the reviews have been very very positive. The buzz before the reviews was actually very mixed. It seems the Uber-Geeks got their hand son a copy of the script and let's just say it made for a less-than-promising read. This shouldn't surprise any one really, considering that George Lucas is as bad at writing dialog as he is at directing people. But it had the drones of people that LOATHED the first 2 movies all in a bind. Thankfully, with the more recent buzz being positive, famous geeks all over that have seen the movie are praising it for at least holding a candle to the original trilogy. These are the people that hated the first 2 installments of the new trilogy.
I suppose the Uber-Geek would file me under the column of "Star Wars Apologist". I read one review that said something along the lines of "this is not the ultimate Star Wars movie, but it's very good." The fact that someone is going in looking for or wanting the "ultimate Star Wars movie" indicates that the Uber-Geek had entirely the wrong expectations coming in. And the other folks, the ones that were big fans of the first trilogy, hated the new ones but wouldn't ever utter the phrase "Star Wars apologist" have a right to be disappointed but really should give the first 2 a little more slack. Fact is, those moives were still better than 95% of what is made today. No, they were not better than the Lord of the Rings movies, and I suppose by all rights they should have been. But they really don't totally suck. They have flaws, they don't have the same look or feel but they are still part of the overall story. And my feeling is: until the story's done, cut them a little slack.
Anyway, my excitement for this release started about 2 years ago when my friend Jim and I sat down one afternoon and outlined exactly what we thought would be the story of the 3rd movie. Everyone knows what happens in chapters 1,2,4,5,and 6, so all you have to do is connect the dots and you figure out what must take place in Cahpter 3. One of the things which has been established in the character of Anakin is that he has SERIOUS female abandonment issues. Therefore, you know, since at some point his wife leaves him and he doesn't even know he has twins, she is the driving foce that pushes him over the edge. You see, all the annoying scenes between Anakin and Padme in Episode 2 were needed in order to provide motivating factors for his turn in Episode 3. Lucas did the same thing in Episode 4 with Luke. He was whiney and annoying but there was pay-off. The problem with Episode 2 is that the payoff wasn't immediate so the annoying just seemed annoying rather than meaningful.
So that was then. More recently, I started getting excited when the first Lego set for Sith came out. And trailers started popping up. Jenn will testify that on dozens of evenings I've spent 10-15 minutes bouncing up and down in front of my computer in pure geek ecstacy as I watched a new trailer. And now the marketing push has come along and obviously being pelted with a non-stop barrage of Star Wars has helped send my excitment to stratospheric levels. Much to Jenn's chargin, I've been getting my Star Wars fix by playing my Start Wars Lego computer game every chance I get. Pure joy!
And this year, I'm also getting my fix by reading the reviews. The previous 2 releases, I didn't read anything. For Episode 1 it was because I genuinely didn't know where to find it and for Ep 2 it was because I knew it would all be negative Uber-Geek bitching. But this time, I've read the reviews out of curiosity, because I'm certain that I'm now able to form my own, unadulterated opinion. And in closing, I will explain how my excitement prior to each movie has been different:
Episode 1: I was excited for the pure fact that I was going to get to see a new Star Wars movie. That's it. It could have been as bad as Cool World and I would have been happy. The best viewing of the movie I had was #3 (and I know to this day, Jim will agree with me on that). I think I saw it a few too many times and the flaws became even annoying for me. But after the first viewing, I was fully satisfied.
Episode 2: I was excited because I knew it couldn't be as bad as Episode 1. Not that I thought Ep 1 was bad, but I was able to rationalize that this is a 3 part series where the movies probalby would not be able to stand on their own, so Ep 2 would help in bolster Ep 1. And it was genuinely better. And there was a lot more to look forward to. And many of the mistakes from Ep 1 (though not all) were fixed. And I was fully satisfied.
Episode 3: I'm excited because the Uber-Geeks like it. And if Lucas has pleased the people who have felt betrayed up 'til now, then I KNOW I'm going to be doing a lot fo bouncing.
posted by RauluaP at 12:22 PM
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