Friday, February 04, 2005
Star Wars
I am a Star Wars junkie but I am also realizing how lame the movies are compared to Akira Kurosawa's movies which George Lucas admits to having been an influence and catalyst. The technical stuff such as the robots, aliens, ships, machines and technologies are exciting to see in action. The characters and storytelling however are dull. Sorry, they suck.
I have never seen American Graffitti or THX 1138. I understand those movies are very popular. Based on the summaries I suspect they are great character-driven and above average storytelling movies. Unfortunately I don't see my suspicions in all of the Star Wars movies.
Star Wars tries to be character-driven but I think what really makes me think that is because of the abundance of information George Lucas reveals about everything before and after the movies. The way I see it, if I had seen Star Wars without any of the extra information that George is so enamored with, I would not care much after a first viewing. I would enjoy it for the action but not analyze or even care to better understand the characters or the plot points to enjoy more of the movie. With the extra information I begin to realize that the movies should have beefen up its wooden acting and use less fluff(treat every scene as integral to the ending of the movie). I feel the acting for the lead role for the original triology was average, like what I expected out of an action movie released just to capture the summer season. I think some of the blame also falls on the lines. Even the lines for Obi-Wan Kenobi when he and Luke suspect something terrible for Luke's aunt and uncle are suspect. If Obi-Wan is such a strong Jedi, why doesn't he put a better effort in preventing Luke from riding out to find out what happened because of possible danger? Or at least go with Luke to protect him? Some other lines are the lines that George recycles for the second triology. One I can think of is the I have a bad feeling line. Ok I have nothing wrong with that sentence but the way it is delivered is just terrible.
One major fluff I have a beef with is Jabba the Hut. All scenes of that giant, slow-moving to sometimes not moving at all ugly brown goo signify the long wait and ugly stench of the movie I had to endure for the interruptions to end in order for the story to move along. Jabba had no connection to the real bad guys. Yes he was Han's former employer and yes he caused disruption to the Rebel efforts by withholding Han. So the top Rebel executives had to form a rescue plan before continuing with ousting the Empire. There was no real purpose behind the rescue effort as nothing was changed. There was no character development. Everyone was the same before and after. Jabba's story would have been better served in a seperate novel and what George even calls as the "Expanded Universe".
Finally I think Star Wars has lots of information that I think it should have been filmed a la the HK-TVB or Taiwan serials. They're specialists at creating lots of information, drama and dragging things out.
Well as I wrote about Sega, Sony and other companies developing way advanced and better products than the current competition which was still using outdated and less advanced technologies, sometimes it is not about making a better movie but enough to capture the audience. Certainly Star Wars has done that and my complaints end up not holding water as popularity wins out.
I have never seen American Graffitti or THX 1138. I understand those movies are very popular. Based on the summaries I suspect they are great character-driven and above average storytelling movies. Unfortunately I don't see my suspicions in all of the Star Wars movies.
Star Wars tries to be character-driven but I think what really makes me think that is because of the abundance of information George Lucas reveals about everything before and after the movies. The way I see it, if I had seen Star Wars without any of the extra information that George is so enamored with, I would not care much after a first viewing. I would enjoy it for the action but not analyze or even care to better understand the characters or the plot points to enjoy more of the movie. With the extra information I begin to realize that the movies should have beefen up its wooden acting and use less fluff(treat every scene as integral to the ending of the movie). I feel the acting for the lead role for the original triology was average, like what I expected out of an action movie released just to capture the summer season. I think some of the blame also falls on the lines. Even the lines for Obi-Wan Kenobi when he and Luke suspect something terrible for Luke's aunt and uncle are suspect. If Obi-Wan is such a strong Jedi, why doesn't he put a better effort in preventing Luke from riding out to find out what happened because of possible danger? Or at least go with Luke to protect him? Some other lines are the lines that George recycles for the second triology. One I can think of is the I have a bad feeling line. Ok I have nothing wrong with that sentence but the way it is delivered is just terrible.
One major fluff I have a beef with is Jabba the Hut. All scenes of that giant, slow-moving to sometimes not moving at all ugly brown goo signify the long wait and ugly stench of the movie I had to endure for the interruptions to end in order for the story to move along. Jabba had no connection to the real bad guys. Yes he was Han's former employer and yes he caused disruption to the Rebel efforts by withholding Han. So the top Rebel executives had to form a rescue plan before continuing with ousting the Empire. There was no real purpose behind the rescue effort as nothing was changed. There was no character development. Everyone was the same before and after. Jabba's story would have been better served in a seperate novel and what George even calls as the "Expanded Universe".
Finally I think Star Wars has lots of information that I think it should have been filmed a la the HK-TVB or Taiwan serials. They're specialists at creating lots of information, drama and dragging things out.
Well as I wrote about Sega, Sony and other companies developing way advanced and better products than the current competition which was still using outdated and less advanced technologies, sometimes it is not about making a better movie but enough to capture the audience. Certainly Star Wars has done that and my complaints end up not holding water as popularity wins out.
# posted by kfcblog @ 1:16 PM 
