Flyerjab
DIS Unplugged Junkie
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2014
- Messages
- 397
I love fun, simple movies (as well as more complex ones). There doesn't always need to be some twisted, multi-level plot so dense that the average movie goer is totally lost after a single viewing and leaves the theater with no desire to watch it a second time.
The worst thing about the prequels is that Lucas tried to make them into something that Star Wars was not. And George pretty much proved two very glaring points in making the prequels: he lost every shred of ability he might ever have had concerning directing, and he should stick to simpler story lines. The stories in the prequels were bad, but the acting…it was painful to watch at times. Attack of the Clones I pretty much refuse to watch any more. The "courting" scenes with Padme and Anakin should be used to torture war criminals. And George managed to make horrible acting sequences with some very good actors - Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor and Samuel Jackson are not slouches. Yet he managed to make them appear poor in their craft.
Abrams with the new cast, however, totally knocked it out of the park as far as that goes. I already know that I cannot wait to see more movies with Rey, Finn, Poe and Kylo Ren. He absolutely killed it as far as picking the right people and having them deliver on screen in every scene that they are in. There was also such a focus on emotion in this movie. The plot was simple and a bit of a rehash but that is all I needed; to have someone open the door again into that wonderful, fantasy/sci-fi world that was Star Wars from 1977 and invite me back in. That is exactly what Abrams did and he did it masterfully.
I think a great comparison that can be made between the prequels and this sequel can be made in the light saber duals. I could watch the fight between Rey (or Finn) and Ren over and over again (and I probably will), and not because it is filled with amazing acrobatic sequences, but because of the emotion in that scene. You almost feed off of it as they struggle against each other. In comparison, the fight at the end of Episode III to me was soulless. It was filled with a ton of eye candy for sure, but it was essentially devoid of any feeling. And the worst part was that you could tell that Lucas could not figure out a way to end it. The sequence just went on and on and on until that fateful line by Kenobi - "I have the high ground!" I almost laughed out loud in the theater at that. After all of the dueling, swinging, climbing, jumping, dancing over lava, etc., it ends because Kenobi happens to be standing on dry land a little bit higher than Anakin was? It was horrible. But that sums up what was so great about TFA. It didn't have near as much eye candy as the prequels, and that is because it didn't need it to still be a great, fun movie.
The worst thing about the prequels is that Lucas tried to make them into something that Star Wars was not. And George pretty much proved two very glaring points in making the prequels: he lost every shred of ability he might ever have had concerning directing, and he should stick to simpler story lines. The stories in the prequels were bad, but the acting…it was painful to watch at times. Attack of the Clones I pretty much refuse to watch any more. The "courting" scenes with Padme and Anakin should be used to torture war criminals. And George managed to make horrible acting sequences with some very good actors - Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor and Samuel Jackson are not slouches. Yet he managed to make them appear poor in their craft.
Abrams with the new cast, however, totally knocked it out of the park as far as that goes. I already know that I cannot wait to see more movies with Rey, Finn, Poe and Kylo Ren. He absolutely killed it as far as picking the right people and having them deliver on screen in every scene that they are in. There was also such a focus on emotion in this movie. The plot was simple and a bit of a rehash but that is all I needed; to have someone open the door again into that wonderful, fantasy/sci-fi world that was Star Wars from 1977 and invite me back in. That is exactly what Abrams did and he did it masterfully.
I think a great comparison that can be made between the prequels and this sequel can be made in the light saber duals. I could watch the fight between Rey (or Finn) and Ren over and over again (and I probably will), and not because it is filled with amazing acrobatic sequences, but because of the emotion in that scene. You almost feed off of it as they struggle against each other. In comparison, the fight at the end of Episode III to me was soulless. It was filled with a ton of eye candy for sure, but it was essentially devoid of any feeling. And the worst part was that you could tell that Lucas could not figure out a way to end it. The sequence just went on and on and on until that fateful line by Kenobi - "I have the high ground!" I almost laughed out loud in the theater at that. After all of the dueling, swinging, climbing, jumping, dancing over lava, etc., it ends because Kenobi happens to be standing on dry land a little bit higher than Anakin was? It was horrible. But that sums up what was so great about TFA. It didn't have near as much eye candy as the prequels, and that is because it didn't need it to still be a great, fun movie.
