At first, I thought I’d write about an interesting concept in popular cinema. There was an article floating around the internet about research done on the top grossing films of the last thirty years. The one thing all of these films had in common was the length of each shot. I was going to analyze this further until I realized that most people probably don’t give a crap. Maybe I’ll talk about it at some point in the future… when I fully understand the concept, but for now let’s talk about Star Wars.
Star Wars is, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the most successful movie franchise in history. Six films in the list of 100 highest grossing films of all time, a successful line of action figures, LEGO toys, Mark Ecko t-shirts, lunch boxes and anything else you can think of, is just a small sample of the series’ popularity. The dialogue and imagery has permeated the very fabric of American culture. Yet, with all of this, I find it hard to believe that so many people find the new trilogy (Episodes 1-3) so unwatchable. I’d like to take a moment to not only compare the two trilogies, but to also defend what could be the final installments to the storied franchise.
One of the first arguments made about the new films was the absolutely terribly acting. I will be the first to admit that this was not Hayden Christensen’s, Natalie Portman’s, Ewan McGregor’s, or anyone else’s shining performance. However, to say that this is a reason to hate the films, or even to dislike the films, is absolutely unwarranted. Most of us viewed the Star Wars films as young children. The flashy laser lights and flying triangles are what kept our eye holes glued to the screen. It wasn’t the performance of Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill or Harrison Ford that kept us watching. Out of the entire cast, Harrison Ford was the only one to make a star-studded career for himself. Even then it wasn’t the acting that carried the Indiana Jones films. If you can, re-watch the first twenty minutes of the original Star Wars film. If you honestly can say that the acting was better than that of any of the new films, you are probably quite the dramaturge.
The second common argument is that the film is overdone with special effects. This is another argument that I can’t wrap my brain around. The original trilogy was built on groundbreaking green screen and stop motion techniques. Puppetry was taken to new levels and set design was unparalleled for its time. The new trilogy is no different. C.G.I. (Computer Generated Images) became the norm in cinema just after Episode 1. The reason for this is because ILM (Industrial Light and Magic), the special effects company created by George Lucas, went through a pain staking process that would create a method usable over the entire film medium, not just George’s pet projects. Films such as Spiderman 2 and Iron Man relied heavily on ILM to produce the special effects that made those movies great. In the same form, those effects made the Pod Race scene one of the more memorable adventure moments in the trilogy.
The third and final argument I will tackle is the writing… actually, I don’t know if I’ll tackle this one. To be honest, the writing for these films is not all that great. The lines from the original trilogy that we remember most came from The Empire Strikes Back. That’s a story conceived by George Lucas but executed perfectly by screenwriters Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan. When we think of Lando Calrissian, we can safely know that Lucas did not come up with the dialogue that made him the pimp of the galaxy. Imagining what Lucas’ dialogue would have been like is a painful thought. The original Star Wars film, written by George Lucas, had the adventure but lacked the raw emotion that completed the initial trilogy. So if you were looking for the dramatic explosion seen in the second and third film, you were definitely disappointed by the wooden dialogue spewed out by Natalie and Hayden. However, Lucas did a phenomenal job weaving an adventure that bridges the gaps between the fantasy history.
So, with this rant over, we’ve learned that I’m a Star Wars nut. We’ve also learned that expectations can sometimes be our worst enemy. Going into a film and expecting something other than a good time is usually a recipe for disaster. I suggest you try to re-watch the later trilogy with an open mind. I’m not saying you’ll find it to be a hidden treasure, but maybe you’ll see something you like.