antonkk
01-07-2005, 03:45 AM
After watching (and enjoying a lot) the Star Wars Boxset a few days ago I decided to give 2 new episode a chance. I remember being really dissapointed in 'em in the movie theatre and now (still in a Star Wars mood) I rushed to get both. Well, they still suck (despite the few cool moments). And he here are my thoughts WHY:
The reasons I think the new episodes (Phantom Menace and Attack of the clones) lack the magic of old classics are:
1. They lack soul and spirit. You don't feel for the new heroes or for their cause. The epic drama is seriously lacking.
2. Established stars in the new movies distract you from their heroes unlike "new faces" in 1977.
3. All this CGI technolodgy! The new creatures, robots and ships look like taken out from a computer game and leave me absolutely cold. Worst examples: battle droids in Episode 1. Or compare the new computerised Yoda to the old muppet! In the old movies you could even feel for the poor stormtroopers, damn it!
4. All the swords fight is way too technical and fast this time. Too much martial arts and Matrix stuff. This destroys the atmosphere and grandeur or classic light saber fights in the old ones.
5. The same goes for space fights. In the old movies it was real people made of flesh and blood in their ships made of steel. As exiting as classic WW2 air battles. The new ones are Playstation crap. Plus add this HORRIBLE kiddie scene with young Anakin blowing up the entire space station. Now that was a true blasphemy!
6. BAD HUMOUR. These new ones lack good taste seriously. While the Ewoks disgusted many in the Return of the Jedi, they were at least as my late father (who new a thing or two about good cinema) put it - "pretty charming". Now compare to the Jar Jar Binks etc.
Now I'm not even going to talk about stuff like script, acting etc.
I know that comparison may sound funny (since original Star Wars started the whole digital revolution in cinema) but overall the difference between the old and new SW is a lot like warm analogue vs cold digital.
I know I experienced the originals in a very different envirement fromn yours, gentlemen, since SW were kinda illegal in Sovier Union and thus, as every forbidden fruit extremely desirable. I was like 10 years old when I first heard ABOUT them, and for the Moscow kid in the early 80's they seemed something very scary, as scary and evil as Reagan or even worse! :D I was a 12-13 year old kid when I first saw them on VHS ( and Star Wars were the FIRST thing you had to see once you got that machine of your dreams back then! :)). Of course, I was blown away. By the time I got to see the last one, and it took a few months to find a tape, I was known by the name of Luke Skywalker in school! So SW trilogy has a lot of nostalgic teen moments for me. But even considering all this nostalgia factor it still stands out as a great trilogy. Will people remember the new episodes the same way in a decade or two? Discuss!
The reasons I think the new episodes (Phantom Menace and Attack of the clones) lack the magic of old classics are:
1. They lack soul and spirit. You don't feel for the new heroes or for their cause. The epic drama is seriously lacking.
2. Established stars in the new movies distract you from their heroes unlike "new faces" in 1977.
3. All this CGI technolodgy! The new creatures, robots and ships look like taken out from a computer game and leave me absolutely cold. Worst examples: battle droids in Episode 1. Or compare the new computerised Yoda to the old muppet! In the old movies you could even feel for the poor stormtroopers, damn it!
4. All the swords fight is way too technical and fast this time. Too much martial arts and Matrix stuff. This destroys the atmosphere and grandeur or classic light saber fights in the old ones.
5. The same goes for space fights. In the old movies it was real people made of flesh and blood in their ships made of steel. As exiting as classic WW2 air battles. The new ones are Playstation crap. Plus add this HORRIBLE kiddie scene with young Anakin blowing up the entire space station. Now that was a true blasphemy!
6. BAD HUMOUR. These new ones lack good taste seriously. While the Ewoks disgusted many in the Return of the Jedi, they were at least as my late father (who new a thing or two about good cinema) put it - "pretty charming". Now compare to the Jar Jar Binks etc.
Now I'm not even going to talk about stuff like script, acting etc.
I know that comparison may sound funny (since original Star Wars started the whole digital revolution in cinema) but overall the difference between the old and new SW is a lot like warm analogue vs cold digital.
I know I experienced the originals in a very different envirement fromn yours, gentlemen, since SW were kinda illegal in Sovier Union and thus, as every forbidden fruit extremely desirable. I was like 10 years old when I first heard ABOUT them, and for the Moscow kid in the early 80's they seemed something very scary, as scary and evil as Reagan or even worse! :D I was a 12-13 year old kid when I first saw them on VHS ( and Star Wars were the FIRST thing you had to see once you got that machine of your dreams back then! :)). Of course, I was blown away. By the time I got to see the last one, and it took a few months to find a tape, I was known by the name of Luke Skywalker in school! So SW trilogy has a lot of nostalgic teen moments for me. But even considering all this nostalgia factor it still stands out as a great trilogy. Will people remember the new episodes the same way in a decade or two? Discuss!