Episode III
Couple thoughts. Nothing big.Star Wars: Episode III is pretty much what everybody thought it would be like. The effects were good. The story was interesting. Light sabers clashed. Darth Vader was knighted. Most importantly, it was better than the first two, which sucked ass. Pretty cool stuff.
Though, I guess, it was still just a movie. The insignificance and limitations of movies has become pretty apparent to me as of late. As good as any movie is, they still can't quite reach the maximum pleasure threshold that humans are able to reach. They're never as good as you really want, or imagined they could be. Yet, movies are probably one of the most significant sources of entertainment in modern America.
I think the future of entertainment will be in gaming. I've watched a thousand movies, and none of them has been able to give me as much an emotional range as a game could. Games have a unique ability to cause the player to become the character, make decisions, reap the benefits, or suffer the consequences. A good game can cause an incredible spectrum of emotion, from fear, fright, satisfaction, sadness, anticipation, confusion, frustration, or just plain happiness. The technology has grown in such a way to give us as realistic environment as possible, and will continue to grow.
But movies will always be movies, conforming to a particular formula, with the same actors, same jokes, same endings, and the same autopilot reaction from the viewer. Their possibilities have been exhausted. Did the technical CGI excellence of Star Wars III make it more effective as a film? I'd say no. But the evolution of gaming, which has grown as quickly as the technological advances that support it, has immeasurably improved with each year, while films have remained the same. Perhaps this correlates with the incremental decrease in movie attendance, leaving Hollywood execs panicked, though not necessarily proactive.
And yet, game makers continue to be competitive in their approach, unwavering in their goal to create wholly entertaining, challenging, realistic environments that immerses the player in an experience like no other. Coupled with interactivity, Resident Evil the movie is a disaster compared to Resident Evil the game.
posted by steven @ 1:35 AM
8 Comments:
for those of you interested in gaming, particularly the online you-inhabit-the-character types that Steve mentioned, there are several games coming out this year sometime that will likely pique your interest. The first one may only sound cool to dorks like me and Failor, but it is Dungeons and Dragons, the online game. But, the one that will be universally popular, that all of us will buy, and we will all be friends on together...
ready?
Yes, an online game where you are a pirate. Start from working for another famous pirate and work your way up to commanding your own fleet of ships, bent on destruction. Or, become a famous pirate-hunter and hunt those scurvy dogs down. Anyways, I will include a link if you want to check it out for more info. But I will be signing up from the UK, so hope to see everyone else jump all over that too!
www.burningsea.com
Your thoughts are welcome.
oh, and since this is a movie blog, I guess I'll add my two cents.
HERE BE SPOILERS!!
I liked how the film doesn't wait for a battle. In the first two films, there's like one major "Star War" and its like 90 minutes into the movie. But this one starts right into it, almost like Ep. 5.
Steve's right, there is a lot of lightsaber dueling, but I guess I don't feel like its gotten old, although it may have lost a bit of its luster. But when Darth Maul came out with the double-edged and Gen. Vicious had four at once in this one, it kept me interested. Although I would prefer to see more striking of the sabers and less flipping and jumping around. I think that was what was so nice about the earlier ones (And Ep. 1), they didn't have the benefit of CGI effects, so they just duked it out.
Finally, Michelle made a very interesting point about Padme's fate. Could they not have thought up something better than "apparently she's dying because she lost her will to live." She is a strong character who doesn't let herself get tied down in the first two movies, but all of a sudden Anakin kills some kids and she can't live anymore, despite giving birth? Most moms I know wouldn't give up and die just because hubby went to jail.
Anyways, I really enjoyed the movie, its nice to have the puzzle all in place now. The too bad thing is not seeing the movies that were supposed to be after the originals, since now those actors are probably too old to make it look real. George Lucas said he is done forever, but as Ebert points out, that doesn't mean someone else won't take the ball and run with it, and I can't say I'd mind if they did.
That's a good point. Padme still has children she could raise, and she foolishly lets herself die, or "loses the will to live". Ho ho. It makes me wonder what kind of a queen she must have been.
Poetically, however, Lucas wanted to show how just how bad the Dark Side is, in that Anakin joining the Dark Side to save her was actually the reason she was a threat in the first place.
My biggest complaint in the whole movie was that Darth Vader just wasn't evil enough. We got the whole grappling with Good and Bad, but did we ever see Anakin become evil? It's assumed that he killed a bunch of children, but its ultimate effect was dull and separate. All we really got was a whiny, confused kid that ultimately gets a helmet (and bellows, "Nooooooooooo!")
I loved the Emperor, and thought he was deliciously evil and devilish as he manipulated Skywalker. Lucas was really able to draw Biblical inspiration here (...imagine if Jesus fell for the temptations of Satan).
I wasn't impressed with General G. as much as I thought I would be. In theory, he sounds cool...but his voice bothered me. He was able to juggle around four light sabers, but they couldn't implant some sort of device to clear his throat?
Again, the acting was absolutely terrible (besides the Emperor). There was lots of action, but I got pretty numb to it by the end. Lots of sweeping spaceships, doing what they do. The Wookie battle could have been a lot better too.
Probably one of my favorite parts was when the Jedi were getting assassinated. It was very dramatic and the rhythm kept it pretty engaging. I also really liked R2D2s little comedic bits, which were actually funny as compared to how unfunny the other films were.
All in all, the dark side is just more interesting...and more fun. And that's what Star Wars should have always been about: fun.
well, I'm guessing that the problem is that Lucas didn't need to do all of the things that would have made you enjoy it more, because he could satisfy the hard-core fans without going that far. Thinking about it, they just wanted to really know how he becomes "Darth Vader" and why he has to wear that costume. Well, Lucas answered both and opted not to fill us in and make us really believe he was the Dark Side.
I agree, the acting was deplorable and some of the lines were as well, but that's something that we've come to expect from this series.
I also agree that the Wookie battle was a shame, they showed, what, maybe 90 seconds of it? I kept wondering when they were going to go back and show the outcome but they never did.
As I said, however, I still enjoyed the movie all in all, but that doesn't mean that there were aspects I didn't care for.
You know, the acting in the old Star Wars movies doesn't bother me. I think it might have to do with the fact that Lucas didn't actually direct them.
Actually, I thought of something. It appeared that some of the fighter space ships had wings in the beginning, which really doesn't make much sense because they're useless in space. Unless they can fold up, which makes it easier for reentry into gravitation atmosphere, but these ships were clearly space fighters. What gives?
I'm not an astrophysict, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were just added to make ships look cooler and makes lines such as "Set S-Foils to Attack Position (from Ep. IV)" possible. They're worth it for that alone.
I see bush as anakin... he went to the dark side in order to "do good".
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