tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898934752570289319.post2283912559914075188..comments2023-05-12T04:56:38.270-07:00Comments on Dylan and the Movies: #52, #53: Star Wars: The Clone Wars vs. The Empire Strikes BackDylan Gaughanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00450496248701505386noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898934752570289319.post-17979647406570584692008-08-21T02:29:00.000-07:002008-08-21T02:29:00.000-07:00Oh, without a doubt, the comparison is unfair. I m...Oh, without a doubt, the comparison is unfair. I mean, it's no accident that I'm stacking the deck against this guy. <BR/><BR/>Empire isn't just an anomaly in the series: it's one of the few great exceptions to the rule that sequels are typically worse than the original. So, Lucas has pretty much been doomed to failure from the start. That's why I go back to Empire, and why I think that is the sole movie that rises above the series as not only a great sequel, but an all out great movie. <BR/><BR/>I compared it to The Clone Wars because of what I explained in the review: it, like TCW, is the most far removed from Lucas's controlling, fat fingers. Therefore, it had an opportunity to succeed in the same way. I'm guessing that Lucas's fat fingers were still pretty deep into this pudding, though, and the results suffer for it, not only for the reasons I mention, but also because of one you mentioned: the Clone Wars animated series of shorts that already aired years ago. Those were excellent, and the closest thing we've gotten to the original Star Wars "universe" since Empire.<BR/><BR/>I dislike Jedi so much I never even mentioned it in this review. Beyond the first half hour (once they escape the Sarlac pit), it's pretty much all downhill and virtually unwatchable beyond a few scattered scenes. I still have a fondness for A New Hope, but definitely recognize it to be good, not great. <BR/><BR/>Still, I don't think the "children's fare" defense holds too much water. I think Lucas confuses "children's fare" with "childish," and handles his directing and writing in regard to the latter. Some serious shit goes down in that last new trilogy movie, from Anakin slaughtering all of the Jedi (including a pack of little kids, one of whom gives the movie's best performance when he stumbles backwards at the sight of Skywalker activating his lightsaber... damn if that little kid's reaction doesn't break my heart) to Obi Wan lopping off appendages like Anakin is a human pinata.<BR/><BR/>Lucas asks children to handle a lot in these scenes, but I think the real irony is that HE can't handle them. The kids will be fine; it's this childish toad-necked lump of excess that can't deal with human emotion.<BR/><BR/>DylanDylan Gaughanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00450496248701505386noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898934752570289319.post-84219904569890585732008-08-20T23:34:00.000-07:002008-08-20T23:34:00.000-07:00Mightn't it have been a little less lopsided had y...Mightn't it have been a little less lopsided had you compared this iteration of the animated <I>Clone Wars</I> to the animated version produced by Cartoon Network and directed by (the brilliant) Gendy Tartakovsky (<I>Samurai Jack, Dexter's Laboratory</I>)? In a way, what you've done here is like comparing <I>Citizen Kane</I> to Welles' commercial work in the 70s ("We'll sell no wine before its time.").<BR/><BR/><I>Empire</I> is a classic, yes, but it's also an anomaly. Of the six movies, it is the <B>only</B> good one. <I>A New Hope</I> is only "good" because it was surprising and new in terms of genre and effects. The acting (aside from, again, Ford and Fischer) was tired (Guinness), or whiny (Hamill). The story was flimsy at best. The comic relief (C-3PO and R2-D2) were only slightly less cheesy and childish than (oh my God, I can't believe I'm about to say this) Jar Jar Binks. And direction, or directing, can really only be seen in the scenes without humans. Oh, art direction, costumes, and makeup were quite good, but "pretty" can't entirely account for the idolatry, nor does "pretty" a good movie make.<BR/><BR/>Even if one could subtract the Ewoks from <I>Return</I>, it would still suffer from the same problems as all the other movies.<BR/><BR/>And so, considering <I>Empire</I> as anomalous, perhaps Lucas' "children's fare" defense is viable after all.shhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12176978203253514796noreply@blogger.com