Home News
Reviews The List
NYTS Links
Ramblin' Man Gallery
Poor, poor George Lucas. Ok, fiscally speaking that's a lie. When you can finance a $100 million movie OUT OF YOUR OWN POCKET, YOU AREN'T HURTING FOR CASH. (How much is he worth, anyway? Let's see... 5 movies making over $800 mill each, plus the license for toys and junk... movies on tape... carry the 7... daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang.) But we're talking in terms of Movie Legacy here. Ah, remember that? The feeling that NO ONE WOULD DARE MATCH THE EPICS OF LUCAS. Oops. Guess again.
A long time ago, literally, in movie theaters everywhere, movies were transformed when Luca and co. gave us the 'Star Wars Trilogy'. Suddenly sci-fi wasn't just fluffy stuff with ghastly effects that kids went to see. It became family entertainment and it was SOPHISTICATED entertainment. And don't forget, this was when the movie as The Event started. Remember standing in line to see 'Return of the Jedi'? I dragged my parents to the theater at 7 am for the 11 am showing, and shared tea cakes with a nice family as we waited for the box office to open. The good news is the power and beauty of The Event Movie hasn't been lost. 'Return of the King' carries the torch better then any Event Movie in years. Bad news for George is he's being left in the dust with Episode 3 waiting for a May 2005 release. So what happened?
The first problem for me were the 'roles' of 3PO and R2. What's the big deal with the droids? In 'Episodes 4-6' these two were real, human characters. When R2 was hit in the Trench, you freaked. When 3PO was shot by the Stormtroopers in Cloud City you were shocked. Whether it was R2 finding THE switch to make the Falcon work or 3PO's story-telling ability to get the Ewoks to join the Rebellion, both droids were part of the team that helped the Rebellion to defeat the Empire. In the prequels, they aren't the same characters. They're basically furniture and comic relief... and bad comic relief at that. Case in point, the Battle of Geonosius; the droids fumble about in the midst of a slaughter... and that's funny? Sorry, doesn't wash. 3PO was ANNOYING as hell, but he was NEVER incompetent, and R2 was kinda like Alfred; reliable, quirky, but ALWAYS got stuff done.
Next, Lucas is the victim of the success he created. When 'Episode 4' was released, everyone was shocked since no one ever did a sci-fi epic like this. Nope, not even '2001' counts. With 'Episode 4', sure the effects were impressive, but the grand sense of adventure mixed with cutting-edge, unprecedented effects bowled everyone over. Throw in an epic story Homer would appreciate and you just sat there, jaw dropped, PRAYING another movie was on the way... and it was.