I am not going to lie to you, I am a big star wars fan. That is, I am a fan of the first three movies in the trilogy, which has since been turned into an epic of five movies with the sixth one due in another year or two. Lately, however, I have noticed that star wars has not been exciting me so much. First the original three movies were re-released in the theaters. This made me extremely excited, for it was giving me a chance to see these movies the way they were meant to be seen; on the big screen. When episode one came out I was also excited. I had my qualms about it, but greatly anticipated the next one to be released. Then the next one came out, I was still excited to see it, but not quite as excited as for the first one. Now anticipation should be building for the (what should be) final movie in the Star Wars series, and well, to be honest I am not anxious to see this one as I was the others. What is it about these newer movies that have turned me away from the Star Wars Universe?
I. The Actors
Lets face it, the actors in the "prequals" are just not as good as the actors
in the original trilogy. Come on, Natalie Portman is no Carrie Fisher;
Ewan Mcgreggor, all though a great actor, is no Sir Alec Guiness; and Hayden
Chrsitensen, well I don't even know where to start with him. Also, Samuel L.
Jackson as a jedi? "Reach into that bag and pull out my light saber, you'll
know its mine because its the one that says, 'Bad Mutha Fucka' on it." I like
Samuel L, but he just doesn't fit into Star Wars.
II. The characters
There are no sleazy characters that you love and hate at the same time. Han Solo
was a great character in the original trilogy. He was sleazy, he was rough, he was
untamed. He was a criminal, yet somehow a good guy. He owed money to gangsters,
and was always threatening to leave with his reward money. Yet, he helped the
rebels defeat the empire, and won the princess's heart in the end without any
cheesy lines. Which brings us to my next point.
III. The Script
There seemed to be too many cheesy lines in the script, and cliche scenes. One
scene that comes to mind is in the Episode 2, when Anakin and Amidala are supposed
to be falling in love. They are running through, and rolling around in fields
spitting out one cheesy line after another. "I don't like sand," Anakin tells
Padme at one point. "It's coarse and rough. Not like you. You're soft and smooth."
Now, it could be that the acting
further emphasized these lines. Portman and Christensen seemed to say their lines
as if they were reading them right off of an index card in front of their faces.
My point though is that the first three movies do not seem to have these terrible
lines in them.
IV. The story
One of the things that appeals so much to me in the original trilogy is the story.
There is a lot of mystery to it, and it allows you to fill in those holes using
your imagination. What is the force? "It's an energy that surrounds all living
things." Says Obi-Wan-Kenobi in the episode 4 (played by Sir Alec Guiness). What
does it mean to be a jedi? Well, its apparently some sort of religion that was wiped
out years ago. How did you become a jedi? How was the jedi religion wiped out?
And finally, how did the evil emperor gain control of the galaxy? What was it like
before the emperor took power? All these questions, and the answers provided in
the original trilogy were perfect. The explained, but left to the imagination
certain aspects. The recent movies have killed this mystery, and worse they have
attempted to explain things in a ridiculous way, such explaining the force with
something called midi-chlorians which live inside of people and tell them the
will of the force. This is probably my biggest complaint about the new movies.
They have extinguished the mysterious thus decreasing the allure of the movies.
So this begs the question, what am I going to do when the final episode of Star Wars comes out. Will I go to see it? Of course I will. Will I go to see it on opening night? Probably. Will I camp-out waiting for tickets? Most definitely not. Will it make me happy? I hope it does, for I am still a Star Wars Fan. I do not give up so easily on things that I like. Besides, I've gotten used to disappointments. I am, after all, a fan of Cleveland and Philadelphia sports.