Not reading any posts until I can see ROS tomorrow. Just popped back in to continue my episode recaps.
Ep. V - The Empire Strikes Back:
I mentioned that, with A New Hope, even though I liked it when I first saw it as a kid, I didn't love it. The slow pacing just didn't hold my attention as thoroughly as my 7-year-old self needed in order to initially take it to that level. That kind of changed in the months that followed. All the toys, the novelization, the comics, and all the hype about it made me a fan more than seeing it at the drive-in when it was released. And I was so excited when they began talking about a sequel. Yet, for some reason, by the time they got around to releasing Empire, my fandom had waned a bit, and I never made it a priority to get to the theater to see it. At 10 years old, it was a major endeavor to get to the movie theater myself, which involved walking a pretty long distance to get to a bus stop that would then take me the long bus ride to the nearest theater, and so on. And my parents weren't into it, so it wasn't on their radar. Beyond that, I can't really explain why, but it is what it is. But I did of course see it eventually and rightly loved it.
Three things that worked:
-"I am your father" has to be #1. I don't know what else needs to be said.
-Better pacing. It just flows a lot better than Ep. IV.
-"Wait...so the good guys don't win??
? What? I'm so confused about how I feel!" Yeah. Perfect ending.
-Bonus (yes, I know this makes 4--it's MY post, so shut up): Force choking the living daylights out of every officer who failed. This set up so many awesome moments that made Vader's character and made this film as a whole.
Three things that didn't:
-Luke's training was too short. It was, what, just a few days at most? And then he is able to duel Vader and not die within seconds? (yeah, I know Vader was just toying with him and intentionally not mopping the floor with him while he tried to turn him, but still) As I've mentioned a bunch of times in connection with not only these films, but others as well, there's no reason why things can't just be stretched out over more time. Just have sort of a montage or something that shows a longer passage of time without unnecessarily stretching out the film itself. The precedent was unfortunately set here for things that should take a long time happening too instantaneously. Not a huge deal, but an ongoing pet peeve that is more irritating than it should be because it is so easy to fix.
-C3PO as comic relief. He was
sort of that in IV, but to a much lesser extent. And while this film wasn't over the top, it started to move that direction, which would later result in a lot of people rolling their eyes whenever 3PO was onscreen in other films that followed.
-I struggle to come up with a third. Um...making Luke's fall through the ventilation shaft a bit more believable? Maybe?
Minor tweaks that could have made it better: Not much I can say, other than maybe the VERY minor tweaks suggested with Luke's training and 3PO not being silly. This film is just great. Very satisfying installment in the saga that left most of us eagerly anticipating what would happen next.
Topic: Star Wars Discussion Thread v. Rise of Skywalker / Mandalorian (merged) (Read 255209 times)