Thursday, May 20, 2004
Can Star Wars be Saved?
MSNBC Contributor Christopher Bahn has a solution: fire everyone. He suggests relieving George Lucas of control, getting rid of half the cast, and making Episode III a stand-alone story, independent of the first two prequels, designed only to transition into the original Star Wars.
Bahn's thoughts on those deserving the axe...
- Geroge Lucas, Writer/Director: "has not come up with a single witty or memorable phrase in the four hours of prequel trilogy out so far."
- Hayden Christensen, Anakin Skywalker: His "attempts to put on the magisterial rage that must become Darth Vader’s hallmark instead sound like a tenth-grader whose dad won’t let him borrow the car."
- Natalie Portman, Amidala: "has all the regal presence of a mallrat shopping at her local Fashion Bug."
Agree, Agree, Disagree. I didn't think Portman was a problem in the first two.
Here's the real problem: People forget that it's the 21st Century. Star Wars, for many of us, was a breakthrough film in the late 70s/early 80s. We were young and seeing this new genre of epic sci-fi movies with state-of-the-art effects and sound was an amazing experience.
Now, after being inundated with mindless action movies and explosions for two decades, the new SW movies come along. They're not really that different than the originals (don't give me this bad dialogue or wooden acting tripe; the originals had plenty of that), but it's a different era, and the way we judge movies is different.
And of course there will always be those people that live so far in the past that nothing will satisfy them. The new trilogy could be Schindler's List, and those folks will still complain that Lucas ruined the franchise, as if it somehow belonged more to them than to him. People like that make me sick. It's a level of arrogance that must be strived for, because I don't see how it occurs naturally.
I, for one, look forward to Episode III.
ADDED: MSNBC has posted some of the fan responses to the story.
I also visited TheForce.Net for their reaction to the reaction:
|
Bahn's thoughts on those deserving the axe...
- Geroge Lucas, Writer/Director: "has not come up with a single witty or memorable phrase in the four hours of prequel trilogy out so far."
- Hayden Christensen, Anakin Skywalker: His "attempts to put on the magisterial rage that must become Darth Vader’s hallmark instead sound like a tenth-grader whose dad won’t let him borrow the car."
- Natalie Portman, Amidala: "has all the regal presence of a mallrat shopping at her local Fashion Bug."
Agree, Agree, Disagree. I didn't think Portman was a problem in the first two.
Here's the real problem: People forget that it's the 21st Century. Star Wars, for many of us, was a breakthrough film in the late 70s/early 80s. We were young and seeing this new genre of epic sci-fi movies with state-of-the-art effects and sound was an amazing experience.
Now, after being inundated with mindless action movies and explosions for two decades, the new SW movies come along. They're not really that different than the originals (don't give me this bad dialogue or wooden acting tripe; the originals had plenty of that), but it's a different era, and the way we judge movies is different.
And of course there will always be those people that live so far in the past that nothing will satisfy them. The new trilogy could be Schindler's List, and those folks will still complain that Lucas ruined the franchise, as if it somehow belonged more to them than to him. People like that make me sick. It's a level of arrogance that must be strived for, because I don't see how it occurs naturally.
I, for one, look forward to Episode III.
ADDED: MSNBC has posted some of the fan responses to the story.
I also visited TheForce.Net for their reaction to the reaction:
While the responses are interesting to read, MSNBC tries to give the impression that 99% of the fans agree with the writer. We know for a fact that MSNBC received MANY letters critical of the story author from passionate fans because we received copies of them. Even if the letters cannot be posted because of language or subject matter, the fact that they ignored the fans that support George, Hayden, and Natalie is disingenuous and hurts the credibility of the original arguement.
Longhorn Sites
Astros Sites