Thread:Deathstalker666/@comment-1915529-20140221183807/@comment-3547390-20140513065630

Just stopping by after Empire and plan on watching Jedi. So far my opinions are the same, Star Wars is a good movie filled of mysticism and intrigue, but it is Empire that improves on the formula. It shows the enemies aren't fodder, that they are powerful and actively hunting for the rebellion. The heroes flee only to get caught in another web, getting pushed into worse and worse situations until they are caught. While I enjoyed Star Wars, Empire has now brought me to tears of amazement two times in a row. That isn't just a good movie, it is a piece of art. Forget Lucas and his whole Empire is the low point, it is mastery at its finest. So yeah, Empire is one of the best things ever even on a second watch.

Enough talking, time for Jedi! After the masterpiece I saw, Jedi should be a good way to wrap it all up!

EDIT: Well, time to make some people hate me. Jedi is a mediocre film that doesn't compare to the amazingness of Empire and falls apart on too many levels to even be around the first film. Some cool things exist, like Bothan spies being mentioned as well as adding a ton of alien species that aren't goofy. The effects are pretty cool and for explosion value you get three battle scenes at the end. There, I said some nice things. I don't hate the movie and feel I could watch it again as part of the Star Wars experience, but it didn't captivate me like the second or even get the respect of the first.

I did kinda cheat and read online that this was supposed to be directed towards families in comparison to the harsher Empire. So I went into this with the knowledge that it would be more kiddy (well, with Ewoks I somewhat expected it). I also knew about Leia in the slave bikini, so that didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was the way they handled the previous slave girl, Oola, and the way Jabba made it sound like he wanted to be sexually pleasured by her. Not exactly something I expected in a family flick. In fact, I honestly believe that the Tatooine scenes are more for adults than anything in Empire. So we basically have a movie with an identity crisis that has no idea who they are marketing. However, while all weird and confusing, it wasn't actually anything to hurt the movie and is just an oddity.

Okay, now for what went wrong. Well, the entire plotline revolves around a second Death Star. I find it somewhat faulty that the villans keep going back to this idea. Oh, and this one was intentionally leaked to the rebels so the Emperor could get Luke (the only thing I can get is that it is why Yoda was obsessing with patience, so this means it leads to the dark side). I remembered the second Death Star so I couldn't complain too much, but I found it somewhat silly that they go back to the same thing that caused important leaders to die (Tarkin) and then lure the person who destroyed the first one (Luke). But, I was willing to put it past me.

Next scene we get an imperial shuttle landing on a star destroyer and Vader stepping out. I noticed a couple times in the movie that things were basically taken from earlier movies. While I could ignore this, Empire didn't have such glaring reusing. Luke is in his X-Wing talking to R2 while we hear the tracking computer. But, okay, they wanted to cut costs so they could focus on more awesome stuff after blowing a ton of money on Empire (my assumption). Oh, Vader also sounds different in this scene for some reason and it annoys me to no end.

Ah, Jabba's palace. The masterful plot of Luke Skywalker to save his friend Han Solo by imprisoning everyone else and taking such chances that seemed really convenient. I guess that is another of my problems with the movie, everything was too convenient. Lando got out of the Death Star II just as it exploded while Luke did the exact same thing in the hangar. Convenience happened before, I mean Luke barely avoided Imperial capture and blew up the Death Star just as it was firing in the original, yet it feels like every moment of this movie was convenience. Nothing felt natural.

We get probably my least favorite song in all of Star Wars. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykrUO2pelT8. This is just horrible. As a kid I hated it and I watched the prequels. That says something about how terrible it was. I get it, we are trying to fit some sort of pop into Star Wars. The problem is that it just doesn't work and ends up making it quite an annoying musical. What happened to the simplicity of the cantina band? That is a place where scum hang out, yet that sounds a lot better than this garbage. I guess the defense is that this is from the special edition and before we had this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV0LD-QAzg0. I actually like Lapti Nek a lot better than Jedi Rock (why do the Jedi have this as a rock song, how is this rock, and why do Jedi have rock songs?). Still not a big fan and feel it isn't that good of a piece, but it is better than the garbage that was added in the SE. Oh yeah, good time to say I watched the Blu Rays of the entire trilogy.

Okay, why did the Rancor put Luke down when he stuck a bone in his mouth when it was as easy as a twig to snap? Why does Lando lower his mask to look at Chewbacca when that could easily blow his cover? Why when Leia goes to attack the boss does nobody step in to help?

After the rescue Han Solo is made into a general! He has been missing in action for a year, has been a smuggler piloting around the main cast, and yet deserves to be a general while Luke doesn't get such an honor? Even Lando gets to become a general when he basically has been with the group for a year and doesn't do much for the rebellion besides pilot around the cast and look for Han. What did Lando do in the battle besides nearly die by a Sarlacc? I have heard people complain about how fast Luke was made a pilot in the rebellion, but that I get as they need every able bodied person they can get. But when you have Luke who is a near Jedi and able commander after the whole contrieved Jabba thing, Leia who has a history as a Rebel Leader, and a couple scoundrels who pilot around the cast (one who is still rather green, the other just coming back after spending a year in carbonite) who do you choose?

Ewoks being a threat to the Empire bugs me to no end. Spear chucking teddy bears that somehow can manage to properly pilot a speeder bike for a minute while barely hanging on and copilot an AT-ST even though they are a primitive society. After the threat in Empire, this is all a rather contrived way to defeat the empire. I also saw some Imperials having their hands behind their heads in larger scenes when they had the offensive, while when they were being attacked and needed reinforcements the guys inside were smiling for some odd reason. Is it odd to say this film felt campy in a world set primarily in the woods?

"Somehow I always knew" - So when I kissed you on the lips back on Hoth, that was me knowing that you were just a brother. Also gotta love how Ben tells Luke to conceal this info and the first thing Luke does upon seeing Leia is start smirking, causing her to ask what (and he fully plans on telling her by saying to ask him later). Good job concealing this information deep inside yourself Luke! No wonder Vader figured it out, you had trouble keeping it from Leia. Leia did a better job keeping it from Han Solo than Luke did on keeping it from her.

Blu Ray adds CGI. I know this because some effects look so terrible and out of place that it can only be CGI. Like when R2 gets shot on Endor. It also adds Vader saying "no" as he stops the Emperor which is pretty annoying and stupid. On the other hand it didn't prevent all the new ships from looking terrible on backgrounds.

I could rant on and on, but I think I should stop before I cause another extremely long comment and scare away Vork. I just am disappointed. Forget the prequels, Return of the Jedi is where everything started to faulter.