lost space

So here's my random thought of the day, conceived during the unlikely act of simultaneously reading Bill Simmons' More Cowbell blog on ESPN, and Berardinelli's review of 'Sith.

I'm a big starwars fan, but I just haven't been able to get excited about the new ones, and I think I've worked out why. You see, my third and fourth favourite star wars films are, respectively, Jedi and Sith. A bunch of people have said they preferred Sith to Jedi, and I can understand that; the story is darker and perhaps more compelling, and of course there are no ewoks in Sith (nor the hijinks that come with them). I think the sole reason I prefer Jedi is special effects. Lucas learnt a lesson a bit between Clones and Sith - the climax in Clones was one of the biggest messes I've ever seen, and he cut back for the most recent instalment. Not enough though. Its still too busy, there's still too much going on in the background, and there still isn't enough space in the shots.

There are other faults there - the dialogue is worse than ever - "Hold me like you did by the lake on Naboo when there was nothing but our love … no plotting, no war" (my God, I just realised that the worst line in the last film is a reference to the worst single scene in the series) - and he no longer has a Harrison Ford or a Carrie Fisher to make it work - but this overkill, which has been growing ever since he went back and started touching up the originals (example: putting animals in the Mos Eisley scenes), is the real issue. In fact, without the numerous references to the previous films (and the games - I got to know Adi Gallia and Plo Koon through Jedi Power Battles), and perhaps some of the scenes on the lava planet, I might well have gone for Menace ahead of Sith.

All that said, in any star wars film, even episode 2, there are moments when I get totally caught up in the universe, and for that I can overlook a lot.