May. 20, 2005 - 12:10 pm
we started on our Star Wars marathon the day before yesterday. i've already written a review of Episode II, so i'll write a bit about Episode I now. this is one of those movies that everyone expected would be awesome and just turned out to be more than a little disappointing. it's not that it's really a bad movie, it just doesn't live up to your expectations.
this is "the beginning" of the Star Wars saga. it's about how Anakin Skywalker gets discovered by the Jedi on Tatooine and becomes the apprentice of Obi-Wan Kenobi. we also see how he meets his future wife, Padm�. we're introduced to the new character Qui-Gon Jinn, played splendidly by Liam Neeson, who was the teacher of Obi-Wan.
i think one of the main problems that George Lucas has had with Episode I and Episode II is the fact that he just doesn't do a good job of directing people. if he could just choose to handle everything except for the actors, they could be much better movies. this was one of the great traits of The Empire Strikes Back (1981) and Return of the Jedi (1983); they both had different directors. also, his dialogue has been pretty shabby lately. it has become apparent that the great modern playwright, Tom Stoppard, has done some ghost writing on Episode III's dialogue. hopefully that will make for a much better film. we shall see...tomorrow...