Star Wars and the stars
Monday, July 11th 2005
It was at a late afternoon showing that I saw Star Wars. The film was due to kick off at 16:15 and I was there about 16:00 sitting on my own watching the silent adverts and wondering if any one else would turn up when I heard the door open and walking up the isle were Fran and Dougie from Travis! Words were briefly exchanged:
"Ooh, this is like a private cinema, sorry to disturb"
Somewhat off putting when you're trying to concentrate on a film especially when they're chatting about phoning their guitarist to make sure he was ok in London (this was the day of the bombing). I didn't bother them - what would you say - though I had my camera with me so there could have been a photo opportunity. Decided i wasn't really that bothered and that they would appreciate being left alone. About eight others came in to watch the film when the lights had gone down so not sure anyone else noticed them. Just surprised for guys who presumably have a certain amount of free time and spend a lot of time on airplanes that they had never seen it before. Maybe they liked it so much they needed to see it again rather than sitting bored in a hotel room.
Also they're obviously selling some records - I had balked at £5.75 (£5.75!)for a regular coke and a popcorn but they came in laden down with drinks, popcorn and hotdogs. Oh these rich rock stars and their decadent lifestyles.
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Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
Monday, July 11th 2005
Finally got around to seeing this film and you know it wasn't bad. Less clunky dialogue than the previous chapters certainly. Maybe it was only good when judged against how dodgy the previous two were but it was nice that everything wrapped up tidily and dovetailed into what happens in episode IV. It would have been easy to have felt cheated by this, this was perhaps the most difficult film for Lucas to get right. To a certain extent it wrote itself but the pressure must have been on to get everyone's motivations right and to properly explain what happens in A New Hope without it feeling forced. Christiansen still can't act although he is better in this than the previous chapter and generally I bought into what was the final catalyst that pushed him to the dark side. It all seemed rather easy though - there was no real soul searching on his part, he gave himself over to Palpatine far too easily. I realise that the groundwork for this has been laid by Palpatine for a long time but still, it could have been dragged out a bit more.
The effects in this one I liked, lots of really cool design stuff with a nice retro futuristic feel. I didn't find the SFX as intrusive this time round either. Nice sound effects too, I liked that all the droids screamed and groaned as they died which sounds horrific but was actually quite comical. R2D2 has quite a bit to do but disappointingly C3PO is hardly in it and gets his memory wiped at the end which of course is necessary for Ep.IV but didn't seem to make much sense, why not wipe R2D2 also in that case? The whole Vader getting burned and chopped to bits was very well done and his subsequent rebuilding complete with cool inside shot of the helmet was excellent. His reaction when he heard of Padme's fate was less good, the character doesn't work in that suit when he tries to act human, it just looks silly although it was interesting to see him have a human reaction, presumably the last he would have until he rescues Luke from the Emperor at the end of Return of the Jedi (though I suppose we never see him off duty - who knows what he gets up to when he's on his own?)
All round good stuff and I look forward to seeing it again when the DVD comes out.
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