Sketchley's Translations Main Index
By AARON SKETCHLEY (aaronsketch@HOTdelete_thisMAIL.com) Ver 1.0 2020.06.21

Star Wars Reviews

Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars Clone Wars Vol. 1
Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens Star Wars: Episode VIII: The Last Jedi Star Wars: Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace

stars

Release date: 1999
Written by: George Lucas
Directed by: George Lucas
Review by: Aaron Sketchley
Reviewed on:
Coming soon!
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Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones

stars

Release date: 2002
Written by: George Lucas, Jonathan Hales
Directed by: George Lucas
Review by: Aaron Sketchley
Reviewed on: 2016.12.18
In many ways, I consider this the best of the prequel series. Mainly because the plot -once it gets going- keeps building and building to a visceral climax that, despite some missteps on the way, has some genuine concern for the fate of the protagonists. Overall, the prequel films suffers from having boring Droid opponents that the protagonists have to hack their way through—something that quickly gets repetitive. The new termite aliens in this film, though an improvement over the Droids, are mostly bland and impotent, though they do get interesting in the arena sequence.

That said, I was painfully aware of how uneven the film is during a recent rewatch. There are stretches in the beginning that are... boring. In short, there's too much exposition. I also disagreed with the boneheaded portrayed of the Jedi. But never-mind that, the most aggravating part was how the script turned them into a pseudo-religious organization that demands its members be celibate. No wonder members are leaving the organization and turning to the dark side. And what happened to the implications of the 'knight' part of their name from the original series?

That said, the last third of the film is still quite enjoyable, and the acting improves considerably—especially after Count Dooku starts appearing on screen. And that battle between the Clone Troopers and the Droid army? That alone is worth the price of admission. I'm glad I was able to see that in all its glory in an IMAX theatre.

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Star Wars Clone Wars Vol. 1 (2003)

2 stars

Release date: 2003–2004
Written by: Bryan Andrews, Darrick Bachman, Paul Rudish, Genndy Tartakovsky
Directed by: Genndy Tartakovsky
Review by: Aaron Sketchley
Reviewed on: 2017.01.23
This TV series makes a great addition to the overall Star Wars series, filling-in some of the blanks about the Clone Wars, in an easily digestible format. The story picks up after the end of Eps. 2, and due to the format (3 minute long episodes released weekly), the writing boils things down to the bare essentials. The 'acting' isn't exactly subtle (it's a cartoon. For kids), but it conveys the key points, without all the exposition and politics that bog down the prequel movies. In short—it's fun, and it succeeds!

On top of the introduction of quite a few memorable villains, and an exploration of the activities of the (elite) Clone Troopers, we also get to see the development of Jedi and Sith apprentices, and one of the more memorable light sabre duels in the entire prequel trilogy story arc—there is genuine tension in this one.

I'm not a big fan of the character designs, but the animation is extremely fluid, and some of the vistas and battles they create are astoundingly complex. The visual design is top notch. It leaves me with asking - how could they do so much and get so much right, with so little?

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Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

2.5 stars

Release date: 2005
Written by: George Lucas
Directed by: George Lucas
Review by: Aaron Sketchley
Reviewed on: 2016.12.31
A great double feature. The first hour is the conclusion of the Clone Wars TV series (the great little one that aired from 2003 to 2005), and then you get a movie about the transition from what we've seen in the prequel series to what appears at the beginning of the original trilogy.

The movie is anticlimactic, and because of that, it seems to drag on at times. There were also some bizarre choices made in characterization, especially during the opening sequence (well, third of the movie), to the point that I was left feeling that some of the actions were out of character (E.g.: R2 burning Battle Droids alive) or adding nothing to the film. The acting is wooden at times, and some of the dialogue is inane—after repeated viewings it has even grown aggravating.

That said, pretty much any scene with Ian McDiarmid in it is operating at a higher level (although they should have continued to use the stunt double in the light sabre fight between his Palpatine's and Samuel L. Jackson's Mace Windu). McDiarmid gets some of the best dialogue in the film, and is one of the highlights of the film. The rest of the movie isn't all bad. In fact, its darker tone is refreshing compared to its predecessors, and it is neat seeing the seeds for the original trilogy starting to bloom during the film's coda.

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Solo: A Star Wars Story

stars

Release date: 2018
Written by: Jonathan Kasdan, Lawrence Kasdan
Directed by: Ron Howard
Review by: Aaron Sketchley
Reviewed on:
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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

stars

Release date: 2016
Written by: Chris Weitz, Tony Gilroy
Directed by: Gareth Edwards
Review by: Aaron Sketchley
Reviewed on:
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Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope

stars

Release date: 1977
Written by: George Lucas
Directed by: George Lucas
Review by: Aaron Sketchley
Reviewed on:
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Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

stars

Release date: 1980
Written by: Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan
Directed by: Irvin Kershner
Review by: Aaron Sketchley
Reviewed on:
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Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

stars

Release date: 1983
Written by: George Lucas
Directed by: Richard Marquand
Review by: Aaron Sketchley
Reviewed on:
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Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens

2.5 stars

Release date: 2015
Written by: Lawrence Kasdan, J. J. Abrams, Michael Arndt
Directed by: J. J. Abrams
Review by: Aaron Sketchley
Reviewed on: 2016.07.21
The good: the acting. The emotions and interactions between the characters felt truly genuine. After watching this, the prequel trilogy just paled. Adam Driver hits the right notes and created an interesting villain and, most importantly, someone who is highly unpredictable.

The bad: although the movie is great on first viewing, once you realize how similar a story it is telling to the first Star Wars movie, it looses a lot of its luster. The first half of the movie was the most interesting for me—giving us new visuals and situations. On rewatching it, the back half of the film has developed a kind of "been there done that" feel. Also, I found the lack of "traditional" Star Wars aliens odd. I don't mind new alien races being introduced, but the lack of existing ones became a distracting thought in scenes that should have had a few more familiar "faces".

The ugly: the movie has a giant flaw in its story - who is the Republic? Why do the bad guys feel that it is necessary to destroy multiple planets in one shot to 'destroy' the Republic - which we were given the impression in the preceding movies spans the galaxy? Yes, it's an action movie, but the complete lack of information on something so vital to the plot was... jaw droppingly astounding.

... and then there is the star-sucking big space gun. From a scientific perspective, it just doesn't work. From a visual spectacle perspective, I get why they wanted to do it the way they did it. However, the only way I can wrap my head around the sequence were the bad guys shoot at multiple planets and characters on another witness the attack as it happens, is if those weren't planets, but moons around a gas giant that's hidden just off screen. And even that's stretching it a bit too far! For a movie that has so much working in its favour, that sequence is something that jarringly boots my suspension of believe in the movie out the window—something that the George Lucas prequel films never did.

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Star Wars: Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

stars

Release date: 2017
Written by: Rian Johnson
Directed by: Rian Johnson
Review by: Aaron Sketchley
Reviewed on:
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Star Wars: Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

stars

Release date: 2019
Written by: Chris Terrio, J. J. Abrams
Directed by: J. J. Abrams
Review by: Aaron Sketchley
Reviewed on:
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