| Sketchley's Translations Main Index | Macross Portal |
| By AARON SKETCHLEY (aaronsketch@HOTdelete_thisMAIL.com) | Ver 1.5 2024.05.06 |
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.
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?
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.
On the surface, Solo is a good film. It fleshes out Han's backstory and adds to the overall Star Wars universe. However, it is a film that no one really needed. It skilfully depicts Han's origin and how he got hold of the Millennium Falcon, but these are things arguably better left to one's imagination. That said, the film's unexpected surprises are its depiction of Chewbacca—his origins and what type of person he is—as well as the development of Han's frenemies relationship with Lando Calrissian, and the unexpected wonderful surprise that is Lando's droid co-pilot L3-37. The film's casting is spot on, arguably except for Alden Ehrenreich who doesn't have enough smugness to pull off the title character. Donald Glover (Lando), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (L3-37), and Thandiwe Newton (Val) are particularly well cast and noteworthy.
Regrettably, the film has more than its fair share of problems. Some are due to the film's troubled production—specifically directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller being fired over 4 1/2 months into production, and being replaced by Ron Howard for the final few weeks. This is most apparent in the main villain's characterization. The original version of Dyden Vos appears to have been a lot more compelling and, dare I say, scary. But alas, due to the troubled production, Michael K. Williams (the original actor) was replaced by Paul Bettany, and the rewriting of Vos's scenes has diluted him into an unimaginative dingus that is overly accommodating in order to salvage as much footage from previously shot scenes as possible. A lesser flaw is that the film is basically a Western. While this isn't bad per se, it doesn't fit well with the tone of the rest of the Star Wars films as they are all basically fantasy stories about chivalric knights on quests, à la Lord of the Rings.
What I really liked about Solo, however, is its art design. One subtle and neat touch is the colour progression from greys and blues to yellows and oranges the further the film goes along, mirroring the hero's journey and development. Another nice touch is the CRT-style retro screens—used in such places as the Kessel mines—that are reminiscent of the 60's, in order to subtly reinforce that this is a prequel to the made-in-the-70's A New Hope. The film ends on an intriguing note that strongly suggests a sequel with Lando chasing Han and Chewbacca in order to get the Millennium Falcon back. However, despite that and all the strong performances, this film's poor box office performance virtually guarantees that we won't be seeing any kind of sequel. A shame, as the film has a lot of good elements in it and did an effective job at world-building.
Rogue One has everything that a fan wants in a Star Wars film, and so much more. The film skips the opening crawl and dives right into a whirlwind introduction of the main characters and key situations. The film literally races around the galaxy as it establishes multiple things in rapid succession. Despite that, we are never confused about who or what we are seeing, as Dir. Edwards paints each character and locale with their own distinct visuals. One thing that is strikingly unique about this film is the raw beauty of the on-location shots and their respective cinematography. This film not only takes us around the galaxy, it also takes around the world—with the black, windswept sands of Iceland and the white, tropical beaches of the Maldives being the most memorable and jaw droppingly beautiful.
Rogue One's main weak point is the initial introduction of the main characters. While the film didn't have a troubled development, it apparently underwent major restructuring late in development. This is most apparent with the Imperial defector's story, and how scenes with Rook continued to be added into the earlier parts of the film as the production crew learned more and more about how capable Riz Ahmed (Rook's actor) is. Another weak point in the film is its use of CG to resurrect Peter Cushing (as Tarkin) and a young Carrier Fisher (as Leia). The quality of the CG was unnerving enough to jar me out of the film when I saw it in theatres. In Tarkin's case, one wonders why they even bothered with the CG, as Guy Henry (the actor on set during filming) looks quite similar to Cushing!
While I really liked the nostalgic aspects of the film and its epic addition to the overall Star Wars story, what I found most unique and intriguing is its exploration of the Force as a religion, and how that directly or indirectly affects the characters. Even without a Jedi for the majority of the film's runtime, that exploration still made it feel like a "Star Wars" film (and was an element sorely missed in Solo: A Star Wars Story). Ultimately, Rogue One is the film that fans have been waiting for. A must see!
What The Force Awakens gets right is the repackaging of nostalgia in what, on first blush, appears to be a wholly original story. The best thing about this film is the acting. The emotions and interactions between the characters feel genuine, and have none of the woodenness that plagued the prequel trilogy. Adam Driver hits the right notes and creates an interesting villain that is, above everything else, highly unpredictable as he is prone to uncontrolled emotional outbursts! However, once you realize how similar this film's story is to the plot of the first Star Wars movie, it loses a lot of its lustre. The first half of The Force Awakens is the most interesting—giving us engaging new visuals, situations, and characters. The back half of the film has, on rewatches, developed a "been there done that" feel. Oddly, I found the lack of "traditional" Star Wars aliens in the cantina sequence and elsewhere odd. I don't mind new alien races being introduced, but the lack of existing ones in scenes that should rightly have a few familiar "faces" became a distraction that tended to throw me out of the film.
The big flaw in the movie is its story. Specifically: 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 films as a galaxy spanning entity? Yes, it's an action movie and the production team wisely avoided the excessive exposition that plagued The Phantom Menace, but the complete lack of information on something so vital to the plot is... jaw-droppingly astounding. The big deal-breaker for me, however, is the star-sucking giant space gun. From a scientific perspective, it just doesn't work. From a visual spectacle perspective, I get the plot and emotional reasons why they wanted to depict the bad guys shooting at and destroying multiple planets while characters on another planet witness the attack as it happens, but it is something that jarringly boots my suspension of disbelieve out the window... something that Dir. George Lucas' prequel films never did! For a movie that has so much working in its favour, it is a major disappointment. As a Star Wars film, The Force Awakens is pretty decent and full of thrills that just can't be missed. Perhaps its biggest disappointment, however, is that the subsequent two films in this sequel series never lived up to the promise hinted at in this one.
The Last Jedi is the embodiment of 'what you see is what you get'. Unlike The Empire Strikes Back that delved into the Force with a thought-provoking helping of subtext, there doesn't seem to be any hint or suggestion at something deeper in this film. In addition, what the film comments on—namely amoral arms merchants and movie franchises and sequels—is presented very bluntly, without any subtext or other ideas for the viewer to ruminate on later. The film essentially tries to balance the Resistance's futile attempts to flee the First Order, Finn and Rose on their own mission, Rey learning the ways of the Force from Luke Skywalker while Snoke and Kylo attempt to corrupt her, and Poe learning what it takes to be a commanding officer. Among all the people that are presented seemingly out-of-character, Poe's story arc feels the most out of place. How could he have become the leader of what amounts to the Resistance's air force if he doesn't know anything about basic military strategy or the chain of command? On the other hand, the most engaging part of the film is Rey's arc as we learn a lot about who she is, while actually not learning very many details about her. The most thought-provoking aspect is her relationship with Kylo, and one gets a sense that there is a strong romantic attraction developing between the two. Luke's justification for turning his back on the galaxy and become a hermit is fundamentally plausible. However, one thinks it was given short shrift and oversimplified, and ought to have been presented over a longer flashback as more of a battle of wills and less about a momentary lapse in judgment.
It's hard to put one's finger on exactly where this film goes wrong, especially as it is loaded with greatly visuals, and some highly memorable sequences—the big, unexpected twist two-thirds of the way through being particularly great. As I think it's great that the filmmakers tried to do something new, it must be all the extraneous fan-service that was tacked on; such as Chewbacca single-handedly (!) flying the Millennium Falcon into a crevice in the ground (!!) merely to provide this film's version of the Death Star tunnel run. The other thing is how no one in the Resistance seems to morn the loss of any of their comrades. The worst example of that is the scene at the end with the survivors on the Millennium Falcon who look like they are at a cocktail party, when they rightly should be shell-shocked, marvelling at how they narrowly escaped death, and troubled by how many of their comrades they just lost! In a way, that lack of pathos and the film's simplistic parables highlight who this film is intended for: the very young. It's a shame, as A New Hope and even the immediately preceding Rogue One not only leaned into the tragedy of the Rebels, they were also wildely successful at the box office.
Nevertheless, the highlights of the film are the cinematography—the island of Skellig Michael in Ireland is particularly breathtaking—and Benicio del Toro's character DJ. It's truly a shame that DJ doesn't reappear in The Rise of Skywalker, as the character had oodles of potential as an unreliable ally for both the protagonists and antagonists who was truly only in it for himself. A missed opportunity.
Just like The Force Awakens, the best parts of this film are at the beginning when the main protagonists go off on their own adventure together. It's when the overall plot forces its way in with characters and situations from the original trilogy in a poor attempt at nostalgia and giving the fans what they want that this film collapses on itself. Unlike the preceding The Last Jedi, I didn't really feel any concern for the characters. It's almost as if Dir. Abrams opted to ignore characterization and focus exclusively on plot. In the process, the film loses a lot of the budding interpersonal relationships present in the preceding two films, such as the rivalry between Kylo and General Hux, or even dealing with how the events of the last film affected the friendship of Finn and Rose Tico! Another troublesome development is the introduction of abilities in people and spacecraft that was either previously unknown or otherwise indicated as not possible. The most shocking of which occur within the opening sequences: TIE Fighters with hyperspace engines and the whole concept of 'lightspeed skipping'. The Sith Wayfinders are another head-scratching development. The Force Dyad between Rei and Kylo is a bit more acceptable, as something akin to it was already depicted in The Last Jedi—with the caveat that it was actually being facilitated by Snoke in that film.
Nevertheless, some choices in the direction of the film are forgivable. The untimely passing of Carrie Fisher necessitated the repurposing of unreleased footage from The Force Awakens, which in turn limited or dictated certain story arcs and character choices; Rey's costume's reversion to all white from the nebulous grey is arguable the best example of this. Overall, the visuals are great, and both Rey's and Kylo's internal moral grappling are wonderfully depicted. However, the film leans too much into nostalgia, to the point where it not only loses most of its originality, it becomes a mere pale imitation of what came before—the original trilogy in particular. Nevertheless, the most intriguing parts of the film all seem to revolve around Poe. The most engaging of which is the relationship with his past love interest Zorii Bliss. Despite so little being said, they have great chemistry, and the film gives us so much with only a few simple nods and shakes of the head. It's a shame that the filmmakers didn't use more subtlety like this throughout the rest of the film, suggesting things but ultimately leaving much to the imagination, and hinting at volumes merely with a few lines of dialogue coupled with subtle body language. A missed opportunity.