Vanda wrote:
I'm not saying TPM and AOTC were bad, nor am I saying that they were awesome. I think they are pretty much average films. But, when you think about it... so are Episodes IV-VI. The Star Wars movies are not meant to win acting or dialogue awards. Never have been, never will. But yet the saga (all five films) are still my favorite MOVIE of all time (I count them as one).
Anyway, I say this because I expect no less (or rather, no more) from Episode III. I expect it to be an average FILM - but I also expect it to be an awesome Star Wars movie. Which is what I expected - and got - out of Episodes I and II.
This is very discouraging to me.....
Actually, no, they aren't average films. And anyone who knows anything about film will tell you the original trilogy are not average films. They are great films. No, they might not win dialogue or acting awards, but those are very small aspects of films, that stupid critics that know nothing about filmmaking completely blow out of proportion. People who know diddley about film come out of the theatre and say a movie was "well made" if the "acting" and "dialogue" were "good". THese people don't know shyt about film. There are a million more important things to a movie, plot, structure, narrative, editing, montage, cinematography [framing, composition, lighting, movement], use of sound, etc., etc., that are all much more specific to the medium of film and largely ignored by general audience and certainly critics. Star Wars, particularly the OT, thrives in all these areas.
The dialogue and acting in the original trilogy still are solid, however. They are not great in the PT, but in the OT, I defy you to find an instance in which the dialogue or acting hurt the believability of the films.
ANH, ESB and ROTJ are great films, without question.
I shall continue...
"Classic, of course. Great films? No. They have many problems.
I'm not saying I don't love them. And I'm not "tearing they down" just to make the prequels look good, because I love the prequels as well. I'm merely pointing out that people complaining about bad acting and the like in the prequels seem to have a short memory. "
No. Classic and great. The acting in the OT is perfectly fine, even if it weren't, the films would still stand out. George Lucas knows a lot about film and a lot about myth, and contrary to what you will read by crappy critics that don't know shyt, he is a pretty great filmmaker.
What separates the PT from the OT has nothing to do with acting or dialogue. They are both B movies on the surface, mythology underneath, and the result is this corny feel that is perfeclty intended. How is that bad acting?! It's not. It's just for some reason everyone expects films to be the same style...Lucas is making his films modeled after Republic serials, and the dialogue and acting successfully mirrors his inspiration. They are not "bad".
What does separate them? Story. Structure. Editing. Etc. It has nothing to do with acting or dialogue, to say that is the difference btwn the PT and the OT in order to ward off complaints against the PT is lazy, silly and just wrong. I love the PT, but whenever they fall short of the OT, it's in these areas.
I'll say it again: ANH, ESB and ROJ are great films. Period.