zombie84 said:
Given how the series had been developed in TPM and AOTC, ROTS far surpassed my expectations. I mean, yeah, it should have been a punch in the gut, tragic, moving, make you cry, etc--but how could that have been POSSIBLE when its TPM Part 3 and AOTC Part 2?? The first two episodes were of such low quality that in a best case scenario--realistically--ROTS would be only be "good" or "above average", which I think it more or less was. I mean did people really expect that the guy who concieved Jar Jar, wrote "I hate sand", and cast Hayden Christensen would all of a sudden write Hamlet and direct Schinlders List?? I think fans were deluding themselves. The boring plot and terrible characterisatino of AOTC put instrinsic limits on the potential Episode III ever could have; we already disliked the characters and were put off by the storyline, so it would be impossible for the continuation in Episode III to ever be as good as we imagined it. ROTS was a pleasant surprise to me, because I expected it to be a piece of shit the way AOTC was, and Lucas got his stuff together and made a movie that was heavily flawed but still entertaining on some emotional level, however thin, and thats a bit impressive considering the place he set himself up with at the end of Episode II.
vote_for_palpatine said:
Don't get me wrong - it's not the worst of the PT movies - that would be TPM. No, ROTS pisses me off because this was the payoff movie. This was supposed to tie everything up beautifully. This was supposed to deliver a punch to the gut.
Don't get me wrong - it's not the worst of the PT movies - that would be TPM. No, ROTS pisses me off because this was the payoff movie. This was supposed to tie everything up beautifully. This was supposed to deliver a punch to the gut.
Given how the series had been developed in TPM and AOTC, ROTS far surpassed my expectations. I mean, yeah, it should have been a punch in the gut, tragic, moving, make you cry, etc--but how could that have been POSSIBLE when its TPM Part 3 and AOTC Part 2?? The first two episodes were of such low quality that in a best case scenario--realistically--ROTS would be only be "good" or "above average", which I think it more or less was. I mean did people really expect that the guy who concieved Jar Jar, wrote "I hate sand", and cast Hayden Christensen would all of a sudden write Hamlet and direct Schinlders List?? I think fans were deluding themselves. The boring plot and terrible characterisatino of AOTC put instrinsic limits on the potential Episode III ever could have; we already disliked the characters and were put off by the storyline, so it would be impossible for the continuation in Episode III to ever be as good as we imagined it. ROTS was a pleasant surprise to me, because I expected it to be a piece of shit the way AOTC was, and Lucas got his stuff together and made a movie that was heavily flawed but still entertaining on some emotional level, however thin, and thats a bit impressive considering the place he set himself up with at the end of Episode II.
I agree that a terrible precedent had been set in the first two movies. I also agree that my expectations weren't high, though my hopes certainly were. Despite these parameters, there were opportunities to build some tension into the movie. Instead of conveniently knocking out Obi-Wan, he could have been conscious to see Anakin behead Dooku, thus creating a conflict that festers throughout the movie. Or Palpatine could have convinced Anakin that the "espionage" mission was Obi-Wan's idea.
We need reasons to suspend disbelief. When Anakin turns on his so-called best friend without any reason beyond a fealty to a new power - power he wanted to save Padme's life despite the fact that he later tried to choke her to death - it doesn't ring true to me. ROTS asked more of its audience than its predecessors but didn't deliver anything more.