twooffour said:
CWBorne said:
The dinner table scene with everyone in the Skywalker's home always struck me as a microcosm of so many of the dubious elements in the films. Bad comedy with Jar Jar, numerous reminders of the idiot plot (apparently Qui-gon and company can't trade with anyone else for a smaller ship?), horrendous dialogue, and the acting, oh lord the acting. Lloyd is cringe inducing, Jar-Jar is in full shucking and jiving mode, Portman & Neeson feel like they're practically asleep, and Pernilla August seems as if belongs in a whole other movie.
Its basically at this scene that I sunk in my theater seat and realized that I didn't care about any of these characters. There was nothing engaging about them, and that his was likely the best it was getting.
Ironically, Lucas commented on that scene that he felt like it was a potentially boring drag to the more actioney pace of the film, but had to be there to provid some exposition etc.
Now, everyone will say "what, Lucas doesn't want dialogue, just 'splosions, well figures!!"
It really turned out to be a problem, but only because it sucked so much :D
Well the thing thing is, you can have slower scenes, provided something interesting is going on and the characters seem like they, you know, give a damn.
Look at the scene with Owen, Beru, and Luke in ANH. The former two are able to tell so much with facial expression alone, and you can clearly tell that something larger is going on than just what's being said. Also, in a remarkable twist, Owen and Luke are clearly shown as getting upset, as if they're passionate about something. Remarkable, isn't it?
I typically hate reworking scenes from the films, because so much is just bad that trying to fix them seems fruitless, but I'll give it a shot here. What if there was an obvious undertone/subtext of Shmi being very nervous about taking in these mysterious strangers in her house, and some subtle signs that Qui-Gonn senses that she might just alert some authorities and isn't sure if he can trust her or her son? You have Padme trying to engage in some talk with Shmi (the latter only giving her a look when she brings up the Republic's anti-slavery laws), but the whole scene is rife with tension because no one's sure who will do what.
Thus when Anakin does speak up about getting them the part (and it would be the first time he does in this scene having just observed beforehand) it takes everybody a bit back and is a demonstration of the boy's innocence and kindness that in spite of the obvious difficult atmosphere, his first instinct is to help. Do that and have Jar Jar keep his mouth shut the whole time, and just maybe this bit would seem a bit more lively.