Slashdot Mirror
Star Wars Episode I DVD Review
dswensen writes: "Theforce.net has an in-depth review of the forthcoming Star Wars: Episode I DVD (due for release October 16th). Looking at all the great features packed into this DVD, I'm glad Lucas decided not to just toss off a cheap version a year ago. Love it or hate it, it looks like they really pulled out all the stops." Plus Ant points out that there is some teaser movie available for Star Wars Galaxies, the upcoming massively multiplayer game.
We still haven't seen the original trilogy that didn't suck on DVD, and there is no plan to release it. I find it somewhat ridickulous.
My Karma is so good, I'm the Dalai Lama...or something.
Is there anything about Star Wars that the TheForce.net doesn't wet their pants over? Granted, the DVD is chock full of stuff, but it could've been encoded as MPEG-1 and they still would have been flipping out about how great it is.
Actually, there were quite a few things I liked about Episode I.
First of all, he established the groundwork for what are sure to be two very dark and combat-filled movies.
Also, the lightsaber fight at the end was the best filmed so far.
Even during a second viewing, I was still laughing every time I saw the "thin client" attack droids in action. IMHO, anybody who doesn't think an entire army of Crow T. Robots getting their asses kicked by lizzard men is funny needs to lighten up a little. That battle alone was worth my seven bucks.
On the downside, turning The Force into super-intelligent germs was a huge mistake. In two brief scenes, he ruined the whole series by turning a beautifully impossible fantasy into a very implausable sci-fi load of crap.
This was even less forgivable than the cartoony Jar Jar, the Bat-Grapling-Guns that Amidala's royal guard used, or the fact that Brian Blessed (voice of the Gungan King) put in the corniest performance of his carreer since his hammy appearance in Flash Gordon.
Everything but Z
"The Episode I DVD is even worth your investment in a DVD player if you have continued to delay the purchase."
Well, I decided to go all the way to setup a full-size, no expenses spared, home theater nearly two years ago, just to be able to see 'The Fifth Element' again.
Since my family and I have been watching hundreds of rented movies on DVD, and we all agree that the investment has been utterly worthwhile.
Why invest $10000 in a home theater when you can go and see a movie on a much bigger screen with a family of four for $25 ?
Well, there are a couple of reasons:
All said, even if this movie isn't going to make anyone go out and buy a DVD player, I'm glad it's finally there.
Flourescent (adj): smelling like ground wheat.
In other words: "I am one of the elite few who understand the true genius inherent in the movie, and the rest of you who actually thought movies are to be enjoyed instead of analyzed are just morons. Nany nany boo boo!"
Get real. TPM was trite and occasionally offensive. Most of the acting sucked (little Anniken in particular). A lot of effort was spent and the result should have been mind blowing on its face instead of requiring deep analysis and "understanding" to "get it".
Actually though, this should have hardly been a surprise to anyone who went to see the re-issues of the original trilogy; it has not aged well, and the first movie which knocked everyone's socks off at the time in particularv is not much better than TPM except in the effects for the time department. Of course today those effects look dated too....
If you want to live in your nostalgia land where Star Wars was the best thing your 11 year old eyes ever saw, feel free, but forgive the rest of us if we've grown up and placed higher expectations on our movies (even action movies need to surprise us).
7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001