Monday, February 27, 2012

Star Wars: Episode 1


Last week I went to see Star Wars Episode 1 in 3D. Now, it should be noted up front that I'm one of the few Star Wars fans that doesn't hate this movie. Aside from it being slightly slow to begin with, I find it quite entertaining. Before entering the theater, I hadn't seen the complete movie in almost ten years. I've watched clips here and there when it's been on television, but it was nice seeing it in its entirety.

The strangest thing I noticed this time around was the competing soul of the movie. While it's easily the most kid-friendly of the films, especially with young Anakin stealing the show for most of the movie and the overall silliness of the Gungans, it's also the most weighty in terms of galactic politics. If it's geared towards kids, why dwell so much on the dysfunction of corrupt democratic institutions? Though, I have to say, I find that aspect of the movie to be the most compelling, and even more so today given the current nature of our government. Blending the two however makes the movie a bit confused as to what it wants to be.

As for the 3D, I like the fact they didn't go for gimmicks of making things jump out at you. The effect here was one to add dimension to the world. It was no frills, but that's okay. But 3D or not, it's just always nice to see Star Wars on the big screen. The lightsaber duels are still some of the best in any of the movies and Darth Maul is still the baddest character this side of Cade Bane. I didn't even mind the midiclorians this time around. It used to really annoy me, but as I was watching, I thought that an organized Republic, with centuries of peace, would probably have some kind of technology tied to the force. It made sense to me in a way it didn't before.

Still the weakest of the six films, but if this is worst, then really, there's nothing to complain about.

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