STAR WARS

Episodes: I,II,III,IV,V,VI

Now that there is a new Star Wars movie blooming somewhere in the horizon, it occurred to me: “Hey, I have never watched Star Wars. Let’s do that!”

 

So that’s what I did…One movie after the other. I had a good trainer though, by whom I was instructed to watch the old trilogy first, which are the epsidoes IV, V and VI; only then was I cautiously permitted to commence to I,II,III; which I did.

Before that my knowledge of Star Wars movies, was restricted to the first episode I had seen in the cinema but did not pay attention because of a boyfriend factor and the glimpses of Master Yoda, I appeared to catch every time there was Star Wars airing on tv channels, whom I used to call “The Green Creature”.

I was so sure that after having watched Star Wars I was going to trash it here!

Funny…as it turns out, after all the blood and gore and sex I, inevitably, keep watching in contemporary works and series, the naivety of Star Wars was like a breath of fresh air. Everything in it is so naïve that it makes it almost childish. It was a nice change of pace to be able to watch a "grown up movie" with my 4 year old son and then have light-saber fights with each other (Of course he is Luke and I am Princess Leia). It was nice to watch the Return of the Quest Romance for a change! Lately there is a new fashion of making everything grey, “no good guys and no bad guys!” since it is claimed that life isn’t like that. Excuse me but I can point out some villains of the history and even some villains of our times that can make Lord Sidius and Darth Vader wear their shoes reversed! If one claims that there are no villains in real life then I suggest one reads more newspapers and history books.It is true that in real life the villain doesnt always lose and sometimes the bad guy wins. Well this is where fantasy comes to rescue offering you a nice warm corner called escapism. After all...this is not supposed to be real life and real world...

I do admit though, the direction is minimal and the transitions between the scenes are the effects of old Windows Movie Maker which I don’t even use for my slideshows anymore. The Green Creature aka Master Yoda is still ridiculous to my eyes and the cute koala bears, parading under the name of Ewoks giving a nice beating to Storm Troopers is in fact laughable. Some of the plots are cheesy and rushed, the mistaken identity tradition was not employed as it should have been, but, and this is a big BUT, I will watch those major flaws and fails, and take it any time of the day over works which lately sneak into our screens, under the name of fantasy when in fact they have got nothing to do with it at all.

This is fantasy, this is the genre of quest romance with futuristic, sci-fi elements, and if you think the plots are cheesy and action guided, and you don’t like the fight between the good and the evil then you are absolutely free not to watch it. Throwing a bunch of dragons and magic into blatant sensationalism does not a fantasy make. And in this supposedly sci-fi work I have found more fantasy fiction then I could have imagined.

Finally in concluding this post I will adhere to the tradition of Star Wars and liST the movies I found enjoyable from best to worst.

-Episode III

I think in this latest production, the world of Star Wars had really matured in both movie direction and plot. I simply loved one specific scene with the impending mask on Anakin’s face. Ewan McGregor had excelled in the role of Obi-Wan. The biggest technical fail in my opinion was the computer generated storm troopers.

-Episode V

This was all the way a very pleasant movie to watch. There were a lot of parts where I was impressed when considering that this movie is two years older than I am! I agree with Princess Leia’s sentiments when she tells Han Solo that she loves him. She has got my blessing in her choice. Jokes aside I find Han Solo to be one of the best charming scoundrel characterizations.

- Episode IV

Considering that it was filmed back in 1977 I find it completely inspired. I am going to choose to excuse the pitiful sword fight (if you can call it that) taking place between Vader and Obi-Wan.  

-Episode II

Apart from the seriously lame scene with Padme and Anakin rolling on the grass I find the overall quality of the movie well enough.

-Episode VI

The worst spot was harder to choose than the best. I find both the sixth episode and the first equally good and bad. First I went for the sixth because of the koala bears and then I remembered that the first episode had the mutant giraffe Jar jar.The sixth offered closure but the first offered the Sith. So I went for the older movie for the fifth spot because of its age and placed episode one in the sixth place of my list. There we go:

-Episode I

In my opinion it had very little to offer and they were all Liam Neeson.

So I think, that is all there is to say about Star Wars for me. Would I watch them again? Well I guess I would…every three years, in case the Empire wins. I wouldn’t watch it in the sickly way I do with The Lord of the Rings with all my neck hair standing up when I see the Shire but still…this is as far as it goes for me with sci-fi since I am a hard-core fantasy fan.

May the Force be with you!!!