« 10 May 2002 - 9:53 pm | Main | 12 May 2002 - 10:36 pm »

I saw the new Star Wars movie tonight. I'm not really sure what to make of it. It was entertaining, but it also seemed rather cheesy. It's almost like George Lucas asked all the rabid Star Wars fans what they most wanted to see in the movie, and then added all those elements. I'd elaborate on this point, but I'm afraid I'd give away too much of the plot.

Speaking of the plot, I found it to be rather formulaic and predictable. Again, a detailed discussion will have to wait until after the release, as I don't want to spoil anything. But something I can discuss is the acting. I know I might be treading on thin ice here, as some of our readers (see the entry for 12/3) are rumored to be fans of Mr. Hayden Christensen, but I think I could have done a better job of playing Anakin Skywalker. I certainly have more emotional range than he managed to display; every emotion was the same pouty teenager act he'd done in the previous scene. After two hours I was getting a bit tired of it. But the plot didn't help much here. It needed to do a better job of explaining why Anakin was upset with Obe-Wan, but of course they couldn't do that without portraying Obe-Wan in a bad light (a big no-no since he's a hero of Episode IV). So Anakin ends up looking like a stupid angsty high schooler. Not a very sympathetic role for any actor, and one that Mr. Christensen didn't do very well. Ah well, I'm still going to pay 7 bucks to see it in the theatre, so I should probably stop trashing it now.

Posted by on 12 May 2002 at 12:02 AM