Saga Which film has your tone-of-preference?

Attack of the Clones, because of its shades of noir, melancholic interpersonal mood pieces, and spectacular space war action.

 

ANH, the perfect mix of light and dark, of high-octane adventure and philosophical reflection all packaged in a solid story with confident visuals. For me it is impossible to appreciate the tone of a film without also being able to appreciate the entire package it comes with.

 

The Empire Strikes Back for me, has the best overall mood, pacing, etc. I like that it is darker than the others (with the exception of Revenge of the Sith). I think the pacing is just right and the humor is inserted in the perfect areas and not too little or too much. Also, there are not really any polarizing characters in this film to split the fan base and cause controversy (i.e. Jar Jar Binks, Ewoks, etc.). The notable new character additions to this film are Boba Fett, Yoda, and Lando Calrissian...need I say more?

 

The Empire Strikes Back. While A New Hope was what started it all, Empire defined the Saga and made it what it was. We had Jedi lore, we had great character development, we had great philosophy, great pacing, great action, great acting, great dialogue, etc. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best of the films for me and the one that rightly sets the tone for the entire film saga and beyond. I also think it's the darkest of the films (I can't take ROTS seriously), but still not too dark.

Even to this day, when people have a really great movie and then they want to make an evil better sequel, they go to The Empire Strikes Back for inspiration as to how to do that.

 

The Empire Strikes Back, it just has all the right things going for it to me.

 

There is no deleted scene that I wish was n the final cut more than this one - and all the Padme's house scenes!

 

A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back.

 

TPM and ROTJ

 

Easily TESB. TESB isn't afraid to take itself seriously and is the most tonally consistent SW film.

This is actually an interesting topic because one thing that bothers me about the PT (and ROTJ to a lesser extent) is how tonally inconsistent they are.

 

A lot of dark, melancholy fans on here. TESB is my favorite movie, but tonally, I kinda dig the lighter stuff. I suppose ANH is my favorite tonally.

 

ROTS

 

ESB. i feel it uses tone the most effectively and consistently. it's a big aspect of the film's strength in the saga, even if it is dark. like Hevy Devy previously stated, it feels the most "real" of all the SW films

i do enjoy the romp of ROTJ though. as much as i like and hold ESB in high regard as a film, it does not have much of the 'fun' element i associate with SW

 

ESB and RotJ. I love the shiny Imperial might feeling of ESB, but I also love the frosted black/dark grey-blue look of the Empire in RotJ

 

Revenge of the Sith.

 

They all have my tone of preference, but to avoid a cop-out answer, I'll fuse the answers of StampidHD280pro, Ingram_I, Samnz, and PiettsHat, anakinfansince1983, obi-rob-kenobi4, and ezekiel22x .... to proclaim:

AOTC.

ROTJ.

And...

TPM.

Put a gun to my head, and I would probably tell you AOTC, but I might tell you TPM, depending on the vicissitudes of the moment.

I really like the lengthy preambling, jazz-riffing brilliance of TPM and AOTC. They are experimental, inchoate, lustruous, and they are everything.

And ROTJ because it's a remarkably -- a rehamillably (see what I did there?) -- effective conclusion. I mean, it might be a little less imaginative than its forebears, but it's also the most salient, when that final act starts to go off. Uncannily focused, magisterially satisfying. And the slightly whacked-out, stoner feel of the middle act? The perfect bridge to the end. It even has a couple of "bridge" scenes where Luke lays out his intent to seek for the good in Vader and redeem him. And those are beautifully directed in themselves. Jedi is underrated. I think it is also the most prequel-esque in a lot of ways. I'll lay this out more in a future post.

And for all that waffle, a part of me says I can't in good conscience leave out ROTS (it's largely the reason I became a prequel fan in the first place), and if I'm not leaving out ROTS, then I can't leave out ANH or TESB, either.

Darn.

But let's zoom in on my two real answers here.

Really, I love the dense symbolism and visual storytelling of AOTC, while TPM appeals as strongly for its self-contained prologue narrative, which is wonderfully fantastical and involving on its own terms. I think I like the purity of the TPM experience. Re-using "The Hidden Fortress" template, while mixing in wonderfully new fairy tale elements -- the Gungan subplot, Jar Jar, Qui-Gon, Watto, the podrace, political intrigue on Coruscant, the Passion Play tragedy of Anakin leaving his mother, and the awesomely-staged four-tier "fight" for paradise -- makes TPM a pretty colossal movie all by itself. Yet people think it's a big waste?

So, yeah. Intellectually, AOTC is really intriguing, and also a blast to watch (probably the most serial-like -- the broadest adventure -- of any the installments), but a part of me is always compelled to defend TPM. I think it's to do with the fact that people slake it for essentially being a dull, confusing, inhuman spectacle, while I see something approaching a "Fountain of Youth" in it, along with poignant reflections on the human spirit done in a slightly surreal, esoteric way. It was also the first time Lucas' imagination was really untethered and he could paint with the kind of pigments he always wanted to some day bring to his beloved medium. In other words, TPM is just like the other Star Wars movies, and nothing like them.

Popular culture has done a kind of crooked justice to "The Beginning". It has obliquely glimpsed the madness of King George, but not his genius. TPM is a very romantic and pure creation. Bold and lush. With little held back. The Star Wars picture of choice for addicts of innocent fantasy alloyed to a certain grandeur via the alchemy of confident art direction, memorable character design, capably understated direction, rock-solid sound design, and unbeatable music. A total artwork. Architectonic. And like nothing else around.

 

ANH. It is the essential building block by which the other movies are compared in terms of tone (and everything else), and carries a special "burden" of sorts.

The prevailing opinion is of TESB being darker and more mature, and that's something that never resonated with me. The two mood-killers were the budding Han/Leia romance, and to a lesser extent - and I admit this with some shame - the Luke/Yoda sequences. I like to think that I can suspend disbelief as much as anyone, but I always saw a little green Grover, to some extent. :-\ I feel bad saying that too, because I realize what it took Mark Hamill to sell these sequences logistically, and he nailed it perfectly.

ANH, on the other hand, has graphic death that leaves a young man "orphaned", a young lady (a Royal, but a young lady nonetheless) seeing her homeland destroyed, the "death" of the wise old sage during a saber battle that was gripping despite - at the time - being rooted in very little exposition. Interwoven is tight, witty dialogue between the droids providing humor in (reasonably) plausible situations/reactions; the trash compactor scene was such a wonderful mash-up of high tension and humor based not on dumb slapstick, but perfectly reasonable misinterpretation/miscommunication. The highs aren't terribly high, and the lows aren't terribly low, but the tone stays very consistent and devoid of seeming contrivance. There's a lot to be said for art that's a true clean sheet of paper.

Damn, I love ANH. I even love reflecting on it. To me, this is the dark SW movie that takes itself just seriously enough and never goes off the rails at any level; it always stays in its neat little box and still finds room for you, even after a gazillion viewings.

As always, IMHO.

 

Empire Strikes Back and Revenge of the Sith for me.

 

In the main 6 films, I enjoy the tone of Episode 3 and 5. The films where the good guys dont win.

 

ROTS and ESB tones are dark and heavy you can feel it as you watch it

 

Revenge of the Sith. I don't necessarily need a movie to be dark to enjoy it but it starts off fun and then gets really dark and then there's that little hint of hope at the end.

 

That's a good observation.

Interesting take. I can definitely see that.

One of the more unusual tensions in the film comes between Yoda's "Grover" quality, as you contend he demonstrates, and those little jewels of wisdom he dispenses, like "Wars not make one great". IMO, anyway. I think it's key to the film's peculiar effectiveness in its mid-passage.

But I'm not trying to erase your view. Lucas knew he was taking a very big risk there. To most people (most fans), he triumphed (even if they give all the credit to Irvin Kershner). That's not to say that everyone has to totally buy the result, however.

It's still, somehow, the most perfectly condensed, disarmingly lightweight, and seemingly effortless of the original sextet, I think.

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That's a nifty observation. Yes, ROTS successfully portals its way through diametric tonal and emotional states, in a way that is lushly and propulsively realized.

An absolutely grandiose Star Wars movie. Awesome delivered.

But I'm sticking to my earlier choices.

 

Episode iii and several of the arcs from the Clone Wars. Just a certain edge to it.

 

ROTS, because it takes itself the most seriously and it's story and themes are handled with maturity.

I also love the "introductory" tone to TPM, but things like Anakin blowing up a Trade Federation by accident and the character of Jar Jar pushes it too far into the children's corner.

 

Empire Strikes back

 

ROTJ, simply because it's the one which is the most about family and unconditional love. I'm a sucker for happy endings, but I would call ROTJ more of a "peaceful ending". Not so much exuberant like TPM and ANH, but calm and reflective in a joyful way


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