ST How Could Ep7 Top Empire?

More than that, Rian Johnson is probably the single most talented director to be enlisted in the Star Wars franchise to date. It'll be interesting to see how he merges his directing style with the series.

 

i totally agree that rian is a great idea for VIII, there are even parallells between his really quality work in looper bringing about a great movie and kirshners ESB as well, both being 2nd in the series and other stuff, but i dont he has to go too dark but just getting the most out of all the actors and scenes is what is good. a bit of it though, absolutely, in the same way that ESB was heavier and more serious.

 

Oh no, of course he doesn't have to go too dark or anything for VIII to be great. My only point there is that he's an insanely gifted director.

 

I was shocked by looper as i had never seen any other RJ films, shocked in the way that i was watching a new movie and actually feeling something watching it like getting pulled in. it had drama and story and action and didnt make my eyes wish for stop motion so i totally think he is the right person for the next movie.
lets just hope that VIIII doesnt have the quality issues that ROTJ had. loved it as a kid but i can see it had some weaker spots that should have not happened because the story of the father and son, son walking the line of dark and light, rescue from a gangsters hideout is awesome.

 

I agree with this. The reason why Empire is so rewatchable, even though you already know that Vader is Luke's father, is that it's so grounded and really expands the world we see in EP4. There is time to pause, reflect on the force, see people tinker with spaceships and droids, bounty hunters are introduced, we get a sense of how Darth Vader operates and thinks et.c.. For this reason, I don't think EP7 will compare to Empire, because it by necessity has to set a new story (and new characters) into motion. So there will probably be more action and plot, and less time to just dwell in the present. That's not to say that it will be better or worse than Empire, but it will be different.

 

Revenge of the Sith is the best SW movie.

 

When I think about it, there isn't a single SW film that I don't have mixed feelings about in some way. TESB is the oddball in the equation though, because generally the things I like/dislike about it are pretty much exactly the opposite as they are for the other episodes. I suppose that for a majority of people, the things that work well in TESB happen to be the things that they look for in great movies. I tend to embrace the more subjective elements of my personal taste, and therefore don't hold TESB on quite as high of a pedestal as most people, however I understand completely why it's generally agreed upon to be the best of the series. That said, I find it very unlikely that TFA will unseat TESB for nearly anyone who still feels after 35 years that it's the one that got it most right.

 

Just FYI - VIIII is not a roman numeral... that would be IX.

I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X.

 

It will top it with this revelation :

Ghost of Emperor : "Luke - I am your grandfather."

 

How about this revelation.

Anakin is the son of Plagueis. He could use the force to create life. He created Anakin in Shmi.

 

It probably was Lucas' original intention that Padme's fate would be similar to what you describe. However, in the process of telling the story of the PT, it became apparent to him that she was too important a character to have her die off-screen. For her to be seen alive at the end of III and have audiences wait until VI for her fate to be revealed in a throw-away line just doesn't work.

This stuff happens when you go back to tell the back story. The dramatic needs of its narrative will sometimes conflict with what had been written when the back story was a few paragraphs.

TFA might be able to top ESB on a technical level, but -- as with the PT -- it will never have the same impact that the OT did for those of us who grew up with it. The entertainment industry today is completely different than it was 35 years ago, so TFA won't have the same impact there either.

I do think it will be awesome. The original film is still my favorite, and probably always will be.

 

And that is your opinion. Nothing wrong with that.

 

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I still don't agree with Padme dying in III, but I can accept it.

I don't expect Awakens to have the same cultural impact as Empire, but I do see it as having the cultural impact of further elevating the importance of women, minorities and older people in our storytelling. I hope there is some degree of impact in continuing to preserve the use of film in movie making. I'd like to see the film industry influenced by the use of practical effects in this film and offer us a much wider variety of visuals in future movies. I hope VII's script is good enough to inspire screenwriters to put more hard work into their scripts so they feel more inspired, make more sense, have more memorable characters we care about and aren't so full of clichés.

I hope to goodness that Awakens is yet another shining example in this "dark, gritty Nolan era" that a light-hearted film can be just as awesome and successful!

 

If it does, it will be the best movie I've seen in years. Nobody expects it to exceed expectations because nobody has any expectations. We have hopes but no expectations.

 

Back when ESB came out people came out of the theater feeling like the movie smacked them in the face. Not many movies come out nowadays that has that effect.

 

I don't like it myself, and I think that the "watching over Leia from the shadows, posing as a handmaiden" fate would have better fit with the overall story told in TPM through ROTJ, when taken ad a whole. When looking at ROTS as a single film and the conclusion of the PT arc, her fate had to be resolved more definitively. I think that Lucas probably sat on the fence as to whether she would survive ROTS until he sat down to write the full story of the film.

I think that she originally was to die of a brain hemorrhage from Anakin using the Force to throw her against something. I get the more mythical nature of what Lucas went with, but it just doesn't quite click for me.

I agree completely. So tired of this "it must be DARK, edgy, and mature" emo poodoo.

One thing that works in favor of TFA is that the filmmakers don't have to be concerned about creating a villain that overshadows Vader. Maul had the potential to have a similar screen presence, so he had little screen time and went out like a punk. Christopher Lee is awesome, but he's not quite Darth Vader. Sideous got little screen time in his Sith persona and Ian was under layers of makeup as soon as we saw him being truly evil. The ST villains can be as scary and ominous as the filmmakers want to make them.

TFA can introduce a new "Darth Vader." The PT had to always be in his shadow.

 

What's your take on the silent film era? Looking at various media of art (music, literature, photography, movies), I'd say movies are a medium where dialogue/words can be the least important (of course it depends on the maker's goals).

Topping Empire is not that difficult for me personally, since it's only my 3rd to 5th favourite SW film. ESB, imo, sacrificed the overall story and plot development (Empire vs. Rebels in general almost forgotten, nullifying the destruction of the first DS off-screen etc.) as well as adequate development for Leia and Han that picks up from where whe left them in ANH (Leia: destruction of Alderaan and her role in it; Han: not forgetting his lesson from ANH) for a truly fantastic journey with Luke and Vader. It's fine, but I wish for a better balance in TFA (which is likely, because both story and character situation are new and have to be established to a greater extent than ESB had to).

 

Agreed. Plus for me ESB lacks a certain amount of Star Wars flavor in a lot of the environments, minus some key sequences like the bounty hunter line-up and Cloud City. Based on that front alone I could see Episode VII beating out ESB if the concept art is anything to go by.

 

Interesting. Now ya see oddly enough, that's not the way i interpret it at all. Firstly, I'm not a huge fan of silent movies. I respect them as being part of movie history, but that's all. Secondly, I like dialogue in a film. Good dialogue between characters stimulates me. It's part of what being a human being is all about. It's how we communicate, it's fundamental to our existence. As far as movies go, offcourse they can be a very visceral experience. But visuals and action without a good, strong story, conveyed by good dialogue between characters will ultimately end in a very vacuous piece of entertainment. It's exactly why 'talkies' were invented. I remember reading a review of TDKR. In which the reviewer had saw it with a friend who'd said afterward, "well the end was good, but what was all the stuff about beforehand?" His answer was, "the end was good, BECAUSE of all the stuff beforehand". Hope that clears that up for you? As far as ESB goes, I couldn't disagree more. ANH was to be a standalone film. There was no expectancy of its success. It had an end that didn't really warrant a sequel. Remember, it wasn't an Episode to begin with. Upon its huge success the story had to go somewhere. Everything about Empire was spot on. It is STILL the installment that ties everything together. Luke's arc. Han & Leia's arc (which was very competently done) Vaders story. Yoda's introduction. Our heroes struggle to escape a relentless Empire etc. It's just a shame ROTJ didn't match it IMO. Anyway, I'm very optimistic TFA is going to be great. All the signs are good.

 

The only way it tops it is if we find out that Jar Jar didn't actually get his tongue stuck in Anakin's pod and instead he was illegally tampering with it so he could win the race. Anakin was never the chosen one, it was always his friend Kitster who was overlooked by Gui-Gon. Kitster Banai, becomes Darth Bana and kills Luke in revenge.

 

TFA has the potencial to be the best directed, written and acting-wise Star Wars movie ever, I'm confident that JJ, Kasdan and the cast will deliver.

 

can you elaborate on why you think he is so amazing? im genuinely asking. according to his imdb he only has 3 feature films under his belt, two of which ive never heard of and all 3 with just mediocre imdb scores. ive seen looper and enjoyed it but it wasnt anything superb

 

Oh, ok then.