Is A New Hope.......Meh?

I've always felt that acid allows one to transcend the perception of time, but then when it comes to watching 2001 I've always been a traditionalist.

 

Or Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

 

Its not that i dont like Ewoks as a specie. Its the fact that they defeat the mighty Empire that upsets me a little.

One of the reasons why ANH is'nt MEH is because their defeat at Yavin IV is believable. It works. Even though I like the whole the will of the people beating the technological terror. I just don't buy the Endor ground battle of ROTJ.

 

Read up on the Vietnam War, then.

 

I've read up on the Vietnam War, and I don't remember the Viet Cong using sticks and stones and a few logs, it was more like submachine guns and grenades, gun emplacements and civilian attacks.

While the ROTJ battle is philosophically analagous to Nam in that the undermaned underdog living in the jungle drove out a more advanced army of occupiers, the manner in which it plays out I must admit is highly unrealistic.

 

Thank you!

 

Hey guys -- I upped the "Ewok battle" thread so we can discuss the Vietnam metaphor and other Ewokkian matters over there. The current thread is about 'ANH' and why it is or isn't 'meh'.

 

I would say that ANH Isn't Meh.

 

I would agree but I'm biased.

 

For all it's worth, ANH is the best movie out of the whole saga if you ask me.

If you ever watch Empire of Dreams, just hearing about how much crap Lucas had to go through just to make this movie, is astounding. First of all, no company wanted to finance this movie at first because they didn't think it would make much money, but 20th century fox did anyway. And then the actors thought that it would be a flop, no merchandise was made, except for a meager set of small action figures..

Besides, ANH really stands as a standalone movie. The story gets told from beginning to end.

 

What people tend to forget (or are too young to remember) is just how original, new and different this movie was , it really was an explosion .

A bit like rock&roll , it's hard now to appreciate how new and exciting that was when it first appeared .

And apart from being new it also worked so brilliantly which is why people saw it so many times , the characters, the drama, the adventure all work so well , it was new and classical at the same time.

 

You really can't compare to ANH, which broke so much ground when it first premiered. ESB can't match it, nor could ROTJ, TPM, AOTC, or even ROTS.

The story is straightforward, from beginning to end. Call this a "Fairy Tale" if you wish. Well, the others, save for TPM to a certain extent, can/could only work as sequels.

 

ANH is my least favorite sw movie, which isn't saying much as I love them all. It is definetly and obviously the best stand alone movie, however in the greater scheme of things this hurts the film as it doesn't fit into the 6 story arc as well as the other 5 films.

It's the only film without palpatine or yoda for starters. It also has the most dated effects, even after the se & dvd changes. It's also quite slow at the beginning during the tatooine scenes, although from the death star on it's pretty action packed. The lack of locales is dissapointing as well. You get a big stay on tatooine, which is seen in all the other movies but one already. Then you get a big stay on the death star, which is just nothing but interior scenes, followed by a brief stint on yavin 4, which is mostly interior scenes as well.

Those are all reasons why I place anh last, I wouldn't call it meh, just not quite up to the level of the other films in the greater scheme of the saga.

 

ANH is the best SW movie out there.

Sure, it has some of the most outdated effects, but it also had some of the most powerful music. Espcially in the Yavin Battle, right when Vader is about to shoot luke down, the music matches the scene; you are on the edge of your seat, wondering if Luke will make it to the shaft. Then right before Vader can get a shot, Han swoops in and blasts vader out of the way, giving luke the room he needs to make the shot.

I'm pretty sure that you may argue with me all you like, but no SW movie has yet to achieve the fame and money that ANH did when it was first released.

 

Another thing is that the Viet Cong kept up a war of attrition over the span of ten years or so whereas on Endor the stormies fell apart in a matter of minutes. Also, whereas U.S. forces regularly decimated the guerrilla fighters in almost all the battles they fought, the Ewoks made a joke out of the Imperials in multiple tactical scenarios, and that just does not fly for me.

 

I rather enjoy A New Hope but I like all the movies, and find them hard to rank.