Dave's Review of Star Wars III

He disagrees with me, basically, and liked the film.

He does point out this nitpicky flaw, which occurred to me a while ago (like, when they first announced what these were going to be about, and that they'd star the twenty-something Ewan McGregor), but which seems churlish to bring up, given how the rest of the films suck so badly:

Finally, the last logical flaw in the films is exposed in the final scene. Apparently, although there are only twenty years between Episode III and Episode IV, everyone above a certain age gets older twice as fast as Luke & Leia-- no one more so than Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. Hard living, that Tatooine moisture farm living.

Yeahp. And it's not even 20 years. It's seventeen or eighteen years, if we assume Luke and Leia were that age, which seems to be how old they were in the movie (as well as in real life).

One question for everyone:

Who is the main character in any of the three prequels?

That's a pretty tough one, isn't it? In Star Wars, it's Luke. And don't say it's Han, or Han is ALSO the main character; Han is an important secondary character, but obviously it's Luke's dramatic arc which is primary. It's his arc that is the most important arc in each of the three movies individually, and of course in the trilogy overall.

So... do any of the prequels have a similar main character?

I don't think they do. I suppose in this last one it's Anakin, but in the other two, it might have been Qui-Jonn or Obi-Wan.

This is just one of those important structural things a good script needs. If a script is shitty, it may not be because any particular scene is bad. It may be because the writer hasn't really made the key decision as to what the movie -- and therefore WHO the movie -- is really about.

Hey! Nice Ensemble! Of course there's a type of movie that doesn't feature a traditional main character, and we call those "ensemble pieces."

So, yeah, strictly speaking, it isn't necessary you have a main character for every film.

But... what may work for Parenthood or some chickflick doesn't necessarily work for this sort of movie.

posted by Ace at 04:03 PM

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