More Star Wars Thoughts

I enjoyed Episode III quite a bit. It was certainly the best of the new trilogy and might even work it's way into the top three upon further viewings. We'll see. But that doesn't mean there weren't serious problems. My own issues are reflected in this piece. Lucas ultimately did show us that he has no real directing ability. He can dream up a fantastic world and he can put some amazing ideas down. But he can't work with people. We know this from scores of tales about him. It shows on screen.

And he also can't write to save his life. If I passed on a story of mine with writing on par with Lucas' quality to Nomad for reading, he would tear it apart. Actually, I would never pass on something as awful as some of these lines. I might write some clunckers here and there, but I usually clean them up before I let them see the light of day. But some of the cringe-inducing lines from this prequel trilogy (thankfully cleaned up a little because of an editor in Episode III) could have probably been managed if Lucas could direct actors. It's these two traits together, bad writing and bad directing, that hamper Lucas' efforts. Much as is argued in the piece linked to, many stories grow with time even from medicore ideas. In Lucas' case, the charcters nearly 30 years later seem more flat and under-developed than those from the original trilogy. Where once Lucas created movie magic (a bit cheesy but magic just the same,) now he has given us a trilogy of ho-hum story telling and acting and lots of special effects that fail to create a real universe.