ninme

First of all, hah! George Lucas is a proponent of conservative Catholic doctrine! Benedict XVI will appeciate the added advocacy, even in these unlikely quarters, I’m sure.

Moving on.

So, watched it last night. It was good. I really actually liked it. But I knew I would. I would have had to, anyway, right? But a few things (I’ll try not to get to spoilery, but watch out anyway if you want to go in blind, which is clearly impossible if you’ve seen the originals, but whatever):

• First, people have said how great it is to have closure, finally, after six movies. Except there isn’t really any closure. It absolutely makes you want to rewatch the originals. Peter wants to add them to the Netflix queue, but I refused. George Lucas is to be encouraged to release the original originals on DVD. Hans shot first, damnit. So I might ask my mother to send up the second VHS’s, and we’ll have to dust off the ol’ VCR and see if we can plug it into the system without dismantling half of the living room. (The second tapes, btw, were the original footage, but remastered to take out the matting lines around the X-Wings and that sort of thing from the first version. The third version were the ones that had all the added footage, like of the Wampa in Empire.) (Yes we have all three at home.) The Return of the Jedi still has the best closure.

• Second, I had a question about Leia’s ability to remember her mother’s beautiful smile, or whatever, to Luke in Return of the Jedi, if her mother is going to die in childbirth. So I had a comment from Darth Vader himself (unbelievable, I know!) saying that “Soon you too will know the truth.” Well, if what I saw last night is the truth, then it makes no sense.

• Third, it seems to me (and it’s been a couple years) that in Star Wars (IV) Leia is supposed to be head of state, or nearly so, hence the big ceremony at the end where she grants the guys medals. And she’s a princess. So if there’s all this emphasis on Democracy (kind of silly sounding after the umpteenth time, but whatever) then why is a princess…

• Fourth: They needed to cut about 30 pages of dialogue. George Lucas has this compulsive need to have every idea verbally expressed by one of his actors. It’s unnecessary. The big Anakin-turning-bad scene would have worked so much better if the Chancellor made his speech as Anakin sat there, head bowed, perhaps, then when he received his marching order (to go to the Jedi Temple and…) he had just stood up and had a nasty gleam in his eye, then the next thing you see of him is him stomping through the Temple doors. That sort of thing.

• Fifth: James Earl Jones did Darth Vader’s voice Just for very end. Uncredited. That rocks my lame ass.