Of course it's simple English, it sounded like it was written for 4 year olds.
I'm sure you could do better.
I'm not saying it's flawless, but there IS a dimension to the writing and performances that has obviously eluded the people who are counting the days to the next Adam Sandler movie. Read Knowles review and maybe you'll learn something.
A friend who went to see it with me on Thurs. afternoon (we'd gone to seperate Midnight shows) had avoided almost all details and reviews before seeing for himself. After the show, we were chatting about the reviews I'd read and mentioned the constant "me too!" drumbeat of complaints about the dialogue and he said, "Heck, all the Star Wars movies have had goofy dialogue. That's what makes them Star Wars movies." (This guy has a 7" long tattoo on the inside of his left arm of Naboo script from TPM, too.:Q)
My g/f, who doesn't really know the ins and outs of the series really enjoyed it and talked about it for hours and wants to see it again. For reference, before we went to the afternoon show, whenever I mentioned friends and co-workers who were seeing/had seen the Midnight show, she sing-songed, "Loooz-zers." She got over that.
The first time I saw it, I was kinda so-so on it, but the 2nd time, it tightened up and really rocked and I started to get mad at the rudely and ignorantly negative reviews. I've read at least 30 reviews and in a lot of the negative ones, I've noticed that people probably were looking to beat it down before the lights even dimmed. Here's why...
Remember the tree scene in Empire when Luke asks Yoda what's in there and Yoda replies, "Only what you take with you."? Well, I think a lot of people dragged in a lot of baggage to AOTC and it's messing with their perceptions and attitudes.
- The revisionism about The Phantom Menace is insane - according to this Canadian article, "Fans did appreciate Phantom, says Lucas. "For four weeks they did exit polls and 80% of the people coming out thought it was fantastic. Only 20% thought it was good or less than good or fair. So it had overwhelmingly good exit polls." Even the reviews were 60% good and 40% negative, Lucas says, although he complains now that only the negative ones are remembered by carping critics."
Considering that TPM is the #4 domestic and #3 worldwide box office champ, how did that happen when no one saw it and no one liked it?!?!? (According to today's stories and selective memories.)
- Not everyone hated Jar Jar! He didn't bug me (HATED the brat though) and the only reason that the charges of racism started was because people knew that a black man (Ahmed Best) was performing the role. If a white man had done the EXACT SAME THING, the nattering twits would say he was a surfer dude. People wanted to see racism and SURPRISE!!!!, they found it.:|
- People bitching about the look of the digital image only saw that because they were looking for flaws in this new digital technique. If you didn't know it was shot on video, you wouldn't have even noticed. Roger Ebert is an outspoken opponent of digital cinema and he couldn't get past he prejudices and he panned AOTC when he raved about TPM.
- Criticisms that the actors were weak because they didn't have real sets are from idiots. In theatre productions, bare stages with few props are sometimes used to focus on the actors, so why are actors suddenly screwed because they didn't have REAL droid factories to run through?!? Once again, because you knew that nothing was there, you let it affect your attitudes.
- Complaining that Samuel L. didn't act like Jules or Shaft shows that you must've thought you were seeing "Quentin Tarantino's Attack of the Clones" or that Issac Hayes should've been singing, "Who is the Jedi who'd cut a bounty hunter's head off?/MACE!!/You're damn right" Jedi are keepers of the peace, not badass motherf*ckers. (Duh.) Shouldn't they be more chilled in their hang?
- The romance was something out of "Romeo & Juliet" - two kids from different worlds whose roles, responsibilities and oaths are keeping them apart. The way she treats him like a child, ("Oh, he's not a Jedi yet..."), but is obviously lonely due to her political life and the way he chafes at the Jedi prohibitions against forming attachments and relationships is a recipe for young and stupid love and the disasters to come. The muddled words Anikin uses to express his feelings to her (fireplace scene) felt no weirder than the way some Shakespearean characters express their love. It sounds odd to our ears, but how should he have said it? "Yo, Amidala....you give me a chubby lightsabrer in my pants."?:disgust:
- Subtle comments from Yoda show that the Jedi have lost their edge and are blithely heading for their destruction and they don't even see it. The arrogant librarian ("If it's not in the archives, it doesn't exist.") is typical and my g/f thought that his comment about how the older Jedi were slipping was directed at Obi-Wan. The fact that Yoda's Dark Side Detector doesn't peg off the scale when he gets into the same building as Palpatine shows just how powerful this Sith mofo is and how he's been able to manipulate everyone into doing his bidding.
I'd go on, but I'm sure that if I posted another 1000 words about this, someone would just barf up, "Gawd it sucked. Lucas is suck. LOTR/Matrix/Spiderdude RULES!!!!" and ignore the point.
There were a few things that could've been a bit better. I think the editing of the dramatic scenes could've been a bit tighter and more effective, but there were no ultra-clunky moments that made TPM merely a good movie. A few of the effects looked a bit flat, but when you've got over 2000 shots that need work, if you end up with 40 duff ones, that's still only 1 in 50, leaving 49 other shots of things you've never seen before in ways you never imagined.
Seriously, if you got a 98% on a test, you'd expect an 'A'-grade, but if George Lucas delivers a 98% correct movie, you shout that he sucks, he raped your childhood, is a talentless hack and should be forced to let someone else take over the story HE CREATED to satisfy your ignorant and juvenille rantings. If you're so culturally deprived that you don't recognize classic mythology combined with old Flash Gordon serials and then run thru the most bleeding edge technology to create a fine entertainment, then I guess who should just go watch whatever makes you happy and leave those who still have open minds alone. Thank you.
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