REVENGE OF THE SITH DVD Review up and running...(let the flood begin)(SNEAK LOOK POST #146)... (1 Viewer)

[Dave H]

Star Wars won't be on Blu Ray until at least 2010 or later in my opinion. Lucas waits several years on each video format and I suspect this won't be any different.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

The Empire Strikes Back
A New Hope

A medium size quality drop


Return of the Jedi


A much larger quality drop

TPM
ROTS

A major quality drop

AOTC

 

[Chris Atkins]

Lou:

Gotta disagree with you on the ROTJ love. I think the filmmaking quality is light years below any of the other five. Marquand is just not in the same league as Lucas or Kershner. Granted, the characters are more beloved, and the last reel is great, but the rest of the movie is pretty pedestrian in my book.

Otherwise, I can live with your list (even though mine is different):

1. Revenge of the Sith
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Attack of the Clones
4. A New Hope
5. The Phantom Menace
6. Return of the Jedi

 

[Mark Lucas]

The prequel trilogy doesn't even register to me so it goes like this:

Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars (the original)
Return of the Jedi

and then it's AOTC, ROTS, and TPM. The order doesn't really matter though for those 3.

 

[Matt Leigh]

A New Hope
Empire
Revenge of the Sith
The Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones
Return of the Jedi

I have a hard time putting a number score to any of them besides New Hope and Empire (which are 10/10 films to me). There are moments of utter genius in each of them and as the films go down the ladder there are more moments of weakness (but balanced by the genius). Jedi has always come off as just plain lazy in its story and is also the worst looking photographically of all of them. Regardless, I don't score any of them less than a 7/10 and even then some days I think Jedi is an 8.

 

[Chris Atkins]

THAT is exactly my problem with ROTJ. The Star Wars films are, first and foremost, visual in their style. That's weird since film is a visual medium, but Lucas was obviously more interested in the visuals than anything else.

And it's in the visuals that ROTJ fails, in my view. Say all you want about acting and dialogue in TPM and AOTC...their visuals far surpass ROTJ's.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

ROTJ works despite the Ewoks and the Death Star rehash because of my buy in to the character motivations between Luke, Vader, and the Emperor. All those scenes are golden and light years beyond anything the PT contained.

Was ROTJ the flashiest or the best technically or visually? Probably not. But that doesn't matter to me, its the beating heart of true emotion that elevates ROTJ above all of the PTs.

The PTs are empty soulless baubles that shine brightly like the Las Vegas skyline at night but prove to be the same as the empty neon tubes in daylight when one examines the characters and the PT story.

SFX get dated fast. Human drama, captured by good writing, is eternal.

 

[DanR]

Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.

Regards
Dan

 

[Brent M]

Good Lord. I agree with Tim Glover that most of this should be moved to the saga thread because we're going back to the same old OT vs. PT debates that have raged on for years. This thread should focus on the upcoming Episode III DVD, otherwise it's just going to descend into a series of heated arguments.

 

[John Alderson]

If any of you have the silver SE trilogy widescreen "Vader Head" VHS box set (phew), you might already have the perfect box. I currently am using the Vader half of the box to hold six DVD's: the two prequels and the OT, plus the OT bonus disc. When episode III comes out, the bonus disc gets bumped so I'll have the six disc saga in a cool looking display box; the six DVD cases fit perfectly.

It makes a very good slip case: cool looking diagonal cut to it so the upper left portion of the disc shows... yep, I'm a nerd. I use the OT DVD box to hold my LD DVD rips (and thats where the bonus disc will get demoted to).

 

[MikeRS]

1. A New Hope (Nostalgia probably plays a part. :b I'M LUKE SKYWALKER. I'M HERE TO RESCUE YOU. )

2. Revenge Of The Sith (The second half is the most emotionally sustained piece of SW narrative. YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE! )

3. The Empire Strikes Back (The second half *used* to be the most emotionally sustained piece of SW narrative. JOIN ME AND TOGETHER WE CAN RULE THE GALAXY AS FATHER AND SON! )

4. The Phantom Menace (Probably my favorite shot composition of the series. And....Liam! YOUR FOCUS DETERMINES YOUR REALITY.)

5. Attack Of The Clones (A mixture of melancholy and pure fun. Interesting combo in tones. BEGUN THIS CLONE WAR HAS.)

6. Return Of The Jedi(Still cool, but most filmmaking flaws. IT'S A TRAP!)


I do believe the whole is deeper and more interesting than the sum of any of the parts.

 

[Robert Anthony]

hey, if Mike's doing it, I gotta

1. The Empire Strikes Back: Still the most beautiful looking of all the Star Wars movies. Whenever anyone mentions the success of the film, no one mentions Peter Suschitzky's work, and that's a shame. All the other well-worn reasons that this goes at #1 still applies.

2. A New Hope: For being percieved as a pretty charmless, dour little man, Lucas crafted a pretty goddamn charming picture. I have even more love for the picture ever since my girlfriend came out to the garage to tell me to quit messing with the star wars stuff, noticed Artoo tooling around the Desert, and pretty much fell in love with him, plopped into the couch, and watched the entire movie straight through. Even sniffled a little at the end when Chewie was denied his medal.

3. Revenge of the Sith: Mostly because the movie feels like a perfect combination of the above two films. And this movie feels like it's the one Lucas has grown the most on as a director. There's a surety in the camera movements that he's never had before, and emotion in the actors that hasn't been a product of his direction since American Graffiti.

4. The Phantom Menace: It just feels "Star Wars" to me. Time has been a LOT kinder to this thing (although I don't remember the film having the slight lavender tinge to the entire picture. maybe that's just me, but the film FEELS purplish, both in tone and visuals) than I could have possibly thought. It's a little distant, the pacing is pretty haphazard, but it's stuck with me.

5. Return of the Jedi: Some people say this about Revenge of the Sith, but to me, this movie pretty much works ONLY in the last half hour, and that's it. The ewoks aren't my problem--the flat look, the plodding pace, and the pure nonsense of some of the main plot elements is what weighs this down.

6. Attack of the Clones: Almost every problem as above, but moreso. Some enjoyable moments, but largely uneven. The movie only really comes alive when it follows Obi-Wan, and only Yoda vs Dooku saves the flick. too many of Anakins character beats are sort of stumbled through. This is the opposite of Phantom Menace, to me. Rushed, hurried, and the least "Star Wars feeling" of the 6. Although I can see why the TPM backlash would cause people to regard it as well as they did when it first came out.

 

[GuruAskew]

I'm SHOCKED by how many people have put "Attack of the Clones" beneath "The Phantom Menace".

 

[Kenneth Bova]

* on this disc. I could have sworn I've seen pictures of them somewhere, but I can't find any anywhere.

*Spoiler in case someone wants to read the book for more story. I think it was in there. If not, it was certainly in the Lego Xbox game.

 

[Andrew Bunk]

You know, if the world is totally destroyed, and we're reduced to cavemen and women, alien visitors would probably find cave walls with Star Wars movie rankings carved into them.



Can't wait for this DVD. Haven't seen ROTS since my third viewing in late May. I'm more than ready to see it again.

 

[Tim Glover]

While I always enjoy reading Star Wars banter whether on a SW thread or not...The SAGA thread is really a great one to discuss the pros/cons of where we rank or rate these films.

ROTS is the 2005 box office champ (so far) and was well recieved by it's fans and critics. A first for the PT. This thread really should be discussing the early reviews that are hitting the web.

I actually rate Thumb Wars-The Phantom Cuticle as my #1.

 

[Dave Mack]

Slight tangent question... I have the PAL R2 SW Phantom Menace which IMHO looks MUCH better than the R1. Did anyone compare the transfers of AOTC, R1 NTSC vs. R2 PAL? Since it was digitally shot the R1 transfer of AOTC looks great to me but I'm wondering if the R2 looked better due to PAL's 100 extra lines of resolution. I would assume yes, but you never know. Also is anyone planning on getting the R2 PAL ROTS?

Thanks! D

 

[Sean Patrick]

i'll bite, especially since i think AOTC deserves more respect than it's getting around here...

1. empire strikes back
2. star wars
3. attack of the clones
4. revenge of the sith
5. return of the jedi
6. phantom menace

 

[Greg_S_H]

Wow, that's my exact ranking, Sean. I'm glad someone sees it my way. Or, maybe I see it your way. "I'm so confused."

 

[RickHeart]

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. Return of the Jedi
5. The Phantom Menace
6. Attack of the Clones

I initially thought that Clones was better than Menace, but I just don't think it's held up that well. The plot, to me, is cumbersome and awkward (even for the prequels), and I just don't buy the Obi-Wan as private detective bit. Though the Clone Wars stuff is cool, that's the only thing that really does it for me in this movie. The movie does not really feel like a Star Wars film to me, and I agree with the comments that it seems rushed and uneven...and the Dex stuff and the droid factory....just unwatchable.

I think Phantom Menace benefits the most from Sith...the film, despite its serious flaws, "feels" more like a Star Wars film now that the saga is complete. In fact, I'd even say that the childish tone of the movie is a nice offset to what comes in Episode III.

This is all just equivocation though...all of the prequels could have been SO much more.