george lucas is a hack!

so last night i went to see the sith’s revenge and there is plenty to say, but first I gotta get something off my chest. the owner, however well meaning for his own welfare, suggested to the crowd that the mpaa would give them 5 bills if they “peached on a fellow” who was filming the film. i just found it oh so ironic that here george is trying to give us a story about power gone all lord acton, and he is all black ballin’ the p2p crowd who drive the whole damn thing by generating interest. i mean how many people will go see this, after the oh so disappointing foray in the previous two, because they saw some clip online, on the tele, or heard about it on the rad-io. i mean that is what reviews do…encourage you to go, and e! can show clips, and the stars bring the press packages when they chat up some host right? whatever! you can’t put the genie back in the bottle, pandora’s box don’t close once the latch is busted.

now don’t take this as some grief i got to grind with george over jar’rastastereotype’jar, but, all said, george ‘i wish I could recreate american grafitti’ lucas is a hack – like steven king, or piers anthony. there was absolutely nothing new in this film. no suprises, and certainly no insight into the force for us seekers. i mean how many space battles can we see the boys fly through before we say enough already? and what happened to all the cool models that made the first 3 (last 3, whatever!) so harry hausen like? this is so full of cgi it is cluttered like a frat boys kitchen sink waitin’ on somebody to do the dishes. i mean the choreography was nice and i been waiting for that “lazer sword” (please!) duel by the lava pit since way back then starlog time.

and by hack, i mean how much mileage can you get out of the dark ‘wish i was readin’ milton’ christ schtick? i mean the “there’s good in him” is just so much foreshadowing for the saving of the son by the father. blood being thicker than apprenticeship, atleast in the west that is. and gods the dialogue. my eight year’s old school play had better lines in it … and more surprises too. and another thing the only moment in the entire second (first, alright already lightsaber wielding geeks) series of films that even felt like a ‘star wars’ film was when padhme got her ‘leia’ on in the arena and saved the boys (and yes here he was being a hack again!). don’t get me wrong she has the only memorable line in the whole damn film, but she was just so much window dressing for his ‘titanic in space’ sequences. i mean come on “this is the happiest day of my life” good gods is that sap.

the one redeeming factor about this eye-candy fest (which is worth seeing on the big screen for nothing else but it is purdy) is the topical nature of this story. imperialism and the drive for greater power being something us merikans is sufferin through right now. i mean, we get to see and hear the jack-booted thugs marching to the jedi temple – nice touch. and the calm and quiet of his ‘turn to the dark side’ scenes were well done. the aforementioned line is so poignant i cannot help but quote it ad nauseum “this is how liberty dies, to the sound of thunderous applause.” but enough already read between the lines on that one and let us not go quietly into that dark night. to hell with exile we must not fail in this one. rise already!