That carefully structured pace and choreography is what makes the Death Star battle in Star Wars still the best extended battle sequence in the whole saga. The ATAT battle on Hoth is almost as good but later Lucas just went hog wild with the "everything but the kitchen sink" appoach in of his other SW movies.
I agree with you whole-heartedly. The battles in the original trilogy had a purpose, with each side working toward a specific goal. The audience was able to easily follow along. The battles in the prequels are spectacular, but basically boil down to hundreds of things shooting at hundreds of other things. It took me a couple of viewings of AOTC just to tell which machines were the "bad guys" and which were the "good" during the final battle. And Lucas didn't give anything to focus on; there's just mayhem occupying the entire frame most of the time. The eye isn't directed to anything in particular. This makes it hard to really get caught up in the action.
That carefully structured pace and choreography is what makes the Death Star battle in Star Wars still the best extended battle sequence in the whole saga. The ATAT battle on Hoth is almost as good but later Lucas just went hog wild with the "everything but the kitchen sink" appoach in of his other SW movies.
I agree with you whole-heartedly. The battles in the original trilogy had a purpose, with each side working toward a specific goal. The audience was able to easily follow along. The battles in the prequels are spectacular, but basically boil down to hundreds of things shooting at hundreds of other things. It took me a couple of viewings of AOTC just to tell which machines were the "bad guys" and which were the "good" during the final battle. And Lucas didn't give anything to focus on; there's just mayhem occupying the entire frame most of the time. The eye isn't directed to anything in particular. This makes it hard to really get caught up in the action.
Still can't believe it took 'til 2003 for someone to think they'd "discovered" Lucas's ideas on/in Star Wars were an amalgam of various film and other pop-cultural images and ideas. Wow. As if he didn't say so --- and fans weren't talking about it --- all along.
Still can't believe it took 'til 2003 for someone to think they'd "discovered" Lucas's ideas on/in Star Wars were an amalgam of various film and other pop-cultural images and ideas. Wow. As if he didn't say so --- and fans weren't talking about it --- all along.
I'm so glad he was here to tell us these things. Chewie, take that professor in the back and plug him to the hyperdrive.