THE FILMS
I'm not sure I have the energy at present to do a rundown of all six movies and the handful of digital "improvements" George Lucas has applied to the Blu-Ray editions of the entire series. I've already reviewed A New Hope (1977) at Pajiba and written at length about a special screening that I attended (it included a Q&A with Lucas and Christopher Nolan). So I'll just add a few notes of fan disclosure before diving into the details of what I liked and disliked about the new Blu-Ray set.
1. I don't completely hate the special editions and/or Lucas's additional digital tweaking.
The Special Editions of the Star Wars films are the only versions of the films I have known theatrically. Sure, I have seen the original cuts (well, close to the original cuts) on VHS and DVD, but I was 14 when the SEs hit theaters and these are the versions I am the most familiar with. Essentially, as a member of Generation Y, the context of my spectatorship is akin to a cultural oasis; I'm in between the original fans and the younglings. Accordingly, the tweaks - aside from the musical number in Return of the Jedi (1983) and Han shooting first - never really irritated me.
After playing through Shadows of the Empire (1996) a few too many times, I loved seeing Dash Rendar's ship in A New Hope. Moreover, the refinement of the matte lines, the redeployed surround sound, the new Wampa and Jabba scenes, and the elaboration of the mise-en-scene of Mos Eisley and Bespin were all good with me. Now, some of the newest tweaks (2011) strike me as being extremely arbitrary - the door of Jabba the Hutt's doesn't need to be bigger and the blinking Ewoks are inconsequential - and I can take or leave Vader's "Nooo!" in Jedi. The scene works both ways for me and the alteration adds a symmetry films in the larger context of the prequels. Perhaps this goes without saying but, like every fan, I'd love to have all the versions of the films on Blu and I think many of Lucas's concerns - especially the revisions in the prequels - are baffling. Adding digital Yoda to Phantom Menace is like being worried about a single tree when the entire forest is on fire. That said, I always thought absolute acceptance or rejection of the alterations was ridiculous.
2. I don't hate (all) of the prequels.
Re-watching the three prequels on Blu-Ray was an odd experience. After feeling disappointed by The Phantom Menace, avoiding it for the past ten years, and loving Red Letter Media's scathing critique, I was expecting to really hate it upon a revisit. I was shocked to learn that while it is still an incredibly weak film in the shadow of the originals I quite liked certain sequences. Specifically, the Podrace - which is too long - is still a decently choreographed piece of filmic spectacle and the "Duel of the Fates" lightsaber battle is one of most visceral sequences in all six of the films. Yes, Jar Jar is annoying and yes, the political subplots are coma inducing but there are diamonds in the rough of the film.
Oddly, Attack of the Clones (2002), which I initially enjoyed in theaters and yet never rewatched, really disappointed me. Sure, there is a great chase scene in the film's opening act (yet it doesn't feel terribly fresh thanks to The Fifth Element) and the Jango Fett fight/space chase is a much needed shot of adrenaline. However, the rest of the film is incredibly dull. Hayden Christensen's performance as Anakin is wooden and whiny (I almost think Jake Lloyd does a better job in the first one...almost) and he is not assisted by Lucas's dialogue at all. Of course, the scenes he shares with Padme (Natalie Portman) are unintentionally hilarious. More baffling is that we never see Anakin and Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) share moments of friendship and mentorship. The film alludes to them but by the time we comes into the action the two of them are bickering like an old couple. There's no heart in this film at all and when we get to the third act which, despite the largest action sequences in the series, we simply do not care. It's a long, boring, heartless piece of filmmaking.
My impressions of Revenge of the Sith (2005), the prequel to which I return the most, have been largely unaltered. It's the best of the bunch (which isn't saying terribly much) and a fine transition into the original films. Christensen, McGregor, and Portman are more comfortable here and they have some beefier material to chew through. The opening battle sequence is Cotton Candy for your home theater set up - a aural-visual wonderland. The dark tone is handled, for Lucas at least, quite well and the final moments of the film are, despite the two other prequels, still capable of providing a powerful emotional reaction. Admittedly, there are major issues here: Padme's death, Anakin's motivations, etc., etc. Yet, the film is on par with Jedi in my opinion: an entertaining, well crafted (formally and tonally), space opera.
3. The original films are not perfect.
Sure, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) is perfect but A New Hope contains some minor flaws (mainly from a performance standpoint) that are, in my opinion, widely overlooked due to the cultural significance and nostalgia we hold for the movie. Lucas was, as Daniel Carlson simply and keenly noted, a great idea man. He was and is a revolutionary business man, a decent visual storyteller, and a filmmaker who mainly succeeds through collaboration. However, he is a horrible writer (and even notes it in some of the bonus features) and many of the faults of the prequels are the result of his screenwriting while many of the successes of the originals are the product of him walking away and leaving better hands at the typewriter and camera to do the work. Return of the Jedi's primary sin is the tonal switcheroo is pulls after the bleak worldview of The Empire Strikes Back. Jedi widely dismisses the nuanced moral questions that Empire brings into view, favoring absolutes, and suffers because of it.
THE AUDIO/VIDEO
The series, thanks to a span of thirty years in production and various shifts in technology, is hit and miss when it comes to the video quality. Oddly, the general rule is that the originals look better than the prequels (behind the magic of film!) while, next to New Hope and Empire, Revenge of the Sith is the best looking film in the set. The main issue seems to be that Lucas overly polished the Blu-Ray transfer of Phantom Menace - which was shot on film - to match the smoother aesthetic of the digitally shot prequels. Clones, due to being shot on early HD cameras, is a bit rough. That said, fans of the originals will not be disappointed with the visual presentation here. The 6.1 audio presentations on all the films are, to my ears, without error. There is some demo quality material here and I loved every minute of it.
THE EXTRAS
This was the area of my biggest disappointment when it came to the Blu-Ray presentation. In a nutshell, the amazing documentaries on the DVDs (specifically, the prequel docs "The Beginning" and the SFX documentary on the climax in Sith) and Empire of Dreams, the epic documentary looking at the production of the original films, are absent here. Moreover, the deleted scenes included on the DVD release of the prequels are - oddly - missing here from the glut of deleted material. Sure, fans of the originals and haters of the prequels probably won't care about the bulk of this, aside from Dreams, but I found it to be an baffling slight. There is a philosophical reason Lucas has for not releasing the original cuts, I understand that even if I don't agree with it. Piece mealing the extras and strong arming fans into holding on to any iteration of the films ever produced is just rude. Needless to say, I was pretty pissed about this.
There are other decent docs on the set and the deleted scenes I've explored on the originals are enjoyable. There are also a bunch of prop and model scans that fans can explore. Yet, I'd rather have those DVD extras than an hour and a half look at Star Wars spoofs. That said, my favorite features here are the archival commentary tracks assembled out of interview material. There are informative, funny and, despite the form, more lively than the original commentary tracks recorded for the DVD. Overall, the new deleted scenes, the archival commentaries, and the AV presentation (note that many of the extras are only available if you purchase the nine disc set and NOT just the prequels or sequels) make this set worthy of a purchase. I know die hard fans of the original versions are holding out for something better and while I have a feeling that we will eventually see the more definitive edition, I think it's going to be a long time coming.
Still contemplating buying the Originals on Blu Ray. I refuse to fork over however much money the entire saga costs on Blu-Ray, just because I know I'll never watch the prequels, unless my friends and I concoct a drinking game that follows the trilogy. The only thing that might be worth my money are the extras, but I'm not entirely sure I'd want to buy the saga just to get them. It's been ages since I watch the originals, and I remember loving them, so as you can imagine, it's hard to pick.
ReplyDeleteStill, great review of the set itself. I'm going to be nerdgasming over Criteron's Blu Ray Treatment of the Trois Coleurs trilogy for the meantime.
-Ben S