Another in an endless series of pop-culture confessions: I went out yesterday and purchased Star Wars Episode I on DVD. And after watching the film at home with the George Lucas et al commentary on, I can honestly also confess that I hate the film just a little bit less than I did when I saw it in the theater. But it became even clearer to me after listening to the commentary track that Lucas looked at the film like a big Erector set. He was so jazzed up about the technology and what he could do with it that he forgot about story, characters, and the simplicity and pulpiness that made the first three films so much fun. Forgetting about the audience is a fatal flaw in any filmmaker, and even more fatal for Lucas, with the most famous movie series in history to follow up. The fact that it hangs together better as an intellectual exercise on video is exactly what’s wrong with the picture.
I don’t expect any better with Ep II. But time will tell.
One of the things I couldn’t believe about Episode I was the sheer number of opportunities missed: Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon plan to stow away aboard a droid ship to get Naboo. In the next seen, they’ve done it. The heroes plan to sneak into the palace of Naboo through a waterfall entrance. In the next scene, they’ve done it. I had hoped that Lucas would give up directing duties for Episode II, but no such luck.
You know, Orson Welles said (when asked what he thought of making movies) “It’s the best set of electric trains a boy ever had,” but that was at the press conference for “Citizen Kane.”
I’m waiting for the “Phantom Re-Edit” on DVD.