attack of the clones

[moominmolly]

The only good reason to tell a story in nonchronological order is if there's something to be gained by placing the middle at the end. Memento, for example, was effective because of the inside-out narrative structure. Mulholland Drive was a cool Klein bottle of a movie. Go, which we watched again last night with friends, was fun in that way -- seeing the same scene from multiple sides or at different points in the movie with a different set of background information was part of what made it neat. Even movies that just put the end at the beginning and then go back to tell the back story have a reason: when we arrive at the end scene, again, it has more meaning, and the audience says, "OHHHHHHHHH. I get it."

I keep wondering: What the hell is the point of telling the Star Wars saga this way? I don't think that Episode III is going to contain any moments that will make us rethink who Darth Vader is, see the universe in a different way, or appreciate Return of the Jedi any more than we already do (or don't). Given that, how can it be anything but a clumsy bridge, filling in back story that we already know? What does it have to aim for besides making us feel clever for saying, "so that's how he lost his hand"?

I could see the point if there were going to be later episodes, a 7-8-9, that echoed the first three. But as it is, I can't see how the next movie isn't doomed. And yes, I'm already writing off a movie that hasn't even been made, but this is bugging me.

Cool moment of the movie: David and I sat in the front row, with a freshly-waxed expanse of black floor between us and the screen. When the lights dimmed and the Matrix preview came on, of course we saw the trademark monochrome characters dripping down. But I couldn't stop looking at the floor! The images were reflected in the tile, and the ultimate effect was really neat: blurred green shapes running down the slope of the floor, fast and fuzzy, mocking the flashy latex preview up on the screen.

Comments

[srd.livejournal.com]

The reason is that Lucas wasn't satisfied with the SFX possibilities in 1976. So he skipped to the parts that he could do w/o having to compromise his vision too grossely.
Yes, the scripts for all 6 episodes were done before the first movie was made. But I suspect that Lucas' vision got marred by money and marketing, and the skripts got edited accordingly.
Btw, did you know that David Lynch was proposed as a director for ROTJ, but jumped off? TESB is dark, but imagine Lynch doing ROTJ... No cutsy-wootsy ewoks, I'm sure.

[cos]

I seem to recall that the original plan was, indeed, for 9 episodes. I doubt that episode I was it was actually made, bears any resemblance to what he may have originally planned, but I'm pretty sure the original plan was already thrown out years ago, when he decided to wrap up the story in Episode VI, because 9 were too many to be able to make.