Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Roles That Were a Waste of Good Casting

I have absolutely no intention of seeing the new Crow movie, but they did seem to cast an actor (Bill Skarsgard) who could probably pull it off. Unfortunately, judging by the trailer…and the reviews, he looks pretty bland. I’ve been thinking of making a post about this, so here it is.

To clarify, this is not about the actors’ being wasted by being in a bad movie, but rather having their style wasted. Cast in very fitting roles, but due to poor direction, lack of screentime, or a bad interpretation of the character, their performance is disappointing in itself.

 

 



14. JIM CARREY as THE RIDDLER

Batman Forever (1995)

As I said before, Jim Carrey has a baseline hamminess that is quite amusing, but he often crosses the line into insufferability. There are times in which he fits like a glove in the role of the psychopathic Edward Nygma, but he’ll often go too far when trying to be funny, sometimes right in the middle of a sentence. It's not a complete waste but there's negative value to parts of his performance. 



 


13. BOLAJI BADEJO as THE DRONE

Alien (1979)

This seems like a strange choice, but I think it’s appropriate. I generally agree with the conventional wisdom that less is more when showing a monster (especially where Wampas are concerned), but I honestly think it’s a shame that something like this screen-test wasn’t included in the movie. It’s subtle enough, and Badejo’s body language is simultaneously graceful and unsettling. It’s also strange that there are no shots that effectively take advantage of Badejo’s lanky 6’10” frame; they could have put anyone in that suit with what they kept.

I suppose I’d give an honorable mention to Wilt Chamberlain and Andre the Giant in Conan the Destroyer for a similar reason, though they don’t make the list because their acting ability may have been moot. They cast two athletes for the specific reason that they tower over Arnold, but there’s not a single shot in the actual movie that conveys the height difference as well as this photo of them just chilling on the set. Hell, the final fight with Dagoth is shot like it was Tom Hardy inside that rubber suit.



 

 

12. CHRISTOPHER WALKEN as EMPEROR SHADDAM IV

Dune, Pt. 2 (2024)

Aside from some mild grumpiness, he seems underwhelming, and the lack of screen-time does not help. Then again, it was a trend that these new Dune movies neglected the supporting characters to the extent that Kangaroo Jack made better use of Christopher Walken. 





11. DAVID DASTMALCHIAN as PITER DE VRIES

Dune, Pt. 1 (2021)

Despite being a psychopath in the source material, Piter is depicted as a straight man here  Dastmalchian holds his own in spite of this, but he can only do so much when he’s barely in the movie. It also raises the question of why they’d cast such a greasy-haired goonie when if they’re going to turn him into an anonymous cueball. 

Remember, kids: It’s always better to look like Cezare than Orlok.




 

10. ROBERT PATTINSON as BATMAN

The Batman (2022)

Having seen Pattinson’s charisma in at least one other movie, I was disappointed to see a mopey one-note parody of an angsty Batman. And here I was thinking he was trying to distance himself from Twilight! Despite my reaction, it seems that a lot of others were pleasantly surprised by him. I guess the Batman casting spell adjusts to individual subjectivity…




 

9. JARED LETO as THE JOKER

Suicide Squad (2016)

Yes, the Batman Casting Spell: the casting always seems to go the opposite of how you’d expect. Michael Keaton, Heath Ledger, and Ben Affleck all worked surprisingly well…and then there’s Jared Leto. I thought he would be great, but his own personal interpretation of the character ended up being a bit…off. They should have reined him in.

 




8. JOHN BOYEGA as FINN

The Star Wars Sequels (2015, 2017, 2019)

Boyega is a solid actor, but as many have complained, his character was reduced to a border-line minstrel role who shows little empathy towards his former stormtrooper comrades
. He should have been the Jedi, but everybody says that. It’s even more frustrating because they actually used this as misdirection in the promotional material.




 

7. TOMMY LEE JONES as TWO-FACE

Batman Forever (1995)

Despite the offense of not letting Billy Dee Williams return, Jones is perfect for the tragic character of Harvey Dent. Unfortunately, Harvey is not so tragic in this movie. At least Tommy looks like he’s having fun. It also gave us the best on-set takedown this side of Laurence Olivier.





6. AUSTIN BUTLER as FEYD-RAUTHA

Dune, Pt. 2 (2024)

After killing a tragic role as Elvis, Butler is then cast as an over-simplified version of Feyd-Rautha in Dune. He has fun, but it’s a one-note crazy person performance that I imagine anyone could pull off. At least we got some amusing gif memes out it. 

 




5. KEVIN CONROY as BATMAN (EARTH-99)

Batwoman, 2019

I’d want to avoid the typical complaints about some quasi-feminist deconstruction of traditional heroism, but it seemed like a betrayal that Kevin Conroy, the definitive voice of Batman, finally got a live-action role only to be turned into a cynical, nihilistic, and villainous parody of the Dark Knight.





4. PAUL DANO as THE RIDDLER

The Batman (2022)

He would have been great as an in-character version rather than the autistic child that barely got any screen time.




 

3. ROGER ALLAM as ILLYRIO MOPATIS

Game of Thrones (2011)

Originally the role was going to played by Ian McNeice (an even better casting choice), but that fell through, and they cast Allam instead. Appearances aside, Allam is actually very fun in roles like this. Unfortunately, he must not have liked being involved with the series, because he spends most of the time looking as if he’d rather be somewhere else and is conspicuously absent after first few episodes. 

TYRION: Where am I?

VARYS: You are in Pentos, in the house of Illyrio Mopatis

TYRION: Ok where is he?

VARYS: I don’t know. 




 

2. BRENT SPINER as THE JOKER

Young Justice (2011)

Joker is definitely a voice role that I know Brent Spiner can do well, but good night it's like a horribly-fandubbed Hazbin character. Not only is his voice acting flat, it doesn’t even sound like it’s coming from the character on the screen.




 

1. ANDY SERKIS as ULYSSES KLAUE 

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Black Panther (2018)

So let me get this straight. you got a character from the comics who is transformed into this strange humanoid manifestation of living sound, you cast a guy most known for his mastery of motion-capture acting, and then you kill the character off without ever having him transform into living sound? Perhaps this is because Serkis is trying to distance himself from this now that motion-capture is standardized and he wants more serious roles, like MCU movies and Batman. I’ve heard he’s good in Andor, but I think this new direction is a bit bland and I miss weird old Andy Serkis. 




I might add more if I forgot any

Friday, September 20, 2024

Bond Books Ranked

While the Bond books lack many of the memorable visual gimmicks of the movies, they tend to be quick reads, while the latter are slow watches. I’ve pointed out before that I’m not the biggest fan of many of the “classic” Bond movies: the characterization tends to be weak, the action is dated, and the often pacing is unjustifiably sluggish. I’d like to say they make me know what it feels like to not like genre fiction, but not really because I’m bored despite the cool stuff, not because of it. Ian Fleming’ sharp, dry wit helps as well. One thing I will point out is that the books’ version of M is my favorite: a crusty old man with a jaded military experience that makes him amusingly flippant. Also of note is how fire the cover art for most of these books are, with Richard Chopping as the dominant artist.

I have not read some of the short stories, and I admit there are a couple on this list I don’t have the best memories of.

 

 


12. The Spy Who Loved Me

1962

Fleming intended this story to be a more explicit cautionary tale about how you’re supposed to view Bond, but instead it comes off like a bad self-shipping fanfic with an unlikable female protagonist named Vivienne Michel. Fleming makes up a story in the introduction about how he was given the draft from a female fan, who had apparently been lucky enough to get her notice-me-senpai an official release simply because it was the early 60's and bad fanfics had not been fully established as cringe yet. Classic case of a creator’s getting frustrated with people’s misreading of his work and throwing all subtlety to the wind only to fail at that (people actually think the book was an expression of perversion based on Viv's assertion that everyone likes being semi-raped). Fleming seemed disappointed enough to ask that the film adaptation only use the title, and the result ended being one of the best films of the series, setting the trend of good luck involving Bond titles that are inspired by tangential Fleming lore (the movie even changes the title character). I suppose its deconstructive nature somewhat justifies it. That Bond is not supposed to be a sympathetic role model improves the reading of these books, especially the next entry…

WINNER: MOVIE

 



11. Moonraker

1955

The movie is one of the lesser entries: an inaccurate attempt to ride the coattails of Star Wars that only succeeds in imposing upon one the subjectivity of the type of joyless Puritan who does not like Star Wars. The book is a little more down to earth. The villain, Hugo Drax, is a German refugee from World War II posing as a philanthropist who is willing to provide Britain with the rocket technology needed for ballistic missiles, but is secretly planning to nuke London with warheads donated by the Soviets. Bond’s first major confrontation with this communazi arises from an amusing chapter punchline in which M vaguely grumbles about how Drax cheats at cards after an exposition dump about the character. Bond, having been taught this subtle art by a card shark, finds out that Drax’s strategy is just dealing over a reflective surface in plain view (when Drax demands how he was found out, Bond simply deadpans, "My eyes"). The plot is engaging, the wit is good, and this book would be one of the better ones if not for Bond’s questionable answer to a Trolley Problem at the end. He initially intends to sacrifice himself in order to sabotage the missiles armed to launch, but Gala Brand convinces him to redirect them to the sea, killing only a few innocent people instead of millions. The book also contains an interesting in memoriam for a contemporary disaster.

WINNER: BOOK




10. Diamonds Are Forever

1956

One of the more fun classic Bond movies whose camp does work (it helps that it’s a Connery Bond), but the book is relatively bland. No gay hitmen, none of the cool SPECTRE stuff. Just a wannabe-cowboy millionaire villain.

WINNER: MOVIE



 

9. The Man with the Golden Gun

1965

The book starts off with an intriguing follow-up to You Only Live Twice: Bond attempts to assassinate M after having been brainwashed by SMERSH because just bumbled into Russia to sort out his amnesia. After being de-brainwashed by MI6, he is sent out to assassinate SMERSH collaborator Fransisco Scaramanga. One could say the book misses the opportunity to capitalize on the paranoia of Bond’s being brainwashed twice, but then again the tragedy is that Bond just goes with it. It’s a tough call since the movie contains a lot of what I hate about the Roger Moore era, plus the infamous JW Pepper, but also has Christopher Lee, Nick-Nack, a lot of cool gimmicks. 

WINNER: MOVIE



 

8. Thunderball

1961

I don’t remember much about this book outside its general plot, but I generally found the movie to be dull and slow in spite of some cool visuals. 

WINNER: BOOK



 

7. Live and Let Die

1954

The book lacks some of the cooler aspects of the movie like Geoffrey Holder’s Baron Samedi and this scene. Tee-Hee is also a more generic character in the book. On the other hand it lacks the movie’s typical Roger Moore era flaws, particularly JW and the tortuously long 20-minute boat chase.

WINNER: BOOK 



 

6. Casino Royale

1953

An intriguing premiere that’s outdone by a great movie that features more plot, characterization, action, and some (strangely coincidental) detective work.

WINNER: MOVIE

 



5. Goldfinger

1959

Contains a surprisingly good amount of what made the movie cool while establishing the trend of Bond’s foiling villains’ plans of being bad at card-cheating and somehow getting away with it. Perhaps I should reconsider my criticism of the obvious Ted Tuner/Ruper Murdoch references in Tomorrow Never Dies since Fleming went and literally named one of his most iconic villains after an architect he didn’t like. The again, I may have a soft spot for Brutalism, but Trellick Tower is an overrated building even among Brutalism fans whose mangy appearance invites the obvious alliteration). The elements are there, only to be enhanced by the film. The DB III had some practical gadgets and was improved upon by the DB5. The book’s circular saw is replaced by a laser. One strange thing about the book is that, for no apparent reason other the meta consideration that they are associated with this story’s villain, Bond has an inexplicable hatred for Koreans. Overall the book is witty and lacks the typical flaws of an earlier Bond movie.

WINNER: BOOK 




4. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

1963

A solid continuation of the Blofeld trilogy. The movie isn’t so bad, despite George Lazenby’s struggle to succeed Connery. My one complaint is that MI6 finds out about Blofeld’s plan, which involves exploiting the naivete of liberal white women, because our villain had the bright idea of having a side quest in which he uses his real name to find out if he was nobility in some egomaniacal reason.

WINNER: BOOK



 

3. You Only Live Twice

1964

The movie may have its cool, iconic visuals, but it also has the typical flaws of an old Bond movie (I must agree with my friend's assertion that Austin Powers is an example of a spoof that is far better than the original movie). The culture contrast between Bond and Tanaka is developed better in the book as well, not that the movie completely forgot about Japanese culture. The book is a satisfying finale to the Blofeld Trilogy in which our villain gets a satisfying death (unlike in both movie continuities!). The story ends with Bond’s losing his memory and washing ashore to some local village, where he lives a simple life until his nagging memories drive him to search for the truth. Unfortunately, he decides that his best bet to find them is Russia…

WINNER: BOOK

 



2. From Russia, with Love

1957

While I found the movie a bit slow, this complaint does not apply to the book. The characters are far better developed to the point of actually being characters. Fleming originally planned to kill off Bond at the end here, but his ambiguous demise is repudiated by…

WINNER: BOOK

 



1. Dr No

1958

MI6 decides to ease Bond back into service after his difficult recovery from an almost-death in From Russia, with Love, while an MI6 agent fails to make his routine proof-of-life communique after getting assassinated in Jamaica. Assuming that the man just eloped with his secretary, MI6 figures it would a pretty chill mission so they send Bond. Bond thinks that doesn’t sound like his target and he turns out to be right. The plot plays out the same until Bond’s capture, in which he is sent through a torture chamber until he escapes and buries Dr. No under a giant pile of literal bat shit. This may seem somewhat less poetic than Dr. No’s death in the movie, in which his cybernetic hands lack the articulation to pull him to safety, but it’s surprisingly satisfying after what No put Bond through. Despite the lack of SPECTRE, it’s one of the few books that has more over-the-top style than the movie: the “Dragon” is more of more interesting design, and the Dr. No’s character design is definitely more out there. 

WINNER: BOOK

   


Dr. No's design in James Bond, Jr. is arguably more
accurate to the book than that of the movie.


Wednesday, September 18, 2024

St. Richards - Jackson, MS

I think I might have been born at an awkward age in which I'm nostalgic for some forms of modern architecture. One big reason I have a soft spot for Brutalism is the church I went to while I was a small child: St. Richard's Catholic Church in Jackson. I tend to think the style works for churches if it evokes the look of an ancient temple, and this church is not exception. During a recent trip I took some beauty shots.

St. Richard's, with a strangely appropriate-looking car. 

The church is accessed via a bridge, which is pretty interesting.




This place looks legit. 











I remember standing on my toes as a kid looking over these.




Interestingly, the flanks of the church are brick.










Tried to rotate this, but turns out there was no right answer on this angle.

Interesting minimalist tabernacle.

One of the Stations of the Cross. They may have taken the minimalism a bit far.
 

Less-than-stellar crucifix. Apparently now hanging over the altar.




I think this is from the school.


Friday, September 13, 2024

Bringing Balance to the Themes

Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi

1983

D: Richard Marquand

**********

 

 

         Due to its high volume of cool sci-fi vehicles and stuff blowing up, this was my favorite Star Wars entry as a little kid. However, like most people I matured to the point of preferring Empire Strikes Back while adopting more of a typical Gen-X ambivalence toward its immediate successor. The movie has its flaws, but it is still a classic and one of the best threequels from Hollywood. Besides, I have some thoughts I assume are original and I need to round out my Michael Carter tetralogy.

          The movie begins with Darth Vader’s (David Prowse, v. James Earl Jones) visiting the incomplete second Death Star in order to inform Moff Jerjerrod (Michael Pennington) that he is here to speed up the work on the station for Emperor Palpatine’s (Ian McDiarmid) arrival. Here we see Vader’s underappreciated dry wit when he implies that he will “find new ways to motivate” the men by utilizing synergy on their tracheas while Jerjerrod silently regrets the decision to waste so much manpower by having a bunch of people stand in formation for the dark lord. Pennington, a stage actor whose primary involvement in film is this movie, is solid as a vulnerable everyman bureaucrat willing to go along with atrocities. This characterization is so explicit that it probably exacerbated public obliviousness to the more subtle depiction thereof in Grand Moff Tarkin, but that’s a contrarian rant for another day.

          We now return to our roots as we return to Tatooine, where our band of heroes plan to rescue Han Solo (Harrison Ford) from Jabba the Hutt (Himself). It’s a good thing this character was never shown to us in a previous movie, because he was effectively built up offscreen until being revealed as the disgusting slug that he was. A foul-tempered, licentious, gluttonous, cruel person, he’s a villain without any admirable qualities to find perversely attractive. He perfectly combines murder with animal cruelty with the rancor in a way more subtle than what we got in other movies. One wonders how he could effectively run a criminal organization while being so irrational. His business practices involve disproportionate punishment (wasting money on a bounty!) of his best employee for uncontrollable circumstances, continuing to do so despite the man’s joining a dangerous military junta, and then continuously making the dumbest decisions as Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) continues to foil him to the point of death. Then again, many people in power push their luck too hard. We need more villains who are victims of their own egomaniacal stupidity.

          Accompanying Jabba is his lackey Bib Fortuna (Michael Carter, v. Eric Bauersfeld), a wannabe mastermind who secretly plans to overthrow Jabba despite being an idiot.

          This initial arc establishes the development of Luke’s character. Having since accepted the reality of Anakin’s fate, he has become darker both in attitude and coiffure. He wears all black, and comes off as a true badass as he calmly tells Jabba that he will kill him if he refuses his generous bargain for Solo’s freedom (this is after asking politely). It might be easy for one to criticize this arc as far too coincidence-dependent; Luke’s complex plan is dependent on Jabba’s taking every chance to make the most irrational petty decision at every turn, even to the point of forfeiting C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2’s (Kenny Baker) freedom in the event of the crime lord’s actually accepting the deal like a reasonable person. 

           This is a good example in which themes are actually a prime motivator for storytelling, despite popular rumors to the contrary. In addition to tying up the loose end of Han’s absence, the Tatooine arc is meant to establish Luke’s abilities and expertise, albeit in hyperbolic way. This hyperbole is justified in that it was earned through hardship in the previous two movies, and serves to context for the rest of the movie’s plot. While Luke conquers an enemy through cunning and force (and some swashbuckling swinging), his future battle is far greater, against fare more powerful villains, and cannot be solved through brute force. The hyperbole serves this role. Also, said themes are valid adding nuance to the heroics without invalidating them; they do not involve prickly quasi-feminists who are supposedly right despite what we see in the plot.         

        Some minor disappointments are that Luke should have demonstrated his strength with a more climactic battle with Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch), who did not have any established vendetta with Han at the time. Also, the reunion between Han and the redeemed Lando (Billy Dee Williams) could have been a little more compelling.

          When Luke returns to Dagobah to complete his training, Yoda (Frank Oz) deems him skilled enough to face Vader. Yoda confirms that Vader is Anakin, and justifies his obfuscation by claiming that Luke was not ready to know yet. After the Master’s conveniently timed death, Luke encounters Obi-Wan’s (Alec Guiness) ghost. Addressing him as “Obi-Wan” (this is important) he confronts him over the lie. Obi-Wan admits that he spoke metaphorically for his own sake while being reluctant to admit his past to Luke. It’s somewhat questionable for a wise master to send a faithful follower to hell for no better reason than his not feeling like clarifying a metaphor, but that’s apparently the way the Real Christians tell me I’m supposed to interpret John 6. After this struggle session, Obi-Wan doubles down on the original plan to goad Luke into killing his own father for the common good.

         Many might question the nobility of the Jedi when they hide this truth from our hero and use him as a tool, but I would argue this is intentional. Despite their good intentions, the Jedi are not infallible to say the least, and this is an instance in which the Prequels reinforce the original trilogy. Their stubbornness and myopia was one of the contributions to the crisis: they were the quasi-theological enforcers of a corrupt system that was failing the galaxy and drove it to fascism. While Return of the Jedi is often derided as simplistic, it perfectly follows up on the subversion of Empire and provides the necessary reconstruction on its own terms. It acknowledges and completes the themes of the trilogy’s climax, and emphasizes the importance of an optimistic third act.

          What follows is the confrontation between Luke and Vader on the second Death Star, which is cinema at its finest. The visuals of the throne room are gothic and atmospheric, and the interactions are poignant. Vader has evolved into a tragic character here. Upon the his arrival, the Emperor has dashed his apprentice’s hopes of overthrowing him by announcing his knowledge of the his search for Luke.  At this exact moment Vader gives up (you can hear the defeat in his voice), accepting his fate to pass the torch to his son for Palpatine’s benefit. Vader’s love for Luke, still twisted as it is in Empire, is expressed by his attempts to get him to accept the transition and his willingness to sacrifice himself, if only to buy time for his son. He has no illusions of Luke’s winning in the long run.

 

You have your moments, TVTropes. Not many of them, but you do have them.


David Prowse’s body language enhances the pathos as does James Earl Jones’ (RIP) voice acting; Vader actually manages a look of shock behind a mask when he realizes his attempts to push Luke to the breaking point went a little too far and triggers the most gloriously emotional lightsaber fight in the series. 

         Ian McDiarmid is brilliant as an evil mastermind, but Palpatine’s plan to corrupt Luke fails. Luke eventually overcomes his rage and displays mercy toward his father. When an enraged Palpatine attempts to kill Luke, Vader overcomes his struggle and kills Palpatine to save his son, even though it costs his life.  The Force Lightning scene is a genuinely intense moment for adults; Gen-Xers who fixate on the Ewoks as evidence that this is movie is nothing but fluff have no idea what it was like to watch that when you were five. The act of familial love overcomes the Sith while discrediting the Jedi’s well-meaning rejection of humanity, thus bringing balance to the Force. Anakin's (Sebastian Shaw) death is a great scene. If you want to know why he wanted to see Luke with his own eyes, it's because he always experienced the world through technological filter. It was like a parent's seeing the birth of a child after only seeing ultrasounds.

          A sad symptom of our post-Christian society is the common complaint that Vader was redeemed to easily, which operates under a system of proportional karma. 

          Contrary to Gen-X consensus, Luke’s arc solidified as deeper than that of Han’s, but the latter does have some worthwhile characterization. After Luke reveals that Leia (Carrie Fisher) is his sister and that Vader is their father, Han temporarily mistakes her struggle for a love triangle. Despite momentarily being hurt, he still comforts her and expresses willingness to back off if her heart belongs to Luke. Han would never deny his love her agency out of pure possessiveness to the point of inspiring me to create an OC for the sole purpose of deconstructing a disappointing story. 

           Leia momentarily acts as the damsel in the first act, but she later acts as the royalty who ends up being a bridge between the good guys and the Ewoks, representing the feminine ideal that is universal in theology. The Ewoks are primitives, but they prove adaptable allies due to their natual skills. Despite their paganism (they repeat a plot point from the Han Solo Adventures by attempting to sacrifice Han & Co. while worshipping a droid) there is hope for them, and they are swayed by the good guys’ message. 3PO fulfills his role as the bard by being the storyteller of the saga for them up to this point. I would have still preferred to see them fight the Imperials with more modern means; that did get a little cartoonish.

          A more annoying theme is the typical Boomer misunderstanding of Vietnam. Lucas admitted to inspiration from the Viet Cong’s “beating” the US, ignoring that the Cong were using AK-47’s, not sticks. More relevantly, the war was lost not militarily, but because of lack of support from home as a result of press and public opinion. This is obviously not something the Empire would have to worry about.

        Some would understandably question the Empire's obsession with making giant murder-moons, even when after it is proven to be a losing tactic. This could be explained by the Sith's being a literal death cult and that the Death Star is an act of human sacrifice. A more mundane explanation is that the Clone Wars taught the galaxy that civilian bombing is the most effective ways to win wars in the same way World War II did. Most experts nowadays are of the consensus that it is ontologically impossible to win a war unless you are willing to murder as many enemy civilians as possible. The latter would probably be more in line with Lucas' intent. 

         One of the biggest nagging problems I have with the movie is the logistics of the Battle of Endor. This arguably crosses the line as the dodgy rationalizations for this battle are essential to the story. The Rebels are determined to destroy a second Death Star, and now even more so because the Emperor himself is supervising its construction, based on the testimony of our Greatest Ally, the Bothans. Many Bothans died for this information, which raises an important question: if this intelligence breach blew up to the point of people's getting killed, then it implies that the Empire might know what the Rebels know, and that the Emperor would cancel his trip. Maybe those Bothans just exaggerated their sacrifice, and it makes sense that they are later revealed to be a race of untrustworthy douchebags. 

         Even more absurdly, the Rebels, for no good reason, have made the decision to bring their entire fleet to the Death Star, containing their entire leadership structure. Considering that they only need lightspeed capable fighters to penetrate the station and (maybe) a small command ship, this is a needless play into the Emperor’s hands. His trap is entirely dependent upon this nonsensical tactic. 

        Another absurdity is that the shield must be shut down from the ground (hence the Ewoks), and that a ground tea must infiltrate the forest moon in a stolen Imperial shuttle using old codes. This only succeeds due to the Empire’s having obscenely stupid OPSEC, and I'm pretty sure that Star Trek made an intentional dig at it in one episode. Vader’s wherewithal makes this known and forces the confrontation between him and Luke. Despite the popular interpretation of his personality, he’s pretty chill about the whole thing.


Star Trek literally did this to Star Wars

        Upon showing up, the Rebel fleet is boxed in by the Imperials. In one of the worst examples of people's forgetting that space is three-dimensional, the Imperial fleet only blocks one axis of exit and the battle occurs over a single general plane (I assume they're too close to Endor to escape to light speed). Still, the Battle is a brilliant display of practical effects and contains what is possibly my favorite shot in the franchise. 

          The Death Star is blown up, the Imperials defeated, and the heroes celebrate a great satisfactory party of pure joy.

          The film’s story is enhanced its production. Special Effects are excellent, Alan Hume’s cinematography is underrated, and John Williams’ score is obviously phenomenal. The action is fun. The cast includes Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, Warwick Davis as Wicket, Tim Rose as Ackbar, Kenneth Colley as Piett, and Denis Lawson as Wedge . Return of the Jedi loses a star due to its logical flaws in regards to the Battle of Endor, but it’s an instance in which the themes work together to make a great film, provided the themes are earnest and reinforce the story. Not sure if it would have been better if Irvin Kershner had not made the foolish decision to direct Never Say Never Again, but he could have done worse.



QUOTES: