Quote:
Originally Posted by Groge511
How can you be so happy about GL not directing/writing? He created the universe. Without him Star Wars would not be.
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Umm..let me guess...you've been in some form of stasis and don't know about the prequel trilogy, right?
Yes, GL gets credit for creating Star Wars and an incredible universe. But he created that universe when he was young and hungry and even he thought the original Star Wars movie was going to be a disaster. And when everyone tells you for years how great you are, you tend to think you're infallible. There were some great ideas in the prequels, but the writing was really terrible and the direction of the actors was awful.
I think Lucas lost his soul by the time he made the PT. If you watch the documentaries, he really doesn't seem concerned with performance at all and he was far more interested in special effects than he was with dramatic arc and good storytelling.
The smartest move Lucas ever made was letting someone else direct "The Empire Strikes Back" which I think most critics agree was the best Star Wars film.
In addition, most great artists have peak creative periods in their lives. It doesn't mean that they're not still geniuses after those peak periods, but their work doesn't measure up to those previous efforts. Look at Paul McCartney or even Bob Dylan. They're still great at what they do, but nothing like they were 30-40 years ago. Frankly, I think Spielberg has lost a bit of his touch as well (although maybe he'll surprise us with Lincoln). I think that comes from the fact that when Spielberg made great films, he was still closer to his middle-class background. But once he became extremely rich and isolated from ordinary people, his films suffered.
One of the reasons why the original Star Wars was such a success was because it was a total surprise. No one expected it - there was no advance hype for the film. It was the first time that a "Saturday morning serial" genre movie got such a big budget. The problem with making any sci-fi film/adventure film today is that it's very difficult to impress anyone anymore and there are millions of self-proclaimed critics who may have the capability to write a proper english sentence, but who are ready to pounce on anything and declare it a failure just to satisfy their own little egos and inferiority complexes.
The next Star Wars movie will require an incredible writer and director and while Disney does occasionally make a decent movie, I suspect the next new film will be more about battles and explosions than characterization. Having Luke or Han's kids fight some new battle, similar to the old battles, will not be enough - it has to be something we haven't seen before.