The Driver
Member
You're a nut. Maybe in terms of pure visuals but with a score this lacking and characters you only barely care about it's hard for the final act to be much more than spectacle.
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Star Wars movies have great "third acts" - which one's your favorite? (spoiler tags!)
- Thread starter Altazor
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Fully agree. As pure spectacle, this is absolutely right. ROTJ and ESB only win in the emotion category thanks to Luke/Vader confrontations.
serenewarfare
Banned
I agree with him, but that's because I cared about the characters. At least somewhat.
I would have agreed with you about the characters, but as the events of the third act started unfolding I found myself instantly shifting from not caring about the characters to being fully invested in them like a switch had just been flipped. Some rough imagery in there for a star wars movie
I think Empire Strikes Back has the best third act all together (there is enormous tension as Leia and company try to escape Cloud City, you know from the get go that Luke is going to be torn apart, and the visual of them all looking out into the galaxy while Han Solo and the Princess plays is incredible) but the best sequence is in Return of the Jedi with Palpatine/Vader/Luke.
ShadowSwordmaster
Banned
Return of the Jedi for me. I think the interaction between Vader, Luke, and the Emperor in those scenes are phenomenal.
BONUS: And the Battle of Endor to this day is one of the most impressive space battles put to the big screen. Return of the Jedi's third act is basically a highlight reel of the best parts of Star Wars
Modern day space battles have nothing on these hand made spectacles with zero cgi. This is why the original trilogy will always have a special place in my heart because I can appreciate the time and imagination gone into creating these masterpieces in set designs. The only thing that lets RotJ is the lack of sets behind the actors instead replaced by paintings because of time restrictions.
GamingOblivion
Banned
as if people dont put time and imagination into CGI
this fucking anti-cgi circle-jerk is 5 years too old.
serenewarfare
Banned
Yeah it's always seemed weird to me. Like I can understand loving practical effects, but being anti-CG or thinking that CG is inherently worse is just strange.
You have really great CG and bad CG the same way you can have great practical effects and bad practical effects.
Good practical effects work almost always ages better than good CG work. The Star Wars franchise is exhibit A of this
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Nah.
This is the beginning of Empire and the end of Jedi happening simultaneously for 30 straight minutes.
People overstate the emotional punch of Luke's victory over the Emperor and his turning back of Vader ever so briefly - not to say there isn't any emotional punch. There is, definitely. But Jedi's last half-hour is amazing because there's that emotional punch, crosscut perfectly with what was the best space battle ever filmed, crosscut perfectly with a less-stellar, but still visually amazing ground battle. The editing during that sequence is pretty damned astounding, as is the music underscoring it all (although large chunks of that score are basically just Star Wars Greatest Hits, to the point where some of that stuff is just tracked in from the first movie).
And then this movie does all of that, but with a better ground battle, a better space battle, more heightened emotion overall (maybe not focused so acutely on two characters, but more heightened nevertheless) and a better bow on top of it all, and makes it interlock even tighter than Jedi's did.
I mean, I could wait a year to say all of this again somewhere else, but nah. I'm pretty certain I can make that call now.
This is the best climax of any Star Wars movie. This. Then Jedi. Then Star Wars. Then Empire. Then Force Awakens.
The landing they stuck on this movie is going to be responsible for the 3rd & 4th weekend alone.
Trigonometrize.
Member
To be fair was the CG in the prequels even good when they came out? (Too young to remember)
TDLink
Member
I completely agree with this entire post.
It's absolutely Rogue One first. Then Jedi, ANH, and Empire. I don't know how they're going to top what they did with RO but I am looking forward to seeing it.
MrRudiMentary
Member
What's noticeable is that when a lot of people say climax they only talk about one of the climaxes. The throne room and Death Star run in RotJ also share with the Endor bunker battle which is pretty terrible and dilutes the whole thing.
Empire is probably best for that reason because both the escape from Bespin and the Darth Vader duel are equally amazing. A New Hope has nothing to share with and is perfect.
This is a huge part of why Episode I's climax is so terrible - the Darth Maul duel is sharing time with Padme arresting the Asian stereotype aliens, Anakin blowing up a space station by accident, and Jar Jar doing the same with the droid army.
I haven't seen Rogue One.
Empire is probably best for that reason because both the escape from Bespin and the Darth Vader duel are equally amazing. A New Hope has nothing to share with and is perfect.
This is a huge part of why Episode I's climax is so terrible - the Darth Maul duel is sharing time with Padme arresting the Asian stereotype aliens, Anakin blowing up a space station by accident, and Jar Jar doing the same with the droid army.
I haven't seen Rogue One.
The only reason I put ESB as #2 ahead of ANH is because I'm a HUGE sucker for the set design in ESB'S finale. The biggest mark for it. It encapsulates everything I love in a sci fi film visually. The entire cloud city and especially the lighting of the Luke and Vader confrontation.
Rogue One far and away is my #1
Rogue One far and away is my #1
I remember being really wowed when I first saw Phantom Menace when I was 6. The droidekas were the coolest things ever. Attack of the Clones lost points from me because even at the time the CG C-3PO in the factory scene looked horrible. There are still some visually impressive things in the movie like the arena creatures but I think this movie tried to bite off more than it could chew and has aged the worst effects-wise out of the prequel movies. Revenge of the Sith was considered one of the most visually impressive movies when it came out. Some stuff has noticeably aged but for the most part it still looks great to me.
beyond_death
Member
Its probably Jedi. I remember watching the movie heaps growing up and the entire sequence of the Emperor taunting Luke to when he breaks and the space battle is fucking amazing.
I also really liked Phantom Menace just for the fight + music and Rogue One is awesome but I'll have to give it to Jedi.
I also really liked Phantom Menace just for the fight + music and Rogue One is awesome but I'll have to give it to Jedi.
Rogue One ending battle finally put the ROTJ space battle to the ground.
JonnyDBrit
Member
I'll stick with the safe bet and say Return of the Jedi, but damn if Rogue One isn't nipping at its heels. Saw the movie today, will see it again on Sunday, so will see if the sheer sensation of it is the same.
Visually, each film is at a respective height for the style of effects that it uses, particularly for the space battles. Return of the Jedi has what, for me, can only be described as a tapestry of modelwork up on screen, with immense pace and scale. Rogue One's Battle of Scarif, while avoiding too many spoilers, is just gorgeous to look at while being able to benefit from much more specific choreography and framing, owing to the digital arena - in contrast, you do notice a little in Return of the Jedi how things aren't really interacting with each other because of how they were made separately.
What bolsters the both of them is how these epic space battles are connected with the battles on the ground. It creates a greater sense of cohesion between seemingly separate sequences, so there's ultimately still a progressing, singular story. What edges it for Jedi is of course the Vader and Luke stuff on top of that, in part because of just how disconnected it is. Nothing those two do in that throne room will alter the course of the battle, and so it's able to focus on the culmination of the arc established at the end of Empire Strikes Back. It's ground battle may not be as strong as Rogue One's, but that little extra puts it in front. For now.
Visually, each film is at a respective height for the style of effects that it uses, particularly for the space battles. Return of the Jedi has what, for me, can only be described as a tapestry of modelwork up on screen, with immense pace and scale. Rogue One's Battle of Scarif, while avoiding too many spoilers, is just gorgeous to look at while being able to benefit from much more specific choreography and framing, owing to the digital arena - in contrast, you do notice a little in Return of the Jedi how things aren't really interacting with each other because of how they were made separately.
What bolsters the both of them is how these epic space battles are connected with the battles on the ground. It creates a greater sense of cohesion between seemingly separate sequences, so there's ultimately still a progressing, singular story. What edges it for Jedi is of course the Vader and Luke stuff on top of that, in part because of just how disconnected it is. Nothing those two do in that throne room will alter the course of the battle, and so it's able to focus on the culmination of the arc established at the end of Empire Strikes Back. It's ground battle may not be as strong as Rogue One's, but that little extra puts it in front. For now.
TPM was amazing, AotC looked off, RotS was amazing. Grievous still holds up very well.
Razgriz-Specter
Member
Rogue One's.
Its almost too good.
Its almost too good.
disappeared
Banned
Empire and Jedi are tied for me. They're both fantastic.
friskykillface
Banned
But Ewoks gave us one of the most surprisingly heartbreaking moments in the movie
I remember I cried when I saw that for the first time lolMHWilliams
Member
Rogue One's third acts actively made up of a janky beginning.
I'm struggling a bit because I wanted
, but I'll be damned if they didn't know how to cap off the entire film.
I'm struggling a bit because I wanted
the Krennic confrontation to be a bit more emotional
I'm not anti cgi, I'm just saying that I appreciated the imagination and time to build trenches and shit out of plastic models and popsicle sticks that still holds up today 35+ years later. There aren't many Sci fi movies from that era that have aged well.
PeskyToaster
Member
I guess I should say instead of shitposting that a good combination of CGI and practical effects is usually the best way to go in the modern era.
Duane Cunningham
Member
I can't judge R1 objectively right now, because I'm still riding too high right now. That third act was hot hot fire.
The best third act specifically goes to Return of the Jedi, without question. The Emperor's Throne Room scenes are the best stuff in the franchise
You are the Emperor of an entire Galaxy and all what you can afford is a barely illuminated dungeon.
And your only safety measure is a guy who could turn face at any time.
Palpatine holding that l
ArkkAngel007
Member
Having not seen Rogue One, it's probably RoTJ. Though...I like the weight of ESBs better and it didn't undergo all the changes to the degree that the former had.
Hell, I'll tie them. ESB and ROTJ for different reasons.
Hell, I'll tie them. ESB and ROTJ for different reasons.
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