The movie was amazing. You should probably read no further
if you don’t want to be ruined by my outright plot spoilers, repeated bursts
of praise, my adulations of worthiness and some Scriptural illumination so I’ll
contain my glee and let all three of you readers decide to either click on the
Happy Husband or come in. Honestly there will be spoilers so don’t click if you
haven’t seen the movie.
I may very well be typing to an audience of none, but there
you go, a spoiler-riddled post below.
Regarding the prequel mythos, I remember some folk were
upset at Episode II and I saying that George was on his way to killing the
franchise by pointing out a perception of lousy acting and annoying characters.
They’ll say that the story is weak (some have said contrived) and that it
could’ve been better while simultaneously ignoring the weak acting and
contrived plot points from the original trilogy. Let me answer with a hearty
“whatever” an honest “loosen up” and a wise “let go”.
George spun the wheel and told the tale—not you. Let him
tell it the way he sees fit and leave your preconceptions of “what would be
cool” and enjoy what IS cool…what he has told. If you want to go create some
Star Wars fanfic, knock yourself out—there’s plenty of sites (and blogs) that
do that. If you want to try your hand at adding to the Extended Universe, go
right ahead—they may be looking to add to the series. The saga has accomplished
what George has wanted and has done so with power—a myth has been created and
fans love it.
Personally, I had a new (and complete) appreciation of the battle-weary
rebels in the beat up vehicles of Episode IV. I was captivated by Leia’s
(surely Jedi enhanced) memory of her weeping mother—a noted detail when at
Padme’s death bed, Obi-Wan is seen still holding her daughter close by. I
shuddered at the fall of Anakin realizing there was no turn and wept as his
master would explain how he was the chosen one—he was to bring down the
Sith…not join them. I even cheered when we were given an understanding of what
Obi-Wan was doing on Tatooine some seventeen years later…learning the ways of
Qui-Gon Jinn!
The acting overall was right up there with Empire/Jedi.
Everyone seemed very comfortable delivering their lines and I was
actually
moved to tears quite a few times throughout the movie by the conviction
of the actors portraying their characters. I even loved how Jar Jar,
buoyant in the first
movie, growing somber in the second, was completely silent and
saddened. The
ashes of his life’s work behind him, the fruit of his labor carried
dead before
him…another character transformed by the mythos.
John Williams, not surprising, did a fantastic job. A musician
of immense caliber he would never disappoint and he went on to prove this
point, rhythmically highlighting themes from Menace and Clones and reaching out
and touching themes from Jedi. He is to be applauded for his creation of over
thirty new scores wonderfully blended with “future” scores and giving us the
most comprehensive Star Wars soundtrack to date. In it, he retells the mythos reminding
us with music of the new hope that is dawning over the Tatooine horizon as the
glory of the republic fades.
Of course, the movie was riddled with theosophy. Passion is
bad and resolve is good. Anger is wrong and leads to hatred. One is to embrace
the death of people for it is only the opening to a greater journey. The path
to the dark side begins with doubt and confusion because of absolutes while the
path to illumination is seeing the many shades of gray and not overly reacting
to any of them. Violence is okay when done in defense but when based solely on
conviction it is wrong.
Many of these ideas, of course, are supremely anti-Biblical
and in all honesty are being propagated in countless movies today. Some of them
could have some Biblical echoes but then are dangerous to accept outright for
what it would mean. They are all to be examined in the light of Scripture.
In reverse order, what do we learn from the Scriptures?
- Well, God hates violence…but the landlords of this world
have so decided to embrace it. He will allow the denizens therein to use it and
similarly orchestrate His purposes to rid the world of it and its source. We as
believers are not to be violent but we are to acknowledge that the governments
of the world are given power and we are to submit to that power. (Rom 12:18; 13) - The path to the dark side doesn’t begin with doubt, but with
our desires. From there we get a whole mess of problems within our members and
with each other. It’s in our desires that we stray from the absolute truth of
the Word of God, seeking after our own lusts and putting everything into shades
of gray so as to justify them. (James 4; 1 John 4) - One is to understand that these one hundred (or so) years of
life is not the end of life and use it as unto the Lord. This means that we are
also to realize that although this isn’t the final death, there is a second
death and that we are to preach the gospel unreservedly so that all may
believe. High goal that, but there we go: preaching, baptizing and making
disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ because afterwards there is a judgment. - Anger can lead to hatred, but we as believers are not told
to “be not angry” but rather “be angry and sin not”. There is a righteous
anger, and when one looks at the sin of the world it is right to be angry at
the sin and the violence all about but to escalate to hatred of people is
against the Word of God. (Gal 5; Eph 4:26) - Passion isn’t necessarily bad and resolve isn’t necessarily
good. Someone could be resolved to constantly doing the wrong or be passionate
with the things of the Scripture. One must be careful when one looks at the
thinking of men or the feelings thereof and try to justify the morality of
situations based on what is felt or decided. The hearts is desperately sick and
we as believers must lean on what God has said and rely on Him. (Jeremiah 17:9)
Well that’s the short of it, anyway Loved the movie. Didn’t
like the philosophy (which I’ve seen in everything from Saved to Firefly) but
have accepted that the world will teach as much in its quest. Brother Russ is
on again Monday so stick around for that and I’ll have a flurry of baptism
posts.
-r-
Update
Doug’s wishful thinking and some concerns.
Tim’s one complaint and some concerns.
Matt’s look at Biblical themes and moral lessons.
Chad’s concerns about Biblical comparisons.
Jeremy comments on some of our thinking.
Jerry’s drug induced distaste of the movie.
Josh manages a brief review with ratings plus talks like Yoda.
And a look at the language in Star Wars (HT: Jeremy).
Update 2: MCF posts a full summary and review.
Update 3: Christopher has the good, the bad and the ugly.