LMP, that recommendation I made above goes for you as well. I think you'd really enjoy it.
I'll add it to the NetFlix queue. I'm actually going to try to watch all of
Lost this summer and catch up. I know Laz will be proud.
Sorry, but I don't think Empire has more dramatic weight than Sith. And I'm not just talking about the story itself. I think Lucas stepped it up a notch and the tension is palpable. From the scene in the opera with Palps and Anakin to the end of the film, I think it takes on a level of gravitas unseen before in the saga.
And I'm sorry, but Ford, Hamill, and Fisher are just as uneven as their prequel counterparts. Ford has a few funny lines, but he manages to be cool, and that's it. Look at the love scene in the Millenium Falcon in Empire: that scoundrel line, the "I'm sorry, Leia" are weakly acted, only remembered fondly by nostalgia, and certainly not a highlight like the carbon-freezing scene, which works because it's hard-boiled and not trying to be sappy. The less said about Hamill the better, and it amazes me Jake Lloyd got such a hard time by comparison.
The only difference between the OT romance and the Anakin and Padme stuff is that Lucas tried to make the dialogue in the latter too flowery. The acting isn't any worse, and I'd even venture to say that the picnic scene in Clones is better than anything Ford & Fisher did together. You want bad? Look at Leia rescuing Han at the beginning of Jedi, or their high school-level argument on Endor. Just terrible. And I know I'm not in the majority, but the scene right before Anakin leaves for Mustafar in Sith, where he hells her he now has the power to save her, is rather chilling and heartbreaking, played beautifully by Portman and Christiansen (as is the following scene with Padme and Obi-Wan). I just think people had built so much animosity towards the acting and writing by that point, they just can't accept it.
That's fair, but I still do think
Empire is the best overall film of the series. Even in some of its best moments,
Sith has moments that take away from it (especially some of Palp's character bits during the opening fight scene with Dooku, the faces/sounds he makes in his fights with Mace and Yoda). Nitpicking, yeah, but I definitely agree that
Sith is at least the 3rd-best film in the series, at the very least.
Too bad that the second half of
Sith has nearly EVERY moment that most people wanted to see in the series. It should have that weight regardless, you know? I've always felt that there's 2 films worth of incredible story, instead of 3. There are too many dry stretches in the first two films that again seem like Lucas doesn't know what to cut/keep in. Why are those Rebellion scenes left out of
Sith, or the series overall? Seriously? I question Lucas' creative decisions and execution, so that's where my problems lie, I guess.
As far as the original trilogy goes, yeah, Hamill's obnoxious in
Star Wars, and I do think one of the reasons why it's forgiven is because of his age and fanboy expectations. You're right about Han and Leia phoning it in during
Jedi, but comparing the two romances is apples and oranges to me, a subplot vs. the lynch-pin to Anakin's transformation, and I don't buy Padme falling in love with him so easily. He wears his neuroses and instability on his sleeve nearly the entire time... I don't know, with the context of the cut scenes from
Clones, it makes more sense, but in the theatrical cut, the progression is kind of there, I just don't buy the motivation.
And I do think
Sith will be looked on more favorably over time anyway.
I hope I'm getting the events more or less correct (I haven't watched Sith through in a while), but I really love the moment of calm before the storm, when Padme is waiting in front of the window worried, Obi Wan just got fucked up on that other planet, and Anakin has crossed the line to the Dark Side, and it's just a really quiet few moments with a tenuous piece of music/sound design behind it. Probably my favorite part of all the prequel trilogy, if you have any idea at all what I'm trying to refer to.
YES! That's probably my favorite as well. I was going to point it out if you hadn't already.
That's actually right before Anakin has gone over the line. He's debating whether or not to follow Mace Windu's orders and stay away from Palapatine as they go to arrest him.
It's definitely one of the high points of the entire saga, and it's pure cinema.
That and the fucking opera scene... man.