Kevin's Watch

Did you like him. Was he a good character to add? Or was he crap?

Lando was perfect. Everything they did in that movie was perfect. That's why the new movies aren't working so well; they have to compete with cinematic perfection. I really liked Lando's character. He had a lot of good things about him. When he realized Vader was ripping him off, he chose to do what he could to save his workers and friends. He deserved to be a general, no matter what Shatterstar thinks.

"This deal is getting worse all the time."

"They said they fixed it. I trusted them. Its not my fault."

Yeah, I agree with you there dAN. Lando was cool. When he ripped off Leia and Han, he never liked it. He was a good guy overall.

Lando was a handsome character who injected a lot of cool into The Empire Strikes Back (as if the movie wasn't cool enough without him). I liked how the movie kept me guessing whether he was friend or foe. When he finally stood up to the Empire and helped Leia and company escape Cloud City, I was cheering.

There's a moment in the movie, a detail forgotten in the background, that I think is poignant and telling: at the East platform, we see Boba Fett's ship blast off, its hull not even registering the feeble laser shots fired at it by Leia as she runs after the ship. We cut to Leia and we see Han's loss on her face...but look closely behind her and you can just make out Lando's silhouette in the doorway of the platform, hands on hips, looking downward. His whole body English in that moment expresses his disgust with himself, his failure to reach the platform in time to save his friend. You can sense his thought in that moment as clearly as if he had said it: What have I done??

Sadly, in Return Of The Jedi, that kind of subtle detail tended to be glossed over. Literally. Jedi is so relentless squeaky clean that it's unnerving. Everyone's image has been cleaned up, including Lando's: new hairdo, new fancy uniform, new title ("General Calrissian")...no character. He's reduced to exchanging trite dialogue with Mr. Fishface in the Falcon cockpit for much of the movie. Ugh...

Matrixman wrote:There's a moment in the movie, a detail forgotten in the background, that I think is poignant and telling: at the East platform, we see Boba Fett's ship blast off, its hull not even registering the feeble laser shots fired at it by Leia as she runs after the ship. We cut to Leia and we see Han's loss on her face...but look closely behind her and you can just make out Lando's silhouette in the doorway of the platform, hands on hips, looking downward. His whole body English in that moment expresses his disgust with himself, his failure to reach the platform in time to save his friend. You can sense his thought in that moment as clearly as if he had said it: What have I done??

I don't remember seeing that, I shall have to watch it again tonight.

That scene with Lando is very brief; blink and it's over. I'll need to watch it again myself. Maybe I'm reading too much into the scene; still, it's one of those little details that add depth to The Empire Strikes Back.

I believe you read the scene correctly; but you failed to mention R2-D2's body language....

I caught that as well. Billy Dee Williams is a premire actor without a doubt.

It's no wonder that Empire is THE most popular of the three.

Williams added a dimension to the cast of Empire that greatly enhanced the chemistry. Terrific selection. I wish Lucas would follow that example in his current casting choices.

oops. Not Lando (Mollari)... Must...get...babylon5...out...of...my...head...

SHATTERSTAR wrote:Williams added a dimension to the cast of Empire that greatly enhanced the chemistry. Terrific selection. I wish Lucas would follow that example in his current casting choices.

Unfortunately, part of the 'magic' from the first series cannot be recreated, no matter how hard he tries. He's simply lost the element of surprise now. We think are expecting it to be as good as the originals, but what we really expect is it to be as much better than other current sci-fi stuff as the originals were compared to other sci-fi stuff back then. The gap has been bridged, and it's unlikely that GL will be able to break it open again. In fact, I don't think he's keeping up with the Matrix guys. We're just gonna have to get over it.....

Good words, great ROdAN. We did expect the highest standard from anything with the STAR WARS name, so it's been hard for us, who grew up with the original movies in our blood, to admit that George Lucas has probably lost the "magic."

Or, we have just become used to it, so it's not "magic" anymore. I watch my kids watching the new movies, and it's totally there for them. So, for that, I am happy. Meanwhile, I'll just suffer through and watch Amidala's magical bod.

ROdAN wrote:Or, we have just become used to it, so it's not "magic" anymore. I watch my kids watching the new movies, and it's totally there for them. So, for that, I am happy. Meanwhile, I'll just suffer through and watch Amidala's magical bod.

I tend to agree with you that those new to the Star Wars story are probably very entertained by the new films. We might be suprised and very happy with the final film. Pehaps Amidala will develop a woman's body after she has 2 kids. Hmm....

She's having kids? I thought that was just another of Obi-Wan's lies...

They aren't lies if you believe them. I'd be fine if after the delivery, they subtituded Natalie with Salma.

Vader would never kill Salma; only a gay man could.

And chances are he'd sooner turn straight

I can't argue with that. Frankly I would have forgoten what the movie was about at that point. Oh heavens. Imagine Salma wearing that push up thingie that Amadala wore in front of the fireplace while talking with Anakin. She'd have been spilling out over the top. Okay. No more talk of such things. Ugh.....