Star Wars shot on Video  UGGGHHH!!!!

Rating: 5/10 (17 May 2002)

I don't need to mention what most older fans like me miss about the new installments compared the original. I suggest you read the comments by sloopydrew, he spells it out pretty well.
Here is my problem, I was given assurances that the digital video transfer to film would be basically better or the same as film. That's mostly wrong, my friends. Here is my critique of what's good and bad about the look of the video:
1. The shadows  also known as gray degradation. Video never can handle the very subtle and small increments of gray that make up shadows as they gradually go from lighter to darker. The reason film still survives today is because of this shortfall in video. What you see instead are bigger blotches' of gray that are pixelated (pixels are the units of light that make up a video screen). This is especially evident in Padme's flat on Coruscant. It reminds you of a highly compressed DVD image. Instead of a nice smooth shadow of a dark room, you see a bunch of squares, and extra video noise.
2. The CGI  The computer animation is definitely hit and miss. Some things seem plastic looking, you can tell it's from a computer. However, a good deal of it looks just fine, not any different from how it looks on film. I will look at `Phantom Menace' again to compare, but it seems to me you could see the blue screen effect, where it's obvious that people look they are standing in front of a screen. The character's outlines are fuzzy in places, like they were airbrushed. This is especially obvious when Padme or Anakin try to ride an animal.
3. Colours  Although not as vivid as the old Technicolour process, the colours are fine. But once again no visible improvement over film.
4. Resolution  hmmm, there's some good and bad with that. It holds up very well on the big screen, but actually there were times I could see more detail than the production may have counted on. I could see the make-up on Anakin's face. What was especially striking was the sweat and tears on people's faces, they glistened in a way that film does not. I guess that's good, but I believe that make-up for movies shot on video will have to evolve in order to get the right look on compared to film.
Would this have looked better if seen on a Digital Projection system? Well, at least currently that's beside the point, since there are only a handful of the systems in existence. Lucas knew very well that the majority of viewers around the world would be seeing this on film, and he allowed the quality to suffer in the ways mentioned above. He can't rightly defend shooting it on video, with the argument `that's the way it should be seen', because about 95% of the movie going audience probably doesn't really have a choice but to see it on film.
Thankfully, Hollywood has not embraced digital video instead of film. I truly believe, however, like any new technology, that the quality will improve and get cheaper. So I am willing to change my mind, but not yet.
A quickie review of the film (sorry video) itself. An improvement over Phantom Menace, this time the camera and the characters move around a bit more. The film is not terribly fun to watch, unfortunately, a good part of the story could've easily been condensed to get this movie to clock in around 2 hours. The action scenes at the end have a dynamic that has never been scene before, pushing up the excitement quota up a couple notches. One thing I will say in defense of Lucas, he made this film strictly for the hardcore fans, and you have to give him credit for honoring their loyalty. (The hardcore fans are mostly the ones that are posting the Lucas is God' reviews). In essence, he made this film NOT to please everybody, but stuck to his vision. A pretty gutsy move for a film franchise that has reaped in billions of dollars, and has as much hype as when man went to the moon.
One last comment: I, an older audience member that was jazzed by the original Star Wars series, seem to have grown past the Star Wars mythology and feel in this day and age more affiliated with "The Matrix" mythology. I certainly could sense a charge of excitement in the crowd when the trailer for the 2 new installments of "The Matrix" played in the theatre.
I'd give the film a 6 out of 10.
I'd give the technical quality a 5 out of 10.