Those poor stormtroopers...

Rating: Null/10 (20 August 2001)

Star Wars is one of those films, I fear, which, while undoubtedly good, has been idolized to a ridiculous degree: to such an extent, in fact, that I believe there are actually sad losers out there who have turned Star Wars into some sort of religion or way-of-life (a bit like the Trekkies with Star Trek). While I must admit that I enjoy the film and its sequels myself, they're not THAT good, and some of their scenes and special effects (especially in the first) are looking embarrassingly dated by now eg the computers in the Death Star, and virtually everything in the climactic final scenes over that feared Imperial construction.
Anyway! As the above summary may suggest, these are not my main beefs with Star Wars. My main gripe with the Star Wars films (especially the first), and something that I feel does not get enough of a mention, is the appalling treatment meted out to the stormtroopers in them. I must admit, I have something of a stormtrooper fixation. Their uniforms are very cute (and what I wouldn't do to be able to slip into one myself), and I was actually led to believe that they were halfway decent at their jobs (they are, after all, in the frontline when it comes to enforcing the Empire's feared and evil rule). So why, then, are their lives so cheap in Star Wars, and why do so many die such humiliating deaths eg falling off ledges or into pits, or being shot almost as an afterthought by show-offy arseholes like Han Solo. It's a disgrace! Those guys deserved a lot better.