Relentless

Rating: Null/10 (11 July 2005)

I usually watch this show every two years to keep a fresh perspective on it. This is the first real film experience I ever had, and it remains the strongest influence on me. The thing that amazes me about this, time and again, is the ingenuity of the pacing, the orchestration, and the motion of the vehicles and ships.
This is a triumph of editing.
The motion control work is so artfully done, it puts CGI to shame. Watch how the ships move. They dance alongside the camera, swooping toward and away from us. Look at the terrain whiz by in the snowspeeder search. No CGI can convince like that. This is basically helicopter footage on fast-forward, through the cockpit of a prop ship, but it works. The amount of activity going on screen at any given time is frenetic.
And then we have Frank Oz. Forget that we live in a world where there are Yoda pajamas, animal crackers, dolls, etc., and just focus on this wonderful character in this one film. He is more lifelike than many of the actors we have working today. When he is on screen, I believe he exists. That is pure movie magic. Mark Hamill is given a tough job with this. Whenever you have a multi-million dollar film that hinges on the performance of one person and a sock puppet, there's pressure. People have blasted him for years over his acting, but it works. He pulls his share of the work and sells every scene.
From the opening crawl onward, this never lets up. The music is simply beautiful. This is why I go to the movies.