Well, I saw it.
I saw Revenge of the Sith this weekend, and I thought it was great. It was fun, rousing, fun, sad, fun and dark, dark, dark. Lucas made a silk purse out of a sow's ear and six weeks ago, I didn't think that was possible, but there you go.
All of the fat that was in the last two movies is gone. The story focuses on the characters of Anakin, Palpatine, Padme and Kenobi as the Clone Wars end and the Empire rises. It does alter the audience's perception of Darth Vader in Episodes IV, V and VI, just as Lucas said it would. I thought Hayden Christensen did a much better job this time around, and it was very cool to see Ewan McGregor morph into a young Alec Guiness.
Were I slightly younger, still single, and not authoring this comic, I'm sure that I would've seen it twice by now. I'm not sure where I would rank it among the other Star Wars films. Right now, I would place it on the same level as The Empire Strikes Back. Do I think it's better than Empire (which is my favortie Star Wars movie)? Maybe... just maybe.
Pros: The CGI is Lord of the Rings level. The face-off between Mace Windu and Palpatine, which reflects Luke's final confrontation with Palpatine in Return of the Jedi. Palpatine is one evil, snaky sonuvabitch. Yoda is not to be trifled with. The birth of Darth Vader.
Cons: The dialogue is just as bad as everyone says it is; How it doesn't inhibt the rest of the movie is a feat in itself. Two important plot elements from the original trilogy are explained away via expositional dialogue in the last two minutes of the movie.
7 Comments:
Apart from the brief on-screen appearence of Jar Jar, I only had one issue with the movie.
Vader, resplendent in his suit of armour, lurching fowards off the medical table like something out of a '50's frankenstein movie, and yelling " Nooooooooo ! ".
I snickered. I just couldn't help it.
The dialouge in all of the *important* moments was fine, there were a few " Nooooooo ! " moments though. Perhaps lucas would have been better handing over directing duties to others, as he did with Empire and Jedi. ( I still think the final light-sabre battle between Luke and Vader in jedi is the best one. . . )
I've read a lot of comments like yours about the scene you're decribing with Vader, but I thought it was fine. I saw it as a tribute to Frankenstein, actually.
I also think that EpIII impacts Return of the Jedi the most. Notice how in EpIII, everyone -- Windu, Padme, Obi-Wan-- gives Anakin every chance to turn back right up to the moment until he's physically deformed. Then in Jedi, Luke does the same thing, but takes it further, to the point where he will not fight, and tells Vader that he must either leave with him or kill him. And then the confrontation ends up just like the Anakin/Windu/Palpatine fight.
And yeah, just think what someone like Peter Jackson could've done with the love scenes. The dialogue was vintage Lucas, no doubt, but I thought the movie overall was very resonating.
I can see how it would a tribute to frankenstein, now that you mention it. But at the precise moment that Vader rises, do I really want a tribute to frankenstein, or do I want a cinematic moment to do my favouite cinema villain justice ? I'm unpersuaded. Those movie posters, with Vader reaching out with his gloved hand, a background of fire with the text "Rise Lord Vader". The moment somehow, failed for me in the film. Oh well. Can't have *everything* !
I do agree about it impacting Ep III greatly. Since that was the movie where Vader was a tragic figure rather than a villain, it does flesh him out much more, which can only be a good thing.
As a whole, it made up for the childish Ep I, and the so-so Ep II. Finally concentrating on the core characters instead of political machinations.
'Nooooooooo!!!!!'
Like father, like son.
A propensity for melo-drama running through the family ?
I concur !
I actually thought that palpatines make-up was better in Return of the Jedi as well. I suppose Mr. Mcdiarmid WAS alot younger then and he seems to sorta have a fat neck now which makes that gaunt appearence difficult to pull off. Oh well.
Now I'm just being picky !
I saw it a couple of hours ago. Some bits were cheesy, some were sad, some were funny.
Yoda kicked ass. Yay for cocky little green dudes wielding lightsabres. XD
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