Faster and more intense
Posted on May 19, 2005
Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith came out today, and while I wasn’t one of the die hard souls to see it at 12:01 am, I got done with work early and saw it.
If you have problems with spoilers, profanity, randomness, or spelling errors, then I suggest you avert your eyes. Otherwise, feel free to click for
If I had to describe Star Wars III in one word, it would be “Damn.” Actually it would be “Daaaammmmnnnn!!!!” (with apologies to the movie Friday).
If I had to describe it in two words, it would be “Holy Shit!“.
Watching a documentary about the making of the first trilogy, it came out that George Lucas was famous (or infamous) for telling the actors to do it again “faster and more intense”. This movie is very fast and very intense.
Also, as an aside, I think in the movie Lost in Translation, where the director tells Bob to do it againg with “More intensity,” it was probably a gentle dig at George. After all, it was directed by Sophia Coppola, who was an extra in The Phantom Menace, and who is the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, one of George Lucas’ mentors.
I liked it. The movie was actually better than I expected. Maybe I’m a fanboy. I don’t know. As long as a couple of years ago, I searched the web and got the jist of what was going to happen. Some of it was to be expected: Anakin becomes Darth Vader, Obi-wan kicks Anakin/Vader’s ass, Luke and Leia are born, Padme dies. Some of this we knew from the original trilogy and some of it was conjecture based on the first two movies of this trilogy. Yoda kicks ass, Dooku dies, Mace Windu dies, lots of Jedi die, the Republic dies, etc.
What I didn’t expect was there were some very emotional scenes. While The Empire Strikes Back was the best (IMHO) of the original trilogy, this was by far the best of the prequel trilogy. Okay, there were some hokey scenes with… hokey dialogue. However, other scenes were superb and the action and graphics were astounding.
After the opening scroll, George wastes no time in getting into the action. Take the opening scene from the original Star Wars: A New Hope where the Rebel ship is being shot by the Star Destroyer. If you multiply the action in that scene by a thousand, you have an idea of how this movie starts. Basically it’s war in space, but on a scale not seen in any of the other movies.
Obi-wan and Anikin are sent to rescue Chancellor Palpatine from the clutches of General Grevious. Surprisingly, even R2-D2 gets to kick ass in this movie, right from the beginning. The Jedi save the Chancellor and bring him back to Coruscant. (Hokey dialog #1 starts when Mace Windu greets the Chancellor – it’s either bad writing, bad acting, or bad directing).
It has long been surmised that Chancellor Palpatine and Darth Sidious are one and the same, and this movie shows that to be true. Personally, I think an evil twin would have been a cool way to use a movie cliche, but what do I know :-| The scenes between Palpatine and Anakin are pretty good. Ian McDiarmid is excellent in this role as Palpatine. He’s witty and charming and he is truly seducing Anakin to the Dark Side. That stuff was pretty well written. On the other hand, Anakin is a fucking chump. He may be the most powerful force user, but he’s still a dumbfuck. Of course, it all serves the story, but I still say Anakin’s a dipshit.
The story is tragic. Kevin Smith (of Clerks fame) compared it to Othello or Macbeth. Since I haven’t seen or read either of those, I don’t know. But the final dialogue/confrontation between Obi-wan and Anakin is haunting. Obi-wan tries to reason with him, but Anakin is so blinded by jealousy, rage, and fury, he can’t see the truth – he’s being led on. Anakin suffers for his hubris. I think if Obi-wan was still a true friend, he would have killed Anakin out of mercy to keep him from being immolated, but… it serves the story.
Near the end, we see Anakin being pieced together intercut with shots of Padme is giving birth. It’s a good juxtaposition of Birth and Death. Anakin dies and Darth Vader is born. Padme dies and Luke and Leia are born. Life vs. Death. Good vs. Evil. It could also be a metaphor for the death of the Republic and the birth of the Empire, or the death of the Jedi and the birth of the Sith.
Probably the best part of the whole scene is when they put the mask on Vader and we hear him take his first breath is chilling. The worst part about it is the dialogue voiced by James Earl Jones. Great actor, cool voice, but the words were kind of hollow of emotion. Shoulda punched it up a bit.
Other stuff:
Mace Windu dies a righteous death and not like some sucka.
C-3PO has a better voice (more like the original trilogy), even though he is only a bit part in this movie.
Padme suffers from poor lighting in some scenes. However, her role seems kind of secondary in this movie. It’s important, but she doesn’t get that much screen time.
General Greivous isn’t as much a bad ass as I thought he would be. Sure, he can weild four lightsabers at once, but he still gets the shit kicked out of him and dies.
Ewan McGregor does an excellent job as Obi-wan Kenobi. Part of it is the look, which is closer to the Alec Guinness look in the original movies, but I think most of it is great acting and good writing.
I heard a lot about the final lightsaber duel between Anakin and Obi-wan being something like 12 minutes long, I actually took out my watch to time it, only to find out my watch battery is dying because the Indiglo didn’t come on. Either that, or the Indiglo is broken, but I’m leaning towards the former since I’ve had this watch for probably 7 – 8 years without changing the battery yet.
The digital Yoda has undergone some refinements, particularly in the area of sub-surface scattering. This is a CG concept where light reflects off of certain materials like flesh. To get an idea, turn on a flashlight and hold your hand over the end. The light that shines through the skin and muscle is an example of sub-surface scattering.
Although Yoda gets his ass kicked by the Emperor, he dishes it out too.
There’s probably other interesting stuff, too, but I’ve been writing this for over an hour now, and I haven’t had my Fark fix yet.
I may see it again while it’s still in theatres, so that’s about as good a recommendation as I can give.
Related posts:
- Review Haiku – Tomorrow Never Dies
- Review Haiku – Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
- Review Haiku – Sweet Movie
- There is a spoon
- Review Haiku – Tripping the Rift: The Movie
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Thanks for the review Mike! Sounds good. Ill have to check it out. Also, I think you are the only reviewer I have read that refers to Annakin as a dipshit.
I saw it on opening day. I loved it! I’m going to see it again at a digital screen.
Awesome review! Have you ever thought of becoming a movie reviewer? Tell Roger Ebert to step out of the way, will ya?
I agree that this movie was the best of this particular trilogy. And that first breath by Vader just gave me the chills!!