Revenge of the Sith
Went to see Revenge of the Sith yesterday, which was... interesting. OK, no, I tell a lie: I was bored for most of it. I'm not a Star Wars buff: I know I've watched all of them now, but spread over about 10 years, I certainly don't remember the little plot details that people were going on about.
Liked:
It was very pretty. The city-scapes were amazing, all twinkling lights, flying cars, and terraces. Excellent. And the interiors were pretty too. I really like the senate chamber with the little pod things, although not when Yoda & Darth Whatever were fighting in it. Ech.
The aliens mostly humanoid, but enough of them looked alien enough to please me (and I think one of the slaughtered Jedi was the same type of alien as the dancing one Jabba fed to the whatever it was, but I may be making that up) and they were all very shiny. The spaceships, apparently, look like early versions of the ones in the Episodes 4-6, and there is geekery to be had there.
The deaths of the Jedis, I thought, was well done. The best bits were definitely the bits with the least speaking, and I think the highpoint was at the end, after the stupid floating-in-lava-ness, when Vadar & Obi Wan have that final confrontation and the poor sod catches fire, which, by that point, I'd given up waiting for. It also effectively juxtaposed his rebirth with Padme's death/birth sequence - the moment when they put the helmet on, and he draws that first breath? Perfect. The birth of the next three.
There were also a few good moments in what turned out to be a very bad script. I liked when they get caught in the force field and Obi-Wan is all "Wait. We're smarter than this!" and Anakin says "Apparently not" or something like that anyway.
And all the bits with R2 rocked. I want an R2 edit! Just 140 minutes of R2 popping out of space ships, squeaking, setting things on fire and the like. Oh yesss...
That we went on a Wednesday, and it was only £3.50, and I got to sit between two people who definitely saw the funny side of the whole thing, even if no one else in the cinema really seemed to.
Because it was funny - just not in a good way much.
No Jar-Jar!
Disliked:
All I wanted from this film was a decent showing of how CuddlyAnakin (tm) turned into EvilVadar (tm), and I didn't get it. Anakin seemed as bemused about his motives as the audience: he wanted Sith powers to save Padme... No! He wanted Sith powers because he doesn't like the Jedi much, he's arrogant and power hungry, and P-whatshisname has convinced him that they are betraying him. So in about five minutes he turns from good-but-flawed into pure-evil, and goes out to kill some children (or rather "younglings", which sounded all right in Obi-Wan's mouth, but not in Padme's, oddly). It was about as subtle as a coin toss and as meaningful.
The rest of the film, I felt, dragged: I knew what the ending was going to be, and there were no convincing deviations or suspense. The only thing unexpected element (particularly as, as Lt.H pointed out, Leia claims to remember her mother) was Padme dying in childbirth, and we were told that was going to happen at the very beginning. I spent quite a lot of time thinking "show me how Vadar gets all suited!" and then "Push him in the lava! Spare us all!"
The dialogue was unforgivably bad:
"You're either with me, or you're my enemy." No.
"Nooooooooooooooooooooo" Shut up, Geogre Lucas. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?
And Yoda - sick of his talking, I am. C'mon: he's been using the English language for at least 20 years by the end of Episode 6: someone should have bought him a grammar book early on, and a few lessons.
The birth scene. Padme is dying, ok, for no good reason, fine, and is so weak they're going to go in and do an emergency operation to save the babies, great, she's had a bad week. So she gives birth naturally, with all the straining and shoving that involves, which apparently kills her as soon as she's named the children. I don't know about you, but I'd sue. THAT'S NOT AN OPERATION, LUCAS! That's a mess, that is.
Conclusion:
With the sound off, it was very pretty. In short: disappointing.
Enough of my ranting! See what the IMDB has to say or better yet Sars' take.
Liked:
It was very pretty. The city-scapes were amazing, all twinkling lights, flying cars, and terraces. Excellent. And the interiors were pretty too. I really like the senate chamber with the little pod things, although not when Yoda & Darth Whatever were fighting in it. Ech.
The aliens mostly humanoid, but enough of them looked alien enough to please me (and I think one of the slaughtered Jedi was the same type of alien as the dancing one Jabba fed to the whatever it was, but I may be making that up) and they were all very shiny. The spaceships, apparently, look like early versions of the ones in the Episodes 4-6, and there is geekery to be had there.
The deaths of the Jedis, I thought, was well done. The best bits were definitely the bits with the least speaking, and I think the highpoint was at the end, after the stupid floating-in-lava-ness, when Vadar & Obi Wan have that final confrontation and the poor sod catches fire, which, by that point, I'd given up waiting for. It also effectively juxtaposed his rebirth with Padme's death/birth sequence - the moment when they put the helmet on, and he draws that first breath? Perfect. The birth of the next three.
There were also a few good moments in what turned out to be a very bad script. I liked when they get caught in the force field and Obi-Wan is all "Wait. We're smarter than this!" and Anakin says "Apparently not" or something like that anyway.
And all the bits with R2 rocked. I want an R2 edit! Just 140 minutes of R2 popping out of space ships, squeaking, setting things on fire and the like. Oh yesss...
That we went on a Wednesday, and it was only £3.50, and I got to sit between two people who definitely saw the funny side of the whole thing, even if no one else in the cinema really seemed to.
Because it was funny - just not in a good way much.
No Jar-Jar!
Disliked:
All I wanted from this film was a decent showing of how CuddlyAnakin (tm) turned into EvilVadar (tm), and I didn't get it. Anakin seemed as bemused about his motives as the audience: he wanted Sith powers to save Padme... No! He wanted Sith powers because he doesn't like the Jedi much, he's arrogant and power hungry, and P-whatshisname has convinced him that they are betraying him. So in about five minutes he turns from good-but-flawed into pure-evil, and goes out to kill some children (or rather "younglings", which sounded all right in Obi-Wan's mouth, but not in Padme's, oddly). It was about as subtle as a coin toss and as meaningful.
The rest of the film, I felt, dragged: I knew what the ending was going to be, and there were no convincing deviations or suspense. The only thing unexpected element (particularly as, as Lt.H pointed out, Leia claims to remember her mother) was Padme dying in childbirth, and we were told that was going to happen at the very beginning. I spent quite a lot of time thinking "show me how Vadar gets all suited!" and then "Push him in the lava! Spare us all!"
The dialogue was unforgivably bad:
"You're either with me, or you're my enemy." No.
"Nooooooooooooooooooooo" Shut up, Geogre Lucas. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?
And Yoda - sick of his talking, I am. C'mon: he's been using the English language for at least 20 years by the end of Episode 6: someone should have bought him a grammar book early on, and a few lessons.
The birth scene. Padme is dying, ok, for no good reason, fine, and is so weak they're going to go in and do an emergency operation to save the babies, great, she's had a bad week. So she gives birth naturally, with all the straining and shoving that involves, which apparently kills her as soon as she's named the children. I don't know about you, but I'd sue. THAT'S NOT AN OPERATION, LUCAS! That's a mess, that is.
Conclusion:
With the sound off, it was very pretty. In short: disappointing.
Enough of my ranting! See what the IMDB has to say or better yet Sars' take.