Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
I realize that the fact I went to the midnight showing gives the impression that I'm a big time SW fan, but I'm not. I'm a fan, but not fanatic. I mention this to explain the perspective from which I viewed the latest installment. I'm neither a purist who hated 1 & 2 or a fangirl who thought every moment was magical. I'm someone who watched the original trilogy as a kid and enjoyed and was probably in some small part shaped by it. As an adult I enjoyed eps 1 & 2, even while agreeing there were some serious flaws, especially in 2. I haven't been counting the days until ep 3, but look forward to it all the same and was heartened to hear that reviewers were having a more positive reaction that to 2.
So I came to ep 3 cautiously optimistic and left having enjoyed the experience, but also being frustrated and angry in a way I don't remember feeling about when I left 2. I blame it on Joss and Jossverse fandom. Since I discovered fandom in November 2001, my expectations about story telling have increased exponentially.
Before I go into a rant about what didn't work for me, let me hit the highlights of what did work. 1) Anakin's irrational fear of losing Padme the way he lost his mother. It was believable, it made me sympathetic to Anakin's struggle. Also the Greek tragedy of it - the more he fought his premonition about what would happen to Padme, the more he ensured it would happen. If only he'd listened to Yoda... 2) The political commentary. The use of fear by a leader in order to have the people voluntarily give up their freedoms and thank the leader for it. The question of who and what is loyalty and who and what is betrayal? What is loyal resistance and what is a coup? 3) The creepiness of how thoroughly and deeply Palpatine had laid his plan. How hard it is to know who to trust and who will betray you. 4) Obi Wan Kenobi. Ewan McGregor is the brightest thing in the movie. As in 2, he's the best as squeezing out funny via wry humor. And for me, his story arc is the most engaging. His complete faith in Anakin, the realizations he makes along the way, and the way he says, "I loved you like a brother" - it's heart breaking. 5) honorh makes some good points about the imagery and themes here.
The things I loved and hated: 1) The CGI with Yoda. I still can't get used to a Yoda who is a nimble ninja type. However, he was even more life like, the close-ups were amazing and the expressions on his face where the best in the movie. (Yes, that is a backhanded dig on the less than inspiring expressiveness of so much of the rest of the movie. 2) I loved seeing R2D2 and C3PO. However, R2, like Yoda had skills that exceed what is to come. It made my eyes roll. A lot.
What didn't work for me, but I wasn't really shocked or surprised about because it was that way in ep 2: 1) The stilted dialogue. More than the last time, the dialogue was so unnatural in the mouths of the characters. The worst, of course being between Anakin and Padme, but others had plenty of moments. 2) The squickiness that the child Padme mothered and called "Ani" in ep 1 is the immature man that Padme married and still calls "Ani." 3) The lack of chemistry between Hayden and Portman. This is supposed to be a great love affair and one that was taboo. That should scorch the screen, yet I'm not sure that it is possible to find two actors with less chemistry. This was clear in ep 2, but then they are locked in to keeping the actors, so what can you do? All along I've thought the chemistry was really between McGregor and Portman, but you can't really redirect your plot to fit what you've got when you're doing a prequel and I knew that. I might secretly hope for it, but I wasn't surprised or disappointed with where things had to go.
What really disappointed me: 1) I couldn't suspend disbelief. a) The secret marriage. If it is a secret marriage, you don't go rushing into each other's arms in a public place, especially when Anakin has just arrived as the hero who just saved the Chancellor. If it is a secret marriage, you don't tell your secret husband in a public place that you are pregnant. If it is a secret marriage, you don't share the same quarters and the same bed. If it is secret marriage, you don't wear clothes that accentuate your pregnancy. This was a huge problem for me. b) That Anakin is that obtuse. He can't read anyone. He doesn't see the look of surprise on Count Dooku's face when the Chancellor urges Anakin to kill him. He never sees the look of evil glee on the Chancellor's face. He never questions the Chancellor's motives, yet he is willing to immediately doubt the Jedi, including Obi-Wan. I mean, really now. It is clear that Padme is politically astute - how could none of that rub off on Anakin just a little bit? 2) Anakin's motivation. a) It plays out as if Anakin is a fool and an easy mark who was never even regrets the betrayals - and they aren't minor ones. Why doesn't he express some serious conflict over it? Or acknowledgment that he was choosing wrong and discovering that for the one thing that matters most, he'll sell his soul? Instead he's Mr. Paranoid Rationalization without any reason for being so paranoid. b) Why exactly he's so willing to betray and turn on Obi-Wan. Early in, Anakin is distrustful of Obi-Wan, but without reason. It just didn't make sense after all they had been through together, especially in the face of how much trust Obi-Wan clearly has for him.
The one thing that could have been done differently that would have made it work that much better for me: Have something happen that would make Anakin distrust Obi-Wan. I think this could have easily been tied into the "we're having a baby" plot. Padme suggests early on that they ask Obi-Wan for help and Anakin doesn't want to. Not because he doesn't want to put Obi-Wan in that compromising position, but because he thinks he can handle it himself. Given in Anakin's nature the juxtiposition of ultimate hubris with feeling overlook and under appreciated, if Padme had sought out Obi-Wan's help without Anakin's knowledge and if Anakin had, oh, seen Obi-Wan offering a comforting shoulder to Padme, he would have been outrageously paranoid about Obi-Wan's intentions, unwilling to trust that there was nothing to it and truly willing to turn on all that he held true because he knows best. And the beauty with this? It would have made it easier for me to believe that they were hiding the pregnancy for the rest of the world if I wasn't supposed to believe Obi-Wan didn't have a clue too. It would have worked with the generous, brotherly love Obi-Wan showed throughout the movie. It would have worked with the final confrontation scene between Padme and Anakin and then between Obi-Wan and Anakin. And best of all? It would have worked with the natural chemistry between McGregor and Portman without actually messing with the mythology they needed to work within.
After all that, I'd say if you've been following the whole series, you need to see this too. Just don't be surprised that it is as flawed as the other parts of the prequel.