Star Wars III -- Revenge of the Sith..... mixed emotions
Saw Star Wars III Monday (I decided to wait until after the madness of opening weekend). With ticket prices these days, I usually wait for movies to go to the cheapie $2 theatres or for DVD, but a movie like this HAS TO BE SEEN on a huge screen with a great sound system, so I shelled out the $6.50 for a matinee.
And, let's face it, I am a total science-fiction GEEK, attested to by many years of geeky-ness, but most of all by this fact:
I first saw the original Star Wars in 1977 while I was AT a Star Trek convention!
Yea, I'm that much of a dork, lol. I saw Empire Strikes Back on opening day, and camped out for a few hours beforehand to see the first show of Return of the Jedi with my college roommate.
I'm not a Star Wars geek though -- no dressing up in character, I don't collect SW memorabilia, and I was vastly disappointed by The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. (Only the yummy Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson saved them from total sucking).... And yet I bought the DVDs of TPM and AotC, lol....! But after all these years, I still was so very curious about how Anakin became Darth Vader and what could possibly drive Obi Wan Kenobi and his padawan Anakin into a fight to the death...
Special Effects: I'm very glad I saw it on the big screen! The SFX were amazing, as usual... although maybe a little TOO amazing and busy. Sometimes everything happened so fast I couldn't tell what the frak was going on.
A 'dark' movie?: Yep, it's darker than most of the others, but I didn't think it deserved the PG-13 rating. What happened to Anakin at the end was pretty horrific, but it wasn't overly graphic.
Anti-Bush politics?: Yep, I did notice it was there, but probably only because I'd heard it talked about before. "If you're not with me, you're my enemy" regretably sounds all-too-familiar. As does "This is the way liberty dies. With thunderous applause." Palpatine literally tore up the Senate, and it may sound wacko, but I couldn't help thinking about what's happening in the U.S. right now and wondering if we're headed for the Dark Side... Hmmm, on further reflection, maybe it's not so wacko after all, given the fact that I saw THIS today, about a politician accusing a comedian of treason because he didn't like his jokes!? WTF...!? but I digress; my political bias is showing !
Cheesy dialogue and terrible acting: Yep, unfortunately they were both there in abundance. Harrison Ford was right when he said "You can write this shit, George, but you can't say it." Ugh. The dialogue was SO lame most of the time, as was the acting. Samuel L Jackson, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman -- they were all pretty stiff, but then who could blame them with the terrible lines they were given? At least Ewan did a decent job, and Ian McDiarmid was probably the best as Palpatine.... But then I didn't go to this movie expecting Shakespeare -- anyone who's seen Episodes I & II knows Lucas can't write, lol !
The Final LightSaber Duel: Oh my! What can I say? I was cringing during the whole thing, even knowing ahead of time that my beloved Jedi Obi Wan Kenobi wins but leaves Anakin so crippled and disfigured that he spends the rest of his life in the trademark Darth Vader black mask. I read that they spent months choreographing the fight, and I can believe it. Beautifully done, very edge-of-your-seat fighting.
Anakin turns to the Dark Side: Ok, Lucas, here's where the big Questions and Misgivings and Gripes come in regarding Ep III.... My fanfic-writer's brain went into overdrive trying to fill in all the weak spots as to Anakin's motivations for turning to the Dark Side. The biggest problem for me was the love story -- 'cause there wasn't any! Padme and Anakin had no chemistry onscreen, either in this movie or Attack of the Clones, so the fact that Anakin was so desperate to save her from dying (as he saw in his dreams) didn't really ring true. Through a combination of Lucas' lousy writing and directing, and Hayden Christensen's lack of acting skill, Anakin ultimately fails to be the true tragic figure that he should be. Instead, he remains the same whiny brat from Episode II.... 'Boo hoo, they won't make me a Jedi Master, so I'll just take my Force-marbles and go play on the Dark Side' -- that's how Anakin came off to me. I don't expect Shakespeare, George, but at least some basic character development! Darth Vader is one of the greatest movie villians of all time, but his backstory as presented in Ep I, II & III really fails to live up to that.
Padme: Uhm, George, is this the same woman who kicked ass in Ep I & II ? You'd hardly know it -- she spends the whole movie crying and mooning over Anakin. She's still a senator, but never sets foot in the Senate while the Republic crumbles. Guess those pesky pregnancy hormones turn women into weepy housewives, eh? Grrrr! And I guess you must be following the Tolkien formula which dictates that women only serve the purpose of bearing the heirs and hence must die shortly afterwards... very disappointing.
There was a lot of tying up of loose ends and hints of things to come: Chewbacca; the frame of the Death Star being built; Obi Wan picking up Anakin's lightsaber before he leaves him for dead (so he can give it to Luke years later); the birth of the twins; Obi Wan bringing Luke to Owen and Beru; Leia with Bail Organa (nicely played by Jimmy Smits, one of my favorite actors); C3PO have his memory wiped at the end (so he doesn't know who Obi Wan is at the beginning of Ep IV); how Yoda and Obi Wan manage to escape the slaughter of the Jedi and go into exile. There were others but I can't recall them at the moment.
But overall, in spite of it's weaknesses, Episode III is greater than the sum of it's parts. Yea, it has cheesy dialogue, bad acting, weak characterisation of Anakin, but I enjoyed it alot, and have to confess I got choked up at the end when Anakin and Obi Wan were fighting to the death and when Anakin was so horribly burned and crippled that he'd spend the rest of his life behind that black mask. And, yea, I got shivers down my spine the first time we heard the Darth Vader 'breathing' sound. Whoa!
But I couldn't help but thinking how much better it might have been if Lucas had let someone else do the script and directing, such as for Empire Strikes Back.... Guess we'll never know!
Makes me want to write a fanfic or two to fill in some gaps, hehehe!
But I've been working on stuff for the Gaslight site, namely my Jack Aubrey Point fic. I really want to keep my promise of posting another chapter before Cinderella Man opens... *fingers crossed*
And, let's face it, I am a total science-fiction GEEK, attested to by many years of geeky-ness, but most of all by this fact:
I first saw the original Star Wars in 1977 while I was AT a Star Trek convention!
Yea, I'm that much of a dork, lol. I saw Empire Strikes Back on opening day, and camped out for a few hours beforehand to see the first show of Return of the Jedi with my college roommate.
I'm not a Star Wars geek though -- no dressing up in character, I don't collect SW memorabilia, and I was vastly disappointed by The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. (Only the yummy Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson saved them from total sucking).... And yet I bought the DVDs of TPM and AotC, lol....! But after all these years, I still was so very curious about how Anakin became Darth Vader and what could possibly drive Obi Wan Kenobi and his padawan Anakin into a fight to the death...
Special Effects: I'm very glad I saw it on the big screen! The SFX were amazing, as usual... although maybe a little TOO amazing and busy. Sometimes everything happened so fast I couldn't tell what the frak was going on.
A 'dark' movie?: Yep, it's darker than most of the others, but I didn't think it deserved the PG-13 rating. What happened to Anakin at the end was pretty horrific, but it wasn't overly graphic.
Anti-Bush politics?: Yep, I did notice it was there, but probably only because I'd heard it talked about before. "If you're not with me, you're my enemy" regretably sounds all-too-familiar. As does "This is the way liberty dies. With thunderous applause." Palpatine literally tore up the Senate, and it may sound wacko, but I couldn't help thinking about what's happening in the U.S. right now and wondering if we're headed for the Dark Side... Hmmm, on further reflection, maybe it's not so wacko after all, given the fact that I saw THIS today, about a politician accusing a comedian of treason because he didn't like his jokes!? WTF...!? but I digress; my political bias is showing !
Cheesy dialogue and terrible acting: Yep, unfortunately they were both there in abundance. Harrison Ford was right when he said "You can write this shit, George, but you can't say it." Ugh. The dialogue was SO lame most of the time, as was the acting. Samuel L Jackson, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman -- they were all pretty stiff, but then who could blame them with the terrible lines they were given? At least Ewan did a decent job, and Ian McDiarmid was probably the best as Palpatine.... But then I didn't go to this movie expecting Shakespeare -- anyone who's seen Episodes I & II knows Lucas can't write, lol !
The Final LightSaber Duel: Oh my! What can I say? I was cringing during the whole thing, even knowing ahead of time that my beloved Jedi Obi Wan Kenobi wins but leaves Anakin so crippled and disfigured that he spends the rest of his life in the trademark Darth Vader black mask. I read that they spent months choreographing the fight, and I can believe it. Beautifully done, very edge-of-your-seat fighting.
Anakin turns to the Dark Side: Ok, Lucas, here's where the big Questions and Misgivings and Gripes come in regarding Ep III.... My fanfic-writer's brain went into overdrive trying to fill in all the weak spots as to Anakin's motivations for turning to the Dark Side. The biggest problem for me was the love story -- 'cause there wasn't any! Padme and Anakin had no chemistry onscreen, either in this movie or Attack of the Clones, so the fact that Anakin was so desperate to save her from dying (as he saw in his dreams) didn't really ring true. Through a combination of Lucas' lousy writing and directing, and Hayden Christensen's lack of acting skill, Anakin ultimately fails to be the true tragic figure that he should be. Instead, he remains the same whiny brat from Episode II.... 'Boo hoo, they won't make me a Jedi Master, so I'll just take my Force-marbles and go play on the Dark Side' -- that's how Anakin came off to me. I don't expect Shakespeare, George, but at least some basic character development! Darth Vader is one of the greatest movie villians of all time, but his backstory as presented in Ep I, II & III really fails to live up to that.
Padme: Uhm, George, is this the same woman who kicked ass in Ep I & II ? You'd hardly know it -- she spends the whole movie crying and mooning over Anakin. She's still a senator, but never sets foot in the Senate while the Republic crumbles. Guess those pesky pregnancy hormones turn women into weepy housewives, eh? Grrrr! And I guess you must be following the Tolkien formula which dictates that women only serve the purpose of bearing the heirs and hence must die shortly afterwards... very disappointing.
There was a lot of tying up of loose ends and hints of things to come: Chewbacca; the frame of the Death Star being built; Obi Wan picking up Anakin's lightsaber before he leaves him for dead (so he can give it to Luke years later); the birth of the twins; Obi Wan bringing Luke to Owen and Beru; Leia with Bail Organa (nicely played by Jimmy Smits, one of my favorite actors); C3PO have his memory wiped at the end (so he doesn't know who Obi Wan is at the beginning of Ep IV); how Yoda and Obi Wan manage to escape the slaughter of the Jedi and go into exile. There were others but I can't recall them at the moment.
But overall, in spite of it's weaknesses, Episode III is greater than the sum of it's parts. Yea, it has cheesy dialogue, bad acting, weak characterisation of Anakin, but I enjoyed it alot, and have to confess I got choked up at the end when Anakin and Obi Wan were fighting to the death and when Anakin was so horribly burned and crippled that he'd spend the rest of his life behind that black mask. And, yea, I got shivers down my spine the first time we heard the Darth Vader 'breathing' sound. Whoa!
But I couldn't help but thinking how much better it might have been if Lucas had let someone else do the script and directing, such as for Empire Strikes Back.... Guess we'll never know!
Makes me want to write a fanfic or two to fill in some gaps, hehehe!
But I've been working on stuff for the Gaslight site, namely my Jack Aubrey Point fic. I really want to keep my promise of posting another chapter before Cinderella Man opens... *fingers crossed*