Episode 3 - Revenge of the sith
And so I gave in to the dark side; instead of eschewing irrational hope, I instead chose to enlarge Mr Lucas' bank balance for short term satisfaction. Just as Anakin's descent into darkness was a foregone conclusion, so it was that it was inevitable that I'd be there to witness it.
I'll state it now; I'm a fan of the series. I've read the books, played the games, know the characters. Despite being continually disappointed by the path taken by the series, it still occupies a fondness in my heart. Nonetheless, I tried to go in with low expectations so that, at the very least, I'd be satisfied. And was I? Hmm…
*Minor spoilers from this point on*
Well, Hayden Christensen was unexpectedly better than I expected. From being astonishingly poor in the last film, he has now managed to become mediocre gives a performance typical of an actor from The OC. And though this might almost sound like a neutral score as opposed to an utter negative, it's not.
What the direction and performance has achieved is that Darth Vader, the bad ass of the original trilogy, is now nothing more than the result of a unbalanced teenager with emotional issues. "Oh nobody trusts me, nobody knows me, I'm better than they are" Anakin whines. Instead of providing the bridge from ambitious Jedi protege to fallen hero, Episode III instead puts the Lord of the Sith on a par with teenage shooters.
And the tragic love story between him and Amidala? My gosh, if you thought the performances in Episode 2 were bad, you've seen nothing yet. George Lucas has managed to use the precocious talent of Natalie Portman to give one of the most atrocious performances I've seen in any film.
And Obi Wan? How forced and strained Ewan McGregor's character sounds. His "witty" asides, the Alec Guiness impressions, it's altogether flat and frankly, underwhelming.
But the big disappointment is the revealing of the emperor and the birth of the empire. Far from the virtual omnipotence shown in the previous films, he comes off as being weak and pathetic. How easily he falls in battle; how shallow his powers of persuasion appear; it's an utter wonder that all it takes for Anakin to kill is for the Palpatine to say "Kill him". No psychological manipulation, no gentle suggestions.
Don't forget the battles themselves. The opening space battle manages to be an utter void in excitement. Whilst the CGI is clean, and clear cut it is also without any semblance of life or character. It's almost as if the film's production is a metaphor for Vader himself; as the ability and more reliance on technology grows, so the humanity and passion disappears.
I can go on but I'm beginning to sound too negative which isn't the case. To put this into perspective, I don't think it's a bad film. There are a few good elements and even the generally poor script has a few good lines in it. The line "This is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause" is one that springs to mind. There's how Anakin's ultimate demise is ushered by monumental arrogance. And the basic story is fundamentally a good one to tell.
However, it's such a shame that what we have is an average film. The series deserve more. We deserve more. Watching A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back is still a joy decades on. However, all this generation has received are a set of fun TV standard fodder.
Addendum
Some thoughts and spoilers. Don't read on unless you've seen the film.
- It still strikes me as funny that the mechanoid General Grievous has breathing problems. He literally wheezes like an asthmatic pensioner.
- How foolish the Jedi Council are. They practically told Anakin that he's not trusted. "We don't want you, go play with your evil buddy Palpatine".
- Some of the lines: "Come join me and we will rule together forever!", "You're beautiful. No I'm only beautiful because I'm in love. No, it's because I'm in love with you!"
- When the Jedi masters went to capture Palpatine, how useless they all were besides Windu. He might as well have told them to stay at home for all the help they gave.
- So all it took for the Stormtroopers to be baddies are the words "Order 66″?
- How powerful the droideka's still are. Get a few of those around and you can take down any number of Jedi's. Why disband them?
- How weak the Jedi's are. Though it's mildly interesting that knights were ultimately beaten by artillery.
- When you become a Sith, your eyes glow yellow?!? That's a pretty big giveaway, right?
I can be here all day spouting this sort of stuff, but I'm tired and disappointed. Thankfully, my day was made better by watching the fantastic Elizabeth on DVD for the first time. Otherwise, I would be even more pissed.
Still a big thanks to Lucas for utterly raping our childhoods. Jabba would be proud of you.
-30-
Such a gentle and well thought destruction of one of the best known film series’s out there. While I’ve not whitnessed the “Spectacle” of the third episode, I never really thought a film that had already spawned two videogames, over a dozen or so Lego figure sets and various other toys could ever possibly be that good.
You know, I completely agree with you. While my post isn’t as…let’s just say eloquently…put as yours, I know exactly where you are coming from.
*applause*
I had my share of dislikes about this film as well and Im a star wars geek.
In retrospect, I may have come off as unduly harsh. I’m more disappointed than anything else. I’d still recommend watching it, even if it’s only so that you can make your own opinion.
However, there is a lot of gushing for this film that I wanted to bring some balance; in doing so I probably overtipped the scale. However, I’ll stand by my opinion that this is a film that could have been so much more but instead only manages to climb to average mediocrity.
I think you’re nitpicking a little. ;)
Although for me it didn’t live up to the originals (I don’t think I’ll ever see one that does), I thought it was great! Certainly far better than the first two. The fight scenes were fantastic, and there was an overall darker feel to the movie. The acting I will agree was a teeny bit flawed in places, but certainly not enough to spoil the whole thing.
Ah well, horses for courses as they say. :)
Ahh, I think it’s a given right that anyone who buys a cinema ticket is fully entitled to nitpick:-)
Ah…yes…it’s like voting. If you vote, you can nitpick…if you don’t, then zip it.
All this time I tried to turn my thoughts of the movie into words yet you have done it here for me. The retort most give is Star Wars has always been about the special effects and if one wants passion and humanity they should watch Gone with the Wind.
a side note: Grievous coughs because of a previous encounter with Mace Windu. He supposedly uses the force to crush the general’s heart. Sounds rather cheesy to me.
When the original trilogy was shown over 20 years ago, it was ahead of it’s time in terms of special effects. That was the main reason why it was a blockbuster then, not the script or the acting.
Got to disagree with yuga. While I acknowledge that my recollection is somewhat tainted by my youthful impressionability at the time, there was magic between Ford, Fisher, and Hamill that the present cast hasn’t even sniffed at.
I think its blockbuster status was achieved as a result of Episode IV’s swashbuckling quality and it’s clear delineation of good vs. evil, in contrast with much of the filmmaking that immediately preceded it. The spirituality, whether despite its fuzzy representation or because of it, likely contributed to its appeal as well. That’s why one of the biggest complaints about the new films, in my opinion, is Lucas’ ridiculous attempt to provide a naturalistic mechanism for his characters’ interactions with the Force (Midicholrians?! Please!).
I do agree with you, however, that the groundbreaking effects had a great deal to do with its success. Lightsabers alone were worth the price of admission!
I forget where I read this, but somebody wondered how Yoda could easily detect subtle emotions in people, but somehow miss the conspiracy thousands of soldiers and many, many politicians in the Republic.
These movies also bother me in the fact that the black Jedi had the perfect chance to kill Palapatine. I’ve never understood this in movies (except for the fact that it is a plot device). With an obviously evil guy, shoot first and ask questions later.
Anyways, I thought it was better than the first two prequels, but still not an excellent movie. The dialog was a bit corny, but then again so is the dialog in all the older Star Wars movies.
On a closing note, I’d like to say that the movie wasn’t a waste of my time (or money - $5 is a pretty good deal for movies today)
I think you were spot on. Not unduly harsh. Bad acting and shortcutted storytelling ruined it for me.
There were extremely excellent and the best scenes in the movie “Revenge of the Sith”.
Good originality and great imagination, great story in this movie!
Here’s Photo gallery for Hayden Christensen(Anakin) of this movie. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0159789/photogallery-ss-0
I love Star Wars series the most!
In Return Of The Jedi Leia tells Luke that she can remember her mother describing her as “kind but sad”. Yet in episode 3 the mother dies right after shes gives birth.
Then at the end suddenly the death star is half constructed ???
I agree with all of what the orignal post says, to be frank I could have made a better film myself, if i had access to the money and connections Lucas has, I would have done a better job.
By the way, the film score is crap, what happened to using the original John Williams stuff ? The score is totally unmemorable and sounds like something off a tv drama.Pathetic
However, I have hope for the future….
Lucas will die and someone with talent will make episode 7, 8, 9 and they will be fantastic, even better than the originals. See the future I can with the force.
Lucas is done with directing and making Star Wars, however Lucasfilm and ILM will find different directors, producers and a different crew to make STAR WARS: EPISODE VII,VIII,IX. There are 12 Star Wars Episodes all together. Someday there will be a 4th Trilogy Episode X,XI,XII and then it will be over. Like a clock to make a circle and has 12 numbers on it. There will be a Sequel Trilogy there is. Many people think REVENGE OF THE SITH was the last Star Wars. It was the last of the prequels just how RETURN OF THE JEDI is the last of the classics. EPISODE IX will be the last of the Sequels and finally EPISODE XII will be the last of the 4th trilogy. ROTS was great but the Sequel Trilogy is going to be even better. Lucas is waiting for photo realistic technology to take hold because the technology in the future will be used to create Episode VII,VIII,IX and technology will be so successful that VII,VIII,IX are going to blow the Prequel and the Classics out of the water.