I got a free new Master Replicas Force FX Anakin Ep3 saber ($120) last night w/ a cool MR shirt and the local CBS news station gave me a full set of the limited edition Star Wars coins that the California Lottery made.
Be back in about three hours. Going to see it at a new theater there.
Then I'll be seeing it digitally twice more this evening.
Anyone notice the
YT-1300 (millennium falcon-type ship) docking in the beginning?
Sith. What kind of a word is that? Sith. It sounds to me like the noise that emerges when you block one nostril and blow through the other, but to George Lucas it is a name that trumpets evil. What is proved beyond question by Star Wars: Episode IIIRevenge of the Sith, the latestand, you will be shattered to hear, the lastinstallment of his sci-fi bonanza, is that Lucas, though his eye may be greedy for sensation, has an ear of purest cloth. All those who concoct imagined worlds must populate and name them, and the resonance of those names is a fairly accurate guide to the mettle of the imagination in question. Tolkien, earthed in Old English, had a head start that led him straight to the flinty perfection of Mordor and Orc. Here, by contrast, are some Lucas inventions: Palpatine. Sidious. Mace Windu. (Isnt that something you spray on colicky babies?) Bail Organa. And Sith.
Lucas was not always a rootless soul. He made American Graffiti, which yielded with affection to the gravitational pull of the small town. Since then, he has swung out of orbit, into deep nonsense, and the new film is the apotheosis of that drift. One stab of humor and the whole conceit would pop, but I have a grim feeling that Lucas wishes us to honor the remorseless non-comedy of his galactic conflict, so here goes. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his star pupil, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), are, with the other Jedi knights, defending the Republic against the encroachments of the Sith and their alliesmillions of dumb droids, led by Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and his henchman, General Grievous, who is best described as a slaying mantis. Meanwhile, the Chancellor of the Republic, Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), is engaged in a sly bout of Realpolitik, suspected by nobody except Anakin, Obi-Wan, and every single person watching the movie. Anakin, too, is a divided figure, wrenched between his Jedi devotion to selfless duty and a lurking hunch that, if he bides his time and trashes his best friends, he may eventually get to wear a funky black mask and start breathing like a horse.
that felt the way Anakin lost to Obi was pretty weak? This is supposed to be the most powerful Jedi/Sith, and he loses to the high road? I'm not really buying that he failed 'cause he skipped military strategy 101.
Also, while the realization that Padme dies BECAUSE Anakin goes dark-side was pretty awesome - nice self full-filling prophecy - the found the actual explanation to be crap. She lost the will to live? That would have been fine in my book - IF it wasn't about her dying in child birth, or having kids at all. What kind of woman effectively dies of a broken heart leaving two babies behind? To me, that makes her a REALLY weak person.
Overall though ... it was pretty sweet. Certainly owned I and II, and left me with a smile on my face leaving the theater.
because of his arrogance. Before jumping he even said "You underestimate my power!" And the implication, cheesy as it may be, is Padmé died of a broken heart,
that felt the way Anakin lost to Obi was pretty weak? This is supposed to be the most powerful Jedi/Sith, and he loses to the high road? I'm not really buying that he failed 'cause he skipped military strategy 101.
What I got from it was that while Anakin was completely blinded by rage and tapping into the dark side, it caused him to miscalculate and be completely overconfident in his actions.
The same thing happened to Maul, where after killing Qui-Gon became so arrogant when he thought he had won that he took the time to toy with Obi-Wan before trying to kill him, which ended in him losing.
I think it's a good message that illustrates how flawed the dark side truely is.
Now I'm a Star Wars fan, but not a seriously, over-obsessed fanatic. When I went to see it, there were at least 12 people in my theater that dressed up like Sith and Jedi and then proceeded to carry out a light saber fighting tournament until the movie started. (well it was actually pretty funny.)
I thought the movie was pretty good overall--easily the best of Episodes 1-3. The fight scenes were awesome,
(My favourite: General Grievous vs Obi-wan--Four light sabers?? )
though when Vader
lets out that NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! at the end, it should've been much, much bigger,
ie: when Lois Lane dies in Superman I and he goes crazy and goes back in time to save her...good stuff.
shantyman said:
I think the people who said you would cry overstated it, but when Order 66 kicks in it is really sad- it gets to you. I can not say that about any of the other 5 films in any scene (for me personally of course).
Yeah, the whole "Also, while were here, whats with the screwy syntax? Deepest mind in the galaxy, apparently, and you still express yourself like a day-tripper with a dog-eared phrase book. I hope right you are. Break me a fucking give."
As a movie... rubbish. Disjointed, messy, doesn't introduce characters properly, doesn't develop characters properly, even the main character is developed poorly and messily despite some 3 movies spent on his development as a character.
Basically it seemed like the events were set in stone beforehand, and the dialogue and actions contrived to fit. Except it doesn't fit, and the fluff does nothing to add to the movie.
Anakin Skywalker isn't hayden christensen. If he is, then Anakin Skywalker isn't Darth Vader.
Not once during the trilogy do you get a feeling of, yes, this person seems like they might turn out into the one of the baddest, most kick ass villains in movie history, despite the numerous sledgehammer attempts at 'foreshadowing' his fall to the darkside.
Poor acting from the cast as well; despite his growth as an actor, Hayden Christensen is still utterly contemptible in his role as Darth Vader. The only scene where he shines briefly is when he's replaced by a CG model of himself been burnt to a smoldering wreckage by the flames of the lava.
It seems even the technical designs that made the SW universe so rich and contributed muchly to its beloved status is rehashed and inferior to the original stuff; just in feel - like a Fisher Price reimagining of the original Starwars designs.
For the most part the acting was on part with a bad high school drama. THe dialog was terrible and while I didn't cringe at the romance scenes as I did in the first two, they were still too 'involved' in this movie and only slowed it down to tell us stuff that we already knew after the first 15 times they told us. All of the "meanwhile back at Padme's appartment" scenes were annoyingly bad.
There were some questionable cuts in the movie, but the one BAD cut was during the
ObiWan/Grevious fight where mid action they just cut away from it
The battle over Courscant just seemed to be there 'for shits and grins' because it had no impact on the movie (you'd think a fleet sitting over your capital would mean something). It just sort of 'ends' without even telling you what happened.
Palpatine and jedi homeboys escape and somehow the battle is just over
I caught a 12:01am screening last night (digital projection), here are some extremely quick impressions before I head out for practicum for the day.
1. Much better than the other prequels. The actors appear much more competent, but the material they have to work with wasn't spectacular by any means.
2. The film seemed extremely rushed, there was no time to let things sink in, which also made character actions seem a little odd at times. I'm glad I'm not the only who felt the narrative was disjointed.
3. Special effects were nice, but I was feeling overwhelmed by all the CGI.
This all sounds negative on my part, but I actually enjoyed the film and can't wait to see it again next weekend with my girlfriend.
Anyway for the most part I really like this movie. It is easily the best of the prequel movies, and I think I like it even better than Return of the Jedi. I did have a few problems with it although.
First, the fight between Mace Windu (sp?) and the Emperor was just painful to watch. Sam Jackson really needed some training in how to swing that lightsaber. Some of the dialog was also pretty bad. It wasn't bad like episode II, but it wasn't all that good either. Some of Yoda's lines were really bad. They went a little overboard with his sentence structure.
Also, was that suppose to be
Grand Moff Tarkin
on the bridge of the starship at the end? It so, plus one geek point.
I went to see a midnight showing last night, and I've just been to see it again. Two contrasting impressions here:
Last night I was tired and grumpy, eager to see the film. I had literally been counting down all day. So when I sat down I'm not sure I was in the best mood really for watching. Anyway, here were my initial thoughts as the credits rolled:
Main points of complaint:
The Battle Droid and Super Battle Droid's new voices were horrific.
R2D2 was now a jumping, flying flame thrower.
Boga the Lizard looked silly.
Dialogue:
I thought all lines were much better this time around apart from: Padme saying 'hold me like you did on naboo' and the ObiWan/Padme emphasis on the
murdered younglings
. Truth be told, anything really bad was over with after the first half an hour. The rest? Not entirely as I expected either.
Palpatine defied my expectations. He was truly bizarre...
at the mercy of Mace Windu's blade
, his weakness, his "No. Nooo." stuff was incredibly strange stuff. Some people in the cinema laughed at it... But I LOVED IT. The moments after that where his voice deepened were even better.
The ambient noise, and eerie deep voice, added to the effect of Anakin's brainwashing.
. My initial viewing overall? I thought it was very good, but some things disappointed me.
Spoiled myself?
Namely, I was a bit gutted about some of the things that had been cut.
Grievous: "I was trained in your Jedi arts by Count Dooku", should have been followed by Obi Wan: "I trained the Jedi who killed Count Dooku"... not a big loss, but the first of many.
Didn't notice Nick Gillard aka Master Jedi Swordsman Cin Drallig anywhere. I believe he would have appeared at a longer Jedi Temple scene.
Yoda playing about to deceive the clones, covering himself in mud and acting all insane a lá ESB.... gone.
Yoda communing with Qui Gon and actually talk with him... gone in favor of a more vague / glossed explanation.
Yoda landing on Dagobah as part of the final montage.
I had thought of more last night. But then I thought about this. I wouldn't have expected any of these things if I hadn't of spoiled the film so much by watching every movie I could get my hands on, or by reading the screenplay. I really shouldn't have done it in hind-sight.
================================
Second Viewing:
SO I went to see it again today. I just got back right this minute. Here's the basic jist of things:
The opening space battle needs to be watched more than once. There's just too much to take in.
Upon landing on The Invisible hand, the dialogue and action does seem a bit wobbly. The jump to being captured by Ray Shields seemed particularly off or rushed. This is probably the films lowest point, and truth be told, it's not that bad. It's forgivable.
Padme, Anakin, Obi Wan and Palpatine are all much better characters this time around. There are no awkward exchanges about politics that get uncomfortably long, the romance is better and far more bittersweet because you can see Anakin getting his priorities completely fucked up. Obi Wan is more than ever the friendly mentor
One of the highlights of the movie for me where some of the final lines of dialogue. Anakin, screaming in a desperate agony: "I hate you!", Obi Wan taking his time to respond before saying sincerely: "Anakin, you were my brother. I loved you." It was awesome.
Palpatine is absolutely bizarre and creepy. You see much more of him in this film than you see of him in any other. You truly get the sense that he is far from being just a human-like bad guy.... he is some sort of evil twisted creature.
All the lightsabre battles are gripping
From the moment Obi Wan and Anakin meet on unfriendly terms for the first time
and Anakin chokes Padme
Hayden really steps things up. I envisioned that his voice would be deeper in this movie, that his inflection might change in order to be closer to that of Vaders... and maybe it does a little. But here he is a confused, upset and incredibly angry person. You can hear it in his voice at times, see it in his face. I thought he was PERFECT.
I'm still upset that
Qui Gon and Dagobah were cut
, however it is still a brilliant ending. It ties up to Episode IV PERFECTLY.
Note the repeated use of the word PERFECT. I'm not saying that's what the movie is. Like I've pointed out, there's plenty of ammo for haters to work with in the first half of the movie. But I'll be damned if I didn't love this movie to death on my second viewing.
I can't even rank it amongst the other movies. I'm still confused by how it made me feel. What a downer. Highlight of the movie?
Order 66
. Easily. George and John Williams working wonders.
Going to see it again next week with colleagues from work.
Of cource is was, Gremlin. What I want to know, is how does it take 20 yers for them to get done building that when it seems like they are well on their way right now?
I really liked the movie. I found the acting much better as well, plus there seemed to be much less horrible dialog than the first two movies. Also, the comedey in this one was a lot better.
My only real complaint is the pace. There's just so much story to tell, they had to do it at warp speed. I really wish Lucas had combined I and II and spread III's story over II and III instead.
I really liked the last shot of the movie, as well.
Of cource is was, Gremlin. What I want to know, is how does it take 20 yers for them to get done building that when it seems like they are well on their way right now?
I really liked the movie. I found the acting much better as well, plus there seemed to be much less horrible dialog than the first two movies. Also, the comedey in this one was a lot better.
My only real complaint is the pace. There's just so much story to tell, they had to do it at warp speed. I really wish Lucas had combined I and II and spread III's story over II and III instead.
I really liked the last shot of the movie, as well.
I actually wish he'd combined I&II, made III number 2 with some of the fluff removed, and made an entirely new III. See when I think of "hunting down Jedi" I kinda expect them to be hunted - not just butchered over a series of scenes
Of cource is was, Gremlin. What I want to know, is how does it take 20 yers for them to get done building that when it seems like they are well on their way right now?
The battle over Courscant just seemed to be there 'for shits and grins' because it had no impact on the movie (you'd think a fleet sitting over your capital would mean something). It just sort of 'ends' without even telling you what happened.
Palpatine and jedi homeboys escape and somehow the battle is just over
This is not a flame, but did anyone read the opening crawl?
As the Separatist Droid Army attempts to flee the besieged capital with their valuable hostage, two Jedi Knights lead a desperate mission to rescue the captive Chancellor...
You missed the point. WHEN did the battle END? What happened, its just forgotten about and never actually resolved. It simply fades away at the Jedi rescue party enters the atmosphere, burning away with the rest of the ship.
You missed the point. WHEN did the battle END? What happened, its just forgotten about and never actually resolved. It simply fades away at the Jedi rescue party enters the atmosphere, burning away with the rest of the ship.
Uh, with Dooku suddenly killed and the separatist's hostage rescued, I think you were meant to assume that the battle does end pretty abruptly. Not to mention Greivous escaping.
I don't think there needed to be another scene showing ships leaving.
Great Star Wars movie. Was it a great film no but I went to see a Star Wars flick and it rocked.
A few minor gripes
1.) Padme death was just dumb. She dies because she is sad? WTF She should have went into child birth right after the Anakin Obi duel. Or even during it would have been great having her scream for help during the duel. With only Anakin there she could have died of complication of being strangled and having twins. It would have provided some falling action.
2.) The tatics 101 warning before Anakin leaps was just silly. Anakin was constantly on the offensive. I would have much prefered if Obi fiend defeat. Have Anakin go for the kill and oops he's not really defeated. A scene like this could have been easily set up and it kinda of was with Anakin constantly leaping after Obi and Obi constantly backing away.
Uh, with Dooku suddenly killed and the separatist's hostage rescued, I think you were meant to assume that the battle does end pretty abruptly. Not to mention Greivous escaping.
I don't think there needed to be another scene showing ships leaving.
Right, because I know if the leader of an army dies on a ship and no one knows about it - the rest of the fleet surrenders or retreats. I mean its such a common occurrence that one should just know that to be the way of things
With all the CG in the movie you'd think they'd have time to NOT have ambiguity in the film. But I digress....
Yeah, there were many scenes involving Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Padme and the start of the Rebellion cut from the film... while they would've been interesting to see, these played out very bland and were just a bunch of people sitting around griping, and most likely would've dragged the first half of the movie even slower.
They'll most likely show up on the DVD's deleted scenes section.
On the positive side, I really enjoyed looking at this movie. It's visually fantastic in a way that goes beyond just special effects; if there's one thing the prequels have going for them, it's a small legion of folks working on the design aesthetic of the film. So, in almost every scene you get to admire the vision of the future the film has which is just dripping throw away details and looks terribly, terribly neat. In grand space opera style not a lot of it makes much sense, but who cares when it's this fun? Colorful aliens in all directions, bustling super cities, bizzare planets, cool spaceships and goofy yet endearing fashion sense for all the humanoid characters. Lucas gets an A+ for world building.
There is also nothing wrong with the plotting. It's a bit vague at times, but for the most part everything is happening for reasons that make sense, which is more than a lot of films manage. The plot also drives the characterization reasonably well - the events of the film cause people to change in understandable ways, which is useful for a movie about a jedi's fall from grace.
No, what really kills the film is the pacing. The characters all have reasons for what they do, sure, but things happen so quickly it's hard to take them seriously. Anakin goes from zero to Dark Side in about 30 seconds flat (okay, I'm exagerating), and it just doesn't work. Lucas had three films to show Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader and he winds up cramming everything in at the last minute, which makes it a really difficult sell. Likewise, the film isn't so much fast paced as stuffed to the gills. I'm glad to see that it's action packed, sure, but it all feels terribly rushed, without enough time to slow down between scenes. You'd think wall-to-wall jedi ass-kicking wouldn't be a bad thing, but after a while it's just overwhelming. By the time the final duels were happening I was reduced to sitting there thinking, "Oh, hey, it's another lightsaber battle."
It also doesn't help that the dialogue is at best utterly forgetable and at worst astonishingly bad. In particular, anything remotely resembling romantic dialogue between Anakin and Amidala had the audience openly groaning in pain. And, as usual, you have perfectly good actors struggling to work with these lousy lines and generally failing across the board. It's not a complete loss - Ian McDiarmid has a lot of fun chewing the scenery as Palpatine, Frank Oz is always good as Yoda, Ewan McGregor occasionally captures a glimpse of McGuiness as Obi-Wan, and sometimes even Haden Christensen pegs some of his lines - but for the most part you sit there hoping the characters don't open their mouths. However, what's almost as disappointing as the outright bad dialogue are the lines that just fall flat. I could live with the jaw-droppingly awful moments if someone could at least occasionally deliver a good zinger or two. No dice. At the very beginning of the flick Lucas tries to give it some energy and flair, but it just doesn't quite work, and before long we're left with a ponderous, heavy-handed attempt at myth making with stilted dialogue as far as the eye can see.
Afterards, I said that this is as deeply flawed a film as I can remember watching, and I'll stand by that. The level of craftsmanship behind this film is astonishing...except for the guy in the driver's seat, who just really doesn't have it anymore and should have been asked to hang it up years ago. And some of the whoop-ass bits whoop a substantial amount of ass - but not enough to really make up for the god-awful dialogue and painful acting. It looks amazing in a way that transcends your average effects-laden summer blockbuster - but it's also broken in ways that your average flick can't live up to, either.
If I had to rank the prequels, I'd say the first one comes out of this the best, if only because the pacing isn't completely broken and it's big set pieces work rather well; the pod race scene is a lot of fun and the big fight with Darth Maul is still pretty damn impressive. Sith wins out over Clones if only because it has less time for painful romantic bits and, even if it's probably a bit much, squeezes in all manner of jedi-fu and epic space battles. So, not a total loss, but disappointing at the very least. I'm curious to give it another viewing if only to get another look at the epic amounts of eye candy and see if I'm more able to throw back popcorn and ignore the dialogue the second time around. Or, I may just save my cash and go see other, better movies instead.
Yeah, there were many scenes involving Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Padme and the start of the Rebellion cut from the film... while they would've been interesting to see, these played out very bland and were just a bunch of people sitting around griping, and most likely would've dragged the first half of the movie even slower.
They'll most likely show up on the DVD's deleted scenes section.
I hope so, because I wanted to see the empire do this whole division and the rebellion form/try to muster forces/etc. At the end of the movie when the galactic empire is founded I'm like "okay well everyone is happy except for Bail Organa - how did that turn into a rebellion from the thousands of systems there".
Opening space battle was a big letdown, certainly does not rival RotJ's for me. Sure it might have been huge, but we hardly saw any of it.
- if the battle was shown complete, from start to finish rather than have the first half shown in the clone wars cartoons, then it'd have been a big improvment.
Kashhyk was a big letdown, hardly saw any of it.
Dialogue still sucked, although improved. First scene of vader in armor was terrible, made me cringe. Big letdown. Last bit of the Obi/Anakin battle was bad. Although while he lay defeated it was good.
Pacing was better but still was too uneven, when movie slowed to a crawl in the middle especially.
Ending was far to abrupt.
Yoda: "In exile, I must go." First of all, he gave up on his battle with Palpatine too quickly, then his decision to go into hiding felt so lame/rushed. Also, if Leia really did open her eyes, I sure didn't notice. And the whole wiping 3PO's memory I knew about prior to seeing the movie, but it still came off as akward. Almost seemed like Episode III was a cramming session to finish the prequel story.
Just about everything else I loved... still a shame that felt bad about so many scenes though.
Destined to become one of those classic awful movie punchlines.
In fact, it already is a classic awful movie punchline, so the fact that they went and put it in the film anyway just makes it all the more hilarious.
Anyway, aside from that and a couple other scenes with ridiculous dialogue (and less than satisfactory acting), I thought it rocked. It's the swashbuckling, high-action, high-adventure space mythos that made the first trilogy great.
Anybody who wanted a script with exceptional dialogue or sublime acting just didn't want to see a Star Wars movie, I don't think.
Then again, I didn't go in with terribly high expectations. I wasn't even planning on seeing the midnight showing and then decided at about 9 last night "oh what the hell, I might as well go." I went out of my way to not be taken in by the hype (I learned my lesson from the first two prequels), and I found it quite enjoyable and exceeding my expectations because of it.
Was the Qui-Gon with Yoda thing filmed? Someone said Liam Neeson didn't want to take part in this.. is this true? I really really want to see this on the DVD, so I was just wondering if it even exists beyond the script.
I'm a strange breed-- I watched my first ever Star Wars movie last week with Episode 1. Then I watched Episode 2.
That being said, the past week I've been watching a Star Wars mini-series! I've really connected to these characters, and I'm really upset at how things turned out. I'll miss the love of Padme and Annakin, I'll miss what could have been. I still miss Quagon, I miss the Jedi council
I love these characters. The movie was great. I can't wait to see what happens in 4! I gotta rent it!
Seriously though, Hayden was pretty good for the role. His face always provided a weird untrusting feeling...I find it in his eyes and eyebrows. Remember back to Episode 2 when Annekin is talking to Padme about how the republic SHOULD be, and he basically described a dictatorship? We saw what layed within.
Annekin's main trait is impatience. He is full of action-- immediate action. And this may go back to the Jedi council believing Annekin was too old to start his training. If he was trained from birth, his human tendencies would have been better curbed. With the dying of his mother and the potential death of his wife, Annekin's humanness got the best of him.
I'm really sad right now, the movie has stuck with me since last night. So much was lost, so much was lost.
It was flawed, but I enjoyed it. My best friend (who could be barely be classified as a casual Star Wars fan) loved it since he didn't know what to expect. A few quick thoughts:
- Aside from a few awkward spots, most of the delivery was decent, IMO, given the writing itself was flat and simplistic (as usual).
- I agree that Anakin's turn seemed too abrupt. It's not entirely implausible, I just think it could have been conveyed differently. To quote Reservoir Dogs, "Only one thing to do in that case: shit in yer pants an' dive in and swim!" That's the impression I received from Anakin's confusion and abrupt change, as if he was thinking, "Damn, I fucked up huge, I'm in too deep already, I might as well stick with clinging with the only two things left I care about without regard for anything else: Padme and power."
- I was surprised how quickly Anakin
defeated Dooku
.
- Lucas seemed very fond of
having people get their hands chopped off
in this one.
- I wanted to see more carnage at the
Jedi Temple
.
- Anakin's defeat was more abrupt than I had expected, and the immediate aftermath, more graphic...
- As others have pointed out, many events seemed to wrap up too quickly at the end. It felt a little forced.
You must be watching a different series. Star Wars has always been about bad acting. Every single Skywalker chacter with maybe the exception of Leia has been brutal.
makes up for anything that could possibly be wrong with this film. It was just one of the best sequences in a SW film, if not the best, backed by the insanely powerful music, it was amazing.
I found it pretty badass how Anakin kills Dooku. Cutting off his hands like that... makes you wonder, the hundreds of times two jedi/sith lock sabers, why doesn't one of them just slide the saber down the other guy's blade and slice off his hands like that? It's not like a hilt is going to stop a blade of light like that, sabers have no hilts anyway.
I absolutely loved the movie. I came out of it with a smile from here to here.
So right now, I'm just in the mood where I can't see negative opinions about it. Too much of a downer. So I think I'm going to avoid these threads for now, unless to talk about specific aspect of the movie, not judging the quality with a bunch of cynical bastards
Just needed to chyme in with, the movie was great! Tied with ESB for me.
Great movie all around. I really have a hard time putting into words how I feel about the movie. It was so emotional for me that I really couldn't talk about it today with anyone. I think this will go down as the most emotional SW movie in the saga. It...well...it just wowed me. I plan on seeing it again tomorrow after I have time to let it sink it.
I also loved the movie...loved. Some of the dialogue wasn't great, but way better than episode II's..really thats the only fault I can see. I thought the pacing was good too..no idea what you guys are on saying it was bad.
I also loved the movie...loved. Some of the dialogue wasn't great, but way better than episode II's..really thats the only fault I can see. I thought the pacing was good too..no idea what you guys are on saying it was bad.
Just pulled the pictures from the tree-day San Diego charity line and I'll post some shortly. The opening-the-doors of the theater to the public line last night got on the national news.
(WARNING: POST CONTAINS SPOILERS! But really, stop reading this entire thread if you haven't seen the movie so you can get your own unbiased opinion).
Hmmm... okay I think I can finally put how I feel about the "two trilogies" into a coherent debatable form.
I think that the big difference for me was that the original trilogy (4,5,6) was about characters caught up in something MUCH bigger than they were - a universe full of diverse and interesting places and a rebellion against a seemingly all powerful empire. The original trilogy was the "hero" trilogy with so many different facets that its scope could barely be described. The empire keeps coming, the enemies and the treat seems larger and somehow it just seems that there isn't just a wonderkids view of the universe - that the universe revolves around this particular set of characters.
The new trilogy is in my view more 'self-serving'. The universe is more about the small set of characters and an equally small set of circumstances. The universe seems to revolve more around them and their "teenage angst" problems and the once seemingly uber powerful emperor of the empire comes off more as the child molesting uncle who is trying to trick Anakin into bending over. It is just all so unsincere, so pandering and so contrived to try and fit in with the original trilogy. The dialog, the 'shock scenes' (like burning man Anakin), the mostly pointless war scenes, etc. There just doesn't seem to be a soul to the movie - no point that its ever really trying to reach except put the pawns in place for Episode 4.
I didn't hate the movie - I do like it, but the general opinion I've heard as I talk to many of the people here in the shop is that this movie is great because it is by far the best of the new trilogy, and that is true. Its better in the way that having crabs is better than having syphilis - but you REALLY dont want either.
Yes the movie had some exceptional up moments and one can only nitpick at those to find fault. Where the move falls apart is between these moments - when the movie becomes a poorly acted tale of teenage pregnancy - oh she's been pregnant for months, but you NOW think to ask who the father is? I don't think she died from sadness - I'm sure she was glad to be done with that contrived existence and welcomed death.
And then there is the whole turning of Anakin which happens in such fits and spurts that when it finally DOES happen (and I think the previous comment about the conversion going from 0 to 60 is appropriate) - you're sitting there trying to actually figure out which emotion is appropriate.
All in all, when the movie is good - its really good. When its bad, its the kind of awful awful bad that makes you feel embarrased FOR the film because you know they could have done better. I sat in the theater trying to be forgiving, trying to use my own jedi powers saying "you don't want to dwell on this horrible writing", but somewhere deep inside me it just didn't happen and the bad parts just stood out like jagged spikes.
Yoda fled the Senate chamber after his fight with Palpatine? It seems to me like.. Palpatine is the #1 biggest threat in the entire universe who needs to be taken out at all costs. Not to mention it's his fault so many jedi had been killed. Why would Yoda leave before the job was done and then head into exile? The way the movie played out, Palpatine does not seem invincible and Yoda could have had a chance.
I've always said that this was the one movie in the prequel trilogy that really mattered. After wasting his time with Episode I (in the whole 2 hours, only two important things are accomplished) and rushing through a "love story" in Episode II, I knew this would have to be damn good to redeem Star Wars in my eyes. Is it?
Yes. And no.
What works:
- Palpatine seducing Anakin to the dark side. I was afraid this was going to feel rushed and unrealistic like the love story, but it came off as exacting and methodical, and very well done. This is mainly due to the fact that Anakin is given a genuine reason to follow Palpatine. Some people are criticizing Lucas for this, but I'd be willing to crack some kids' skulls for Natalie Portman.
- Darth Vader. When Anakin falls to the dark side, his transformation is genuine. He no longer seems like the whiner from Clones, he really is pure, dag-nasty evil. When he finds the younglings in the Council room...
- Anakin and Obi-Wan's friendship. Whereas it seemed like they almost couldn't stand each other in Episode II, their relationship in Sith is a great improvement, and serves to make the duel that much more intense. Speaking of which...
- The Duel. Now THAT is a lightsaber battle. The best since Luke vs. Vader in ESB, and the real highlight of the movie.
- "You were the chosen one! It was said you would destroy the Sith, not JOIN THEM! That you would bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness. I loved you...but I could not save you."
"I HATE YOU!"
- The endings. From the Death Star to Tatooine, (most) everything is wrapped up and leads into Episode IV quite nicely.
What doesn't work:
- Padme. In the first two films, she's portrayed as a strong-willed character, who would never stand idly by in a crisis. So why does she have nothing to do here? It doesn't help that the entire Rebellion subplot was cut, as it would have given her something to do other than stand around looking worried.
- Anakin's actual turn to the dark side. This should have been a defining moment. He should have been absolute in his decision to join Palpatine. But here's how it's played out:
Sidious: Join me.
Anakin: *sigh* Ok, you win.
WTF? After all those promises of saving Padme, you have a defeatist attitude about leaving the Jedi Order? At least seem a little more certain about it -- this IS a pretty big decision.
- General Grievous. What a waste of time.
- Too many lightsaber battles. We're given FIVE, when only 2 were needed.
- The Pre-Duel. God, that dialog was bad.
- The Jedi purging. This is obviously supposed to be emotional, but I'll be damned if I cared about a bunch of aliens with lightsabers being gunned down. At least the scenery was nice.
- "NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!"
Overall, I'd say it's definitely the best of the prequel trilogy, but it still fails to measure up to the original saga.
Ok here are pictures from the line at the Edwards Mira Mesa in San Diego. The SDSW was raising money for the Starlight Starbright charity just so you know before anyone makes any asshole comments.
Tent city at 6:30am on Wednesday:
My tent:
These guys were just college students camping out to get seats. When the local 105 rock station sent a guy over at 7:00 with a bullhorn these are the people who kicked his ass for waking them up:
This is that same line around 8:30 or 9:00am:
By early afternoon, the regular non-charity line was wrapped around the theater:
The theater was letting the 2,000 person non-charity line into the halls of the theater (and out of the heat) at 7:30 PM. So at 7:15 all of the Jedi (and one Slave Leia) from the SDSW, Stormtroopers, Biker Scounts, Mandalorians, Imperial Officers, and Sith Lords lead Vader and his Royal Guard escort into the theater lobby and held the doors open for the main line as they entered the theater. The local FOX, NBC, CBS, and WB news vans were already at the theater all day covering everything and when this happened the NBC news team switched their feed over to the national news. The theater was extremely happy with this and the manager came in before the movie started to let us know that and about how it went national:
Going to see it in a couple hours, but this quip about Yoda in the New Yorker review had me in tears.
Deepest mind in the galaxy, apparently, and you still express yourself like a day-tripper with a dog-eared phrase book. I hope right you are. Break me a fucking give.
