I've written about my great nostalgia for the Star Wars of my youth. I've lambasted Attack of the Clones. I've written an entry on why I think recent Star Wars sucks.
After all this, you might expect that I'd wait to see (or even skip) the final installment, Revenge of the Sith. Ha ha! Who are we kidding? The first thing I did after work today was stop for a matinee.
So, what's the scoop? Did I hate it? I did not. Did I — like dowingba — think it was a masterpiece? I did not. Not even a flawed one.
I did, however, think that it was certainly the best Star Wars film in twenty-five years. It's also the most beautiful of the series. There are moments during which the Lucas' CGI-fetish is overwhelming, but of the three prequels, this film does best at keeping the CGI subservient to the story, at showing some restraint. (For example, there's nothing like the horrible climax to Clones in which there are hundreds and thousands of gratuitous CGI objects on-screen in a bewildering example of how not to convey action.)
Revenge of the Sith begins with a space battle that, while not on a par with the Death Star sequence from the original movie, is quite thrilling. If you suspend your "that's not logical" circuits, it's a lot of fun. (If you can't suspend those circuits, you'll be left wondering what the hell so many large space cruisers are doing so close togther. I suggest you not ask that question. Just enjoy the ride.)
The dialogue is just as bad as I had expected. The "romance" scenes are on a par with those in Clones. (That means they're awful.) However, I was surprised by the acting. Except for a couple of Anakin-is-angry scenes, nobody was any more wooden than in the original trilogy. Ian McDiarmid as the Chancellor and Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan are actually quite good.
Revenge of the Sith rushes along at a breakneck pace, pausing now and then for the aforementioned poorly written "romance" scenes, and though I knew where the ride was headed, it was still fun. I liked the process by which Annakin was turned to the dark side. I like the dozen-or-so different planets we're shown. I like the variety of aliens in the background. I like the references to old movie serials (the most obvious of which is Commander Cody). Most of all, I like the sense of fun.
I only have one major complaint: the light-saber duels were ridiculous.
Remember how in the original trilogy, the light-saber duels were semi-realistic? Remember how they might have been just sword fights but with laser swords? Remember how in The Phantom Menace the climactic battle with Darth Maul was grand and exciting, and though everyone performed stunts, they all seemed relatively believable? And finally, remember how in the last movie any pretense of realism was thrown out the door when Yoda did his mad frog with a lightsaber routine? Well, this film features more of the mad frog with a lightsaber, and throws in two more long, silly lightsaber battles as well.
(Note that I'm not opposed to lightsaber battles or sword fights. I like them just as much as you do. But I like them to have some semblance of realism to them. Yoda bouncing off the walls like a pinball does not meet that criterion.)
I wish this film had been set up by two previous films of quality. I wish that we could believe Annakin's love for Padmé. I wish that the road to this spot had not been so convoluted. If the setup had been better, the audience could have felt some real emotion.
Still, I'm not afraid to recommend this film to my Star Wars-loving friends. And I'm sure I'll see it several more times before the summer's out. For the first time since I was eleven years old, there's a Star Wars film in theaters that I like.
On this day at foldedspace.org
2004 — The Fog of War Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush would do well to view this film, but one wonders if their minds are open enough to hear what McNamara has to say about his choices, about his mistakes.
2003 — Twenty-two Year Reflection I still don't understand the lyrics, but I think, perhaps, I understand their meaning. I understand what Dad heard, I understand what he was doing that morning, staring out at the darkness, listening to the shepherdess sing.
2002 — Media Consumption Despite my growing anti-corporate ideals, there are times that I succumb, join the American mind. This weekend was one of those times. Is this hypocrisy? Probably.
Caught the 10:20 showing last night... easily the best of the new trilogy, despite the corny romance scenes. I did feel that Revenge of the Sith was a bit of a last-ditch effort to tie everything together with the original trilogy, but it was still the most fun I've had at a movie theater in a long, long time.
My list of favorite Star Wars movies is very close to dowingba's, but I still like the A New Hope a little better than this one...
1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. Revenge [Return] of the Jedi
5. The Phantom Menace
6. Attack of the Clones