“For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the old Republic, before the dark times. Before the Empire. A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. Vader was seduced by the dark side of the force.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars Episode IV, 1977.
“You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them. Give balance to the force, not leave it in darkness.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars Episode III, 2005.
THE SHOW:
The Phantom Menace and Jar-Jar are a distant memory.
Lambasted for the childishness of Star Wars Episode I and the political mud in Episode II, writer/director George Lucas faced lowered expectations from the public for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, despite promises of a more adult, dark movie. And while the kids are still invited, and the politics are as boring as ever, Episode III bests its prequels, with superior visuals, brilliant action sequences, improved acting, and a tale long awaited.
We all knew beforehand what would take place in Episode III: The young Jedi Anakin Skywalker would be manipulated by the politician Palpatine (who’s really the evil Sith lord Darth Sidious) into believing the only way he can save his love Padme is by turning to the dark side. In the process, Anakin betrays the Jedi Order, turns the democratic Republic into the iron-fisted galactic Empire, and becomes one of the greatest villains of American cinema, Darth Vader. Star Wars, that ultimate of science fiction sagas, would finally be complete.
We all knew what was coming, but we still couldn’t wait to see how Lucas would do it. Would it be evil? Would it be sad? Would it be weighed down by lengthy dialogue sequences? Would Anakin stop pouting? Would C-3PO have another terrible line (”what a drag!”)? Like lemmings, we filled theaters.
And we got our answers, and most of us were impressed. Awe-inspiring computer graphics greeted us at every turn, in every scene. The locations and digital characters were intriguing. The action was intense. C-3PO is rarely heard from and the kids get theirs in the form of a more heroic R2-D2. The tragedy of brothers in arms turned into enemies, the fall of the Jedi, the truth behind the Storm Troopers, was all that it could be.
But there are problems. There’s simply too much going on here in Episode III, which runs at a hefty two hours and 20 minutes. Too much happens because Lucas has so many things he wants to say, in order for the first trilogy to connect. He’s trapped in a way, because he’s filling in the blanks, expanding on what Obi-Wan tells Luke years later on Tatooine.
Still, there’s dead weight sitting in the middle of this movie, repetitive scenes that could have been cut. Anakin spends too much time with Palpatine, being manipulated to the dark side. Anakin spends way too much time with Padme, setting up the reason he becomes evil. The Jedi spend too much time talking, just like the politicians. For a solid 45 minutes in the middle of Episode III, Lucas gives the impending fall of the Republic too much focus over the impending fall of Anakin. And Anakin’s fall is what we want to see. This movie opens and closes with big bangs, and features quite a few more in the middle, but between the intense, final battles of the Clone Wars, and the intense duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin, there’s more than one long stretch of boredom.
Do you really want to view this movie as part of Lucas’ on-going statement on how a democracy turns into a dictatorship and the follies of power? Or do you want to enjoy the extensive dog fights in space, the orgy of lightsaber duels, the chaotic ground war between droids, clones, Wookies and Jedi?
I thought so. The opening, mind-blowing, beautiful battle above the planet Courescant took a little over a year to complete, and the work shows. An air draft coming off a ship, a pair of fighters, way, way in the background colliding, a dozen laser blasts and explosions and tiny bits of debris, all moving at once. Everything is in here. And yes, that really is a kitchen sink crashing into a ship in the opening minutes. The opening scene is indicative of the visual effort that went into this entire movie, where even the dialogue heavy scenes are touched with brilliant backgrounds. The film was shot completely digitally, making for an eye-popping visual presentation, and the sound mix for the movie was tops for the franchise.
The introduction of a new character to the Star Wars movies, General Grievous, the half-alien, half-droid leader of the Trade Federation’s robot army, actually worked quite well I thought, giving Obi-Wan a nemesis to track down and fight, while Anakin waits back on Courescant with that disconcerting look on his face.
Most everyone in Episode III improves on their performances from the earlier movies. I’ve always bought into Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan, even when he was forced to deliver a one-liner aiming for the easy laughs. McGregor again is smooth, has great range, and delivers a Jedi Master that I’d like to have a beer with. The standout though, to me is Ian McDiarmid. We’ve known all along Palpatine is Sidious (and it’s a wonder the Jedi didn’t know it too or that Anakin is married to Padme or that he’s an expecting father jeez, no wonder they miscalculated that entire “he’ll bring balance to the force” thing), yet McDiarmid gives the character a sly sense of calculation, a quiet feel of impending victory. Think about it: when he was 39, McDiarmid was cast to play an ancient withered old bad guy who looked like Satan. Twenty years later, he plays the same character, only younger and better. When he finally shrugs off the Palpatine facade, he’s transformed into the same, sneering monster we were introduced to all those years ago.
Even Christensen’s Anakin is tolerable in Episode III, at least to a point. The future lord Vader is less whiny and more sinister, once he turns to the dark side, as Christensen does what he can with a character that’s forced to be insanely na
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