Well, that was a happy surprise. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is by no means a perfect film. But, the reviews are right — this one’s miles above the other two prequels, and definitely can be considered in the same breath as Jedi. Sure, there’s a bad movie occasionally lingering in the shadows like a Sith, but for the most part this entry manages to capture some of that ole Star Wars feel, particularly in the opening rescue attempt and final hour. (And, unlike Menace and Clones, this one actually improves on a second viewing.)
So, what’s good? Well, while Ian McDiarmid gets in some choice scenery-chewing (particlarly once he goes Jedi) and Ewan McGregor steals the show with his canniest Alec Guinness impression yet, Hayden Christiansen is actually surprisingly decent this time around. The (mercifully brief) love scenes between he and a barely-used Natalie Portman are still stilted and sluggish, sure, but otherwise Christiansen acquits himself much better (It turns out the whiny-teenager schtick of Clones may have indeed been an acting choice.)
Whatsmore, barring a few hiccups here and there (Yoda really shouldn’t be used as Basil Exposition — It makes his syntax sound even more ridiculous), a lot of the “let’s take a meeting” scenes that so marred the first two prequels have a real dynamism to ’em in Sith. In fact, dare I say it, I actually found the court intrigue somewhat interesting this time — With Anakin caught between the machinations of Chancellor Palpatine and the distrust of the increasingly intransigent Jedi Order, there’re no tears shed over the taxation of trade routes or somesuch, and hardly a Jar Jar sighting to be had.
Our old embarrassment Mistah Binks may be sidelined this go around (as are a lot of the other random, useless characters of the first two prequels: I’m looking at you, Captain Typho), but Sith takes pleasure in harking back to old friends from the OT, among them an extended cameo by Chewbacca, a brief shot of Wayne “Scorpius” Pygram as Grand Moff Tarkin, and several scenes set in the Tantive IV. I was worried these types of nods would seem blatant and graceless, but for the most part they were handed quite well, and, indeed, turned out to be definite fanboy crowd-pleasers.
Yep, there’s a lot to like here…the opening shot, General Grievous, the Coruscant opera, all the amazing design flourishes by the ILM guys. In fact, even stuff that has no business working, like Ewan riding that goofy lizard all over Utapau, somehow ended up being kinda Tauntaun-like and un-prequel-ish.
But…that doesn’t mean there aren’t problems. I’ve already mentioned the love scenes, and they’re pretty egregious. And at times, frankly, the film still just goes slack. Anakin and Obi-Wan’s final conversation before the Big Duel (the one that’s being quoted for its obvious Dubya references) should be a climactic moment in the saga, but it ends up seeming kinda stilted and poorly written. (“My allegiance is to the republic, and democracy…and, and cheese!”) Similarly the mano-a-mano between Yoda and the Emperor should seem one for the ages. But it’s never quite clear exactly why Yoda chooses to pull a Bishop-from-Aliens at the end, and lines like “Not if anything to say about it I have” just stop the film dead.
And, as a fanboy aside: While there are plenty of amazing and well-realized new worlds in Episode III, they all seem like they’re 30 seconds away from each other, with people popping back and forth between Coruscant and the Outer Rim in mid-sentence. What the heck happened to technology in the intervening two decades between III and IV? For some reason, Artoo loses tons of functionality, the Death Star takes 20 years to build, and the Millennium Falcon spends long stretches of time traveling in hyperspace, when back in the day Jedi apparently just snapped their fingers to get from place to place?
Also, why would Padme get kicked out of the Senate just for having a baby? And, for that matter, why is prenatal care so godawful in the Republic? Even notwithstanding the surprise-twins thing, that birthing robot with the scoop-hands looked like a torture droid.
But, obviously, these are nit-picks, and the fact that I’m picking nits rather than huge tumescent tumors from Sith is a mark of how much better this outing is than Clones. Ok, the end of the film drags just a bit, and the Obi-Wan/Anakin duel isn’t quite as viscerally exciting as the Maul melee of Menace, but for the most part I sat through Sith — both times! — with a big fanboy grin on my face. He definitely whiffed twice, but on his third swing, Lucas at least hit a triple here…it’s just too bad he didn’t recapture his mojo earlier. To paraphrase Palpatine, “Old fool. Only now, at the end, do you understand…“
Kevin, thanks for your observations. I can’t wait…
I think our observations were pretty much identical, except you used a lot more words… 🙂
Heh, that’s me…Too Many Notes. 😉
Kevin, I’ve been wondering now that the series is finished: How many movies do you believe are actually here? I mean, six films appears to indulge in too much padding, so to tell the story of the rise and fall of Darth Vader, should it really be four episodes, maybe three? If George Lucas had been able to adapt that yellow note pad all at once back in 1976, would it really have been tweleve hours worth?
Another great film review. I didn’t realize that was Pygram as Tarkin. It’s nice to know he’s still around.
Hmmm…interesting question, Ted. I think the prequels could have been two good movies, with I/II given a severe rewrite and some of III moved into an earlier film…Anakin’s transition in Sith seems a bit abrupt.
I have no problem with the OT being three films, although, again Jedi could be tightened up and rendered Ewok-less.
Thanks, Megg. 🙂
Great comments, Kevin. I did my best to not read them until after I saw the movie.
My thoughts on your nitpicks: If I had to hazard a guess about technology, it’d be that the Empire caused technology to stagnate. Think about Soviet technology in the 1980s, or even the advantages that the Foundation had against the dying Galactic Empire in Asimov’s original trilogy.
If you’re wondering about why the Death Star II got so much further along in a shorter amount of time, I’d say that the Emperor and Vader ramped up production because the Rebellion was becoming more and more of a threat. Nothing like competition to spur on innovation.
As to travel time, I didn’t have any problems. From the scenes on the Millennium Falcon in Ep4, it seems that they were travelling for a couple of hours, not days at a time. Tatooine is supposed to be on the Rim, but it’s not clear (to me anyway) that Mustafar is.
As to Padme’s pregancy: again, I’m not sure I agree with the nitpicks. I don’t think she’s concerned about being kicked out of the Senate; I think she’s concerned about Anakin being kicked out of the Jedi Order. She has obligations to the Senate, which she thinks the Queen will relieve her from if she asks.
As to the twins, they’re shown to be a surprise to Obi-Wan and Bail, not necessarily to Padme. It’s important that Anakin never knew that she was carrying twins, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that she never knew. I’d be willing to entertain the notion that A) she was harboring secret doubts about Anakin, ever since the murder of the Sand People in Ep2, or B) that her culture has odd-to-us traditions concerning pregnancy and knowing about the sex (and number) of children in advance. All she wants to know is if the fetus is in good health.
Anyway, I liked it a lot, and I can’t wait to see it again.
Oh, and Artoo loses functionality because he doesn’t have Anakin to repair him anymore. But enough of his new programming remains to make him one of the smartest and most independent astromech droids in the galazy.
Isn’t there a quick exchange between Anakin and Obi-Wan about Artoo in the opening sequence? I thought that helped to explain the uniqueness of Artoo.
Hey Bill…good points, and glad you liked it. 🙂
I just got back from viewing #3, and Grievous definitely says Mustafar is in the Outer Rim (when he’s sending the Separatists out there.) Also, the exchange about Artoo doesn’t have anything to do with his uniqueness — just that Anakin has a closer attachment to him than Obi-Wan (although it’s true Arfour didn’t seem to have the same zapper thing that took out the little Matrix-droid, I guess)
Also, Padme definitely says the Queen “won’t allow” her to serve if she has a child. But, perhaps she just picked the wrong word.
My favorite new flourish this time: I like how, when Obi-eWan jumps down to face Grievous on Utapau, he repeats the exact inflection of Alec Guinness’s “Hello There!” from Episode IV, when he first sees Artoo.
(Speaking of which, III causes problems with Ben’s “I don’t remember owning any droid” in IV, but perhaps he’s just playing it cool so Luke can figure out his own destiny.)
I thought the story was uncannily similar to today’s drama with Bush and Iraq, but then as I went back and watched IV over the weekend, that movie had the same tones to me (with lines like “Fear will keep the local system in line”), and it definitely predated post-9/11 fear-mongering. (Not to mention discussion in that same scene about the Senate being dissolved [R-controlled & the current anti-filibuster threat] & emphasis on the power of Vader’s religion/the force.) …Besides that, the line “If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy,” reminded me of someone else entirely.
Oddily enough, making comparisons in the reverse direction, I could possibly answer your question about ‘what happened to technology?’ Look at what the current administration is doing to the R&D budget (NSF, EPA, etc) and their lack of regard for scientific studies & advice or for their own OSTP. …Back to SW & that scene I alluded to, there’s even an anti-technology, pro-religion quote from Vader in that diaglogue:
random officer dude: …This station is now the ultimate power in the universe….
Vader: Don’t be too proud of this technological terror you’ve constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.
r.o.d.: Don’t try to frighten us with your sorcerer’s ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you [yada yada yada]…[Commence the choking.]
Regarding technology moving more slowly in IV than III, maybe it could be viewed as a statement on free market v. tyranny. Besides that these things have cycles and booms. Look at the Clinton years/internet boom v. post-9/11/Bush economy.
Maybe I’m alone in thinking this, but it seems that one of the major qualities that made the Old trilogy such an enduring success, and so much better than any of Ep 1-3, comes down to pretty much one thing: Han Solo. And by this, I don’t just mean the presence of Harrison Ford, which was an obvious coup as a casting choice, but the character itself: the guy down the block who’s constantly fixing up his beater IROC-Z only to suddenly find himself at the center of galactic intrigue. To me, that character was the bridge between movie and audience in episodes 4-6, and its absence is one of the major flaws of Ep 1-3 (I’m not saying young Solo himself needed to be a part of the prequels – that would indeed be overkill – but some non-Jedi everyman with a functioning libido would have worked).
I think the original idea was to give Obi-eWan a bit of Solo flair (in Menace, for example: “Why do I get the sense we picked up another pathetic lifeform”), but the exigencies of the plot and the Alec Guinness impression sorta hamstrung Ewan’s innate punkishness.
Rumor is there was originally a young Solo kid tagging along next to Chewbacca on Kashyyyk in III. Thank goodness they didn’t go there…the universe is already too small as it is.
On the analogy tip, if Dubya or Rove could force-choke their disbelieving opponents a la Vader shutting up Admiral Motti, I’d be more impressed with the faith-based nature of this administration.