Revenge of the Sith Review

Well, I've been waiting awhile to write this little review. I've got a lot I want to cover so I think some sort of bulleted pros/cons list is in order. If you haven't seen the movie yet and don't want to find out any plot points, read no further because this is going to get spoilery.

Okay, let's start with the positives...

• May as well begin with the obvious...If you compare the three prequels, Sith would be the best of the bunch. But that's kind of like saying Natalie is the best Dixie Chick- they're all rather disappointing. Ritzy Glitzy special FX aside, Episodes I-III don't come close to the coolness and moxie of the original trilogy. Not once during these new prequels did I experience anything like the thrill of watching Han Solo barrel straight into an asteroid field for the first time, or in seeing the rebel fighters' desperate attempt at destroying the original Death Star. I don't care if stuff looked like models most of the time...It had excitement and heart to it that made you want to believe it was real. Does this still qualify as a positive point toward the film? Question it we must not, let's keep going.

• Jar Jar didn't have one speaking line. Hey, after his endless yammering in Episode I this is definitely worth mentioning.

• Ian McDiarmid was able to overcome Lucas' terrible direction. His character actually has character, the majority of his lines actually have some meaning and his portrayal of Palpatine/Sidious is the best performance you're going to find in, well, probably any Star Wars film.

• Lucas did a better job at tying up the loose ends than I thought he was going to. I expected continuous lightsaber fights and then about 5-10 minutes of wrap-up to tie us in to the original trilogy. I think he gave us 20-30 mins of resolution.

• It was cool to finally see what the Wookie planet Kashyyyk (I think there really are three Y's) looked like and the Chewbacca cameo wasn't too overblown. When you really look at the structure of the film, that entire part wasn't really necessary, but I'll let it slide.

• I like to rate a big, epic film by how many 'goosebump moments' I experience while I'm in the theatre. In watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy, they were numerous. While watching Episode III last night, there were two of them. The first was the scene where Obi-Wan is about to throw down with General Grievous. When Grievous approached him with the wildly spinning lightsabers scorching the ground...That was pretty badass. The second instance was when Yoda confronted Darth Sidious on the rising platform in the center of the senate chamber. It just had that epic feel to it that I wish we got to experience more often in these movies. I think Lucas too often chooses to go the humorous route.

• I like that Lucas didn't hold back in showing the destruction of Anakin. His fate on the lava planet has been speculated amongst the fanboys for years and what we see in the film is pretty graphic and also quite effective. That being said, I can't help but think that Obi-Wan would have put Anakin out of his misery rather than leaving him to possibly survive. But it's not like Lucas had any choice in the matter; Vader has what you might call a 'significant' role in Episodes IV-VI.

Now it's time for the negatives...

• More George Lucas direction means more bad acting from talented actors. Ewan, Natalie, Samuel, Liam...I honestly feel bad for them at times because I've seen them all in better roles and I know the great work they are capable of, but without proper inspiration and guidance they appear lost and unconvincing. Of course, the terrible dialogue doesn't help their cause any. It's no secret that this area is probably Lucas' greatest weakness. Many lines are just flatout painful, particularly when he tries to work any sort of romance angle. You'll find more convincing dialogue on the daytime soaps.

• The birth of Luke and Leia was pretty ridiculous. Padme named the two of them like someone had a gun to her head. That's just lazy writing, folks. He got from point A to point B the shortest way possible. But hey, we did just get a 20-minute lightsaber fight, right? And how did Padme not know she was having twins? They can fuse complex working robotics onto Anakin's charred, limbless remains but they don't have ultrasounds?

• The script had a lot of page-filling. The space battle at the start of the film was more convoluted than it needed to be, the chase scene with Obi-Wan and Grievous was just ridiculous and unnecessary and the skirmish between the Army of the Republic and the Wookies, although I enjoyed seeing Chewbacca, was really more timekiller than anything.

• Anakin's transition from Jedi to 'Dark Lord of the Sith' took less time than my last oil change. I never felt that Anakin was truly justified in turning his back on the Jedi. The only leverage the Emperor really had over him was the promise of preempting Padme's possible death. I just didn't find his transition to be convincing enough...Although their double team on Mace Windu was pretty well done. I wanted more moments like that one- to really see Anakin in his downward spiral. Ah well.

• While it was cool to see the official rise of Darth Vader as we know him, what was up with James Earl Jones' melodramatic delivery? "NOOOOoooOOoooooo!" C'mon, that was supposed to be your money shot, George.

• I will always firmly believe that Lucas has relied far too heavily on CGI in making these new films. As evident in the Lord of the Rings films, the most convincing results use a mixture of real sets, models and computer effects. I'm just not able to shake the feeling that the characters are running through a digital painting or something. Especially because the original trilogy is always there in the back of my mind...The original movies that, in my mind at least, felt much more grounded and believable.

• All I hear from people is how Sith felt 'more like the original movies.' The only reason they say that is because it had the most references to the films we love. There are many issues of continuity that really widen the gap for me between the films. For instance, why is it the spacecraft and graphical interfaces became so much more primitive looking as time went on? There was nothing in Episodes IV-VI that looked even close to the sleek little silver bullet ship Padme cruised around in. During many battle scenes throughout Clones and Sith we saw all kinds of complex, fast-moving walkers of various design...Why were these replaced by the trudging AT-AT walkers in Empire. Also, why is it the Jedi in the original trilogy weren't nearly as acrobatic as the Jedi in the new movies? Simply because George didn't have the budget? And why did R2 suddenly forget for three movies that he had rocket boosters? I could go on and on.

When all is said and done, my feelings on the prequels are as follows....Phantom Menace was awful, Attack of the Clones was mediocre and Revenge of the Sith was okay. So at least there was some progression there. While there were elements of Episode III that I did enjoy, in the end I thought there were more misses than hits. This can largely be attributed to the fact that the audience is forced to complete the script for themselves because Mr. Lucas fell short in delivering the goods. I think my dear friend Cookie summed things up nicely with a message she left on my Instant Messenger at around 3am last night..."Well, at least I have closure."

Torrey's Opinion:
5- Strongly Recommended
4- Recommended
3- A Mixed Bag
2- Sub-par
1- Don't Bother

Random Related Fact: The lightsaber handle used by Ewan McGregor in Sith was the same one that Alec Guinness had in A New Hope.