I just watched ROTS

[Loredoctor]

Verdict: a good movie but it has some bad flaws.

[I'm Murrin]

As expected, eh?

[Loredoctor]

True.

General Grievous gets my vote as most pointless character of all time.

[Sunbaneglasses]

Yep it was good-but it could have been great-

Spoiler

The silly part where Vader burst out lumbering like Frankensteins monster well ummm errrr

Why did Palpatine get such great lines and others just crap that felt like filler?Oh well I am very tired I enjoyed it all in all.

[Loredoctor]

Spoiler

I agree about the Vader part - but Lucas said that he wanted to give the impression Vader wasn't used to the cybernetics. Still it looked silly, and the 'Noooooo!' line was terrible.

[Sunbaneglasses]

Spoiler

At least Nute Gunray is dead but Jar-Jar lives damn it

[dlbpharmd]

I thought it was very good, but there are some of the typical Lucas plot holes, which could have been easily avoided. The movie felt rushed to me but maybe that's because I read the book and the book was so well written this time around. I also found it to be much more disturbing than I anticipated.

[Sunbaneglasses]

Spoiler

I think Yoda could have taken Sidious if they had continued their battle-But he was cute in his little burlap p.j.'s I can not decide if Palpatine was truly bested by Mace,or if it was just an elaborate ploy to rouse Anakin to action?Was he really beaten or just toying with him?Could he had just risen up and lightening whooped him at any time during his pathetic squirming and begging?Hidious disfigurement seems quite a price to pay on a 50/50 chance that things are going to go your way

[Loredoctor]

I think it was a ploy, because see how he acts following the incident; he was healthy.

[Fist and Faith]

Spoiler

In the book, Yoda knew that he could not win. I don't have the book with me to quote, but the idea was that the Jedi, largely because of Yoda, had been stagnant; preparing to fight the same war against the Sith that they fought a millennium ago. The Sith, otoh, had been changing, planning to fight a new war. During the fight, Yoda realized all this, and knew that Sidious would defeat him in the end.

That being the case, I believe Sidious' defeat by Mace was a ploy. I don't think the Jedi had a chance, or that Sidious wasn't fully aware of everyone's capabilities.

[duchess of malfi]

Well, my turn to see it will come tomorrow. I am just hoping and praying that the acting by Portman and Christiansen will be better, as those two pretty much ruined the previous two movies for me...

[I'm Murrin]

Just seen it. It was better than I'd been expecting from all the things I'd heard.

Spoiler

But I agree the scene where Vader staggers out and goes "Nooooooo!" was terrible.

Other little observances:
-I thought that Palpatine's voice seemed to change with each sentence in some scenes, especially the first one he was in.
-The wiping between various scenes over and over was noticably overdone.
-While being rebuilt, Vader screams without opening his mouth.
-Portman still can't cry convincingly.

[Fist and Faith]

General Grievous gets my vote as most pointless character of all time.

If you read the book, you'll understand. Since I don't think you're interested in reading it, though, I'll quote a little something.

The electrodrivers that powered Grievous's limbs could move them faster than the human eye can see; when he swung his arm, it and his fist and the lightsaber within it would literally vanish: wiped from existence by sheer mind-numbing speed, an imitation quantum event. No human being could move remotely as fast as Grievous, not even Obi-Wan - but he didn't have to.

Spoiler

With that in mind, Obi-Wan's victory is extremely impressive! He becomes one with the Force as nobody else does. Here's when he's fighting Grievous' guards, before taking on the General himself:

Instantly the box of bodyguards around Obi-Wan filled with crackling electrostaffs whipping faster than the human eye could see - which was less troublesome than it might have been, for that box was already empty of Jedi.

The Force had let him collapse as though he'd suddenly fainted, then it brought his lightsaber from his belt to his hand and ignited it while he turned his fall into a roll; that roll carried his lightsaber through a crisp arc that severed the leg of one of the bodyguards, and as the Force brought Obi-Wan back to his feet, the Force also nudged the crippled bodyguard to topple sideways into the path of the blade and sent it clanging to the floor in two smoking, sparking pieces.

One down.

The remaining three pressed the attack, but more cautiosly; their weapons were longer than his, and they struck from beyond the reach of his blade. He gave way before them, his defensive velocities barely keeping their crackling discharge blades at bay.

Three MagnaGuards, each with a double-ended weapon that generated an energy field impervious to lightsabers, each with reflexes that operated near lightspeed, each with hypersophisticated heuristic combat algorithms that enabled it to learn from experience and adapt its tactics instantly to any situation, were certainly beyond Obi-Wan's ability to defeat, but it was not Obi-Wan who would defeat them; Obi-Wan wasn't even fighting. He was only a vessel, emptied of self. The Force, shaped by his skill and guided by his clarity of mind, fought through him.

In the Force, he felt their destruction: it was somewhere above and behind him, and only seconds away.

He went to meet it with a backflipping leap that the Force used to lift him neatly to an empty droid socket in the ceiling hive. The MagnaGuards sprang after him but he was gone by the time they arrived, leaping higher into the maze of girders and cables and room-sized cargo containers that was the control center's superstructure.

Here, said the Force within him, and Obi-Wan stopped, balancing on a girder, frowning back at the oncoming killer droids that leapt from beam to beam below him like malevolent durasteel primates. Though he could feel its close approach, he had no idea from where their destruction might come...until the Force showed him a support beam within reach of his blade and whispered, Now.

His blade flicked out and the durasteel beam parted, fresh-cut edges glowing white hot, and a great hulk of ship-sized cargo container that the beam had been supporting tore free of its other supports with shrieks of anguished metal and crashed down upon all three MagnaGuards with the finality of a meteor strike.

Two, three, and four.

Oh, thought Obi-Wan with detached approval. That worked out rather well.

A Zen/Jedi Master like no other!

[Loredoctor]

We didn't read the book - we watched the movie. As it is the criticism stands; we shouldn't have to read the book to understand that scene - movies dont work that way.

[Worm of Despite]

Thought it was great. Way better than the first two prequels.

Spoiler

Despite that I knew Windu was going to bite the big one, I was very nervous during the Palpatine scene (mainly because I was wondering when and how he'd die, exactly).

Anyway, definitely thought it was better than Return of the Jedi (Ewoks, unoriginal Death Star 2, complete lack of freshness that A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back had). Here's how I'd rank 'em:

1) Empire Strikes Back
2) A New Hope
3) Revenge of the Sith
4) Attack of the Clones
5) Return of the Jedi
6) The Phantom Menace

Spoiler

Also: Vader's "No" made me cringe, too. I wish the movie had ended with the whole "Lord Vader/Yes, Master/Rise" thing. That would've been awesome. Oh well.

[Variol Farseer]

Since we're rating 'em, here's my list:

1) The Empire Strikes Back
2) Revenge of the Sith
3) A New Hope
4) Return of the Jedi
5) The Phantom Menace
6) Attack of the Clones

Everyone is entitled to get ridiculously lucky once. George Lucas did it three times. First, he discovered a totally unknown but brilliant actor for A New Hope, who took a turkey of a role and turned it into an eagle: Harrison Ford. Second, he got Leigh Brackett to write the draft script for The Empire Strikes Back, though she was dying of cancer at the time. Ms. Brackett knew every theme and riff in space opera, having been an accomplished pulp SF writer since 1940, and brought a genuinely operatic quality to Episode V. Third, he got magnificent performances from Ian McDiarmid in Episodes III and VI (though he was undercut in I and II by weak scripts and insufficient screen time).

I rate Jedi fourth, despite the detestable Ewoks, because the climactic three-way duel of Luke, Vader, and the Emperor still trailed some of that operatic glory that Leigh Brackett brought to the series. Menace I rated fifth, again despite the supremely annoying Jar Jar Binks, because the character of Qui-Gon Jinn showed us what a Jedi was supposed to be. Clones, in my opinion, was just a mess: several good scenes, but on the whole it was rambling, episodic, and almost plotless. Lucas knew what he needed to establish to move from Episode I to Episode III; he just didn't have any good idea how to make the transitions interesting in themselves.

On the whole, it was quite a performance for a series that started as a homage to cheesy Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon serials. Rubbish redeemed by genius, is my verdict.

[Nav]

Saw Revenge of the Sith last night and really enjoyed it. I haven't found a film as gripping as that for quite a while. Even though I knew who would and wouldn't survive, it was still engaging because I didn't know exactly when and how. Credit to Lucas for getting the pace of all the major fights spot on, with the climax of each arriving while the audience was still reeling from the intensity of the battle or moments after they had seen the writing on the wall.

Lucas was right too to emphasise that it was a much darker film than the rest. While Empire was dark, its darkness was bleak in character whereas RotS aims to be disturbing

Spoiler

and even graphic, with Anakin's final defeat being particularly unsettling.

There were some weak points of course, most of which have been covered already.

Spoiler

I immediately put Vader's jerky movement down to his lack of familiarity with his cybernetic limbs, but the "Noooo!" was awfully cliched. I think a really visceral roaring scream would have been more in keeping with the character's state of mind at that point.

There were one or two terrible lines, most notably Anakin's "you're so beautiful because I love you so much" (or some such tripe).

The only thing that really bugs me though is precisely why Padme died. It didn't appear as though Anakin's choke had been particularly damaging. I'd have been happy if it was some issue with the Force, but to have her die of a 'broken heart' just sucks.

I'd agree with Foul's ranking of the six films. VF is right that Attack of the Clones is a bit rambling and plotless, but I can't help feeling that it has more of the Star Wars spirit we saw in episodes IV, V and VI. Episode III is a much nastier beast and Episode I was largely forgettable. I liked the pod racing and the fights with Darth Maul and the rest was pretty much just introductions. I hated the sweet, innocent young Ani. Sure, he was an innocent kid to begin with but I'd have liked to have seen just a hint of the arrogance and petulance that was to come. As for Qui-Gonn, he was a good character but I didn't think Liam Neeson did him justice at all. As soon as I heard him in an interview arguing how Star Wars wasn't sci-fi, seemingly making excuses for taking the role, I knew that he should never have been in a Star Wars film. He played Qui-Gonn like he was devoid of all passion and smacking of an actor who was wholly indifferent to the source material.

[Fist and Faith]

We didn't read the book - we watched the movie. As it is the criticism stands; we shouldn't have to read the book to understand that scene - movies dont work that way.

I'm just sharing some cool stuff.

[Loredoctor]

We didn't read the book - we watched the movie. As it is the criticism stands; we shouldn't have to read the book to understand that scene - movies dont work that way.

I'm just sharing some cool stuff.

Ah ok

[dlbpharmd]

Midnight showings rake in $16.5 million:

www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/20/f ... index.html

That's double the previous record of $8 million set by LOTR:ROTK.