Star Wars: Episode 3

[Usivius]

Posted this on another page, fogetting there was a movie place here.

Well, here are my thoughts and impressions.

1. Wow.

2. That tied up a lot of loose ends.

3. Great visuals.

4. "The complaints"; a) dialogue: As was a little obvious, and we have known this from Episode 1, 2 & 4 (when Lucas did not have writing assistance), Lucas cannot write good, believable dialogue. This is never more painfully obvious as in the scenes of love-birds Anakin & Padmae. Also the verbal conflict scenes between Anakin & Obi Wan are not as effectively written as they should be. (Give the actors a chance to carry some of the message across with ACTING, not cheesy dialogue.) These are scenes which have so much emotional potential and are pivotal to the story that when they don't deliver, it lessens the impact of the tragedy.
b) "high ground?": WTF?! This was a very, very disappointing moment for me. The scene where Obi Wan dismembers and defeats Anakin/Vader. Obi Wan jumps off the lava flow on to a rock embankment, and tells Anakin/Vader not to do it because he has the high ground?!!! Since when does this matter to a Jedi? This was really bad. For this to work, Anakin/Vader has to be in a much more obvious disadvantage, THEN Obi Wan can give him the warning not to continue, but Anakin's rage and dark-side aggressiveness does not permit him to stop and he continues the battle when a retreat might be better. But the position the movie illustrates is pathetic... All Anakin/Vader had to do was jump to the side on a different portion of the rock embankment... sheesh! (As you can tell, the little nit-pick bothered me ALOT! Having said that, read on about my comments concerning the fight and birth of the true Vader...)

5. Thought long and loved much of its nuances.

6. I Loved Obi Wan: He is my fave of the good-guys. Ewan portrays him with such convincing charm, vulnerability and strength, that he comes across as the first trilogy's only truly 'fleshed-out' character. He had the best chances to show and deliver convincing emotion in scenes. There are so many hints to the man he would become (as portrayed in Ep. 4-6 by Sir Alec), that is was fun to watch. Unfortunately he had to deliver that terribly timed line, "I can't watch any more," after viewing the murder of the children, but we will blame that on George's writing and directing of that moment.
His action sequences and bits of character insight were great: hating space travel, ships and blasters and having an affinity for more 'natural' creatures. Yah, he is a pretty good pilot, but compared to Anakin who has an obvious gift for flying machines (as seen in the first battle scenes), he is average at best.

7. Poor Padme: she did not have much of a role in this one except to be pregnant, sit around and worry about Anakin (and deliver crappy dialogue). Cute girl with not much to do.

8. Anakin: I am not going to go in to too much more detail on how I thought the impact of Anakin's conversion to the dark side was not handled as well as it could. Suffice to say I thought the dialogue written was poor and the directing of such scenes was not very strong. Lucas should choose dialogue better, and more subtle, and allow the actors to ACT most of their thought and feeling, not say them. Having said that, Hayden was a really good image of a tormented man. He had that look, bulked up and all, that was convincing enough to carry through the weaknesses mentioned above. I liked him.

9. Yoda: yah he's pretty cool. 'Nuff said.

10. The Emperor Palpatine/ Darth Sideous: Now THIS is the character of ultimate EVIL. And you learn just how truly evil he is. Tying up many of the loose ends from Ep. 1 & 2, you see how his long planned machinations come to fruition, and how evil and morally corrupt he actually is (sacrificing Dooku for a plan to get a younger apprentice... cold!). I loved the way he pretended (?) to be in danger from Mace Windu to illicit Anakin's help. I argue that he was pretending because it all fits with what happened before that and after. Sideous could easily sense Anakin's presence, and could tell he was coming and orchestrate the battle to end at that moment. Yah, it took a lot of power to keep things on an even keel, but his gambit paid off. He is shown as too deep a planner to have such an even as being arrested not have a contingency for... ("Enact Order 66"... loved that!)
I loved the story Palpatine tells of the Sith Lord and his apprentice who later kills him (obviously Sideous), and the hints that perhaps this dead Sith lord may have 'impregnated' Anakin's mother (?... )

11. Miscellaneous: The notion of why the clone army was REALLY created, by whom and why are all answered. As are the notions of how and why the separatist movement and droid army/trade commission antagonist were created against the Republic. All controlled by Palpatine, they became his tools to gain power, destroy his enemies and those who could threaten him (Jedi) and maintain power. Beautifully (and remarkably subtly) crafted.
The question of the twins separation, Leia's family name, and C3PO's memory lapses are answered as well. I hypothesized that 3PO's memory was wiped because he was a protocol droid and could easily be hacked, whereas R2D2 was a military droid and had protocols likely built in to prevent hacking of info (as we maybe saw a hint of in Ep.4).
Special FX were pretty seamless this time around. I had no complaints this time as with the previous two episodes. Darth Grievous was a great character, a cyborg I guess, the horrible conclusion of the Vader-like syndrome of man becoming less human when relying on technology...
The look on Dooku's face when he was betrayed/sacrificed by his master (Palpatine pretending to be captured), was priceless. Although the whole escaping with Palpatine from the destroyed ship was a bit much, if Palpatine was doing this as a plan. ANYTHING could have gone wrong which would have killed them all in such a battle situation. But I won't nit-pik about that.
The scene where it cuts between Anakin in the Jedi council chambers and Padme in her room was good. Music and acting portrayed the tension and worry and decisions each was making in that situation. The many scenes that cut back and forth between those two locations many times were well set up. the notion that Padme could see the Jedi Temple where she lived made for some interesting scenes, especially when Anakin was killing everyone there.
Anakin's 'death' scene at the lava was chilling and well done. Suitably horrible, and setting up the man that Vader would become: twisted and broken, merely half the man he was. His 'rebirth' as the armoured Vader was obviously reminiscent of Frankenstein, but a good one.

Well, so much more can be said, but those are my immediate thoughts at this moment.

[Fist and Faith]

I never understood why The Library, which claims to be about different authors, has a Star Wars/Star Trek forum. But you'll find a few threads there about Ep III.

I particularly like your points 6, 9, and 10. However, more than ever before, I'm having trouble keeping the movie separate from the book. Really great book, expanding a lot. We get to hear what Dooku's thinking when he's about to die, rather than just that look - which was done very well! Obi-Wan freakin' ROCKS in the book, even more than in the movie. Grievous and Palpatine are both so much better. I've only seen the movie once, and I can't really discuss it on its own yet.

[Revan]

Excellent post! i loved it, thought you had some really good points... you are completely right about Palpatine... he is an excellent and subtle planner... and fist is right, Dooku's reaction is priceless in the book...

Palpatine planned everything perfectly, he wanted Anakin to be his pupil, and had planned it to be that way since the very day he first met him.

the scene where Obi-Wan hacks Anakin apart is horrid... and amazing... a very powerful scene. I loved it. done very well.

The scene's where all the jedi are dying is amazing, very sad, and moving at the same time... genius...

This episode was completely amazing imo. and I think it was the best of them all.

[Usivius]

"...best of them all"?...
Hmmm, well, as much as I enjoyed it, nothing evokes the same kind of awe I have for episode 4 (having seen it when it first came out and changing my perception of movies forever will do that. But it is also a damn fine movie)

My order of best to worst (listed by episode #s) is:
1. Ep.4
2. Ep.5
3. Ep.3
4. Ep.6
5. Ep.1
6. Ep.2

[[Syl]]

'Star Wars' Fans Hurt Replicating Sabers

[Fist and Faith]

I just read about a guy who tried getting a grease stain out of his pants by pouring a cup of gasoline into the washing machine. He lost his house when a spark accompanied the machine's cycle change.

[Baradakas]

Sorry, folks,this flick wasthe final straw in aseries of (now) unsurprising let-downs.

*running away to cry now because Lucas sux*

[dANdeLION]

Careful, Baradakas; you're beginning to type like Runonsentenceman. I liked the movie; my first-to-worst order would be V, IV, III, II, I, VI. I watched epi IV at home right after seeing III at the theatre, and it really dovetails into IV very well.

[Plissken]

Obvious and semi-important points:

1) Jar Jar gets about 1.5 seconds of screentime, and no dialogue. This alone makes it the best of the last three movies.

2) Mace finally gets to kick some ass! I swear, I was expecting him to pop off with something along the lines of, "...And you will know that my name is..." Worth the price of admission all by itself.

3) I don't care what Lucas says - Obi-Wan's response to "You're either with us or against us!" ("Only a Sith thinks in absolutes!") wasn't written for Nixon. Neither was Padme's "So this is the way Democracy dies..." (Responses should probably be filed over at the 'Tank.)

4) Obi-Wan finally gets to be a cowboy. Way cool!

5) V, IV, III, VI, II, I.

6) Lucas' reported plans to make documentaries is a damned good idea. That way, he doesn't have to actually direct actors.

It was pretty clear that the most effective characters in this movie were played by actors with both the experience and skill to survive a complete lack of direction.

7) Pre-e-e-etty!

Weta can pretty much kick ILM's butt around the block at will, but ILM's getting better.

9) Must.. have... more Wookies!

[Usivius]

Weta vs. ILM.... Hmmm, well I do believe Weta has done some amazing work and they have improved ALOT since Fellowship (which was good, but not really all that smooth or flawless). But I think this last SW movie, Sith, ILM proved they are still thebig boys on the block. And it's funny, they really stumbled in "Attack of the Clones" because there was some really rough FX... I am especially thinking of the big arena fight scene at the end where Anikan and Padme are riding around on some alient chariot and later fighting on an FX creature... it was really bad! But in "Sith", everything is super clean, flawless and nearly indistinguishable from the real world. I truly had difficulty telling what could possibly be real and what was CG (although I do know that nearly 100% is CG... )

[aTOMiC]

5) V, IV, III, VI, II, I.

Completely agree with the above.


I just saw EP III a couple of hours ago.
My first impression was that I disagree with just about every complaint and negative comment I've read or heard about.

My only complaint is that the story is now complete.

Thank heaven I didn't read the book and fill myself with unrealistic expectations. whew!

[Fist and Faith]

Right? I just can't wait for the movies to come out, so I have to read the books! ("No patience, this young one." Aw shucks, thanks for calling me "young," Yoda. ) Anyway, now you can read the book, and be even happier than you already are!

[matrixman]

Hmm, after I put up a long-winded post in the SW/ST forum, I see this thread.

In short, I think Episode III is a brilliant piece of work. I like it. A lot.

[Queeaqueg]

Worst movie ever....

[Warmark]

Ooooooh! Controversial!

[dANdeLION]

Right? I just can't wait for the movies to come out, so I have to read the books!

Star Wars books....now there's a waste. But, things could and probably will soon be worse. And the worseness will appear in one of these three forms: 1) Star Wars on ice; 2) Jedi, the hit broadway play; or 3) the TV series. At this point, death will not come soon enough for me.

[taraswizard]

OK, late last week before I spent the weekend in Madison WI. I heard the following comments from Mr. Lucas. 'RotS is darker, grittier and more hard edged than any of the other Star War Movies. The fans are going to hate this'. He then continues to apologize for and says the story dictated this new direction for the concluding movie of the series.

Anyone care to comment.

[dANdeLION]

I don't, except I doubt that GL was apologizing.

[CovenantJr]

I've posted some gripes in one of the other forums, so I'll just mention one here that I didn't mention there.

Descent to the Dark Side. Too fast.

When I discovered prequels were being made, I essentially expected ROTS over the course of three films. I think Lucas tried to cover too much ground, starting with Anakin as a child and wrenching him into adulthood. I think implied background woven into three films of an adult Anakin gradually falling to evil would have worked much better, and allowed more depth to the transition. But then subtlety isn't Lucas' strong point; as the first post said, he tends to restrict his actors by over-writing their scenes. Oh, and I feel the prequels in particular suffer from choppy directing. Lucas makes his scenes too short, switching between characters and locations almost convulsively; I think the films would benefit from lingering a little more.

Now the list:

1) VI
2) V
3) III
4) IV
5) II
6) I

[matrixman]

I heard the following comments from Mr. Lucas. 'RotS is darker, grittier and more hard edged than any of the other Star War Movies. The fans are going to hate this'.

Odd thing for Lucas to say, since most fans wanted a darker SW film, as far as I knew. Maybe he was just expressing his own apprehension about the direction he was taking the film. Maybe Star Wars was always meant to be about innocent, happy-go-lucky adventures in his mind, so Lucas feels uneasy on those occasions when he goes for a darker tone. In this sense, Empire Strikes Back and Revenge of the Sith could be considered aberrations from the norm.

But it's telling that most SW fans do approve of the darker, "grittier" films in the series. Don't worry, George, we don't hate the darkness, we like it just fine.