Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

            I know I said I would review mainly obscure movies but I just had to review this one.  Before I start my review I have to say I only saw this once so far (although I would like to see it again) and it was a couple weeks ago.  There have been a lot of reviews on the net and in print with a wide variety of responses.  This movie, more so than most movies, depends on what perceptions you walk into the theater with.  This is because Revenge of the Sith (ROTS) is unique among movies.  I can honestly say I don’t think there will ever be a movie that will be in the same situation ever again on opening day. 

            What do I mean by this?  This is a movie 20 years in the making.  Ever since we learned Anakin was Luke’s father and Darth Vader got his costume in a light saber battle with Obi Wan people have been speculating what happened not to mention the question of how someone can destroy thousands of Jedi Knights.  This means people have been playing this movie out in their heads for almost twenty years.  What other movie can you say that about? 

This is where the biggest disagreement about the movie comes in. Some people had only vague notions and while they thought about it they never set anything concrete in their mind about what was going to happen.  I think I fall into this category.  For us
(or at least me) this was a great movie; lots of action and a good resolution to questions that had plagued us for nigh on two decades.  Some people disagree and feel that this movie didn’t live up to expectations.  It would be very easy for this to happen.  If you wanted to you could have seen key still shots for key scenes for months before the movie hit the big screen.  This let the fans play out these key scenes in their head and add exactly what they want.  I don’t think any movie could live up to the expectations that were set by these people and I think this is where a good deal of the bad comments from hard core fans comes from. 

            Now I would be foolish to think everyone was a Star Wars fan and was thinking about such deep issues concerning the movies.  There are a fair number of people who don’t care about Star Wars or just plain haven’t seen one of the movies (I know I find it hard to believe too).  For these people this movie could go either way.  I’m not going to pretend to review with such people in mind.  While this may be a bit biased I doubt these people are going to be stumbling upon this site so I will write for my audience. 

            Now for my thoughts on the movie itself and in addition I’ll address some of the comments and concerns that have been made.  Overall I think it was a great movie.  I will admit the dialogue was not the best in spots and Lucas loves his CGI a bit too much; but compared to most of the other sci-fi movies that come out this is head and shoulders above them.  We have characters that we legitimately care about and even though we know the ending we are still willing to see it.  To me this is the sign of a quality movie. 

I’m not going to comment too much on the dialogue.  Everyone should know what they are getting into when they go to see a Star Wars movie.  The quality of the dialogue really isn’t that different from Episode IV.  It is clunky in spots and for those who like their characters to talk like real people Star Wars isn’t a good choice.  However it’s not terrible and at least for me doesn’t detract from the overall enjoyment. 

My one complaint is the movie feels a bit compressed in terms of how long it meant to be even though it is not.  We watch Padme’s pregnancy progress through almost the full term.  I think it’s fair to say, using that as a measuring stick, that this movie takes place over 6-9 months.  Looking back on it, this is enough time for Anakin’s fall however Lucas doesn’t do a good job conveying the passage of time. 

I’m not sure who to blame but the acting ranges from spectacular to a bit painful.  We have the stellar performances by Ewan McGregor (Obi Wan)  and Ian McDiarmid (Palpatine) next to the flat performance of Natalie Portman (Padme).  To be fair I’m not much of a Portman fan but from what I understand the Star Wars movies were particularly bad for her.  The rest of the acting falls within that range although I’m not quite sure what to think of Hayden Christensen.  While not great his performance was much better than episode 2 and he grew into the role fairly well, although Lucas could clearly have cast someone better.

Finally I’d like to make a comment about the now infamous Vader “Nooooo” scene.  While corny, I feel it is a tribute to old serials and movies.  It’s not the best but it is at least bearable.  It also goes well with some of the other inside serial jokes that Lucas puts in there such as the Wookie Tarzan yell and my absolute favorite, the Commander Cody reference (an old 50’s serial that has the same name as one of the clone troopers).

Final opinion:  Great movie just don’t take it too seriously

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