Star Wars: Revenge of the Spoiler

[Robbie]

Well, I just came here to put my thoughts on Episode 3, so of course there's going to be

SPOILERS!!!

Spoiler

I have to say though, Revenge of the Sith was still boring in places. I was really antsy when Anakin and Padme were taking center stage and talking about their thoughts and feelings for each other and stuff. Hayden Christensensensen's still as flat as a board in the acting department. Even Bail Organa, Leia's future adoptive father, manages to blow Annie off the screen.

However, it picks up during the battles, and manages to find it's pace after the screws start turning and the Jedi start falling. The lightsaber battles make the movie, of course. Anakin manages to be good at something, for once, and his final battle with Obi Wan on Mutstafa was brilliant. I was expecting an old fashioned space battle with the "Battle of Coruscant", but sadly, I was disappointed.

But anyway, Episode III, despite being better than both Episodes I and II combined, isn't as good as the old stuff in my eyes. Not even Return of the Jedi. It's just staight blah.

[Vulgaris_Prime]

I'm not going to beat around the bush on this. 

Spoiler

I plainly believe that EP III rocked, blew the last two out of the water, and should be the thing that redeems Lucas in the eyes of whiny, obsessive fans everywhere.

I know I'm not the only one who thinks that, either.

[Kif White]

I don't know what to think actually...

Spoiler

It was kind of a mix between the other two prequels and Episode IV, which I suppose it was supposed to be since it linked them together, but it seemed more like something completely different in a sense than either of them at the same time. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing varies on the scenes in question.

I did like the rather darker nature of this one though. Things like Anakin killing the children, the death of Mace Windu, and the Jedi's final betrayal overall presented a darkness the others hadn't quite explored before. I also love Anakin's final fate, which was appropriately gruesome. And, like in Episode II, Yoda was a little machine of a Jedi Master, and Ian McDiarmid really did have his time to shine here.

There were still quite a lot of faults though, and while I do think it was better than Episode I and II, it still suffered some of their problems, with signs that George's senility isn't gone yet. It's still miles away from the original three.

One of the major problems was that it became too much of a special-effects-ridden action movie and not enough of a story-driven one. The story was still there, but the action sequences would often be bordering on the completely ridiculous, and that was never the style of the original three in any cases. Maybe George wants to try and make the most with technology and always has, but in this day and age that means going nuts with stunts covered in CGI.

I loved how both Anakin vs. Obi Wan and Yoda vs. Palpatine started off, but then both had to verge into the ridiculous, ending the fights in strange locations of danger in a really weak and obvious manner that couldn't have been more clear if both villains had said "let's fight somewhere more challenging!" What this ends up as is a cross between a fight scene and a platform video game, with the characters are either jumping across floating and falling platforms while their enemy tosses Donkey kong-esque objects at them, or on floating platforms in a lava stream. Admittedly these scenes are actually fun to watch the first time around on a big movie screen, but will they stand the test of time? The answer is... no. The fact is, they're simply too ridiculous to be taken seriously and are an obvious attempt to just make the battles as action packed and CGI filled as possible. The battle with General Grevious having four lightsabres also suffered a fate of just trying to be too fantastical.

Speaking of CGI, I couldn't help be a little disappointed by it. Not all the time, but certain scenes didn't look that good at all, and looked too obviously CGI. The scene at the start where Christopher Lee jumps and flips down for instance was obvious... some of the ships weren't textured or dark enough... the creature Obi-Wan rode when he was after General Grevious didn't look realistic at all. When you consider the quality of LotR's creatures and effects overall, especially considering the last one came out well over a year ago, then the quality here was a bit shameful.

I also think Anakin's transition seemed rather quick. There was a big build up for sure, and lots of him wondering who to trust, but the final turn seemed to be a little too swift and sudden. One second he's willing to kill Palpatine for being the Sith Lord, and then he just switches over to 100% dark side and loses all morality.

On the plus side, Jar-Jar appeared for a total of probably 10 seconds and never said a word! Wooo!

Overall, not bad, but still too actiony and not enough Star Warsy. It's still one of those things that has to be seen on the big screen, and I will still go to see it again there too. But when it comes down to it, while it'll probably be very entertaining those first few times, the weaknesses won't work in its favour when it comes down to it in the long run.

I also have to finish on a humorous note... Darth Vader doing a Calculon-esque "Nooooooooooooooo!" was rather hilarious. I initially had concerns about the way the helmeted Vader acted here, but then realised that it probably took time for him to become more like his usual self and less like his Anakin one. In either case, his "Nooooooooooooo!" cracked me up.

[Sheana_Molloy]

Saw this today, basically echoing previous statements. 

Spoiler

Definitely better than the first two prequels, but not quite on the level of the original trilogy.  Some nice scenes, nice developments, etc., but there was a bunch left to be desired.  I was slightly disappointed by Grievous, he had one or two awesome bits but seemed so...under-used and not at all what I expected.  Dooku's and Mace Windu's deaths seemed too sudden and quickly-brushed-aside, as well.

I alternated between giggling and wanting to smack my head every time Anakin and Padme had a scene together, and Palpatine seemed a bit too slap-happy in places.  Chewie's appearance seemed too forced to me, as well.  I wish there weren't so many 'artistic' screen wipe transitions and old Jedi men/aliens turning somersaults everywhere, too.  Also, did anyone else feel that Anakin's and Obi-Wan's ships at the beginning of the movie seemed to move too slowly?

I did feel bad for Padme, though, the droids had some good bits, and Yoda had some nice moments.  Plus, it was nice to see bebby Luke and Leia in there.

Finally, in honor of the Weird Al shirt I happened to wear to the theater today, I hereby dub Anakin 'Torso Boy'.

[Stretch_Dude]

Just saw. One word:

Spoiler

WHOA. Good whoa.

Whoa....

I think my brain is fried.

[hadisia]

I just saw it, and I will say -

Spoiler

I did love it. Were there problems? Naturally. For one, it'd be great if a female other than pregnant!Padme had some, uh, LINES...and it was definitely too fast in some places, such as when Anakin becomes Vader:

WINDU: [Is killed]
ANAKIN: HOLYCRAPHOLYCRAPHOLYCRAPHOLYCRAP!
PALPATINE: Don't worry about it. Your name's Vader now, by the way. I want you to go kill Jedi kids.
ANAKIN: 'kay.

I loved how both Anakin vs. Obi Wan and Yoda vs. Palpatine started off, but then both had to verge into the ridiculous, ending the fights in strange locations of danger in a really weak and obvious manner that couldn't have been more clear if both villains had said "let's fight somewhere more challenging!"

Actually, the point of Anakin/Obi Wan's fight being moved to the lava pits is that years ago, I believe Lucas stated that Vader is in the Vader-suit because he fell into a molten pit during a fight between him and Obi Wan. Obi Wan left him, assuming Vader was now dead; of course, we know Vader didn't die, but his body was nearly destroyed.
The Yoda/Palpatine fight was moved to the Senate because now that certain politicians are trying to get rid of the filibuster for judicial nominations, it will be replaced with pillow fights. The way Palpatine and Yoda threw floating chair-things at each other is similar to Frist's proposed plan.*

*Note: extreme sarcasm applied to this paragraph.



I'm currently watching Episode 4 with my family now, and I have to say, there's definitely a difference between 4-6 and 1-3 - not just on the quality of the movies, but...there's just this...I don't know - feeling, I suppose, to 4-6. Something exciting and new, even though I've seen these movies many, many times. I think part of it is that 4-6's background music is much more...hm...upbeat, rapid? I don't study music, so I can't really describe it...much more suited for action, I suppose.
Of course, there's the fact that it has superb acting and terrific lines.

On that note, has anyone else seen the movie that heavily influenced Lucas' writing of Star Wars, Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress? It's a great movie - if you haven't seen it, you should. On the DVD, there's a part where Lucas talks about how the movie influenced him (I haven't seen it, because I saw the movie at a Japanese club party and Stevie deemed it boring).

[archonix]

OI! This kind of thread is why I made that spoiler tag! SO USE IT!

I haven't see the filum yet...

[Marco]

I agree with the comrade.

[D.B.]

spoilers added (especially to stretch dude's - those kind of details could ruin the film for someone )

[Sheana_Molloy]

Well, the way I saw it, since it said in the title of the thread itself that this thing was full of spoilers, only people who saw the movie would be reading/posting in it and tags wouldn't be needed...

[c_nordlander]

Before moving into spoiler territory, I'll say this much: it's not on the level of the original trilogy, but it's head and shoulders above the other prequels. It didn't disappoint me. I don't think it'll disappoint you either (if you're a Star Wars fan and anything like me), but I can't promise.

Anyway, more detailed random thoughts:

Spoiler

It looks good. Well, that's only to be expected, isn't it? It looks excellent. I got slightly jaded with aerial views of the Coruscant cityscape, but there were some really nice views there. Love the decor of Palpatine's place.

The soundtrack is excellent. I want it.

Good opening scrolltext.

Glad to see a resolution to the Count Dooku storyline, such as it was. Not so glad over how quickly it went. (And the entire "rescue" was just a thing to happen before the actual plot started, but I guess that's not terrible.)

Yes, Grievous was grievously (you may fire at will) underused. Cool when he did appear, though. Also, is it just me, or does Grievous sound like a Sith name?

A few too many immensely souped-up battles for my taste, but mostly not as contrived as I feared.

Genuine pathos. I cared for Anakin and Obi-Wan, and felt a chill when Anakin started to fall and the Jedi were getting massacred. Those scenes more or less made up for the bad parts.

I still feel absolutely nothing for Padmé, not even vague irritation. Her acting seemed slightly less wooden in this film. Possibly. She was responsible for most of the corniness of the dialogue, as see below.

Also, am I alone in thinking that her pregnancy progressed awfully fast?

Dialogue... all over the place. Some lines were genuinely chilling ("And then... we will have peace."), others were lame beyond belief. The "Evil Genius"-like scene where Palpatine founds the Empire could have been *good* if it weren't punctured by Padmé's pointless, editorialising line. Anakin/Vader was an offender as well. I mean... "QUIET, YOU!" I don't find that impressive. The less said about his "Join me, Luke... I mean, Padmé", the better.

I'm glad to see that the temptation and fall of Anakin got quite some psychological verisimilitude, even if it was heavy-handed and very quick (if not as very quick as Padmé's pregnancy). Also, for me it all fell down in the scene where Mace fought Palpatine. It wasn't a bad scene. It wasn't bad as psychological development, according to the set-up (Anakin has to decide whose claims to believe). But that's where it didn't work, because at that point, Anakin *knew* that Palpatine was a Dark Lord of the Sith. So I guess the moral is that Anakin is an idiot. Good thing the spoiler warning is up. In fact, the whole scene appeared like a mess of good individual points badly strung together.

And finally, we know how Anakin's conception came about. I was half thinking they'd forget to explain that. I also like the little mention of communicating with the dead at the end.

I didn't like Palpatine's disfigurement at all. OK, it made him look pretty impressive in that council scene, but... I don't know. It just seemed too weird to me. (And of course, once he became the ugly Emperor we all know and love, he stopped brushing his teeth. Bleeding Gums Palpatine.)

Silent Jar-Jar isn't half as aggravating as talking Jar-Jar.

That helmet and voice are still terribly, terribly cool.

So, I guess this is it, then. All in all, as I said, not a disappointment. I guess I could do a comprehensive review of the entire saga now, but I'm too tired. All that remains is to rate:

Original trilogy: A to A+

"Episode I: The Phantom Menace": D+

"Episode II: Attack of the Clones": B-

"Episode III: Revenge of the Sith": B+ (failed an A- on account of some messiness in crucial scenes, and lame Padmé dialogue)

[archonix]

Well, the way I saw it, since it said in the title of the thread itself that this thing was full of spoilers, only people who saw the movie would be reading/posting in it and tags wouldn't be needed...

Never underestimate my abilility to ignore such things.

ANyway, good filum. Chris has pretty much said everything I would have said.

[hadisia]

Alright then, spoiler tags shall be employed.

Spoiler

A nitpick I had was Padme dying in childbirth - in Return of the Jedi, Leia clearly states that while her birth mother died when Leia was young, Leia remembers her being very beautiful and very sad.
Also, did it seem like Leia should have been the one born first? I just always felt Leia was the older twin.

[Sheana_Molloy]

Spoiler

Since Leia has some Jedi talent as well, perhaps it effected her memories, allowing her to have flashes of memory to as far back as the day of her birth?

[hadisia]

Spoiler

Actually, that did occur to me as a possible explanation. But wouldn't Luke have those memories as well, then?
Unless Luke only asked her if she remembered her birth mother as a conversation starter.

LUKE: Hey, Leia, do you remember mom?
LEIA: What?
LUKE: Uh...I mean your mom.