Revenge of the Sith

It is unfortunate that Star Wars: Episode III will be abbreviated ROTS. My expectations were very low due to my disappointment with Ep.I and Ep.II. Oh, sure. I knew the special effects would be great and the script kitschy, but would it venture into Ep. IV and Ep. V territory?

Yes and no. (He said unequivocally.) It was certainly the best of the "First Trilogy" (Eps. I - III). It was darker, more adult. It offered more tidbits about the Jedi and Sith then either TPM or AOTC, so it satisfied my thirst for more Force info.

But the "Second Trilogy" had more soul. Not in the "Godfather of" sense, but in the sense that there was something deeper about the Force and the Jedi's life. More than my revulsion of the "virgin birth" (explained in Ep. III), was the mitachlorians. In the First Trilogy the Force and Jedi had a very eastern religion feel to them. That with study, self-discipline and introspection, anyone could become a Jedi Master. With mitachlorians, that is not the case. My M-count determines my destiny (kind of like Jedi HDL/LDL). It was as if Lucas wanted to say, in the Second Trilogy, "we are all in this together," but by the First Trilogy (with more money than God) he changed his mind. In the First Trilogy the message is "you are born into your lot in life and your fate is determined by your genes, not your ambitions."

I was generally satisfied about Lucas' tying in Ep. III and Ep. IV. The only two major inconsistencies I saw right off were Leia's Ep. VI recollection of her mother (impossible, since Padme died in childbirth) and Obi-wan's seeming ignorance of Leia as Luke's sister in Ep. V (OW: That boy is our last hope. Yoda: No, there is another.) (I will ignore the seeming complete lack of recollection of Obi-wan and Darth Vader of the droids in the Second Trilogy.)

This is not a kid's movie. The numerous dismemberments were not so bad, but the roasting of Anakin and the subsequent transformation of his burned corpse in Darth Vader was gruesome enough that you really need to understand how your <13 year old child will react. I delivered the bad news to my 8 year old this morning (he is as big a fan as I am). He was devastated, but that was not a scene for the sqeamish.

The Sfx were great. The acting was not great, but I am darn sure Hayden Christensen is a better actor then Mark Hamill ("But I was going into Toshi station to pick up some pwer converters..." Luke whiiiiines.) Enough said.

The conversion of Anakin was better done then I expected. Put aside the question of how this all powerful Jedi is such a freakin' mamma's boy, Palpatine is masterfully manipulative. After Anakin kills Dooku, he frets about the killing of an unarmed prisoner. So when Mace is about to slay Palpatine (ostensibly unarmed), Anakin feels that stopping Mace is the right thing to do. I did not see this as a fall, but rather a reluctant slide. (I do wish Lucas would have spent more time in Ep. II and III examining Anakin's "rule the galaxy" impulses. Any beef one might have with the "abruptness" of the conversion is fair, but, seriously, any further examination of Anakin's descent would have cut out those Sfx. Be reasonable.)

I also thought (I can't believe I am saying this) that Ep. III "justified" the re-conversion of Anakin in Ep. VI. Given the choice a second time, Anakin does the right thing. When I first saw Ep. VI, I was horrified that Darth Vader, the symbol of pure evil, could be turned good, but now it makes sense.

I will see it again and come back to this. I am anxious to get Thew's view, as he is not a Star Wars fan to the extent I am. Overall, I rank this behind Ep. IV and V as the third best of the series.