Thursday, June 02, 2005

Number six, er...ah... I mean one?

Warning, if you haven't seen the last Lucas installment of Star Wars, do not read this post. I saw the movie last night (yes, it has been out for a while, but there was hardly anyone in the theatre).

It is very difficult to pinpoint exactly why, but I am not sure I liked the Revenge of the Sith. It was definitely the best of the last three Lucas installments. As far as I am concerned the first, (fourth? I get so confused) A New Hope, is still the best.

Somehow Anakin's spiral into hate, wrath and greed for power wasn't believable. He talks of "MY Empire" near the end. Maybe it was the actor, but I think it was also the character and plot development on the part of Lucas (& writers). Perhaps it was too fast and easy, the way Anakin was won over to the dark side of the force. After all his years training as a Jedi how could he be so naive, so blind to the Chancellor's manipulations? Would he not have felt the deception? If he could see what was going to happen, could he not see that it was his choices and actions that ultimately caused Padme's death? (Did she die of a broken heart?)

In this movie, Anakin and the Chancellor were apparently close friends and the Chancellor was his mentor, the only one who believed in Anakin. This was a bit of a stretch for me, how did all this come about, what was the back story? Why did Anakin trust him? Also, who the hell is General Grievous and where did he come from?

Another point is in regards to Obi-Wan. He was a Jedi Master, could he not discern the turmoil that Anakin was feeling, the temptation he was fighting? Obi-Wan was blind in his faith and trust in Anakin. How is it that Obi-Wan did not know that Anakin and Padme were lovers, when she became pregnant it should have made him at the very least suspicious, knowing how Anakin had always felt about her?

However, Obi-Wan was the most heroic character in the movie and even though he was unwilling to kill Anakin in the end, Obi-Wan could not deny the truth of what Anakin had become. It was fitting that Obi-Wan was responsible for the final transformation of Anakin into Darth Vader.

I think there should have been more back story. Anakin's embracing the dark side would not have felt so sudden and perhaps Padme's death would also be more believable.

I am going to see the movie again, there was so much going on that I could not take it all in, at least not in one sitting. Perhaps my opinion will change, but then again...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree. It did seem a little sudden. I just couldn't believe that in a couple of hours he could go from being willing to turn the chancellor in to the Jedi council to killing all of his fellow Jedi, including little children!

By the way, how did that wonderful scream at the end sound? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I laughed out loud to the major annoyance of others in the theatre.

AR

librarychik said...

I was forewarned, so was expecting it, but it was still funny!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Anonymous said...

I just read your review of Revenge of the Sith and I must agree! You're
the only other person I've heard from that didn't like it! Everyone else is RAVING about it! I didn't really like it at all. I agree with all the points you made and in addition... Example situation: We fight. I defeat you easily. I then fight John Doe. John Doe defeats me easily. Later you fight John Doe, and defeat him easily. It doesn't make sense does it? So at the beginning of Sith we see Obi Wan getting defeated easily by Count Dooku. Aniken beats Dooku. Obi Wan then beats Aniken! Okay, Samuel L. Jacksons death scene. That fight scene was poorly shot. It should have been very dynamic but it wasn't. Also, Mace Windu beats the Emperor down pretty easily right? Now Yoda is suppose to be the top Jedi but he can't beat the emperor like Mace did?!?! Annnnndddd... waht the heck does Yoda need a cane for??? I mean he's doing all these Karate back flips the second he pulls out his light saber!!! "OO Yoda need hip replacement!" I thought the acting (if you want to call it that) was horrible but not the actors faults since there are some fine actor in the movie. It's the fault of the director. Now I know it was suppose to be about the story but since we KNOW how it was going to end, the acting and mood were vitally important and that was totally over looked. Out of the recent 3 movies, I gotta tell ya, and I think I'm the only person who has said this but... I liked the Phantom Menace. Oh sure it had flaws. I HATED Jar Jar Bigs. I didn't like the little kid who played Anikan. But I liked Liam Nissan and thought his charater was really good. And I liked the movie overall.

Signed,

Roger Ebert

librarychik said...

You make some very good points as well, Roger, especially with regards to the fighting.
thanks

Stacey said...

If/when you go again, I wanna come. Pleeeeeeease? I'll beg!

librarychik said...

JB, you nailed that one right on the head, I couldn't stand the scenes between those two. Natalie Portman is a much better actress than that, too bad she had such a crappy script to work with.

Stacey... you betcha chickita :-)

Anonymous said...

I agree there, chickadee. I wouldn't have been so annoyed with the Stars Wars lack of character development if I had not thought that there was so much more potential there. The actual story line and character development could have been magnificent. It is a really operatic, MacBeth tradegy - it has forbidden love, honour, duty, betrayal, ambition, blah-blah. Instead, Lucas ignored any reasonable sense of drama and character development. I can understand Anakin slowly being manipulated into the dark side until he is so far gone he couldn't get back (but he wouldn't go from grief over killing Mace Windu to murdering little children in the space of twenty minutes!) And hello, Padme? What is the deal with 'loosing her will to live." I have been depressed some days yet my body has never spontaneously stopped. Plus, the story robbed her of her power. She is a strong woman. I think she would have fought Anakin and fought for those children. Not just faded away.
Urg. I say.
- Another library gal