Revenge of The Sith
May. 19th, 2005 03:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
athersgeoOr, how Mr Lucas made the film I think most Star Wars fans have been waiting to see. It has its good and bad points but so does every other Star Wars film if you're honest.
Oh, and a PSA: If you're at all inclined to motion sickness, pop a dramamine and sit well back at least for the opening battle sequence - it's spoiling nothing to say that it's dizzying!
I'll try to keep the Yodaisms to a minimum (wait; do, or do not; there is no try. Right.) and get on with the review.
I'll do the bad points first: It's fast. It's arguably too fast. There's a looooooooot of plot crammed into roughly 150 minutes and some areas feel a little skimped on. On the other hand, if you read the novelisation, you'll know there could easily have been MORE crammed in, and the focus Lucas uses (concentrating on the Jedi side of things) was the way to go. Also, with the fuss that's been made over Chewbacca's return, I was expecting him to have rather more of a role than he had - I *think* he was in maybe three or four scenes at the most (nb, this is not necessarily a 'bad' point [there's no logical story reason for him to have had a larger role than this], more an observation based on the hype!). Some of Palpatine's later speaches had me cringing a little, not for the actual content [see below] but for the maniacal moustach twirling Ian McDiarmid was going in for. WAAAAAAY OTT. And...actually? That's it for bad points.
So what was good about it? Firstly, the dialogue was surprisingly unclunky. One of my real bugbears with George Lucas is he cannot write dialogue for toffee ("It'll take a few moments to get the coordinates from the navicomputer", anyone?) and it's a problem that haunts ALL Star Wars movies to a greater or lesser extent, but this one comes off fairly lightly. That's not to say it's classic dialogue by any stretch, but it's a lot more natural. Also, the romantic scenes early on between Anakin and Padme are actually romantic (as compared to the extremely trite firelight scene from Attack of the Clones). There are some nice touches of comedy (mostly, in the first half of the film) - and some nice R2D2 scene stealing. Also, George gets a cookie for this:
Anakin: "I suggest patience."
Obi Wan: "Patience?!"
(OK, maybe that's just my sense of humour, but I found the exchange - and the expression on Palpatine's face at the back-and-forth - was hystiercal!)
What else? Hayden Christensen was good. I wasn't terribly convinced by him in Attack of the Clones, but he's all growed up now - and between that and the improved dialogue, he does a very good job of portraying Anakin's struggle with what he should and shouldn't do - so much so that in the key moment, I think it's fair to say that at least a third of the audience [myself included] were rooting for him to jump the other way and side with the Jedi after all!
Ewan McGregor was good too and, when he wasn't moustach twirling or cackling maniacally, so was Ian McDiarmid (his whole reaction to the Jedi escape plan [or not!] in the opening action sequence is hysterical - you can clearly see him thinking "Are they for real about this?").
Oooh, and one other special mention: The lightsabre fights - and in particular THE fight (you know, the one we've wanted to see for most of the last twenty odd years) - are absolutely excellent. Here, I DO use the term kickarse, because they really do kick arse.
Last and by no means least, the effects are everything you've probably come to expect from Lucasfilm and ILM. In particular, the opening space battle, though dizzying, is very, very well put together and, for once, actually obeys basic laws of physics (another of my irritations with Attack of the Clones was the way the ships were shown flying and landing - it's something that George has improved VASTLY on here). It's also nice to see the precursor to the X-Wing in action :)
The second half of the film is rather sobering and you end, by definition, on such a down that you will NOT leave the cinema on a high. There's a surprising amount to actually think about - in particular, the closing montage [and the guy they've got for Tarkin is PERFECT, absolutely and categorically without question, perfect] - and in that whole respect, this one reminds me quite a lot of Empire Strikes Back.
One last spoilery thing is that barring ONE item, the continuity is absolutely perfect. George ties up all the loose ends and leaves a neat and seamless join between this trilogy and the original. The *one* nit is the line in RotJ where Leia says she remembers her mother - from this film, it's extremely clear that she can't (unless it's some facet of the Force). That said, this is actually a rather tricky thing for George to have tied up, given where he ends the movie, and there are plenty of explanations out there. Your milage my vary, of course, but I'm not all that bugged by it, in the end!
Overall, my personal feeling is that, nevermind Phandom Menace and Attack of the Clones, this is better than A New Hope and Return of the Jedi. It's 2.5 hours long (so don't buy a large drink - or visit the bathroom you will need!), but it's not a bum numbing stretch - and in fact, it will go by so fast, you'll be surprised when you realise how long it actually is!
Now. Lemmee see. When can I go again?..........
Oh, and a PSA: If you're at all inclined to motion sickness, pop a dramamine and sit well back at least for the opening battle sequence - it's spoiling nothing to say that it's dizzying!
I'll try to keep the Yodaisms to a minimum (wait; do, or do not; there is no try. Right.) and get on with the review.
I'll do the bad points first: It's fast. It's arguably too fast. There's a looooooooot of plot crammed into roughly 150 minutes and some areas feel a little skimped on. On the other hand, if you read the novelisation, you'll know there could easily have been MORE crammed in, and the focus Lucas uses (concentrating on the Jedi side of things) was the way to go. Also, with the fuss that's been made over Chewbacca's return, I was expecting him to have rather more of a role than he had - I *think* he was in maybe three or four scenes at the most (nb, this is not necessarily a 'bad' point [there's no logical story reason for him to have had a larger role than this], more an observation based on the hype!). Some of Palpatine's later speaches had me cringing a little, not for the actual content [see below] but for the maniacal moustach twirling Ian McDiarmid was going in for. WAAAAAAY OTT. And...actually? That's it for bad points.
So what was good about it? Firstly, the dialogue was surprisingly unclunky. One of my real bugbears with George Lucas is he cannot write dialogue for toffee ("It'll take a few moments to get the coordinates from the navicomputer", anyone?) and it's a problem that haunts ALL Star Wars movies to a greater or lesser extent, but this one comes off fairly lightly. That's not to say it's classic dialogue by any stretch, but it's a lot more natural. Also, the romantic scenes early on between Anakin and Padme are actually romantic (as compared to the extremely trite firelight scene from Attack of the Clones). There are some nice touches of comedy (mostly, in the first half of the film) - and some nice R2D2 scene stealing. Also, George gets a cookie for this:
Anakin: "I suggest patience."
Obi Wan: "Patience?!"
(OK, maybe that's just my sense of humour, but I found the exchange - and the expression on Palpatine's face at the back-and-forth - was hystiercal!)
What else? Hayden Christensen was good. I wasn't terribly convinced by him in Attack of the Clones, but he's all growed up now - and between that and the improved dialogue, he does a very good job of portraying Anakin's struggle with what he should and shouldn't do - so much so that in the key moment, I think it's fair to say that at least a third of the audience [myself included] were rooting for him to jump the other way and side with the Jedi after all!
Ewan McGregor was good too and, when he wasn't moustach twirling or cackling maniacally, so was Ian McDiarmid (his whole reaction to the Jedi escape plan [or not!] in the opening action sequence is hysterical - you can clearly see him thinking "Are they for real about this?").
Oooh, and one other special mention: The lightsabre fights - and in particular THE fight (you know, the one we've wanted to see for most of the last twenty odd years) - are absolutely excellent. Here, I DO use the term kickarse, because they really do kick arse.
Last and by no means least, the effects are everything you've probably come to expect from Lucasfilm and ILM. In particular, the opening space battle, though dizzying, is very, very well put together and, for once, actually obeys basic laws of physics (another of my irritations with Attack of the Clones was the way the ships were shown flying and landing - it's something that George has improved VASTLY on here). It's also nice to see the precursor to the X-Wing in action :)
The second half of the film is rather sobering and you end, by definition, on such a down that you will NOT leave the cinema on a high. There's a surprising amount to actually think about - in particular, the closing montage [and the guy they've got for Tarkin is PERFECT, absolutely and categorically without question, perfect] - and in that whole respect, this one reminds me quite a lot of Empire Strikes Back.
One last spoilery thing is that barring ONE item, the continuity is absolutely perfect. George ties up all the loose ends and leaves a neat and seamless join between this trilogy and the original. The *one* nit is the line in RotJ where Leia says she remembers her mother - from this film, it's extremely clear that she can't (unless it's some facet of the Force). That said, this is actually a rather tricky thing for George to have tied up, given where he ends the movie, and there are plenty of explanations out there. Your milage my vary, of course, but I'm not all that bugged by it, in the end!
Overall, my personal feeling is that, nevermind Phandom Menace and Attack of the Clones, this is better than A New Hope and Return of the Jedi. It's 2.5 hours long (so don't buy a large drink - or visit the bathroom you will need!), but it's not a bum numbing stretch - and in fact, it will go by so fast, you'll be surprised when you realise how long it actually is!
Now. Lemmee see. When can I go again?..........
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-19 12:29 pm (UTC)Thanks for the review though (and well done for restraining yourself from the Yodaisms!) - I've sent it to Ben but we're not sure when we'll go - he likes to wait until the rush is over - so it'll be after next week at the earliest.
I'm sure you can get a ticket within the next couple of days though - maybe...
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-20 07:27 am (UTC)As for me going again, it probably won't be until the bank holiday weekend (I must be NUTS for considering that!)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-19 04:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-20 07:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-19 11:32 pm (UTC)Hopefully the rainy spell will clear up by the time I want to go.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-20 07:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-20 01:54 am (UTC)I think when Leia said in Jedi that she barely remembered her mother, she was technically talking about her adoptive mother - Bail's wife. The main reason I'm thinking this is that she never referred to Bail Organo as anything other than her father (likely because she never knew she was adopted).
I am rather proud of Lucas for the way he tied everything together, there was a LOT of things to bridge between the prequels and the OT ("Yoda, the jedi master who instructed me" anyone?) and to be perfectly honest, I a little worried that there was going to be some pieces missing. Glad that I was wrong.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-20 07:37 am (UTC)Right - and this is what I mean; you don't have to extend too much effort to cover it. I think when I was writing the review I came up with as many as six different answers! Of course, purists may still object...
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-20 01:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-20 01:52 pm (UTC)And yes, Lesley should definitely do a SW evening at RCS.