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*STAR WARS: EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH REVIEW…

finally, i can recommend a new star wars film. this is the only film that i would recommend of the second trilogy. this film shouldn’t be compared to the other two prequels. those prequels are dead to me. this was the only prequel storyline lucas already had in his head 25 years ago along with the original three. he had always talked of how vader became vader. phantom” and “clones” were just filler until he got to this. IT IS NOT A GREAT FILM. but it is better than “return..”

First, the good:
-Ian McDiarmid as Senator/Emperor Palpatine…he was the best thing in “return of the jedi”..and he’s the best thing in this movie..he seems like the only actor george allowed to actually act.

-the return of trash-talking during lightsaber fights…i have no idea why this was abandoned in the first place…happy to see it return.

-there are little bits of humor in this one that were painfully missing from the last two films. the banter between obi-wan and anakin in this film is probably what lucas wanted in “clones”. i heard some serious playright dude contributed to the script. i especially enjoyed the lovely stab at gee dubya bush.

-there were times where the movie actually slowed down to take in some images and take in some music (unlike the last two films). in fact, this is the first movie since “return..” where i actually noticed john williams’s score.

-it’s neat to see how everything links into the original star wars 4: a new hope. nice to see the ship..the organa connection..but kinda weird to “hide” one of the babies with the only known kin of anakin skywalker/darth vader.

now, the bad:
-people have told me they’ve seen hayden christianson in other movies and that he’s a really good actor… which leads me to believe that lucas really dropped the ball with directing him. in a vanity fair article, lucas sez he feels bad for the crap hayden is getting from audiences.. he sez it’s not hayden’s fault..he’s just playing an unlikable character.

but the thing is, george, we LIKE darth vader. we’ve always liked him. he’s likable. he was a good guy gone bad. and you’ve managed to take a good actor and a good character and make it an unenjoyable experience for three straight movies!! up yours for that!!

-bad direction..a really pivotal scene: the assassination of the jedi could’ve been a really deeply moving sequence.

throughout all these prequels, the jedi are whiping out sh*tloads of enemies all around them, so we’re supposed to believe they go out like SUCKERS when palpatine sez this weird little order into the stormtrooper comlinks?

what a marvelous sequence it could’ve been: a montage of jedi being ambushed by their own soldiers, putting up a massive stand, with john williams score soaring behind them, til eventually, each jedi is overwhelmed, and each go out in some really neat, unique way. man, i could totally see one of them just sitting down in a lotus position, and just taking a whole bunch of blaster fire…

and yeesh…when darth vader steps off all frankstein-like and hears that he’s lost another close woman in his life. the way he throws his hands up in the air and shrieks “NOOO!!” is sooo goofy looking. didn’t someone look at the dailies and say “we should try that one a different way”?

(by the way, women don’t fare too well in the star wars universe, do they?)

-the appearance of chewbacca…possibly the biggest waste of a character since darth maul…and before that, boba fett. the only reason he was put in there is for pre-release hype “oh!! did you hear? chewbacca’s gonna be in this movie!!” what a waste.

–by the way..why did they credit kenny baker for playing r2d2 in this movie? r2 was obviously computer generated at least 95% of the time.

but i don’t have too much of a problem with r2d2 having all these jets and gadgets that you never saw in the old (later) movies. mebbe a lot of his stuff stopped working after a number of years.

i won’t bark too much about this, but it’s the same old story: too much computer animation. we fell in love with yoda BECAUSE he was a puppet..and if you don’t believe that. imagine if yoda was CGI going all the way back to “empire..” it would be so lame.

so, again..i do recommend this film (higher than jedi, lower than the first two) even though i am complaining about it. I COMPLAIN BECAUSE I CARE. you all are CHUMPS who sat through the last two films and walked away happy. CHUMPS.
oh yeah…and kevin smith is a lapdog for the man!! (he must think he’s gonna score a part in the star wars tv show)

i am actually looking forward to the announced star wars live action tv project. hopefully, george will take a back seat, and some other writers and directors will have a chance to show their stuff.

(oh, and i did see the millenium falcon early on in the film the first time i went, by the way..)

i’ll see you in new york city at mocca!!

cheers,

keef