If you’ve been waiting for the completion of the Star Wars universe it has finally arrived. The first two prequels certainly dug their heels into the sand–They also ran their fingernails down the chalkboard for good measure. Revenge of the Sith succeeds in so many areas that the first two films in the pre-trilogy do not. It is by no means perfect–but it is better visually and the talent has improved in many areas.
Hayden Christensen surprised me. To say he wasn’t as bad as he was in Episode II would be accurate. He was actually good in certain scenes as well. Star Wars has never been completely about the acting though. And Mark Hammil’s Luke is certainly an adequate follow-up to Hayden’s Vader.
Natalie Portman, however, left me with a bad feeling. In the first two prequel films Padme’s character progressively get’s weaker. In this, the last installment, she reaches the apex of “dull”. Now pregnant with the twins (this is not a spoiler if you were alive any time before 1983 and saw the first trilogy), Padme spends the whole movie just sitting around and/or fawning over Hayden. Lucklily this is played down–however, it is still annoying. At one point I leaned over to my friend in the theater and mimicked Obi-Wan’s voice questioning, “So what do you do here all day?” to which I answered the question in my best Padme impression, “Oh nothing. I just sit.”
Visuals were stunning. Yoda actually looks more real than he did in the previous two films. However, I still miss the muppet.
Quick List of Pros:
3P0: Not as annoying as Episode II.
Ewan McGregor: Great as usual–excellent at Alec Guinness’ manorisms and speech patterns.
Ian McDiarmid: Perfect as the Emporer then–even better in these movies. He makes this movie what it is.
Effects: Wow. Better than the first two.
Design: Great tie-ins (no pun intended) and we see the interior of the Blockade Runner is exactly as it was in Star Wars Episode 4.
General Grevous
Hayden Christensen Improved
Darth Vader scenes were chilling–particularly the reveal.
Very dark
Quick List of Cons:
Very dark
Padme becomes virtual lifeless statue
Effects of people still look a little rubber-ish. R2 looks too much like a chartoon character. “Droids” was cancelled man, let it go.
We always wanted a daughter. (how convenient!)
As you can see my immediate brainstorming has left me with more pros than cons. I really enjoyed this movie. A lot. WAY more than the first two and as many of you know I was pretty harsh on them (as many of the fans and critics were). Sith nicely ties up the first two movies and the following three. Many critics are complaining about the dialogue being weak. I think it is vastly better than episode II. At least the crazy love story between Padme and Anakin does not have -AS- bad dialogue as in the episode II. And you know what? The more I thought about it… the more I believe that people actually talk like that to one another. I know I have at times.
Sith does leave you on a terrible down note. Before going into the film I expected that when I heard Darth Vader speak for the first time with James Earl Jones’ voice I would cheer. Not so. By the time Vader appears, you actually hate him. No one cheered. And you wouldn’t expect it. You’re not supposed to like Vader. And you won’t. There is a particularly chilling scene with Anakin on Coruscant before he becomes Vader that will assure his place in Hell well after Luke burns his corpse in Return of the Jedi. Definitely not a little kids flick.
Three words: Bravo, George Lucas.
He finished it in style.