Yet Another Star Wars: Episode III Review
Do you really want to read another? Well here are my thoughts that can be added to the ocean of thoughts already out there.
I saw Revenge of the Sith last Sunday at Seattle Cinerama with some good friends and I must say I enjoyed the third (or sixth) installment from Lucas. There was good and there was bad, a light and dark side if you will.
Where the lines cheesy? Yes. Did I expect that? Yes. Was it better than the first two Episodes? Yes. Is it annoying when I ask questions and then answer them? Yes. Ok, here is my take on the cheese factor of Star Wars. It has ALWAYS been there. I am still not too sure why people were so surprised when Episodes I and II had horrible lines (although I suppose I could be the poor acting from Christensen). Sith had some classic cheese moments: Padme’s “hug me” was right up there (although not pulled off quite as well) as Leia’s “hold me”, Vader’s “noooooo” was quite intense, and I am not sure if it was as cheesy or not as cheesy as Luke’s “noooooo” (after being told “I am your father.”).
I do give props to Lucas for bridging the two series’ pretty well with a minimum of holes. I was impressed that Leia could remember her mother being “sad” - must have been the force through the womb. R2 also didn’t seem to remember Obi-Wan and visa versa, I guess they had Obi’s memory erased with 3P0′s. Yoda also seems to be under the same memory spell because he didn’t remember R2 either. Oh well, no biggie. I can over look the others because bridging the gap was a large task.
Grievous? Ok, he was kind of a cool character, but what was with his tuberculosis? I just assumed it would be explained, so I waited, and then I waited some more, and then I saw credits…
“I have a new mission for you.” What? I know Lucas wanted to bridge the movies well, but this just felt out of place. Yes, it totally explains how Obi-Wan and Yoda can come back to help our young Luke, but it felt very constructed.
The special effects were great, as should be expected from Mr. ILM. The fighting scenes were very intense and exciting, they made (Old) Vader’s, (Old) Obi-Wan’s, and Luke’s lightsaber abilities look anorexic.
Chewie’s cameo was great, especially since he carried Yoda around. And did anyone else see the Millennium Falcon at one of the docking ports?
My biggest disappointments: Vader’s reveal in Episode V will now have very little impact. Yoda’s reveal about the sister Skywalker will also have little impact. These two facts make me sad. As Kim suggests, I will make my kids watch IV-VI first and then I-III.
Oh, AND, Cinerama didn’t show the Narnia trailer! How LAME is that?
I look forward to seeing it again! If anyone wants to go, let me know, I will be down.
Shalom
All I can say is, “What took you so long to see it??” And I happen to like seeing what other people think of the movies so review on.
Heh, I actually have a somewhat decent excuse for not seeing it earlier. I had to work on Thursday and Friday and so did my friends (I know I could have taken time off, but hey, someone has to teach these kids!
) and I was up in Canada for a conference on Saturday. So Sunday just worked out! But I DID wait in line for a way long time for the Lord of the Rings movies, and that is what realy counts. 
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Actually I don’t. I
really enjoyed this final installment of the Star Wars saga,
cheesy dialogue included. And can you believe it? Padme died
of a broken heart!
I have to to agree that for the full dramatic effect, one has
to see Episodes IV through VI first (it’s good to see someone
raising up his kids right). But as far as Obi-Wan’s failing
memory, he was correct in saying [in Episode IV] that he never
recalled owning a droid. He didn’t. But come to think of it,
I’m surprised that Darth Vader didn’t remember R2D2 and C3P0.
Those memories must have burned up in the lava.
I didn’t catch the Millenium Falcon. Maybe next time. But did
you notice Governor Tarkin on the bridge of the destroyer at
the end? Remarkable casting to find someone who looks like
the late Peter Cushing would have if he had been 20 years
younger. It was also easy to imagine Owen and Beru aging 20
years and looking the way they did in Episode. I also thought
from the aspect of speech patterns, Ewan McGregor sounded a
lot like Alec Guinness. Again, the casting was remarkable.
It was also nice to see what Alderaan looked like before the
Empire blew it up.
Seeing IV-VI first just makes sense I think, I mean, hey, that is how we watched them, why not our kids? Yeah, I know he never actually owned the astrodroid, but still it seems like he would have given some sort of indicator that he had a vague recollection of hanging out with R2 before! Vader should have definitely recognized R2 and 3PO, they were his droids! Heh, I do hear lava has that affect. (…if you drop your keys into a river of molten lava, just let ‘em go, ’cause man, they’re gone…)
I wish I could remember what the specific scene was where I saw the Falcon. They (whoever “they” is) were flying into some port and really small, in the lower right side of the screen, was the Falcon, I thought it was pretty cool. Seeing Tarkin was very cool. The casting overall, I felt, was done really well, even if I didn’t like Christensen. Ah good times. It was fun to go back and watch the original three knowing the back story. I see need to see III again!
Would a very young Lando be the owner of the Falcon?
I have no idea. It seems like he would have had to be really young, but it is still possible. I wonder who owned it before Lando?
Visit this: http://www.starwars.com/episode-iii/bts/production/f20050526/index.html
It will tell you about some of the shots that might have been missed. I have seen it 3 times and I still can’t catch any of these scenes.
(Thanks for stopping by and commenting!)
Ohhhh, thanks for the link! I love finding those little details. I STILL need to go see it again!
you said: I was impressed that Leia could remember her mother being “sad”
I couldn’t agree more. It was all I could do to not say “huh?” outloud in the theater. Also, I agree with your curiousity about Grevious. Why was he coughing? Why was he half reptile half robot? Why was he so feared in the galaxy? So many questions and not a good enough writer/director to answer them. I just try to enjoy them without thinking too deeply about all the obvious errors. Good, clean movie-fun!
Yeah, I like Lucas as a visionary, not a writer… Lots of things that weren’t explained and others that didn’t need to be explained. Oh well, I still enjoyed it! We couldn’t really think too hard during the originals so I figure shouldn’t think too hard during the new ones!