Movie Reviews
Earlier this week, Entertainment Weekly’s covere held claim to the face of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker. The main article was titled “Can ‘Revenge of the Sith’ Save the Lucas Legacy?” The author of the article went on to bash both “Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones” saying that everyone hated each with a passion, even die-hard “Star Wars” fans.
That was the whole mentality of the first two prequels: that everyone absolutely despised them and felt that George Lucas had gone out of his mind trying to make his movies something they weren’t. Neither is the case. I enjoyed “Episode I” and “II”, but they were just inadequate to the originals. I blamed that on story and effects. They dwelled much too much on the politics of it all and forgot about the chivalry, the romanticism, and the entertainment. Both prequels had their ups and downs.
Now, with the final chapter completed, I can say that without a doubt “Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith” not only surpasses the quality of “Phantom” and “Clones”, it is on par with the originals both in story and in entertainment. This is the space opera that Lucas won our hearts over with when we were children. This is the movie that is in the true tradition of “Star Wars”. This is what we’ve all been waiting for.
We open to find Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi on a mission to rescue Chancellor Palpatine from the clutches of General Grievous, a half-droid, half-human who is more than proficient with light sabers (he holds four at once). R2D2 is told to stay back while they find the chancellor, where we find that R2 has the ability to hold his own against various battle droids. There is an exciting reprise to the “Clones” Dukoo confrontation, and Palpatine is returned home.
Anakin is given permission to deliberate with the politicians on his own. He meets with Padme and learns that she is with child. He thinks about the blessing of the child, but also how screwed up things will get when the baby arrives. How will he hide from the Jedi Council that the baby is his? Where the baby be born? And then the dreams come. He feels the need to protect Padme from dying, but cannot find a remedy within the Jedi. Instead, the seduction of the Dark Side lures him in tighter and tigher.
For those of us who have grown up with “Star Wars” and have followed the story closely, we knew that this was coming and couldn’t wait for it. George Lucas said that the only reason that there were prequel stories were because he needed a background to pitch the original films. He was forced to take forty percent of the whole story, chop it in half, and divide it up into the first two. “Revenge” is the remaining sixty percent – the story he’s been waiting to tell us for years, and it is awesome.
One of the best things about watching it is seeing the connection of the old and the new. The biggest fault I felt the prequels held was that they didn’t fit into the whole, big story of “Star Wars”. With all the pieces of the puzzle coming into place, the entirety of “Star Wars” feels like one.
As in the originals, we have returned to the classic story-telling, which involves everything good about “Star Wars”. Of course the acting has not been of the highest caliber lately, but to be absoultely truthful, neither was it in the originals. But that is why the originals were so great: Lucas had revived that classic acting from the forties. It does not fit as well here. However, I do feel that Ewen McGregor has given justice to Alec Guiness. Of all the actors who have characters traveling into "Episode IV", McGregor feels most like his Obi-Wan Kenobi.
John Williams, who always delivers quality, high powered music, has outdone himself. This is a score that fits the film perfectly, as it usually does. But this film is so intense and beautiful, that the score immensely benefits from it. It’s not every day you’re moved by a science fiction film.
George Lucas has brought us a series that has defined a genre, influenced filmmakers, and spawned a following. It has been thought that these prequels would be the end of what “Star Wars” was, but Lucas
has driven his vision with utter majesty. This is all something quite
special. ****