Posted on 06/06/2005 11:32:51 AM PDT by quidnunc
What can you say about a movie whose most engaging character is a two-foot tall, pointy-eared, green alien? "Star War III: The Revenge of the Sith" is heavy on special effects but sparse on drama, romance, and emotion.
Its also filled with director George Lucass muddled thinking. And, yes, its science fiction in the service of Michael Moores worldview.
Despite its record-breaking opening, the last Star Wars installment is bad cinema, because it is a poor narrative. The light-saber duels are fun. The alien creations are cool. The attempts to portray passion or the corruption of the human spirit (how a man loses his soul) are pathetic.
In Christensen and Portman, Lucas has found a romantic duo who belong in a remake of "Beach Blanket Bingo." As Anakin Skywalker, Hayden Christensen is a sulking, pretty boy who scowls a lot and attempts to project angst. His transformation from the basically-decent-but-flawed Jedi Knight to the evil Darth Vader is Faust Light.
As former Princess, now Senator, Padme (Anakins secret wife), Natalie Portman seems perpetually bewildered. (A condition that probably results from reading too much Jedi philosophy "Thus Spake Yoda.") Her expressions span the spectrum from looking moonstruck to being perplexed over her husbands increasingly erratic behavior.
Then theres Anakins less-than-credible conversion to the Dark Side of the Force. The sinister Chancellor Palpatine seduces our young Jedi by promising to give him the power to save his beloved wife from death (of which Skywalker has graphic premonitions). Then, in the climatic scene believing Padame has betrayed him Skywalker/Vader tries to strangle his pregnant spouse. "Luke, Im your father and Im confused as hell!"
Thats about all the space the plot deserves.
-snip-
You must read DorkTower too....
'"Only a Sith deals in Absolutes" is an Absolute, so you must be a Sith, Sith-head.'
I agree. Anakin's turn to the Dark Side was totally unbelievable. One minute, he is struggling with his conscience, the next he's murdering Jedi kids who he personally knows. Completely unrealistic.
You don't know the power of the Dark Side.
I loved the movie. Years ago I stood in line for hours with my children to watch the original SW. My youngest son (now age 29) went with me to see Episode 3 because Mr. TMG didn't want to go. We both thought it was great.
Interesting concept..
Recommend your liberal friends to any dangerous jobs.
I hear ya...
I saw the movie this weekend. I think that people often overanalyze movies, and expected this to be the same.
That bit about only the Sith dealing in absolutes was just kindof stuck in there. It didn't flow with the conversation, it wasn't derivative of the Jedi philosophy...and it was delivered in apparent stiff isolation.
In another scene, Vader crushing the stuff in the room was cool, and then he went to over-the top, bad Frankenstein's monster stuff.
Overall, the movie was visually cool, but every so often, something was just discordant and poorly done, often with apparent political commentary.
The part about "And this is how liberty dies" actually did fit though, despite complaints.
Long long ago there was a union song in a galaxy far far from here...
Look for the union label
when you build a death star cause you killed off your spouse.
Remember somewhere Obiwan is hiding,
His time hes biding, while you crush the rebels, your anger to espouse.
Well, yes you work hard, but whos complaining?
Thanks to the Empire youre paving the way!
So always look for the union label,
It says youre able to kill billions in a dark force way!
'"Only a Sith deals in Absolutes" is an Absolute, so you must be a Sith, Sith-head.'
Pretty funny... But WOW is there some hard-core dork stuff going on there... :-)
He wasn't, and despite the complaints, he didn't. I will concede that the relationship with Palpatine was implied more than revealed, but there are a lot of steps towards his turning.
Who cares? The acting and dialog has been sophomoric in ALL the Star Wars movies. It's a comic book. That's not the point.
It's the special effects, and they were great, as usual. This is the last of this series. All out of order, of course.
Of course I saw it. I enjoyed the circus. And when the boxed set of all six is available, I'll watch all six again, this time in sequence.
What the heck? It's a silly sci-fi movie. Who cares if it's not a masterpiece of film?
Especially considering how small the "discretionary budget" appeared to be under the peace-time Republic, and how large it was becoming once it had been on a war-footing for a while.
I'm a role-player from waaaaaaaay back (I actually understand the 'Dork Tower - Sheep on the Borderlands' reference.....) so I relate to his stuff. It's pretty narrow though - if you're not a gaming geek, or into that culture, I think that most of it would go over your head.
:-)
I like the fact that Vader was still smoking when they put him in his suit.
I agree with this article. It sucked. The acting, all the R2 jokes in the beginning, and i thought the light saber fights were boring.
Chewbacas.
Yeah, that was pretty funny. I looked at quite a few comics and the gaming stuff went right over my head. The Star Wars stuff, though, I could relate to.
Teenagers?
Maybe those kids asked for it!!! I mean kids can tease you to no end and Darth's real name is ANNIE!
You can say that again, he's lighter than a baby Jawa in free fall (probably a little light in the loafers too).
Nice comparision with Shakespeare, avoiding III at all cost and looking forward to Macbeth this summer.
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