Episode III Review (spoilers, sort of)

[Worf101]

I find your lack of faith disturbing

Hell, I find the comments here about the movie, more entertaining than the film itself... LOL... thanks, I needed a good laugh this morning...

Da Worfster

[Woochifer]

Alright, I caught Sith over the weekend, and I will say that it's definitely the best of the prequel trilogy. I know, it doesn't take much to top the first two installments, but at least it raises the bar enough to be mentioned with the original trilogy. Right now, I'd slot it right behind Star Wars and Empire, probably about on par with Jedi, which is actually saying a lot because I don't agree with a lot of the flak that's been thrown at Jedi in recent years.

It's fashionable right now to take shots at Jedi, but without that installment, Empire would not be nearly as well regarded as it currently is. I remember the huge letdown I felt when I saw Empire the first time at the theater, because basically the movie continued a lot of plot threads and added plenty of emotional depth to the story, but resolved nothing. Without Jedi, Empire would not have attained such a lofty status now that everyone's looking back on the original trilogy in hindsight.

Anyway, back Sith -- I thought that the narrative was much tighter and focused this time around. Even though this is the big payoff for everything that's been building through Episodes I and II, a movie like this is hard to pull off, because EVERYBODY knows how it ends. But, I'll give Lucas credit for creating a more compelling story this time (I guess with the Anakin/Obi-Wan split and the birth of Luke and Leia in the storyline, it's got a built in advantage) and moving things along at a brisk pace. Unfortunately, the dialog was as painful to listen to as ever, and the acting was stilted and wooden (don't blame the actors because all of them have done better in other movies, so the blame probably goes to Lucas, who seems to like green screens more than live actors).

The battle scenes were spectacular, and the story of Anakin going to the dark side was pretty compelling, especially when Obi-Wan had to take him on. Some nitpicks about the seeming incompetence of the Jedi to figure out what was going on (didn't anyone see Episode II with the Empire theme playing and the camera focused on Palpatine? sheesh!), and the story with Padme and Anakin was again very weak.

Basically, this movie was good, but frustrating at times because of what it could have been with a better script doctor and better tension during the live interactions. Altogether, it tied together the two trilogies pretty effectively, and stood very well on its own. Watching this movie, it also unfortunately highlights how much could have been hacked off of the first two prequels.

[kexodusc]

Yeah, Wooch, I think we all would have liked to have seen some better dialogue...but this has been the biggest (and easiest) complaint of all the Star Wars movies. There shouldn't have been any surprises...for the record the dialogue in this was as good as any of them, with the exception of the pukey 12 second I love you because you're beautiful scene.
But the Palpatine/Anakin Obi/Anakin dialogue was as good as Lucas has ever been. Man that Palpatine is one greasy bastard.

I think Ep II would have been a lot better if Anakin wasn't such a whiny little boy in his acting, and had the more dastardly look Hayden Christianson wore this time around. And Ep I could have been better in a lot of ways - more Darth Maul, less Jar Jar and pod-racing - older, less cuddly kid, etc.

I put it right up there with Empire IMO. Ep I and Ep IV are tied for the worst (the original wasn't that great).

I haven't got a clue why Jedi is being bashed so much recently. Are people back to complaining about the Ewoks again?

[paul_pci]

Has anyone talked about how ironic it is that Lucas asserts absolute control over making these prequels about a plot-line that villifies absolute political control of that galaxy? Is he just that dense? I think the same political disasters that occur from not engaging in debate or not considering other side/points of view has produced the same cinematic disaster in these three prequels. Had there been more collaborative work on the script, plot lines, acting, special effects, I think these movies, as others have suggested, would have come out much better.

Oh, for the record, I really liked Ep. III.

[eisforelectronic]

I saw it again today.

Ewoks suck!