My Take on Episode III

May Contain Spoilers and Peanuts

Okay. Chances are, you've been reading the reviews flitting about JU on Revenge of the Sith. You've heard some good things, and some bad things. Well, I forgot every single last one of those articles, and then went to see the movie. So, here is what I thought of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

Now, the opening sequence was amazing. I think just about everyone, like the movie or not, can agree on that. I was a bit partial towards the General Grievous character; he was just cool. Wish he was in more of the movies. Now, I haven't seen the Clone War series, but I have heard about them and know what I need to know to understand some stuff (for example, what's going on at the beginning, why Grievous is coughing, etc.). And that bit with R2-D2 wasn't bad either.

Of course, then we have the beginning of Palpatine's manipulation, when he tells Anakin to kill Dooku. I thought that was well done, how he has clear conflict about the situation, and the fear in Dooku's eyes. I'll be the first to admit (well, not admit so much as rant about it whenever I full-fledge review the movie) that Anakin was not played well at all. But he did an adequate job throughout the movie, and the Dooku scenes was a rare moment of good acting. Padme, however, was barely played adequately, if at all. The "thunderous applause" line could have been said with so much more feeling.

Then, of course, we have how Palpatine slowly manipulates Anakin. Some here say that it was stupid and quick, but I disagree. You have to keep in mind that Palpatine knows the consequence of just about every action; he knew that the Jedi would not make him a master, and he knew that would upset Anakin. He's able to play on Anakin's fears and emotions until he really, truly thinks the Jedi are evil.

I just have to go off on a sidenote here about the way Palpatine looked. I mean, I'm glad they explained why he's so deformed in Episodes V and VI (he isn't in IV; go watch it if you don't believe me), and he looked cool in those. But here, they made his face look like a frog! How did they manage to make Palpatine's cool face look so bad? My friend and I ruined that scene for whoever was behind us, because we kept making fun of how terrible he looked.

The battles are great in the movie. My two personal favorites: Yoda vs. Palpatine and Obi-Wan vs. Grievous (Anakin vs. Obi-Wan was good and all, but these two were just better). Anyway, I'm kind of rambling, so synopsis: great fights, special effects awesome, acting iffy for two, storyline good. Now I just need to know why Yoda is on Dagobah...

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I made sure not to read any articles about Ep III until I'd seen it. Well, this last weekend, me and my wife went to a matinee.

I loved all the parts I figured I would; the new ships, fighters, droids and alien "extras" were all as impressively imaginative as I'd hoped. The fight scenes were a little too cartoonish, but they were all still exciting enough so I'll agree with your there. I loved the physical transitions Anikin went through. Just having him turn to the dark side would have worked, but watching the countenance of the dark side overcome him was great. It went far towards making up for Hayden Christiansen's lack of acting ability.

The parts I knew I wouldn't like, didn't disappoint. They were as pathetic as I'd feared. The "love" scene on the balcony HAS TO GO! Sorry George Lucas, but there is no way you can work the word "Naboo" into a romantic line, especially when the rest of the dialogue is so weak. But we expected weak dialogue now didn't we. To me the only part of Anikin's transition to the dark side that was "abrupt" was the whiplash inspiring turn from Anikin screaming out, "What have I done!" to then kneeling at his new master's feet. Anikin was always messing up, but every time he did, he apologized and promised to do better next time. Just acknowledging his crime and then diving in with both feet didnt' seem to track with the character.

Overall, I really liked it a lot.

It's also fun to watch the 4, 5 & 6, with the whole story behind the "prequels". It's hard to watch them the same way now... which is not really a bad thing.

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Just acknowledging his crime and then diving in with both feet didnt' seem to track with the character.

That's true. I can partially see it, as Anakin did think, at that point, that the Jedi were evil, but it is a long stretch from regretting killing one of your former masters then pledging to help eradicate the rest.

I didn't mention anything about how bad the "love" scenes were because anyone who has seen Episode II would already naturally assume they were bad.

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I think by the time Anakin had killed Mace (or at least cut off his hand so Sideous could beat him) he had just stepped too far over to the dark side and couldn't go back.

Their is also a theory that Darth Sideous was partially controlling him with a sort of Sith mind trick. He already wanted to believe he was doing the right thing anyway and so it wasn't that far for him to go to turn completely.

Even if you can't swallow the Sith mind trick theory I think Anakin had to now justify his actions to himself by finishing what he had started - better than feeling guilty and easier than making up for what had done. Part of the lure of the darkside is that it means taking the easy path, at least in the sense you get to go with what you desire, in his case saving Padme.

It should be remembered that he wasn't just turned in ROTS but rather he had been on the dark path since childhood. Though Yoda and Mace, Obiwan etc. tried to be optimistic about him due to the prophesy they knew he was at risk all along.

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