Every site on the web is now reviewing Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith. I saw it last night at 12:40am with Bruce Q. As I have nothing huge to add to the deluge of reviews, I’ll keep this simple.
No spoilers follow.
- Better than Episodes I, II or VI. Not better than Episodes IV or V.
- George Lucas can direct, but an untrained baboon could write better dialog.
- My friend Mark’s advice to me was spot on. “Try to sleep through the love scenes.”
- Almost as dark as Empire Strikes Back. Almost as good, too. Coincidence?
- General Grievous is very cool. His name is not. Neither are “Darth Sidious” or “Darth Vader” or any other contrived names. Come on. And “Commander Cody?” What the FUNTH? I heard that name and wondered when the Lost Planet Airmen would show up.
- Ian McDiarmid, thank you for the great acting. Ewan McGregor, you do a pretty good job considering the material you’re handed. Hayden Christensen, I … never mind.
- ILM get better and better. Amazing SFX.
- Yoda kicks ass. My favorite Star Wars universe character. Kinda like a small, green Jet Li crossed with Buddha and given funny ears.
In all, an enjoyable movie. Better than its predecessors in many ways, worse in some others. But watching Anakin succumb to the Dark Side is a lovely denoument to a 28 year ride I began at age 12. That summer of ’77 I will always remember as my Star Wars summer. I was at just the right age to be wholly captivated by it. It became a parallel universe for me, as it did to many my age. And looking around the theater last night, I realized that fully 90% of the patrons were not even alive in 1977. A testament to the enduring appeal of Lucas’ vision.
And, oddly, in 1977 we all came away from A New Hope hating Darth Vader. He was a great and eminently loathesome villian. But, it now turns out that the Star Wars saga is entirely about Vader. His rise, his fall, his redemption. The character we all saw as antagonist in the first movie (which he was) turns out to be the protagonist when viewed in the context of the whole. Interesting.