I talk about Episode III

Sunday, May 22, 2005 » movies thought

(Possible spoilers.)

The harder I try to come up with an opinion on Revenge of the Sith, the more I wonder if I really only went to see it for the same reason I saw The Matrix Revolutions—for completion's sake. I blame the incredible badditude of Episodes I & II for destroying any idea I had of what quality I can expect from a Star Wars film.

On one hand, I'm leaning towards saying Episode III was good, since I found myself actually invested in the characters, hoping that maybe Anakin could stop himself from turning completely to the dark side, or that maybe Mace Windu or Yoda would finish off the Emperor right then and there, even though I knew none of that would be happening. The whole Jedi betrayal montage was also quite powerful. On the action-y side of things, the lightsaber duels did not disappoint, although Phantom Menace's final battle remains my favorite of the films.

Still, I think back to the original trilogy and remember when characters delivered amusing, natural dialogue, and wonder what happened. Almost every scene between Anakin and Padmé was embarrassing to watch. Even Obi-Wan's final lines to Anakin, while truly emotional, sounded like Lucas was just sticking in trite quotes to make the scene extra-tragic. And is it just my mind going, or did Yoda at least have some lines in the original trilogy that didn't use his goofy syntax?

For now, I'll give it a B, with the points lost for dialogue and clunky editing redeemed by all the scenes of Obi-Wan Kenobi lightsabering things up.

(Post-script: Speaking of Obi-Wan and said lightsabering, what was the deal with General Grievous? According to Lucas, he was supposed to be this terrifying überdroid (sorry) of doom, and instead he comes off as a hobbling, wheezing robohorse. When he pulled out the four lightsabers I was like, oh man, Obi-Wan has no chance. Then, a few moments later, two of Grievous's hands are on the floor. What?)