Obligatory Revenge of the Sith Review
I think we can all agree that nobody needs another online review of Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith.
So here’s mine: I thought it was great.
Now, I’m no drooling fan-boy. When I first saw The Phantom Menace, I was a little underwhelmed. Jar Jar aside (and he really didn’t bother me much), it was lacking the swash-buckling charm of Star Wars. In other words, there was no Harrison Ford on set fixing Lucas’ dialog. It felt like it was missing a third act. Overall, though, it wasn’t nearly as bad as many claim. Those who were most upset about Jar Jar’s childish antics spoiling their serious science-fiction movie are mostly in denial about their well-worn Ewok pillow-cases.
2002’s Attack of the Clones was more coherent, more action-packed, and having a central character that wasn’t a 10-year-old boy certainly helped; but despite Lucas’ claims that “it’s all about the pictures”, when the pictures are interspersed with painful dialog delivered by actors we all know to be more talented than the material it isn’t that satisfying, is it?
This time around the acting is much improved, and where The Phantom Menace suffered from endless exposition (”trade blockades”? “taxation of trade routes”?), in Revenge of the Sith it’s no more than is necessary and it actually serves to convincingly explain Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side. Ian MacDiarmid’s pivotal performance struck just the right tone and powerfully echoed his work more than 20 years ago in Return of the Jedi.
Minor Quibbles:
While the special effects were stunning overall, I’m still not completely won over by the digital Yoda. It’s not his performance I find objectionable; it’s the lighting. He rarely matches the environment he’s being composited into, and it derails those shots. Perhaps Yoda has his own personal bounce-card to improve his lighting… It’s as if someone felt it was more important that we be able to fully appreciate his whispy CG hair than for him to actually look like he was simply filmed alongside the actors on-set. I’d like the puppet back for the close-ups, please.
And backwards-talking Yoda may be, but to a distracting extreme has it been taken. In Empire it was quaint and used judiciously. It’s not just that the novelty’s gone; it’s gotten a bit silly.
Palpatine uses the m-word (midichlorians). First rule of myth-making? Don’t explain it away with a pseudo-biology term. “The Force? Oh, that’s just midichlorians…”
From the trailers, you could be forgiven if you’d gotten the impression that the Wookiees played a significant role in the movie. Or some role, even. You’d be wrong. I think cameo would be the appropriate term. Chewie gets more screen-time in the Burger King commericals.
I thought Anakin went from “What have I done?” to “where do I sign up for indentured servitude?” too quickly. And he went from toasted marshmallow to Dark Knight in shining armour too quickly, too. Considering that it took nearly six hours of build-up, another minute or two on the actual fall to the dark side (psychological and physical) might have been in order.
With this list of issues, you’d get the impression that I didn’t like the film. I did; I think it’s the strongest entry in the saga since The Empire Strikes Back.
I’m sure some of these things will be fixed on the DVD. But what do I know? I’m just criticizing from the cheap seats.
