Posted: 05/30/2005

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

(2005)

by Hank Yuloff

Star Wars fans come in all types: The Uber-Geeks who know what the Clone Wars series are. They can tell what musical passages tie in to other parts of the series. They understand Wookie. They have a costume. Or two.

The Serious Fans have seen all of the movies many times, and didn’t have to just re-watch the previous 5 to remember what happened in all of them because they see them every month anyway. They may or may not have a costume. They still consider “May the Force Be With You” to be a deeply spiritual thing to share with a friend (instead of sex).

The Fans (here I am) have seen all of the movies (most on opening night or weekend) and the only part of the costume they may have (thanks now to a couple of friends) are the light saber and Darth Vader’s mask - which is NOT a sure fire way to get the ladies, by the way. This review is written from the point of view of The Fan.

Their only real burning questions for this movie are 1) What is the true order of the movies, 2) How does the transition from Anikan to Vader take place, and 3) Do we have to be subjected to Jar Jar Binks again?

Going in reverse order:

3) NO! (well, only for a brief moment, but without words)

2) Very well. But the sequence of “transition” takes only a few minutes of screen time and after over 25 years of waiting to answer that quarter century old question of “How did he become such an evil being?” I would have liked a bit more. The best answer I can give you without revealing any of the serious stuff is that he turns because of his relationship with PadMe (Natalie Portman). Jimmy Buffet is right, it always is the woman’s fault.

1) Starting three years ago, I reread the Lord of the Rings trilogy before each movie because I wanted to be able to pick up all the details in the films. It helped. Likewise with Star Wars, I wanted the experience to be fresh when I saw this final part of the series so a couple of weeks ago, a bunch of us gathered and screened them in order of release. While it is not completely necessary to do, it is something I recommend when all six of them are out on video/DVD. But screen them in the order of 456123, NOT 123456. Why? Do you really want to spend what will then be over 13 hours on the couch to see the ghosts of Obi-Wan Kenobe, Anikan (pre-Darth), and Yoda celebrating with the little mini-wookie Ewok creatures on Endor? I think not. The pay off just is not there. So the actual order is 4-5-6-1-2-3, not 1-2-3-4-5-6. Uber-geeks may disagree and send 12 page notes to the web site siting why I am wrong…. But I am not interested, thanks.

So is Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith a good movie? Does it really matter? You are going to go see it because it is AN EVENT movie. Like Lord of the Rings, Titanic, the original Star Wars (episode 4), Forrest Gump, Toy Story to name a few, SWE III R.O.T.S. has been looked forward to since we found out that Darth Vader was Luke’s father (sorry for the plot info), leading to the above question 2.

But it IS a good movie. If you look at them as a marathon, then #1 and #2 were just saving energy towards the strong finish. It is the movie that all the others have been bringing you to witness. The big pay off. It may even satisfy the extreme fans (read that: those uber-geeks-with-no-life who have been sitting in front of the WRONG theater) who pick the movies apart by using the scripts they bought at Star Wars conventions. Director George Lucas did a masterful job. Technically, it is perfection. It is almost impossible to tell where the backgrounds end and the real actors begin. Sometimes, I wish the real actors didn’t exist. Hayden Christensen, while excellent in Life as a House, is so completely wooden you should protect him from termites. I was almost relieved to finally have that helmet on him so I could listen to James Earl Jones once the transition is complete. At the other extreme, Ewan McGregor (Big Fish, Moulon Rouge) does a completely perfect impression of Alec Guinness in playing Obi-Wan. The thing you have to remember while watching it is that the Star Wars series are designed to play like a comic book. The dialogue is not always “deep” but is intended to bridge us from battle scene to battle scene.

My feelings are that it ended too quickly. There is a lot to set up episode four and I felt like we were rushed in the last 10 minutes to set it all up and tie up the loose ends. We see how the twins are separated and where they end up. And how Vader didn’t know he had two children. We see the beginnings of the Death Star (it took a long time to build that thing).

There are many references (actual and imagined) to other movies. For example, the building of the Frankenstein monster vis-a-vis Vader coming off the assembly table. There is a brief shot of what looked like the Millennium Falcon. And if you are willing to let your mind do the comparisons, you will see Indiana Jones and The Terminator. It is interesting that if you allowed yourself to lay the current political situation on top of this story, you could draw some very dangerous conclusions. The best quote by Padme: “So this is how Liberty dies, to applause.”

I hope this isn’t the termination of this series. I came out fully expecting to hear an announcement of episodes 7-8-9. Come on George, Go for the next billion and write ‘em.

I guess the only question I have left is: What happened to Captain Kirk in this episode?

Hank Yuloff is our senior L.A. staffer.

Got a problem? E-mail us at filmmonthly@gmail.com