![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhienellethIt was fun. We had to stand outside in the (luckily dry) cold for an hour before they let us all into the theater, and there were the expected costumes and mock lightsaber battles. Mark brought his Nintendo DS to pass the time, which garnered us a "friend" very early on who started off by bragging that he's defeated Mario "many times" and ended up asking if he could play, even though "I know I'm a total stranger". Since he got Mark past a level that had been plaguing him, he was forgiven any perceived rudeness. :)
Since Mark read the (truly awful - could they have found a more clunky and inexperienced writer?) book version, we were both already completely spoiled for the movie. But we also didn't know what might have changed, and how certain scenes would come across differently onscreen. As it turns out, Episode III was a much better movie than it was a book. In fact, it is an excellent Star Wars movie.
-- The movie opens up with a fantastic space battle, just ...visually stunning. We see early version of both X-wings and Tie Fighters, and R2 is his usual plucky self.
-- The first half hour of the movie completely rocked my world. Not only for the fight scenes, which are better than anything we've previously seen, but for the character interaction and bits of humor, mostly around R2. It is clear very quickly that Obi-Wan and Anakin have become closer during the war. The easy affection with which they banter and fight side by side is much more like brothers and equals than it is master and student. Essentially, they are brothers, and it shows.
-- Lucas gives us many, many wonderfuls connections to Eps 4, 5, and 6 in this movie. It is part of what makes this movie so much better than Eps 1 or II. When Anakin is fighting Dooku before Palpatine, and Palpatine urges him to kill Dooku, it hearkens back to when he gives Luke the same encouragment against Vader. It adds resonance to that entire scene, and Vader's eventual tur against the Emperor, because we now know that Vader is hearing an echo of the exact manipulations Palpatine used to turn him.
-- When Palpatine tells Anakin to leave Obi-Wan behind, that should have been a big shiny clue that the Chancellor is not the mentor Anakin believes him to be. Ah, well. At least he refuses, and carries Obi-Wan out.
-- Now we get to one of the moments in the movie that made me wince. I had hopes that the dialogue between Padme and Anakin would somehow be better -- or at least bearable -- in this movie. Well, their first scene together is the worst of their dialogue ever! It was like watching a junior high couple: "I love you, Ani." "No, I love you more." "No, I love you more." Ugh. Fortunately, it was over quickly, and future dialoue between the two never reaches that level of horror again.
-- The best part of Palpatine's turning of Anakin was when he actually revealed himself to be a Sith. Anakin is actually horrified by this, threatening to kill Palpatine (who uses this to manipulate him further, of course) and ultimately Anakin goes to the Jedi Council, which is absolutely the right course of action. I don't want to reveal everything, but the ensuing internal struggle Anakin has, and his ultimate choice to betray the Jedi, is very well done.
-- From here, though, Anakin's fall happens with mercurial speed. I know everyone's heard about the destruction of the Jedi and Anakin's killing of the younglings. Basically he goes from struggling with himself, to swearing allegiance to Palpatine, to merciless killer with no second thoughts whatsoever in the space of ten minutes' screen time. It works better than it should, actually, but Lucas still ought to have made the fall more gradual, IMO.
-- Let me pause here to say YODA KICKS ASS! You think his duel with Dooku at the end of AotC was impressive? Well, you haven't seen nothin' yet! He is one badass little green guy. Some of the absolute best lightsaber action ever put on film. I need a Yoda icon. In fact, if I can find any pics from the movie, I'm going to make one today.
-- Also, Obi-Wan kicks ass, too. He's a far more powerful Jedi than he's been given credit for. Anakin, for all his power, is not so far beyond Obi-Wan as he likes to think. I need an Obi-Wan icon as well. :)
-- I should also mention that HC's acting in this one is far better. Gone is the whiny Anakin of the past, and in his place is a more masculine, more dangerous Anakin. You can see the Vader in him, which is something I couldn't say for the last film.
-- Since I've complained about an Anakin/Padme scene, I should also mention that they do have some good scenes together. Usually when they aren't speaking. *sigh* Sad, but true. When Anakin has his first nightmare, and wakes up shaken, his wordless fear is far more compelling than any lines he has later about wanting to save her. I'm starting to believe the fault lies entirely with the direction the actors are receiving, and the lines they're forced to say, rather than with the actors themselves. A second viewing will tell more, I think.
-- I think Obi-Wan knew about Padme's relationship with Anakin all along, and simply kept silent out of love for his friend. He pretty much tells Anakin in not so many words that he knows, and cautions him to be careful. When he tells Padme "Anakin's the father, isn't he?" I don't believe it's the first time this thought has occurred to him, I think things have just reached the point where acting like he doesn't know is pointless.
-- On the final confrontation: I've read several things where people are disappointed in how Obi-Wan just leaves Anakin to basically burn to death. I disagree. By that point, Obi-Wan has seen Anakin committ murder upon all the Jedi, the younglings, and the final straw, I think, was when Anakin almost killed Padme. His friend is not Anakin anymore, he is Darth Vader, and Obi-Wan turning and walking away, leaving him to his fate, is a very male kind of thing to do. As Mark told me later, if he was in war, and his brother betrayed him like that, he'd walk away and leave him to die without even thinking about wasting a bullet on mercy. It's the death he's earned.
Of course, it wasn't really Jedi-like, but it was human.
-- I have issues with Padme's death. We all know what they are. How much would it have cost Lucas to have her live with the Organa's for a few years, slowly wasting away as word of Darth Vader's evil deeds continued to reach her ears. It would have been easy for Palpatine to make Anakin think she was dead, and then it would have made perfect sense to Leia o remember her.
I despise big gaping continuity errors. Ah, well.
-- James Earl Jones did a perfect job of not only being Vader, but expressing Anakin's love and grief for Padme at the same time. So well done.
-- The montage at the end was beautiful, a perfect tie in to the next trilogy. It left out theater silent.
In the end, this was a fantastic Star Wars movie. I'll have to see it a couple of more times to decide where in the order of "best" it fits, but it was damn good either way.
Since Mark read the (truly awful - could they have found a more clunky and inexperienced writer?) book version, we were both already completely spoiled for the movie. But we also didn't know what might have changed, and how certain scenes would come across differently onscreen. As it turns out, Episode III was a much better movie than it was a book. In fact, it is an excellent Star Wars movie.
-- The movie opens up with a fantastic space battle, just ...visually stunning. We see early version of both X-wings and Tie Fighters, and R2 is his usual plucky self.
-- The first half hour of the movie completely rocked my world. Not only for the fight scenes, which are better than anything we've previously seen, but for the character interaction and bits of humor, mostly around R2. It is clear very quickly that Obi-Wan and Anakin have become closer during the war. The easy affection with which they banter and fight side by side is much more like brothers and equals than it is master and student. Essentially, they are brothers, and it shows.
-- Lucas gives us many, many wonderfuls connections to Eps 4, 5, and 6 in this movie. It is part of what makes this movie so much better than Eps 1 or II. When Anakin is fighting Dooku before Palpatine, and Palpatine urges him to kill Dooku, it hearkens back to when he gives Luke the same encouragment against Vader. It adds resonance to that entire scene, and Vader's eventual tur against the Emperor, because we now know that Vader is hearing an echo of the exact manipulations Palpatine used to turn him.
-- When Palpatine tells Anakin to leave Obi-Wan behind, that should have been a big shiny clue that the Chancellor is not the mentor Anakin believes him to be. Ah, well. At least he refuses, and carries Obi-Wan out.
-- Now we get to one of the moments in the movie that made me wince. I had hopes that the dialogue between Padme and Anakin would somehow be better -- or at least bearable -- in this movie. Well, their first scene together is the worst of their dialogue ever! It was like watching a junior high couple: "I love you, Ani." "No, I love you more." "No, I love you more." Ugh. Fortunately, it was over quickly, and future dialoue between the two never reaches that level of horror again.
-- The best part of Palpatine's turning of Anakin was when he actually revealed himself to be a Sith. Anakin is actually horrified by this, threatening to kill Palpatine (who uses this to manipulate him further, of course) and ultimately Anakin goes to the Jedi Council, which is absolutely the right course of action. I don't want to reveal everything, but the ensuing internal struggle Anakin has, and his ultimate choice to betray the Jedi, is very well done.
-- From here, though, Anakin's fall happens with mercurial speed. I know everyone's heard about the destruction of the Jedi and Anakin's killing of the younglings. Basically he goes from struggling with himself, to swearing allegiance to Palpatine, to merciless killer with no second thoughts whatsoever in the space of ten minutes' screen time. It works better than it should, actually, but Lucas still ought to have made the fall more gradual, IMO.
-- Let me pause here to say YODA KICKS ASS! You think his duel with Dooku at the end of AotC was impressive? Well, you haven't seen nothin' yet! He is one badass little green guy. Some of the absolute best lightsaber action ever put on film. I need a Yoda icon. In fact, if I can find any pics from the movie, I'm going to make one today.
-- Also, Obi-Wan kicks ass, too. He's a far more powerful Jedi than he's been given credit for. Anakin, for all his power, is not so far beyond Obi-Wan as he likes to think. I need an Obi-Wan icon as well. :)
-- I should also mention that HC's acting in this one is far better. Gone is the whiny Anakin of the past, and in his place is a more masculine, more dangerous Anakin. You can see the Vader in him, which is something I couldn't say for the last film.
-- Since I've complained about an Anakin/Padme scene, I should also mention that they do have some good scenes together. Usually when they aren't speaking. *sigh* Sad, but true. When Anakin has his first nightmare, and wakes up shaken, his wordless fear is far more compelling than any lines he has later about wanting to save her. I'm starting to believe the fault lies entirely with the direction the actors are receiving, and the lines they're forced to say, rather than with the actors themselves. A second viewing will tell more, I think.
-- I think Obi-Wan knew about Padme's relationship with Anakin all along, and simply kept silent out of love for his friend. He pretty much tells Anakin in not so many words that he knows, and cautions him to be careful. When he tells Padme "Anakin's the father, isn't he?" I don't believe it's the first time this thought has occurred to him, I think things have just reached the point where acting like he doesn't know is pointless.
-- On the final confrontation: I've read several things where people are disappointed in how Obi-Wan just leaves Anakin to basically burn to death. I disagree. By that point, Obi-Wan has seen Anakin committ murder upon all the Jedi, the younglings, and the final straw, I think, was when Anakin almost killed Padme. His friend is not Anakin anymore, he is Darth Vader, and Obi-Wan turning and walking away, leaving him to his fate, is a very male kind of thing to do. As Mark told me later, if he was in war, and his brother betrayed him like that, he'd walk away and leave him to die without even thinking about wasting a bullet on mercy. It's the death he's earned.
Of course, it wasn't really Jedi-like, but it was human.
-- I have issues with Padme's death. We all know what they are. How much would it have cost Lucas to have her live with the Organa's for a few years, slowly wasting away as word of Darth Vader's evil deeds continued to reach her ears. It would have been easy for Palpatine to make Anakin think she was dead, and then it would have made perfect sense to Leia o remember her.
I despise big gaping continuity errors. Ah, well.
-- James Earl Jones did a perfect job of not only being Vader, but expressing Anakin's love and grief for Padme at the same time. So well done.
-- The montage at the end was beautiful, a perfect tie in to the next trilogy. It left out theater silent.
In the end, this was a fantastic Star Wars movie. I'll have to see it a couple of more times to decide where in the order of "best" it fits, but it was damn good either way.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-05-20 03:10 am (UTC)I agree...fantastic movie! I can't wait to see it again. I just will have to hold my stomache at the lines: 'Hold me Ani, like you did down by lake whatchamacalit.'
Baaaarf!
I really loved the scene where they were silent and looking across the city at one another. Very moving. And yes, good because they weren't talking to one another! ;)
But yeah....it was good! Yoda ROCKS!
I can't wait to see it again, hopefully this time w/o kicking the seat 9 year ol boys and a woman that CRIED loudly when Padme was giving birth and dying. Aiiyiyiiiii!
But we were second row middle where we love to be, so we sucked up all the other stuff that comes with seein a flick with a bunch of humans and dressed up people!
The big beni to that was when the Lucasfilm logo came on all of us erupted into spontanious applause, and it ended the same way. Very cool. :) Deb
no subject
Date: 2005-05-20 04:43 am (UTC)Dear God yes...I was giggling insanely during that scene, turned to my neighbor and whimpered "No, you hang up first!", to which I received a shushing...and a chuckle :)
-- I have issues with Padme's death. We all know what they are. How much would it have cost Lucas to have her live with the Organa's for a few years, slowly wasting away as word of Darth Vader's evil deeds continued to reach her ears. It would have been easy for Palpatine to make Anakin think she was dead, and then it would have made perfect sense to Leia o remember her.
AGREE! Padme a) was too strong a character to go "Oh, Anakin's gone...guess I'd better die" and b) didn't even TOUCH Leia! So why did Leia have memories of mommy and not Luke?! Tres annoyed by that...
And yes, Yoda received standing ovations in our theatre. He. Is. So. Cool.