Star Wars Episode 3 Review (SPOILER ALERT)
As reported last week, Yvonne, Tony, & I went to see the new Star Wars movie on Friday. I bought the tickets on the internet on Wednesday so we had no lines to wait in for that. We got there 45 mins before the movie started so the line into the theater wasn't bad. It was much longer when the theater opened 25 mins before the movie. We had excellent seats 3 rows up from the floor (stadium seating) and right in the middle. The theater was crowded, but not bad. Gurnee Cinema had excellent sound and picture and we had no problems with any people or the theater at all.
Do not continue reading if you haven't seen the movie and don't want any movie info spoiled!
I liked the movie. The ship battle at the beginning was excellent, though I would have liked it to be longer. You see what the jedi are doing, but the clone ships were almost thrown in as an afterthought. The comic relief with R2 was damn funny. The audience was cracking up with that. The lightsaber battle with Dooku was excellent but I do have a hard time suspending my belief that an 80 year old actor can do the acrobatic, flipping moves that Dooku does. I would have liked it better if he fought more like Obi-Wan did in Episode 4. The part where Anakin lops off Dooku's head was great. He seemed very conflicted, esp with Palpatine egging him on. This first scene with General Grievous was excellent. He takes the "Bad Guy commander who doesn't give a shit about his subordinates" role to heart. It was excellent. I liked his getaway as well.
Now, the middle of the movie was both good and bad. It was a lot of story and not a lot of action. Now, that is good in some ways and bad in others. The story is an important part of the whole movie, but the acting could have been improved. Some people did a rather good job: Palpatine, Obi-Wan (getting much better), Jar Jar (only one line, that's excellent). I thought Anakin in the story parts could have used some acting help. He still seemed very wooden. i know he's supposed to be dark, brooding, moody. However, it just wasn't doing it for me. Once he did turn to the dark side, his acting greatly improved. I think he played Darth Vader excellently.
The 4 battles at the end were great. Obi-Wan vs. Grievous was fantastic. An excellent example of a good computer-generated character. I was worried about how good Grievous would be portrayed but he fit right in. Palpatine vs. Mace was excellent. Anakin jumping in to help finish off Mace was fitting. A good scene indeed. I had the same problem with Yoda vs. Palpatine that I did with Dooku. Too old to be jumping around like that. I liked the Emperor in Episode 6 where he just sat in his chair, cackled evil-ly, and shot lightning at Luke. Finally, the Anakin Vs. Obi-Wan fight was fantastic. Pretty much what I expected.
Overall, I liked the movie. It is an excellent tie in for the two series. While not perfect, it didn't suck either. In my list of favorite Star Wars movies, it goes right in the middle. Better than any other prequel, not as good as the first three.
posted by Philip Young @ 9:10 AM
3 Comments:
Glad to hear you liked it. I saw it Monday and thought it was pretty well done.
Couple points:
I missed George Lucas' cameo at the opera house.
Did Jar Jar HAVE a line?
I rank this one a little higher than ROTJ. I just don't appreciate the Ewoks. In Episode order: 5-4-3-6-2-1.
In Eps III, I was a little irritated with seeing so many little tie-ups of issues leading into IV. I have my own ideas about why the scenes were included, but I would have enjoyed it MUCH more if we didn't see Bail Organa coming home with Leia and Obi-Wan delivering Luke to Beru Lars. Without the Tattooine scene, for example, within the structure of the serial, Luke's delivery to Beru and Owen isn't revealed until Eps IV, leaving the viewer to make the connection on his/her own. Lucas tied up everything too cleanly as lead ins to the next film.
I liked the reveals of the Force concepts of the virgin birth and presence, if not life, beyond death.
Other than getting Yoda off of Coruscant, was there any plot purpose to the scenes on Kashyyyk? I missed something along the way. Don't forget to spell Wookiee accurately.
I also thought the final Obi-Wan/Anakin duel was particularly well done. The pause in the action while they're floating along on their separate "rafts" reminded me of the break in the action when Maul fought Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. It produced a great opprtunity during the action to build tension. Very cool.
Last bit of complaint - I would have liked just a little more time with the post-armor Vader - more rampaging in response to the news of Padme's death while the Emporor gets juiced with Vader's anger, etc. I was disappointed with the clenched-fisted "NO!" cry.
I forgot to look for George's cameo at the opera. I plan on seeing it again, maybe at the digital theater in Schaumburg. I'll look for him then.
Jar Jar had no lines in the book that I can remember. When Anakin was done talking with the senators after the crash, Jar Jar said excuse me when he stepped into someone.
I rate this one as the best of the prequels but not as good as any of the originals. 5-4-6-3-2-1. The ewoks didn't bother me that much. I just have a hard time believing they did as well as they did against "an entire legion of my best troops" as the emperor puts it. Yes, they didn't win without some trickery but still. Hard to believe.
I think the tie-ups were important for a couple of reasons. One, I think that George thinks that many people would have been unhappy if the tieups weren't there. Second, I think the trilogy is best when watching 4-5-6 first, then 1-2-3. They were written to be prequels, and as such the tie-ins fit nicely. Yes, if someone never watched any of them and then watched them in order, it would be obvious who Luke's father is. It would make parts of 4-5-6 not anywhere near as good since you already know things.
I saw no point to the scenes on Kashyyyk. In fact, in the book there were no scenes on Kashyyyk. I think they just did that to add a little bit more action in the movie. Besides, people like Wookiees.
The Anakin/Obi-Wan fight (really the Darth Vader/Obi-Wan fight) was excellent. At first, i didn't like the break mostly because I didn't like the floating platform idea. But it was a very cool scene overall.
Yes, I would have liked to have seen more "armored vader" as well. I do like that Vader is not told of the children's birth so he doesn't know until he heard of Luke 20 years from then.
There were a couple of good one-liners that were in the book but not in the movie that I would have liked to seen:
1. In the movie when Obi-Wan is getting ready to fight Grevious, Grevious says that Count Dooku trained him in the Jedi Arts. Not in the movie: Obi-Wan counters by saying he trained the person who killed Count Dooku.
2. In the movie Obi-Wan drops his lightsaber while battling Grevious. Commander Cody picks up the lightsaber. Later, he gives it back to Obi-Wan right before getting the Order 66 message. In the book, when he gets the order, he sighs. The emperor asks him if there is a problem. He says "No, I just wish you would have told me before I gave him his lightsaber back."
I think the book lines are great! And you're right, it's the Vader/Obi-Wan duel. I just need to keep repeating to myself "Vader does not equal armor. Vader does not equal armor."
You're right, of course, that knowledge of the Skywalker family tree changes the dynamic of Eps 4-6. Instead of "who are these people?", it becomes "when will the truth be revealed?" And that works for both sides.
Whether you watch 'em 4-3 or 1-6, we'll keep watching 'em, eh?
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