Revenge of the Sith

Audience of One is the weblog of Matthew Weston, a UK student, Christian, technophile and musician.

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Before seeing this film I predicted that it’d be worth seeing, that everyone would be acting a lot better and the script would, on the whole, sound natural. The first time I saw the film, that was pretty much the case. There were a few niggling things about it, but on the whole it was a much better film than the previous ones. I looked forward to going back and just enjoying it, not having to critically analyse it to see if George Lucas had wrecked it. He hadn’t. This is the film that Star Wars fans were hoping for, almost without flaw. (As I said before, the first films had flaws as well so that’s not a problem.)

If you haven’t seen the film yet, I’d advise you to stop reading now and go see it – firstly because it’s an excellent film, secondly because you won’t understand what I’m on about, and thirdly because I’ll give away the entire plot to you.

Christensen can act. Anakin Skywalker is excellent, and his fall will be used by Star Wars savvy youth leaders as a visual aid for decades to come. Critics weren’t sure that his “lean face forward and stare angrily over the top of your non-existant glasses” look was “Dark Side” enough – to me it showed that the fall to evil was all inside. (Hey, just like sin – you can see what I mean about a visual aid…) Portman as Padmé was also very good – it’s just unfortunate that she had to die of a broken heart (I mean, does any otherwise healthy twenty-something ever die of a broken heart?). The hair style hinting at Leia was quite interesting, if unexplainable (I’m pretty sure style isn’t genetic) and her clothes finally stopped changing as much (and became more sensible). R2D2 rocks, and C3PO has just enough lines to keep his fans happy and just few enough not to annoy me. Jar Jar Binks had one line that I noticed – he apologised after treading on someone’s foot. Luckily it happened so quickly I only just noticed it on the second viewing – not perfect, but it’ll do.

Dialogue which appeared cheesy the first time round seemed much less so on the second viewing – in fact, I didn’t feel the script was let down by that at all. In fact, having seen it a second time I find it hard to think of anything particularly bad about it. The lightsaber fights were incredible – no surprises there. I think it ranks up with the original trilogy, as Return of the Jedi, while good, was let down far more by the Ewoks than any of the tiny niggles from this film (what is the point of having a robot fly past in the middle of the final duel, just as if to distract you?). The Ewoks are like the Wookiees done wrong – cute, tiny and annoying. Fitting in Chewbacca to this film was good, as was the mention of Captain Antilles. I’m guessing it’s his son we meet in the original trilogy.

So, thank goodness for that. Lucas has redeemed himself. And hey! it’s study leave next week – we can watch the DVDs of the original trilogy! Sweet.

Matthew @ 15:13, May 22, 2005 to Reviews | Comments (8)

Comments:

Rory

I loved this movie. But my comments – the negative ones. The positive ones I will give later, if I remember them all.

In Episode 6, Leia says she can remember her mother – how is this possible, if Padme died in childbirth? Then again, Leia could just be talking about the Queen of Alderaan. Obi-Wan calls his droid in the first scene “R4”, when it is clearly an R2 unit. R4 units are like the red one that exploded in Episode 4. The dialogue in the first 10 minutes was off. Portman’s acting was also occasionally off. The lightsabre fights often used “gimmicks” – e.g. General Greivous. R2 in general was too gracful. I hated him flying in Ep 2, and when he killed the droids, and his juggling of the com-link… man, that really annoyed me. I’m a purist. But I still really enjoyed the film.

Comment added at 02:38, May 23, 2005

Matthew

We always knew there’d be a problem with Leia’s statement – I guess we assume she means her adopted mother, as at the point she mentions it I’m not sure she knows that she’s adopted. Obi-Wan’s droid in Ep 2 is an R4 unit yet looks just like a red version of R2D2 – never knew exactly what the difference was anyway. I thought the first bits of dialogue were almost a return to some of the banter from the first trilogy, and as such I liked it. As for R2’s flying etc. I guess we differ on this – I personally (as someone who would consider himself a purist) thought it was a good decision I never would have thought up.

Bring on the 6-film DVD box set I say. I’ll start saving up right away… And time for your positive comments, methinks, unless you have things to say about my reply :)

Comment added at 09:20, May 23, 2005

Sparticus

I still want to know why Obi-wan doesn’t recognise R2 and C3P0. Although wiping c3po’s brain makes sense, and R2’s snigger when he does is one of the best bits of the film (maybe).

The Jedi dying was handled well, although you think they could have put up a bit more of a fight.

(Oh yeah, your stylesheet fails in Safari, it doesn’t load)

Comment added at 12:05, May 23, 2005

Matthew

Somewhat of a surprise – using iCapture the site looked fine… it’s probably the new version of Safari. I’ll check the code.

As for Obi-Wan, I reckon he does recognise the droids, but doesn’t want to say anything because that would lead to even more questions from Luke. Maybe.

Comment added at 19:37, May 23, 2005

Rory

This site has never looked good in Safari. Ever. I watched Ep 4 recently, and he does have a quizzical look on his face when he sees the droids (as if to say “oh no, not again”). R2 units look like R2D2. R3 units are the same, but with transparent domes (one of the Gold Squad members in Ep 4 has an R3). R4 units have bulkier, non-dome-shaped tops. As for Padme’s hair like Leia – it’s just the fashion changing with the times ;-) Some of my positive comments include the whole “feel” of the film, the way Anakin had to make an important decision while Palpatine used his lightning (just like in Ep 6), the references to the older films (like Wedge’s father etc), and the diversity and fantasticalness of the worlds shown.

Comment added at 20:10, May 25, 2005

Sheepie

Perhaps R4 is an R2 unit whose full name is R2-R4.

Comment added at 21:46, May 25, 2005

Julie B.

Oh, man. We went to see different films, Matthew. I saw it this weekend.

I thought it was barely better than the first two, and still cannot begin to compare to the original trilogy.

As for Leia saying she barely remembers her mother, Obi-Wan not recognizing the droids, etc.? Lucas had no clue where he was going with the first three episodes when he wrote the original ones, and those are just unavoidable results of winging it. I’m of the opinion when the first movie was written he hadn’t worked out that Leia and Luke were brother and sister, hence their kiss and Luke’s jealousy of Leia and Han. Because knowing they’re brother and sister, and still writing those scenes? Too nasty for words.

I had one great moment though, and that was at the very end when Obi Wan gave Luke to his aunt and uncle. I admit to getting choked up at the last shot of his doomed adoptive parents holding him, gazing into the double suns, reminiscent of when Luke gazed out into those same two suns in Episode 4.

Comment added at 04:02, May 31, 2005

Matthew

That was a nice touch, yeah.

It’s interesting talking about how much Lucas knew when he wrote the first film, because apparently he had the basic outline of the prequels all sorted out and decided that Episode 4 was the appropriate place to start the story (the first ones just not being possible with the technology and budget he had). I don’t know what he knew beforehand. I do know that he knew about the lava planet before the Empire Strikes Back, because he mentioned it in an interview (or something – he certainly mentioned it).

I’ve seen only critical reviews in the blogging community (and press). I still thought it was great, but I can see how people didn’t – I just disagree.

Comment added at 16:00, May 31, 2005