Memoirs of a Sith Lord
I sit here with grand satisfaction upon my face. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (ROTS) was such a joy to behold. It was able to maintain a certain elation and purpose Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (TPM) and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (AOTC) could not. To say this was the best chapter may be a mighty stretch, however, it defiantly gives Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (TESB) a run for its money. A lot happens in this movie upon which I could comment, yet I will only hit the points I believe needed hitting.
Lucas allowed The Cartoon Channel to develop a Clone Wars cartoon bridging the gap between AOTC and ROTS. The only recap that is necessary is that General Grievous kidnaps the Chancellor from four Jedi protecting him with their lives. Severely wounded in the abduction, he starts ROTS as a gimpy, wheezing cyborg. Obi-Wan and Anakin's assault to rescue is nothing short of spectacular. As with TPM and AOTC, the CGI here was fantastic and even improved from the first two, however, it seems used with greater purpose and direction. Grand and extravagant it is, yet hardly noticed because of the direction of the story.
Fighting of the Clone Wars barley reaches below the surface. The Wookie fight and the many locals the Jedi are on appear to be unimportant to Lucas as they whiz by the scene at near blinding speed.
Palpatine places Anakin on the Jedi Council to gather intel for him, in turn the Jedi Council allow him to stay to gather intel on Palpatine, whom they believe is manipulating the Clone War strain on the Congress to extend his power. Palpatine uses the quandary Anakin is placed to lead him further into the Dark Side. He also knows about Anakin's premonitions of Padme's death at childbirth. Not to get into the details of one of the best scenes of the movie, but Anakin is tempted, and knowing Palpatine is the Sith Lord, he informs Mace Windo of the solved mystery. Mace replies with a, "If this is true, my faith in you is restored." Gee, thanks, why would I make this up? It has been over 20 years and they could not figure this out? This part of the movie is more opened than it could have been. Palpatine spends precious little time actually seducing Anakin with the Dark Side, and we wonder where are all his evil acts that push him there. Some make it into the film, nevertheless, we do not see why he is so willing to betray the Jedi for Padme. Even though Palpatine implants the idea the Jedi are evil, Anakin must have known the truth. If the Dark Side within him blinds him then could we have seen more of that?
From there, the Great Jedi Ass Whipping of a Long Time Ago commences. The Jedi are less, "hunted down" as Obi-Wan says in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (ANH). Instead, they are more ambushed, some give a fight, others seemed taken by surprised by clone troops, which makes one wonder why they didn't see that coming? Yoda and Obi-Wan are the sole known remaining Jedi and return to Coruscant to eliminate the Sith. This sets the two on predestined paths of Yoda fighting the Emperor and Obi-Wan fighting his one time apprentice. Here Yoda says, "If Congress in session, easier to enter the Jedi Temple it will be." Yeah, and the fact you can fit into carry on luggage does not hurt either.
There are light saber fights du jour in ROTS; surprisingly none seemed repetitive or trite. All seemed to wonder through multiple rooms and/hallways, fencing this is not, although, the Emperor is a fan of the "en garde" move, and Yoda is still a fan of the "flying buzzsaw" so popular with him in AOTC. The fight of Obi-Wan and Anakin has heart and sadness Obi-Wan does that which he most does not want. That fight ends in one of the most gruesome spectacles I think I have seen in quite a while. Anakin is then transformed into Vader, we see a certain amount of fear as the mask is lowered onto Anakin's charred face. Then we were treated to Vader's impersonation of Frankenstein's monster, including a half mumbled, "NOOOOOO!"
Right now, I am sure, millions of Star Wars fans are saying, "That should've been Episode I." Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Lucas made the two movies he wanted to make, though I saw a ton of wasted opportunity in TPM, I did enjoy it and still see it as watchable. AOTC got things back on track but, hate to use this phrase, seemed it had little or no heart in what it was. At times, it skipped 'fun' and went straight to 'campy.' Sure, people will complain about the dialog and acting, but that is like complaing about the piano playing at a cathouse. I would have liked more of Anakin toying with the Dark Side, practicing his choke moves on puppies or something only evil villains and al-Qaeda would do.
The ending held less surprise and more fulfillment, every viewer knows how this ends, and that is with ANH. Lucas touched the right tones and hit the right notes as he closed out ROTS. He had 28 years of history to tie together. The story was there, in fact, I would wager that this episode wrote itself. Just as much as ANH felt like a Western in space, and TPM was a CGI orgy overpowering the story, ROTS felt like the perfect mix. I wonder how future generations will view the movies as two sets of three, the greater and lesser, or as one massive six parter, episodes I-VI in order. Lucas has said he is not done tinkering with the Original Trilogy, hinting he wants to wait until the next generation of DVD players is released in order to do what he wants. I say leave Jar-Jar from TPM, and leave the awkward romance from AOTC, but for the love of God, make the Star Wars saga perfect and have Han shoot first as we know he did. That said, I can't wait for the sequel.
