RotS
Revenge of the Sith (12A), Dir. George Lucas, Starring Ian McDiarmid, Ewan McGreggor and... actually no-one else matters, really.
I should prefix this review with the caveat that I can't really be objective about Star Wars anymore. Whilst I understand the criticisms levied at all the films, especially the prequels, I have to say I enjoyed and continue to enjoy all of them without much reservation. In common, I'm sure, with most Star Wars fanatics, I made time to fit in a viewing of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones in the last seven days in preparation for my trip to Leicester Square last night and I came away pleasantly surprised from each. Against the never ending trail of dross that constantly oozes from Hollywood, they both hold up pretty well and they both set the nerves tingling at various points, something that most movies and pretty much all sci-fi fails to do for me these days. So, Star Wars in all it's guises has been a large part of my life from the moment, aged three, I saw a trailer for A New Hope. It was showing in the original Guildford Odeon in between Dumbo and A Spaceman in King Arthur's Court during the Saturday morning children's double feature, and I've consequently seen all 5 (now 6) at the Leicester Square Odeon. Like a mischievous brother, Star Wars has delighted and saddened me in equal measure, but I love it unconditionally.
Anyway, the headlines. It's the best prequel, it's not as good as Return of the Jedi, It's 60% excellent, 30% okay, 10% dire. It's really the Ian and Ewan show, and no worse for that. George Lucas calls the cycle "Anakin's story", but it's equally "Obi Wan's story." One man's struggle to right the wrongs he feels responsible for, even after he's dead (way to go, Ben)
Star Wars films tend to have strong openings. John Williams' theme, easily his best work, matched with the scrolling text on a starry background provide such a strong narrative base, it's difficult to then mess things up when the camera pans to the spaceship-du-jour. Revenge of the Sith is no exception. In fact I'd say the first half hour of the film is the strongest of any. The pace, humour, acting and dialogue are all of surprising quality, especially the pace. The opening scroll grabs hold of you, telling of a daring mission to capture Senator Palpatine and an equally daring mission to rescue him, and doesn't let go until he's safe on the ground again. And then there's the shear spectacle. Pushing the envelope on effects and digital filmmaking has always been an obsession of Lucas' and it finally pays off here. See a digital 'print' of it if you can because the picture is so crisp and gorgeous at all times it'll remind you of the first time you put a CD in the tray and decided to throw away your cassettes. Equally, the blend of CG and live action is fairly seamless throughout. Jedi powers in particular require suspension of disbelief since they often defy physical laws, and here the action is painted with a deft hand. At no point was I thinking 'that looks dodgy', and I was certainly looking pretty hard from start to finish.
The opening sequence also does a nice line in introducing us to what we all knew anyway - that Anakin turns to the Dark Side of the Force (tm). To some extent, the middle 8 of the film feels like it's treading water whilst this point's hammered home, but it's fun to watch Palpatine try his hardest to persuade Anakin that the Dark Side's more useful, especially when you suspect your wife might die in childbirth. This enjoyably casual and again reasonably paced descent into madness is punctuated by Obi Wan's mission to round up the separatists and basically let loose with a lightsabre. Everybody else, whether it's Mace Windu, Bail Organa, Yoda, C3P0 and even Padme, hang around looking moody and waiting for something bad to happen. All of which serves to highlight just how much this film hangs on Messrs. McDiarmid and McGreggor. And why not since they're both attractive, capable actors.
The fall, when it comes, is a little quick and Hayden Christensen struggles to really draw us into the emotional pain that's driving him. The script is partly to blame, but it's at these important junctures that his acting seems to reach its limits. It doesn't help that it's these scenes when Ian McDiarmid chooses to walk the fine line between a believable menace and pantomime bad guy. It's great fun, but it distracts from what might otherwise have been a passably convincing performance from Christensen.
And whilst we're at it, let's blame Natalie Portman a bit. Again, the script can only take so much of a hit. Aside from a handful of genuinely stirring scenes, usually the ones where she doesn't speak, Natalie's performance can be summed up in one whinging sentence. "Ani, I'm pregnant, and you just don't listen to me anymore." Okay, so she never says that, but she might as well have. I quite liked the direction her character was heading in during Attack of the Clones, but rather than "fulfilling her destiny" as a Leia-looky-likey, she just gets hormonal.
Once Ani's opted for the more sinister moniker of Darth Vader, you know it's all gonna go to hell. You quickly (and happily for the sake of the story) run out of sympathy for Vader as he goes to work on anything with a green lightsabre. I'd hoped that the final culling of the Jedi would be reminiscent of the closing scenes of The Godfather, and I'm pretty happy with the way this is handled, visiting each knight in turn on various outer-rim planets and watching them get offed. It's then up to Yoda to make good his escape, but not before thanking the woefully underused Wookies and nipping back to Coruscant for a few good fights. Again, the CG comes up to scratch and you have to pinch yourself to remember that Yoda's no longer a puppet. Sadly, Yoda's slightly odd manner of speaking, descended into self-parody it has, and at times you're half hoping Palpatine was a little bit better with a lightsabre, or a little quicker with the force lightning.
And so to the title-fight of the series between Vader and Obi Wan. It's up to scratch, it's not quite as good as the Darth Maul bust-up in Episode I, but it's a fitting end and at the last it pulls no punches.
And so the camera pans upwards, the credits role and John William's trumpet volun.... oh no, hang on, George has got some boxes to tick. So it's a mercy dash to Bail Organa's diplomatic ship so Padme can pop the sprogs and kick the bucket, inter-cut with another mercy dash on an Imperial shuttle back to Coruscant so Vader can get the latest in prosthetic limb technology. Actually, I'm being unfair - this segment's handled pretty well. But when Bail says he always hoped to adopt, Yoda remarks probably go into exile he should, Obi Wan makes a startling discovery about force ghosts, and Vader 'does emotion' in a manner Vinny Jones would want to re-take, your patience does wear a little thin. Thankfully, the very last scene, as Owen and Beru take delivery of a little Jedi of their own and stare off into the desert to the stirring music of Binary Sunset, just about makes things alright again.
But it's in the cringe worthy scene when Vader breaks free of his bonds, resplendent in his new armour, and enquires of Palpatine about Padme's health, that we should realise what George intended these films to be - something he might have wanted to watch at a children's double feature in the old Guildford Odeon on a Saturday morning - part Hammer horror, part Flash Gordon. And perhaps it's us that are guilty of heaping a little too much emphasis on what in the end only amounts to 13 hours of cinema. As long as we pretend we're three years old, the force will be with us.