Revenge of the Sith
Finally went to see the movie last night. My thoughts below
It was ok - but not great. It's a shame really, because I think Lucas had all of the basic plot and narrative elements present to have fashioned a really good story out of this trilogy, but he really needed someone else to write and direct. And perhaps he needed to hire a better casting director, as well.
My biggest regret in respect of the way this story played out? I am now left with the canon impression of Darth Vader as a dimwit. In the original trilogy (his final redemption notwithstanding), Darth Vader was scary not only because he was immensely evil and powerful, but also because he came across as intelligent. But Anakin Skywalker, as portrayed by Hayden Christenson and written by Lucas, strikes me as an intellectual lightweight, to say the least. Yes, he was powerful, but if the medichlorians went out of their way to conceive a "virgin" birth, couldn't they have endowed that life form with a few more brain cells? Sure, the situation was grey, and the Jedi Council was obviously not as pure and noble as the original trilogy had suggested; sure, Palpatine was a master manipulator who knew exactly which buttons to push; sure, Anakin was emotionally damaged and scarred early on from loss, and sure, the Jedi "way" of cutting themselves off from all emotion and attachment was unwise. But still. The over-all impression I have of Anakin is that he was just plain dumb and very easily manipulated, fooled and used. And I never thought I would say that about Darth Vader.
I was also disappointed by the small, passive and generally speaking "also dumb" role given to Padme in this film, which I thought was a step down from the previous films. Seriously, how did these two people give birth to Leia, who was not only "not" dumb, but also very cool?
Good things about the film? R2D2 is still one of the best robots ever! And Chewbacca! Yay Chewbacca! Yoda kicks butt, and Ewan McGregor did the best he could with some very clunky dialogue and some very badly written and ill-timed one-liners. (Plus, he's so very hot that I cut him all sorts of slack).
Final question? If it was so all-important that the twins be hidden from Vader, I "get" Leia being adopted by Senator Organa and I "get" Luke being hidden on Tattoine. But why would they then give him the last name of Skywalker? Shouldn't he have taken on Owen's and Beru's last name, which would NOT have been Skywalker, if they truly wanted him hidden? I mean, talk about a giant red flag. .
It was ok - but not great. It's a shame really, because I think Lucas had all of the basic plot and narrative elements present to have fashioned a really good story out of this trilogy, but he really needed someone else to write and direct. And perhaps he needed to hire a better casting director, as well.
My biggest regret in respect of the way this story played out? I am now left with the canon impression of Darth Vader as a dimwit. In the original trilogy (his final redemption notwithstanding), Darth Vader was scary not only because he was immensely evil and powerful, but also because he came across as intelligent. But Anakin Skywalker, as portrayed by Hayden Christenson and written by Lucas, strikes me as an intellectual lightweight, to say the least. Yes, he was powerful, but if the medichlorians went out of their way to conceive a "virgin" birth, couldn't they have endowed that life form with a few more brain cells? Sure, the situation was grey, and the Jedi Council was obviously not as pure and noble as the original trilogy had suggested; sure, Palpatine was a master manipulator who knew exactly which buttons to push; sure, Anakin was emotionally damaged and scarred early on from loss, and sure, the Jedi "way" of cutting themselves off from all emotion and attachment was unwise. But still. The over-all impression I have of Anakin is that he was just plain dumb and very easily manipulated, fooled and used. And I never thought I would say that about Darth Vader.
I was also disappointed by the small, passive and generally speaking "also dumb" role given to Padme in this film, which I thought was a step down from the previous films. Seriously, how did these two people give birth to Leia, who was not only "not" dumb, but also very cool?
Good things about the film? R2D2 is still one of the best robots ever! And Chewbacca! Yay Chewbacca! Yoda kicks butt, and Ewan McGregor did the best he could with some very clunky dialogue and some very badly written and ill-timed one-liners. (Plus, he's so very hot that I cut him all sorts of slack).
Final question? If it was so all-important that the twins be hidden from Vader, I "get" Leia being adopted by Senator Organa and I "get" Luke being hidden on Tattoine. But why would they then give him the last name of Skywalker? Shouldn't he have taken on Owen's and Beru's last name, which would NOT have been Skywalker, if they truly wanted him hidden? I mean, talk about a giant red flag. .