Review of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

[Alia]

What can I say...
glad I went with friends to talk about it on the short drive home.
We all agree that the best fight scenes involved Obi-Wan Kenobi, the ulitimate was between him and General Grievous... Yoda did his part too.
We talked about acting... best actor was Yoda... worse was Yoda... Friends all disagreed with me on the acting. They said that all the lines in the first half of the movie were horrible and the worst actor was Hayden Christensen (I'm not sure how to spell the last name ~ sorry) The comment was even made that as long as he didn't open his mouth, then he was perfect ~ the evil glares were right on que! I have to agree with the lines, they were cheezy! Best line was delivered from my daughter's best friend on the way home after the movie, in a sweet innocent tiny voice, she says "I wish my boyfriend would go all evil to save my life."
The movie did tie everything together, all the loose ends, as far as I could see. The special effects were awesome, as always... The story line, well... I think they cut out too much, I don't mind sitting for 3 hours to watch a well told story, I personally didn't see it here!
Well folks, there's what I think. I enjoyed going, but I think I should have waited for the video.
Just my thoughts.
Has anyone else seen?

 

[Princess Ivy]

not yet babe, it opens here today, and as i say, i am now waiting for the dvd

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

*breaking news*
"George Lucas announces Revenge of the Sith Special Edition dvd will have a bonus 40 minutes taken out!!"

Although I haven't seen the movie, I've seen the trailers (and cut scenes from the movie when playing the PS2 game) which confirmed all my worst fears of the same old crapness of the new sequels. I listened to a film reviewer on Radio 5 last night and he said it was "the best of the 3 prequels, which means it's still worse than any of the originals"

 

[Eradius Lore]

*breaking news*
"George Lucas announces Revenge of the Sith Special Edition dvd will have a bonus 40 minutes taken out!!"

well not as bad as LOTR, 12 bonus disks of walking, walking and walking. also included in this amazing offer an extra hour of Bull

i just seen the film. apart from the droids with there own personality i thought it was a great film defenetly better than most of the crap thats shown these days

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

you've obviously not understood that star wars does equal crap

crap with laser swords and flashing lights, but crap none the less

 

[Eradius Lore]

have you seen episode 3?

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

only the 25 minutes which have saturated the airwaves in the 12 different trailers I've seen.

So no, I haven't.
I can wait.

 

[Culhwch]

I haven't seen it yet but plan to this weekend - have no great hopes. Have also come across just about every reviewer saying tactfully, 'Well, it's the best of the prequels...' Which means, I guess, it's a higher order of crap. But we'll see, open mind and all that...

 

[Maddy]

I don't understand why some people are so critical of these movies. Unless you are ages 5-15 or something like that where you can overlook the driod silliness, the Wookie tarzan howls, and the Gungan characters you will find flaw in all but Ep 4 and 5, and maybe even there. I was 4-10 years old for Star Wars 4-6, unless I am mistaken than they took place in 79, 83, and 85. Those movies were magical then because I could overlook how fast the plot moved, how small Obi-Wan's role really was, and that the star fighters flew like they were in atmosphere. This is why Ep1-3 will be looked upon by kids who are young enough today to appreciate their silliness and overlook flaws like Darth Vader is a whiner! I look forward to the additional 40 minutes of footage because I read the book before going to see the movie and the explainations for some things were lacking.

Those of you who are exceptionally critical should go make a movie yourself. I am certain that it is more difficult to do than type critical little barbs.

 

[Eradius Lore]

So no, I haven't.
I can wait.

than who the hell are you to judge. at least i will go and see something before saying if its crap or not.

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

If you look carefully, the additional 40 minutes referred to above is 40 minutes taken out i.e. my attempt at sardonic humour.

I suppose the reason I'm critical of these movies is that:
a) I don't like George Lucas. He seems so smug and arrogant for no good reason.
b) I genuinely think what B-movie charm & humour the original trilogy had is not present in the 3 new movies (they take themselves far too seriously)
c) I imagine how good these movies could have been had George Lucas had the foresight not to completely CGI everything in sight to then point where there's not much difference between this film and the animated series!

And you're right - kids will love this for the same reasons kids loved the first one. Not too taxing mentally and lots of bright colours and explosions

 

[Alia]

Those of you who are exceptionally critical should go make a movie yourself. I am certain that it is more difficult to do than type critical little barbs.

Barb? Hhhmmm... I have a right to voice any opinion I have of a movie that I watched. I respect Eradius's outtake on the movie, even if I disagree. I even repsect W.S. for his point of view, even if he hasn't seen the movie yet. This is no reason to call us names because our opinion, may be strong or critical or different than yours.
Also, for who the movie was made for, children or adults? I was about the same age you were when I watched the first set of Star Wars movies. And I believe the biggest fans of Star Wars today isn't the children as much as the adults who remember S.W. from childhood, but this is my opinion. My daughter loved the movie! The three adults, 17, 28 and I being the oldest at 34 thought the acting and lines were horrible. This is our opinion! You can take it or leave it, but don't criticize me (or anyone else) for having a thought, that's just wrong!

 

[Alexa]

This is a funny movie and it's worth seeing it at the cinema for all those special effects. You may consider the lines not worthing, but they personally made me laugh a lot, especially when droids were involved. General Grievous made me laugh most. How can you stay serious when you see a droid caughing and with vertebral column problems ? And those robots jumping on spaceships during the battle to disable them.

I suffered for Anakin Skywalker who abandoned the Jedi Knights to save his wife. You cannot hate Darth Vader when you find out who he really is.

I hope I can go and see this movie again at the cinema.

 

[a|one]

I don't understand why some people are so critical of these movies. Unless you are ages 5-15 or something like that where you can overlook the driod silliness, the Wookie tarzan howls, and the Gungan characters you will find flaw in all but Ep 4 and 5, and maybe even there. I was 4-10 years old for Star Wars 4-6, unless I am mistaken than they took place in 79, 83, and 85. Those movies were magical then because I could overlook how fast the plot moved, how small Obi-Wan's role really was, and that the star fighters flew like they were in atmosphere. This is why Ep1-3 will be looked upon by kids who are young enough today to appreciate their silliness and overlook flaws like Darth Vader is a whiner! I look forward to the additional 40 minutes of footage because I read the book before going to see the movie and the explainations for some things were lacking.

Those of you who are exceptionally critical should go make a movie yourself. I am certain that it is more difficult to do than type critical little barbs.

No one complained about the problems you listed (other than Vader), people complained because the script was lacking and the acting was mediocre at best. I don't see how being a kid makes a bad movie good (assuming over the age of 8 or 9). While being inexperienced may give you an easier time ignoring the poor acting, an intelligent child or person will still recognize an interesting plot from an uninteresting one. And lets face it, episode one was just plain poorly done and slow, and episode two was a love story staring a male lead who can't speak above a whine. Have yet to see episode 3 so I'm not going to comment on it.

 

[smeg]

i think what Maddy was getting at is that Lucas wouldn't/couldn't change the formular of his films just becouse the majority of his audience had grown up. If anything it doubled his audience since all the older fans would drag themselves along to see it even if it was pap, and also people too young for the originals to have an impact would go for the action and special effects. I enjoyed episode three very much and think it is much better than one and two (doubt many would disagree) and i also prefered it to six - many of the faults people have issues with for the new trilogy existed in that film aswel imo.

SPOILER------------------------------------------------------------------





If you can suffer through some really pony acting from aiden christinson(sp) and some truly cringeworthy lines in the early parts of the film, then the film gets pretty damn good, once anakin goes dark aiden is much better and quite believable and the final scene between anakina nd obi wan was quite emotive (would only have been better if we had been reminded that anakin was supposed to be the bringer of balance a bit more) and the killing of the jedi was a great scene if not a nice one. anyway this is just my opinion and i'm no expert - i didn't even get thet the slightly camp looking wookie was meant to be good ol' chewie until just before yoda ses his name

 

[dustinzgirl]

Star Wars is one of the first movies I remember seeing at a theater. I am a major star wars junkie. Now, yes, I will admit, there is some cliche acting, but that simply follows from the original series. Episode 1 was horrid, but I still loved it. Episode 3 was, for me, a near perfect lead into episode 4. I do not believe that Lucas meant for these films to be about acting, as strange as that sounds, but rather about the mystery and beauty that star wars fans admire and crave. In short, if you are not a star wars fan, you would probably roll your eyes at the movie. If you are, then Episode 3 may very well make you tear up.

 

[WarlikeMenelaos]

The problem I have with the prequels is the vast amount of things that were said in the original trilogy but just ignored in the prequels.

Ben told Luke that when he first met his father he was a great pilot. In Episode One he wasn't even a good pilot. He also said that Luke's father wanted Luke to have his lightsaber when he was old enough. Ben doesn't remember the droids, for that matter neither did Owen and Beru.

Leia said that all she remembered of her mother were images, she was beautiful but sad. Sorry but I don't think a baby can retain memories within seconds of their birth (remember Padme isn't force sensitve so you can't put it down to the force) Obi Wan was trained by Yoda, not Qui-Gon!

Although the whole 'Sith' thing came about in the books, there is an interesting line in 'A New Hope' which kinda destroys it.

"A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine"

No mention of the Sith in episodes 4-6. Yoda doesn't seem that keen on training Luke, Obi-Wan isn't supposed to even know about Leia as seen in the following bit from Empire Strikes Back.

Obi Wan: That boy was our last hope
Yoda: No, there is another

These are a few of the anomolies that crop up because of the prequels, the entire feel of episodes 1-3 is different from 4-6. Plus am I the only one who thinks that the lightsaber duels are over flashy and stupid? I mean, anybody trained with a sword knows that simplicity is best. A sword is there to kill the other person, not as a prop for a stupid little jumpy flippy dance where you try to show off how many times you can swing you saber around or jump over someone (and when they're jumping the other person doesn't think to take the oppertunity to kill them)

If I wrote episodes 1-3, I would have based them more on Japan and the fall of the Samurai (Lucas was a big fan of the old Samurai films when he made episodes 4-6, you even kinda get a Samurai feel from the Jedi, especially Yoda) The prequels just seem so 'westernised'

If you enjoy them, that's great! But the reasons I've listed above are ther reasons why I can't enjoy them. To me these prequels are not Star Wars, they are alternate universe stuff. Oh well....sorry for the rant

 

[Chefo]

Just came back from the cinema and I must say I have mixed feelings about this one. The CGI's are nice but as WarlikeMenelaos mentioned, that looks like a computer game, not a movie. The kid who plays Anakin/Vader never gets a chance for his lines were so bland that I'm not sure anybody could have pulled it off.

Among many other things, that movie simply destroyed the 'mystique', if you will, of the Emperor. The perception from the 4-6 was that he was the ultimate 'evil' guy. He appears weak in this one. It just didn't feel right.

That last comment translates for the entire movie. There was something amiss...

In a way, I am disappointed by the entire sequence 1-3. The original three episodes had a charm that simply isn't there with the prequels. In the new ones, there is quite more eye-candy but not much of anything else. I am not sure who wrote the script, but there were either 4 hours of movie missing or it was awkwardly put together. If a movie has a $150 mil budget, that kind of cash HAS to be able to buy the best writers in the industry.

The problem, in my opinion, is not lack of imagination on Lucas' part but rather his inability to retain focus. There are a million things going on, some of which appear to be marginal yet they get more screen time than the truly important sequences. The former have the CGI factor yet I personally prefer more acting.

My 2 cents,

Chefo

 

[Eradius Lore]

Ben told Luke that when he first met his father he was a great pilot. In Episode One he wasn't even a good pilot. He also said that Luke's father wanted Luke to have his lightsaber when he was old enough. Ben doesn't remember the droids, for that matter neither did Owen and Beru.

Leia said that all she remembered of her mother were images, she was beautiful but sad. Sorry but I don't think a baby can retain memories within seconds of their birth (remember Padme isn't force sensitve so you can't put it down to the force) Obi Wan was trained by Yoda, not Qui-Gon!

Although the whole 'Sith' thing came about in the books, there is an interesting line in 'A New Hope' which kinda destroys it.

"A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine"

No mention of the Sith in episodes 4-6. Yoda doesn't seem that keen on training Luke, Obi-Wan isn't supposed to even know about Leia as seen in the following bit from Empire Strikes Back.

Obi Wan: That boy was our last hope
Yoda: No, there is another

I might have an answer to some of these.

Perhaps he’s talking about the fact he destroyed the trade federation control ship.

Obi one probably thought that Anakin would have wanted Luke to have the lightsabre when he grew up.

perhaps the reason obi one cant remember the droids is because it was around 20 years since he last seen them and he cant remember them same for Owen and Beru there even longer since they seen the droids.

As for leia that is a bit of a mess up and the same with obi one being trained by yoda.

as for "A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine" he obviously doesn’t want luke to know that vader is his father and that he went to the dark side, he would not be ready for it and besides do you think he would believe him.

yoda doesn’t seem keen to train luke because he thinks he will follow in his fathers footsteps, but has to train him because he is the last hope to restore the jedi order.

obi one does know about leia because in episode 6 when vader found out about lukes twin sister he says " obi one was wise to keep her from me, his failure is now complete"

as for the line you mention in the empire strikes back, how the hell is a dead person and a dieing green imp with know ship going to get her to come with them and train in the way of the force. and luke was partially force sensitive because of obi ones brief training.

 

[WarlikeMenelaos]

Good answers there Eradius Lore and I must admit that you've had to make me think, despite what you've said there are still some things that are messed up. There's no point of a debate because there are things i've missed and I don't wanna make a fool outta myself, lol. Plus, everyone vision of the Star Wars saga depend greatly on their certain point of view.

Luke: Certain point of view? (sorry, had to put that one in there!)

I hope nobody thinks I am trying to rip apart the prequel trilogy because of some hatred of Star Wars cause I am a huge fan. On the other hand, I'm also an aspiring writer and feel as though there are major differences between the original Star Wars and the prequels which scream lazy writing. Personally I wouldn't be surprised if Lucas just remakes the original trilogy to tie in better with the prequels, or maybe that's just me being silly.