Raven
Corn!
Well, I've had a little time to absorb this and debate it, and here is my considered opinion of the last of the Star Wars films - ever.
It's the worst of the Star Wars films - ever.
Now, before we begin to dissect the why of this, I should establish the scale by which I'm judging. You see, I didn't think The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones were that bad. Sure, they had terrible acting, worse direction, too much CGI, atrocious dialogue and silly ideas (midichlorians?). Sure, Menace featured an entire race of thinly-disguised racial stereotypes that someone really, really should have told George Lucas were NOT FUNNY, whatever he might have thought.
But if these things had been corrected... the first two films would have been pretty average sci-fi fare, a bit cheesy perhaps, not as good as the original trilogy - but they were not exactly high art anyway, just a good romp.
Crucially, the central stories of the first two films stood up. And this is the problem with Sith. It stands or falls entirely on the central story, Anakin's descent to the Dark Side. All the rest - bad dialogue, continuity problems, stilted direction - were side issues.
And it is that central story that Lucas screws up.
The first problem is that he overcomplicates it. Ever since Obi-Wan first mentioned Vader almost thirty years ago, it has been clear: Vader was seduced to the Dark Side by his arrogance, his impatience, his desire for power, and his impetuous and emotional nature. He went to the Dark Side because it was the easy path.
This is a fine, simple and strong storyline, and one that Lucas has been building up through the prequels.
So why on earth he felt the need to introduce not one but two other motivations for Anakin's fall, I don't understand. Particularly as these rather work against the established motivation.
First, we have the 'moral relativism' motivation - summed up in Palpatine's claim that 'the Jedi point of view is not the only valid one', and bolstered in Anakin's eyes by the Jedi's moves against Palpatine.
This is, I will concede, a perfectly valid plotline. Handled correctly, it could have worked as part of the reason why Anakin fell. But Lucas just doesn't seem to understand moral relativism at all.
The culmination of this plotline shows this clearly. Anakin declares to Obi-Wan in ringing tones that 'from my point of view, the Jedi are evil!' Which is all fine and well, Ani, but you have just slaughtered a whole room full of children!
This rather tends to undermine the claim that the Sith are really the good guys, not to mention making Anakin's claim sound absurd. That slaughter really works in the context of establishing how low Anakin will go in his pursuit of power: but it totally destroys the 'moral relativism' plotline. Anakin simply cannot seriously claim the Jedi are the bad guys after all the things he and Sidious have done. Nonsense.
In any case, Star Wars is not really suited to this kind of moral debate. I mean, the Sith are so bad, they have evil names. We know who the bad guys are, because they helpfully call themselves things like 'Darth Maul' and 'Darth Plagueis'. It is a little difficult to understand how Anakin concludes a guy who chooses the name 'Darth Sidious' is basically just misunderstood.
The third plotline, of course, is made central to the film: Anakin's attempts to save Padme.
Strangely, then, it's actually dealt with rather sketchily. Anakin has two, short, dreams of Padme's death and is totally convinced that she will die. One brief conversation with Palpatine and he is totally convinced Palpatine is the only person who can save her.Talk about establishing your premises.
Worse, though, this plotline undermines everything we thought we knew about Vader. If his descent to the Dark Side was not a matter of arrogance after all, but (in a bizarre way) an altruistic attempt to save his wife and children - well, I find it hard to reconcile this basically nice but misguided guy with the Darth Vader of eps. IV-VI.
And when this plotline clashes with the basic plot, of Anakin/Vader's arrogance, it really sticks out like a sore thumb. It looks like an add-on.
For example, Anakin joins Palpatine to find out how to save Padme. Palpatine then tells him 'I don't actually know how, but together I'm sure we can find out, y'know, sometime'. Anakin's reaction is kind of, 'oh, well then, whatever'.
He then sacrifices everything to save Padme - but then attacks her when she refuses to join him. He gives up even his humanity in the end to save her - then accepts Palpatine's word that she's dead, doesn't even bother to inquire after the baby she was carrying, and gets on with being a Sith Lord for the next twenty years.
I mean, if you had sacrificed everything you believed in for the woman you loved, and then someone told you she'd died anyway: would you a) kill yourself in despair? b) kill Palpatine in a rage? or c) scream 'NOOOO!', then get on with building a Death Star?
These two extra plotlines add nothing, and confuse and fatally undermine the tragedy of Vader.
All three plotlines collide - and collapse - in the scene where Anakin 'rescues' Palpatine from Mace Windu. First, Anakin is shocked that Mace is going to summarily execute Palpatine. But this is (to say the least) a bit hypocritical, as Anakin did the same thing to Dooku at Palpatine's urging. Moral relativism collapses.
Then, he intervenes, and Windu goes out the window - because Anakin needs Palpatine alive. But his reaction is not one of having done so only out of distasteful necessity - he immediately pledges his loyalty to Palpatine as a Sith Apprentice! This tends to undermine the arrogance also: there is no trace of impatience, anger, arrogance or power-lust in Anakin's submission to the Dark Side. His final submission is, instead, meek and timid. And unsatisfactory on many levels.
This, then, is the central problem of the film. Others it has in plenty: risible dialogue, bad performances, bad effects, and pointless asides. R2 destroying two battle-droids, battle-droid dialogue, the pointless inclusion of Chewbacca, the decision to wipe 3PO's mind but not R2's (so R2 presumably knew all along who Vader was and who Luke and Leia were, but never told anyone?) But these are nitpicks, and there are good things to balance them - the 'Order 66' scene, or the final battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin.
But it is the failure of the central plotline that makes this film an unsalvageable mess. No-one will be re-editing this to make a better film, a la The Phantom Edit: it is rotten to the core. There is nothing to save.
I wanted to like this film, I wanted to forgive its flaws: but they run too deep.
It's the worst of the Star Wars films - ever.
Now, before we begin to dissect the why of this, I should establish the scale by which I'm judging. You see, I didn't think The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones were that bad. Sure, they had terrible acting, worse direction, too much CGI, atrocious dialogue and silly ideas (midichlorians?). Sure, Menace featured an entire race of thinly-disguised racial stereotypes that someone really, really should have told George Lucas were NOT FUNNY, whatever he might have thought.
But if these things had been corrected... the first two films would have been pretty average sci-fi fare, a bit cheesy perhaps, not as good as the original trilogy - but they were not exactly high art anyway, just a good romp.
Crucially, the central stories of the first two films stood up. And this is the problem with Sith. It stands or falls entirely on the central story, Anakin's descent to the Dark Side. All the rest - bad dialogue, continuity problems, stilted direction - were side issues.
And it is that central story that Lucas screws up.
The first problem is that he overcomplicates it. Ever since Obi-Wan first mentioned Vader almost thirty years ago, it has been clear: Vader was seduced to the Dark Side by his arrogance, his impatience, his desire for power, and his impetuous and emotional nature. He went to the Dark Side because it was the easy path.
This is a fine, simple and strong storyline, and one that Lucas has been building up through the prequels.
So why on earth he felt the need to introduce not one but two other motivations for Anakin's fall, I don't understand. Particularly as these rather work against the established motivation.
First, we have the 'moral relativism' motivation - summed up in Palpatine's claim that 'the Jedi point of view is not the only valid one', and bolstered in Anakin's eyes by the Jedi's moves against Palpatine.
This is, I will concede, a perfectly valid plotline. Handled correctly, it could have worked as part of the reason why Anakin fell. But Lucas just doesn't seem to understand moral relativism at all.
The culmination of this plotline shows this clearly. Anakin declares to Obi-Wan in ringing tones that 'from my point of view, the Jedi are evil!' Which is all fine and well, Ani, but you have just slaughtered a whole room full of children!
This rather tends to undermine the claim that the Sith are really the good guys, not to mention making Anakin's claim sound absurd. That slaughter really works in the context of establishing how low Anakin will go in his pursuit of power: but it totally destroys the 'moral relativism' plotline. Anakin simply cannot seriously claim the Jedi are the bad guys after all the things he and Sidious have done. Nonsense.
In any case, Star Wars is not really suited to this kind of moral debate. I mean, the Sith are so bad, they have evil names. We know who the bad guys are, because they helpfully call themselves things like 'Darth Maul' and 'Darth Plagueis'. It is a little difficult to understand how Anakin concludes a guy who chooses the name 'Darth Sidious' is basically just misunderstood.
The third plotline, of course, is made central to the film: Anakin's attempts to save Padme.
Strangely, then, it's actually dealt with rather sketchily. Anakin has two, short, dreams of Padme's death and is totally convinced that she will die. One brief conversation with Palpatine and he is totally convinced Palpatine is the only person who can save her.Talk about establishing your premises.
Worse, though, this plotline undermines everything we thought we knew about Vader. If his descent to the Dark Side was not a matter of arrogance after all, but (in a bizarre way) an altruistic attempt to save his wife and children - well, I find it hard to reconcile this basically nice but misguided guy with the Darth Vader of eps. IV-VI.
And when this plotline clashes with the basic plot, of Anakin/Vader's arrogance, it really sticks out like a sore thumb. It looks like an add-on.
For example, Anakin joins Palpatine to find out how to save Padme. Palpatine then tells him 'I don't actually know how, but together I'm sure we can find out, y'know, sometime'. Anakin's reaction is kind of, 'oh, well then, whatever'.
He then sacrifices everything to save Padme - but then attacks her when she refuses to join him. He gives up even his humanity in the end to save her - then accepts Palpatine's word that she's dead, doesn't even bother to inquire after the baby she was carrying, and gets on with being a Sith Lord for the next twenty years.
I mean, if you had sacrificed everything you believed in for the woman you loved, and then someone told you she'd died anyway: would you a) kill yourself in despair? b) kill Palpatine in a rage? or c) scream 'NOOOO!', then get on with building a Death Star?
These two extra plotlines add nothing, and confuse and fatally undermine the tragedy of Vader.
All three plotlines collide - and collapse - in the scene where Anakin 'rescues' Palpatine from Mace Windu. First, Anakin is shocked that Mace is going to summarily execute Palpatine. But this is (to say the least) a bit hypocritical, as Anakin did the same thing to Dooku at Palpatine's urging. Moral relativism collapses.
Then, he intervenes, and Windu goes out the window - because Anakin needs Palpatine alive. But his reaction is not one of having done so only out of distasteful necessity - he immediately pledges his loyalty to Palpatine as a Sith Apprentice! This tends to undermine the arrogance also: there is no trace of impatience, anger, arrogance or power-lust in Anakin's submission to the Dark Side. His final submission is, instead, meek and timid. And unsatisfactory on many levels.
This, then, is the central problem of the film. Others it has in plenty: risible dialogue, bad performances, bad effects, and pointless asides. R2 destroying two battle-droids, battle-droid dialogue, the pointless inclusion of Chewbacca, the decision to wipe 3PO's mind but not R2's (so R2 presumably knew all along who Vader was and who Luke and Leia were, but never told anyone?) But these are nitpicks, and there are good things to balance them - the 'Order 66' scene, or the final battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin.
But it is the failure of the central plotline that makes this film an unsalvageable mess. No-one will be re-editing this to make a better film, a la The Phantom Edit: it is rotten to the core. There is nothing to save.
I wanted to like this film, I wanted to forgive its flaws: but they run too deep.
