Episode 3: Thoughts, reviews, opinions

I was bowled over. I am so pleased I can't even begin to describe it. Like my buddy Kent Beyer was sayin, expectations for Episode 1 were high and then dashed. Subsequently expectations for 2 were lower and slightly improved upon. But even though expectations for 3 were still set very high, they were met and exceeded in my opinion. Dueling that puts the darth maul fight to shame, battle scenes that chill you to the core and an emotional tension that builds appropriately for the story.

For the first time I feel like I was part of an emotional experience instead of just a special effects experience and thank god the language wasn't as robotic this go around.

Episode 3, tied with Empire for my personal fave of the series.

 

I thought it was awesome, the movie left me tired as hell. It was kind of an emotional trip that kept my attention rapt from begining to end. It is the end of a saga I'm empty now waiting for something to fill the Starwars gap.

It was so AAWWWEESSSHHHOME.

 

Definetly a great movie, I really liked General Grievous although I haven't seen Clone Wars yet. All the battles were amazing too. Some of the bigger things for me though were how they made Anakin and Obi-Wan convincing as friends, were as in AOTC they seemed to be at each others necks. And Palpatines story about the Sith who could control midichlorians to create life and stop death was both amazing and creepy.

To sum it up, I think everyone agrees it's the best of the new trilogy, but I'm not sure about overall. The originals just have so many good parts. At the same time though, I think I'd enjoy watching this one the most of all the movies. After a week or two and I've seen it more and thought more about it I'll be in a better position to decide where it ranks amongst all the movies.

Oh, and now I MUST see clone wars! =P


P.S. If someone could PM me and tell me if theres a Battle of the Heros music video and what channel I might be able to catch it on, I'd appreciate it.

 

I was 98% pleased. Too much good to mention ... loved the battles, loved Yoda taking out the Imperial Guards, loved R2's resourcefulness, etc.

My main issue in the film is that Anakin's transition to the Dark Side felt rushed. In the book, I took at as more of a build-up of life events. In the movie, it seemed to be more of a snap decision.

Also, "Hold me like you did by the lake on Naboo" was vile.

Despite that, I'll be at the theater several times over the weekend.

 

I was very pleased with the movie.

On Anakins transition being rushed, my feeling is we saw it start when he took out the Tusken Raiders. Even in the Clone Wars cartoon when he fought Asijj (?sp).

Of course we dont see a whole lot of what happens in between AOTC and ROTS. I did feel it was rushed between his taking off Macs's hand and then bowing down, that happened awful fast.

But damn it was a great movie.

 

That's exactly what I meant. Attack Mace ... "What have I done?" ... bow to new master ... off to kill some younglings. Blink and you might miss it.

 

I agree, that happened way too fast, there should have been more contemplating on Anakin's part.

 

Okay, I just got back from seeing it a second time. I must say, I truly enjoyed the film more this time. I was able to pay attention to things I didn't see the first time around.

Most notably, Anakin's growing struggle. Many instances are subtle, but I was more convinced of his tension and ultimate turn to the dark side.

I'm going again tomorrow.

 

Having seen the flick four times now, I'd agree that it's pretty good.

My only complaint being that it does seem slightly rushed in the middle. I think this more or less has to do with the removal of the scenes in which the senators are conspiring to remove Palpatine from office. I feel with the inclusion of those scenes, it would have slowed the pace down slightly - which may have been why Lucas removed them.

Overall though, I found it a very fulfilling cinematic experience.

 

"Hold me like you did by the lake on Naboo"

Ok I have to laugh because I left the theatre at the exact point that line was being said so the movie for me the first time was absolutely flawless!! GWA HA HA.

I left to check into what was wrong with the sound. I know it wasn't just me who noticed the sound was all in the front and barely coming out of the surrounds if at all. When I saw it a second time at the Rave theatre in Peoria it was a world of difference.

My 3rd time will be tonight.

I have to say this movie changes everything. You can't go back and watch the original trilogy the same way anymore. Everything Vader says now will have so much more history behind it. He's become a much more rounded person.

Yoda and Bens fear of the possibility of Luke being turned as Vader was seems more real.

Leia calling him General Kenobi in ANH.

They never showed anything about 3PO's leg and how that becomes the way it is. I would put it in my film if there were a place to do it.

 

Hey PsychoJedi, what do you mean about 3POs leg? I guess my knowledge of the force isn't as elaborate as yours =P

 

Yeah, I was getting irritated by the sound too. Actually, pretty much every movie that shows in screen 9 at Showcase experiences sound problems. When I saw it the second time in screen 11, it was okay (stil not good). Seeing it the third and fourth times at Rave in Peoria really made me understand how horrible Showcase's sound system is. They really need to upgrade that.

The silver leg thing doesn't really bother me. What bothers me is the Dagobah cave. I know they explained it in one of the books, but that's EU. I'd have liked to have had an official, movie explanation for that cave.

The cave and Sifo-Dyas (again, explained in the EU).

 

Hey there I just saw it again last night and I also noticed the sound was not correct either. But seeing it again there was alot more that I caught that I miised the first time, like seeing the Millenium Falcon or a ship that looks like it flying into the port that Anakin and Obi-wan were going after they returned from Greivious ship. And actulally being able to watch without dudes snoring next to me made a big differance. Hopefully when I see it again here with my wife we can see it in a different theatre than 9.

 

QCJediJes:

If you read the book Labrynth of Evil it will give you more info about Greivous and also more info about Sifo Dyas. Sifo Dyas was a Jedi Council Member who felt the shroud of the Darkside growing. He was the one who implemented the creation of the clone army to handle the situation. A wealthy jedi who wanted more power, Count Dooku, caught wind of Sifo Dyas' actions. Somewhere in the process Dooku became obsessed with the power revealed to him through Sith Holocrons. He sought out Sidious, and pledged himself to Sidious. One of his first actions as a Sith apprentice was to kill Sifo Dyas and remove Kamino from the star charts. Dooku-aka Tyrannus went to Kamino and prepared them for the arrival of the prime host-Jango Fett. And the rest is history.

Labrynth of Evil is a great read and gives wonderful insight into Dooku, the creation of Greivous, and the wild Bantha chase to find Sidious. Sidious has created a web of deceit that included Greivous and even Dooku as a pawn. Dark Rendevous is another great read for more about Sidious and Dooku's relationship.

The movie was excellent. I agree that the scenes with Mon Mothma should have been kept.I would have enjoyed to see more hardship of Anakin's choice and sith brainwashing ala-the novel adaptation. It would have slowed things down a bit but it would have made it more powerful in some aspects. I also would have liked to seen the scene in which Anakin kills Shaak Ti. Bummer!!!!

PS-JediJes-what took you to Rave in Peoria? Do you live down here?

 

No, I live a little over an hour north of Peoria. I ended up going to Rave to see it because my dad and I have this tradition of always seeing it twice in a row with one of his friends. His friend used to live in Galesburg and would drive up here to see it, but now he lives an hour on the other side of Peoria. So we decided to split the difference.

My concern with the Sifo-Dyas stuff more or less comes from the viewpoint of the average movie-goer. If average Joe, who doesn't get into the EU, were to watch the whole saga chronologically, he might be confused as to what actually happened with the ordering of the clones. "Attack of the Clones" sets it up as a big mystery and asks a major question (Who was on the inside manipulating the Jedi?) and for Lucas to not answer it within his own movies is kind of sloppy storytelling.

Personally, I always figured Dooku did it while still in the Order, but it would have been nice to have had that answered onscreen, as the question was asked onscreen.

Thanks for giving me the gist of it, though.

 

Maybe he could have bragged about his handywork while in the duel with Anakin and Obi Wan. That would have tied it up nice and neat and added to Dookus serious jerk image.

And it was kind of lame how the only shot of Mon Mothma is at the funeral procession where there are no costume cues or lines said to even halfway indicate that's her.

You have to know the actress ahead of time to even know.

One of the cool things about watching Phantom Menace is that I wasn't very familiar with Natalie Portman at first so the look alike threw me off until she started cleaning following them around tattooine.

 

Prehaps the reson why the Sifo-Dyas thing was not solved was because Dooku died with all of his Secrets and Palps was too busy tricking everyone to care about reveiling that info.

and I too wish that more of the book had been in the movie especialy the Obi-Wan Yoda Careage Scene and Anakin's Light saber havoc with the Jedi.

 

Maybe Lucas will follow up all this with an extended version of EP III on the DVD. I really would love to see the carnage at the temple and also see Mon Mothma and the cut alliance seen with Bail. I would have loved to have had the whole explanation about the clones being ordered.

 

Finally!!! After I saw Episode I, I had started losing faith in Star Wars. I had to watch the original trilogy several times to rekindle my love for the films. (Actually, it took about 2 seconds into A New Hope for me to remember how much they meant to me.)
Anyway, Episode II left me feeling a little empty as well. Hayden Christensen is a horrible actor, and really hurt the movie for me. Also, Episode II seemed to be a special effects show with a little story underneath it.
Episode III fixed that. The acting was again poor at times and the dialouge was weak. But the story was there. I loved it! Great action sequences and tremendous light saber duels. The special effects didn't overshadow the tragic story that was being told. Ian McDiarmid did a fantastic job in this film (actually, he's been quite good in all of them). Yoda really established himself as one of the best characters in the series. How sweet was it when he dropped those emperial Guards without even looking at them??!!!
My only problem with the movie comes from Hayden Christensen. The kid can't act. Fortunately, the story was good enough that you understood what was happening to him without having to get it from his acting. It's too bad that he couldn't portray the inner struggle that a jedi would have been having being placed in the circumstances that he was in. I really think that he made Portman and McGreggor look bad, because they are both great actors who were brought down by his performance.
Anyway, it sounds like I'm bagging this movie, which I'm not. I loved it. I'm sure I'll see it several more times while it's in the theatre. It has renewed my love for the series, and made me wish that I was a real Jedi again (like I did almost 30 years ago when I saw A New Hope for the first time).
Sorry I'm writing a novel here, but my wife and most of my friends haven't seen it yet, so I haven't had a chance to talk to anyone about it.
Thanks for listening!!!

 

I constantly felt myself in denial in the beginning of scenes like Anakin and the Younglings. I seriously didn't expected to be this dark. This is beyond GL's comfort zone in directing these movies. He really took a chance, and I am very grateful for it.

I bawled so much! I've never been so emotional . . . I still did last night on my third viewing at the new Moline Theater The Great Escape. (Really nice!B))


"I left to check into what was wrong with the sound. I know it wasn't just me who noticed the sound was all in the front and barely coming out of the surrounds if at all. When I saw it a second time at the Rave theatre in Peoria it was a world of difference."

. . . Hmm. I didn't notice that. I guess I was too busy giggling and/or feeling sorry for Natalie Portman and her lines. I agree that GL could have kept one of the political scenes. I understand that part of the Ani-effect on her was to make her more girlish(my excuse for the "I love you more!" "No I love YOU more!" scene ;P) and not guarding herself as much. It was kind of endearing to see her happier, but made me frustrated, knowing she wouldn't just be hanging around her apartment all the time if these scenes were kept--granted, it is a GORGEOUS apartment . . . Well, despite all of this, I still adored Padmé/Anakin.

"You're so . . . beautiful." M'eh. Only in the movies will I let it slip . . .

And did anyone laugh uproariously at Vader's Frankenstein walk and the flailing arms as he yelled, "NOOO!" *shakes head* It just tickled me. It really would have worked if it had ended at the whole lab breaking apart. This got a little silly.

 

Frankenvader more or less caught me off guard the first time. Upon repeat viewings, he doesn't really bug me all that much.

 

Frankenvader makes sense. I mean after all he's never walked on those legs before and it only makes sense that he would wobble at first. The restraints were there to hold him still from lunging in pain so that the medical droids could do their job.

 

Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought too. The thing in the scene that gets me is the "Nooooooooooo!!!" It's just a bit too cliched and even then, it's not done very well. I've seen better "Nooooooooooooo!!!" sequences, and think that if Lucas had wanted it that badly, he could have had it be slightly more dramatic.

 

Many people have that opinion. I din't find it that over the top. The thing I most noticed about the noooo is that it was reminiscent of Lukes noooo when he finds out from Vader that it's his father.

Both Anakin and Luke react the same way when faced with horrifying news. I found it an interesting underlying tie in. I can't believe so many people are having a stink about it lol.

I never really payed attention to how cheesy it was or wasn't. I was too busy feeling embarassed for Ian McDiarmid with those rediculous contortionist faces he was making when things got tense.

 

It's not so much that I think its over the top as I think it's non-committal. It's almost as if the scene itself is too aware of the "Noooooooo!" moment and holds back instead of embracing it and really letting Vader be angry.