Rocky M, NC Revenge of the Sith: Your Thoughts

Well, thats it folks. The circle is now complete. Sad? disappointed? Everything you hoped for and/or expected? Lets hear everyone's thoughts on the final chapter.

As for me, the emotions I expected have actually hit me harder this morning telling and retelling the film to folks at work. The exchanges between Padme and Anakin were still as cheesy as AOTC, BUT I thought Hayden and Natalie performed them MUCH better. Mace's death got to me much worse than I expected. I knew what was going to happen, but didnt think they would pull it off with the intensity it had. "Power!! Absolute POWER!!!" wow, it really chilled me to the bone. The opening battle was great and I loved the banter between Obi-Wan and Anakin. The Order 66/Jedi deaths REALLY, REALLY got to me, especially with the "Anakins Betrayal" theme playing behind it. Of course, the whole youngling asking Anakin what to do scene killed me. Again, I knew what was gonna happen, but I wasnt prepared for the slight stunned reaction from the little boy when Anakin ignites his saber. The duals at the end exceeded my expectations. I wish they had not cut Qui-Gon out but thats really my only complaint.

 

***SPOILER ALERT***

Anakin's betrayal of Mace was well played... my only question is if Anakin had not arrived when he did could Mace have killed Darth Sidious? Did Mace really have him or was Sidious playing along for Anakin's benefit?

I agree Order 66 was devastating and difficult to watch. However, the most unbelievable thing was how Anakin could blindly follow Sidious yet could question everything else. How could someone about to become a father himself slaughter children? This is the only point that was not explained to my satisfaction in the film. I plan to pick up the novel to see how well the psychology of it plays out in the background.

Definitely, a very powerful movie... I will say I think it wrapped up all the other questions I had brewing pretty nicely.

Lod-Reh SaJon ~
"If you seek knowledge and understanding look to the Force.
If you seek pain and suffering look no further than me."

 

Well as I sit here trying to gather together my thoughts for my review of the movie, I keep hearing the words of Yoda...Failed I have. Being the huge Yoda fan I am, that was tough to take. Order 66 was another difficult scene. But the one scene that really bothered me was where the younglin ask Anikin what do we do? and he pulled the lightsaber on him. Had they shown him killing the childeren, I personally wouldve probably walked out at that point.On the flip side of that I was very happy to see that they Vader in costume before the end of the movie. All in all I thought it was great movie. Exceeded all my expectations it did. Master Yoda has spoken!

 

I thought that it was a great way to end a great trilogy, I have some complaints and I have some cheers, but in all it was just great.

****SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS****


My complaints are; first off I don't like the way that Grievous was killed, from what we saw in the Clone Wars he was supposed to be this great fighter but it only took two blaster shots to kill him I didn't like that. My second complaint is that they didn't have Qui-Gon in the movie, in my opinion they should have at least just had a shot of Obi-Wan in the cave or in the desert training with Qui-Gon and then faded it out. I am also going to pick up the book to see some more things that I heard where left out of the movie.

My cheers are; I think that the banter between Anakin and Obi-Wan was good, Anakin's maturity was also another good thing he was so whinny in the second one. Another thing that I liked was the fact that while she was on her death bed she tells Obi-Wan that he still has good in him, which showed how much she truly cared for him.

 

Blast you Cassie. That last sentence now has me crying like a baby. Luckily we are closed and I'm sittin here all alone.

 

My reviewart II

I didnt really like Grevious at all, to me he was just a old warrior that if you listened to him cough at the end of everything he said, sounded like he had smoked for way to long. Thankfully he was done away with fairly early and the evil personified (Vader)was created. Master Yoda has spoken

 

Chills: Anakin and the younglings, Mace's death, Anakin as the Human Torch and his subsequent operation


Thrills: Obi-Wan/Anakin battle, Yoda/Emperor battle, Mace/Emperor battle


Tears: Padme's death, Owen/Beru/Luke look off into the twin suns of Tatooine


Laughs: Yoda's entrance into Palpatine's chamber and what he does to the royal guards, Artoo attempts to hide Obi-Wan's comlink, some Anakin/Obi-Wan banter


Cons: Padme dies of a broken heart? Or is there another explanation in the book? She was too strong a character to just give up like that. Artoo is portrayed as sort of inept for parts of this movie. He has been nothing but resourceful in all the films, so I didn't like this sudden change. Grievous did go out rather easily. I wanted to see more of him fighting in that unorthodoxed style.

Pros: The acting was much better. Obi-Wan was finally portrayed as the bad-@ss I always hoped he'd be. The tie-in to ANH was handled pretty well. The story was built up so much better and I felt the turn was handled nicely.

 

I'll give review & various commentary in parts...

VERY GROOVY!

Lodreh, Palpatine's little "grin" - and the fact that he blasts away at Mace with full fury after Anakin makes his move - shows that old Sidious was putting on a show of weakness. This has been HEAVILY debated on all spoiler forums for a longo time. The release of the graphic novel from Dark Horse and the official novel only seemed to muddy/complicate things.

Also, I received my Star Wars Insider in the mail on Wednesday, and in the McDiarmid interview it is revealed the only thing Sidious didn't plan/control was Anakin deciding that Obi-Wan's "fate will be our own" on the Invisible Hand during the "rescue" of the Chancellor following the (staged) kidnapping.

And the only time you see Sidious shown genuine concern for someone behind himself is in this film: his relief that Anakin is alive - and that he places his hand on burnt Annie's forehead. (McDiarmid mentioned this in the interview, as well. Had I not read it, it would have been left ambiguous for me.) The only other time I can think of, and this one is probably soley selfish reasons, is (not in the film, but the book) when Palpatine gives Mas Amedda (pre-Yoda-duel) a chance to escape with his life.

The "bas relief" during the scene where Anakin figures out that Palpatine is Sidious is very groovy. You can't make out the whole picture in the film, but I'd seen it in one of the books I bought (either "The Art of..." or "The Making of...") and it depicts an ancient Sith battle.

Grievous was groovy. Sometimes a little hard to understand (if I hadn't known what he was supposed to be saying...). He had to be killed in "stages" so I don't think he went down too easy.

No nos monster... Obi-Wan rises from the water on Utapau... the droids begin to enter the grotto... and... cut? Nooooooooooooo!

I liked the Anakin/Padme interaction. The Anakin/Sidious interaction.

All the "birth of the rebellion" stuff was cut. So by solely watching the films, one can gather that Bail contacted like-minded individuals to start the rebellion, but there were actually several more "core" founders, in addition to the Delegation of Two Thousand.

Weird to hear of many complain about Vader killing Jedi kids, when a non-Sith Anakin killed kids in AOTC ("but the women and the children too"). Vader's not a nice guy. He "fell" to the Dark Side. He's evil. He's got his own kid (as FT mentioned) to think about. I would have liked to have seen more of Vader taking out the Jedi, especially the more powerful, older ones. If they weren't so arrogant, none of this would have happened.

It didn't come out in the film, but Anakin was desperate to become a Master because then he would have access to the ancient secrets in the Jedi archives, in which Anakin could learn about the Sith who could keep people from dying. When he was refused the title of Master, he had to find out the secret another way, for Padme's sake...

More later.

Edit: Dal-Intrepid, Padme does indeed die of a broken heart. Her character (as well as Jar-Jar's) symbolizes the Old Republic, so on several levels, she has reason to die of a broken heart. She is a strong character, but there are some matters of the heart that are stronger than anything. Look at me. I used to be "normal". (sort of)

One thing about this... (by the by, good to see the jappor snippet carving back - love the novel's handling of it at the end!) without the cut scenes in AOTC, who would know Padme's family?

 

I loved the movie over all.
My only thing is I thought Windu was not supposed to go out like a punk.I think he would have had more struggle with ewoks.

 

I would just like to thank everyone who was at the theater last night and the day before, you all made the time more enjoyable for all the employees and customers who came in to watch what should be named one of the greatest movies ever. I am looking forward to seeing all of you again soon.

Matthew Cummings
assistant mgr/projectionist Premier Theaters

 

**SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER**

After the movie, I felt as though there was a large portion missing... Somewhere and I dont know what it was. I was overall impressed with the graphics and the fight scenes but some of the acting could have been better... I do also wish that Gen. Grevious had a longer fight scene and didnt go out by two simple pistol shots... He was so awesome in the cartoon series.. I think that he was coughing because of the time the Windu force crushed his internal organs... But overall, it just seemed way too short... I wish that some of the people that died went out with more of a fight... (I.E. Secura... Sorry Cam.) My favorite part however was the fight the younglin had... I thought that was awesome.

 

In case you didnt know, Drakkorr, that was George Lucas's son playing that brave little Padawan. I thought he did a good job.

Matcu, I think I can speak for everyone when I say how much we enjoyed being there. Thanks to you guys at Premiere for doing your parts.

 

Matcu, glad you posted!!

 

yup, yall are stuck with me now

 

heres to the matcu and the staff at premeire for making the rocky mount/roanoke rapids fan force welcomed there.

 

I'm with Yoda, thanks to the whole Premire staff, it was because of them we were allowed to do some of the stuff that we did.

****Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler*****

Here's my take on the Padme dying of a broken heart. It's not that she died of a broken heart, it's as the doctor told Obi-Wan she just gave up the will to live. She has just seen what she's worked her whole life to help build be broken and there is nothing she can do about it, then when she goes to talk to Anakin about what Obi-Wan told her she finds out that not only has he turned to the darkside and killed the younglings but that he had a hand (no pun intended) in destroying what she helped build. I think what the final blow, the thing that made it so that she no longer had the will to live was when he force choked her. Think about it wouldn't you kind of start to lose the will to live if the person that you love kills all these children, helps destroy what you've helped build, tells you that he done it for you and then tries to kill you, it's kind of devestating.

 

With all due respect to your cassness, I respectfully disagree with your answer of why padme died of a broken heart, the way i see it, she died of a broken heart simply because she knew anakin had turned to the dark side. Said my peace on this matter I have. Master Yoda has spoken!

 

Cassie, I agree with you to a certain point. HOWEVER, she had was with child. She had a reason to want to live.Look at my situation. I feel the same way about my wife and our impending seperation. The person I have loved for 12 years becomes someone I dont know and basically throws me to the curb. Have I been suicidal? Hell yeah!! But you know what keeps me going? You guessed it: my kids. They, if nothing else, are worth every breath I take. She isnt worth giving up when I have my two babies. Now, if they were taken from me, well, you guys would have to keep a watch on me because that would be the end of me.

 

Matcu: Glad to have you. And please offer our thanks to all the staff there at Premiere. I know we thanked Heath, but all the staff were incredibly nice and enthusiastic about a bunch of geeks hanging out and disrupting their routine. We all appreciate it very much.

I'm still digesting it all, but here are my thoughts so far.

1. Movie was good, book was better.
2. Pro: How much Sidious seemed to relish the combat with Yoda.
3. Pro: Obi-Wan as a badass.
4. Pro: Obi-Wan's emotionally charged final dialog with Anakin. McGregor manages to over come George's notoriously bad character direction to give us a moment that seems to genuinely portray the hurt and betrayal that only Anakin could inspire in him.
5. Con: Padme dies of a broken heart. I understand why he does it, but it's still kind of hokey.
6. Con: Bumbling Artoo. I know that George wanted/needed to inject some light moments, but I'ld have rather it not be at the expense of Artoo.
7. Con: Has George ever been in love?
8. Con: Kayyshek (sp?) looked nothing like we've always been lead to believe.
9. Con: Dropping the ball on explaining Leah's remembrance of her mother from Jedi.

Over all, the pro's far out weighed the cons.

 

Here's the thing though, not only has she been crushed emotionally, she was force choked and not just for a short period of time she's was in that hold until Obi-Wan made it to her. Then she had to go through child birth, maybe it was just a combination of both.

 

I forgot to mention #9, Entropy. I just dont like the way he did that. Makes NO sense whatsoever.

 

Leia's adoptive mother is the one she could be remembering. Keep in mind we do not know at what age in Leia's life Bail Organa's wife died.

 

personally i would have to give this movie an 8 on a 10pt scale. for use of graphics and the technological "wow" factor of the film i'll have to give it a 9.5. For the growth on the aspect of the actors i would have to put for everyone EXCEPT Natalie Portman, a 10. Natalie I'm sorry to say took about 3 steps back, thus making her growth as an actress in this film a -3. I've sincerly enjoyed the fact that you could watch in all the actors some sort of growth into their roles and for the new actors themselves, growth into being more skilled actors. I may be the only one to think this but perhaps it was intentional to a degree. I say this because I observed that in ep6 there was one point of overacting, even though some could justify it, and since he did that in 6 he may have chosen to do that in 3. Also I noticed that there were 3 main parts where the movie suddenly looked cartoony 1) anytime there was more than one trooper with his helmet off, 2) in the opening when Obi-wan and Ani were flying their ships and it showed their faces as they flew by, 3) and when Dooku did his flips off the balcony, they probably lost about 6-7 of his age spots on his face as they faded into his real face for the fight. Another thing that I personally would have done diffrently was when Obi-Wan have Luke to his family they did a pan out to lukes aunt holding him but then did a sudden cut to Obi, then a fade back with the uncle there, then sudden cut back and with the 2 suns there and near dark around Obi, it was a shock to my already tired eyes. My final complaint is that it just felt too dang SHORT. There was soo much mentioned that they should have shown, the fight with Greivous just seemed too short, I understand that Mace messed him up in clonewars and that would have contributed to his weakened condition but they should have stretched it out some. It never felt close.

 

Entropy, as for Kashyyyk (sp?), we only saw a small part of it. We don't see Tarfful & Chewie's village, just a place at a lake where the action was.

For the Wookie World you're looking for, ENJOY the Holiday Special - that masterful piece - for that!

 

By the Force! I thought the movie was great, but I think I'll say Empire is still my favorate.

Matcu - Welcome to our boards, my friend. I figured you would come around these parts eventually.

Kazuma - I agree with the "cartoony"-ness.

Entropy - #2-4,&9, I agree. #6, I also agree, but why didn't 3PO have many lines? And #5, I don't think it was that hokey after all. Her reality was shattered. Everything she believed in died with "thunderous applause". Plus the facts that Anakin had turned to the Dark Side, and she had just given birth to twins.

But, any way, here's my run through the movie.

***SPOILER ALERT*** ***COMPLETELY SPOILERS*** ***SPOILER ALERT***

Perhaps I should start at the begining. The stuff with Artoo seemed to me to be a bit like slapstick humor, but it did at least showed the power of the droid. The duels were great, except for the 3 Masters falling so easily, and Grevious should have been able to fight better. The whole thing with him weezing and all, I'm not sure about. For those who didn't see the cartoon that has been mentioned, there is no explanation about it. And therefore causes questions. I felt that there should have been more pushing involved with Palpatine seducing Anakin to the Dark Side. I was disappointed by the last of an appearance of Qui-Gon.

But the thing that truely got me was the relationship between Anakin and Padme. This is the part that hit me so hard because of the simularities between their relationship and the relationship between me and my wife. The simularities include things both great and small. The small ones would be things like how both Padme and Tracy both were 5 years older than Anakin and myself, respectively. Both relationships last 3 years. We were married, as Anakin & Padme were. While Padme had twins, some of you might remember that I announced that Tracy's doctor mention a possability of us having twins. The bigger things are the big story connections. But to go into that, I would have to open up. Seeing that you all are my brothers and sisters in the Force(or God, however you may like to call it), I respect and love you all, so, I am willing.

#1)With this movie, we really get to see why Anakin willingly joins the dark side, especially after seeing the little boy on Tatooine in Episode I. It was all because he was afraid that he would lose his wife and possably his child to death. Lucky for Palpy, that Palpy could distract Anakin from the truth with promises. As for me, in the earlier stages of Tracy's pregnancy with Jackson, there were some complications. After getting to the hospital one night, the doc diagnosed a possable tubular pregnancy, something that can be fatal to the mother as well as the child. After, hearing the news, I tried consoling Tracy. But, I needed air, I needed to breathe, I needed to pray. So, I went to the car, crying my eyes out and smoking a cigerette. The moment before I started to prey, my mind was full of fear and dread. And as Yoda said in Episode I, "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering". Well, the words are true. From my fear, came anger and hatred, all to boil up suffering in my mind and heart. Because I was afraid, I became angry at God. I hated God. Never before had I ever, but at that moment, darkness was truly filling me. And as I sat there in the car, I spoke aloud to God. I expressed my anger and hatred through words. I remember even saying, "...if they die, so will you. I swear I will find a way..." But, fortuneately, after smoking one or two more cigerettes within 10 minutes or so, I went back inside to be with the one I loved so much, so she would have to be alone with this anymore than she had to. I calmed down. Thinking more about how much I loved her than anything to happen in the future. I prayed again, asking God to spare her. The next day we recieve the news that everything was going to be alright. That was my most darkest moment, so I can understand why Anakin did what he did, because I know I would do the same thing to save my own. Even if I had to kill others t