[ROTS] *Official* ROTS Initial Reaction Thread

Very few of us have seen 'Revenge of the Sith' yet, but that is okay, because we'll all be seeing it very soon!

Once you've seen the film, THIS is the thread that you first want to hit. I have little doubt that my mind will be any less than a jumble of scenes and imagry once I get home after my midnight showing. This is where I am going to spew all of those thoughts. I suggest that everybody else follow suit and do the same.


REMINDER: As the [ROTS] tag indicates, this thread is allowed to contain every and all 'Revenge of the Sith' spoilers. Do not scroll down beyond my first post if you have not yet seen the film. The rest of this thread is fair game. Do not assume that you are safe! Though the film is not released until midnight on the 19th, some of our forum members have already seen the film! They are more than welcome to put their thoughts into this thread now.



Mace Windy,
revenge of the wind!


I am providing a very large spoiler-space for those of you who have not seen the film. If you have not seen the film yet, please do not scroll down! There are sure to be spoilers below very soon. I can't wait to read everybody's thoughts!

 

My initial reaction was depression. So much so that I PM'ed Garth cause I was afraid to post my review because I thought I hated the movie. But I realized I was only depressed because the movie was depressing, and because Star Wars is over. And also because I needed to think about certain things before everything made sense.

Primarily, I felt that Anakin's fall was too quick, and not believable. I went into the film thinking he was a good guy, thus I did not believe his fall would happen so easily. But when I reconsidered the evil and selfish things he had done prior to the movie, I realized he was already half way there. And once I accepted that, everything fell into place.

Once I got over my initial confusion, I realized what a masterpiece it was. My appreciation of it has grown by the day.

 

When I watched the movie I don't think my eyes moved away from the screen at all. Except for maybe 2 scenes...when the Jedi were being exterminated and Yoda was feeling all of the deaths, and before Anakin massacred the younglings. I looked at my wife and we were both practically in tears. Those scenes, plus the scenes of Anakin's burnt body on the operating table will haunt me for many, many days after seeing the movie. Walking away from the film felt like I had witnessed a horrible crime. But that's what made the movie work for me. It was a tragic masterpiece.

Best line in the movie:

"Not from a Jedi."

Can't really think of a worst line...I thought at one point R2 said "uh-oh" which was kind of cheesy, but I really don't have much to nitpick on the movie.

I don't want to discuss the whole Darth Plagueis/Sidious scene until I see the movie again on Thursday. Needless to say it was pretty interesting.

The opening battle scene was amazing. Watching Anakin and Obi-Wan jump out of their ships with lightsabers drawn was too cool for words. Everything seemed to be paced just right, not too long or too short. The last 5 minutes of the film were probably the greatest in the history of SW, second only to the final minute of the DS battle in ANH.

OK if there is 1 thing I can nitpick about the film, is the last scene, the music leading into the end credits seemed too abrupt. I hope it gets fixed. There, that's it. Other than that the film is perfect.

I cannot wait to see this film again.

 

bump

 

I've returned....I agree with pretty much everything you said, JediRac...the duel(s) were amazing, exhilarating , powerful and yet so sad at the same time. Padmé/Anakin scenes were great IMO. 2 annoying lines but it didn't really break the scene.

Mace Windu's death yell...
"You were the Chosen One!"...
Birth of the twins...(anyone already recognize that whining tone? Seriously!)

Alderaaaaaan!




And finally....


Beru. No lines. ARGH! DEstined to only say "hello" in the PT.....

 

The story is definitly big. Too big to be grasped on the first night.

E6 with Leia's memories, well a bug, just like Senator Bail Antilles of Alderaan.

The whole story line was a bit to condensed, 10,000 Jedi being killed in one night. Traveltimes, things like that.

And right now I feel kind of hollow. 6 month of anticipacion, 3 years of waiting, and 8 years of dreaming. Yet there is no rush of adrenalin in my veins, it's more like meditative state.

I will deifnitly see it again soon. So it's a wait and see.

 

I felt exactly like that, too, Michael, but it wore off, and as I tried to sleep (which I couldn't) the sheer brilliance of it overwhelmed me. Hour by hour I felt more and more amazed by what I had seen.

 

My first reaction was OMG, this is so huge! I love this! But now I only feel depressed, sad and exhausted. I've been waiting for this film so long and now it's all over. I must watch OT to cheer myself up again, to see that everything will be fine in the end, but I will never see OT the way I used to. Everything has changed! This is all too much for me right now. I need to get some sleep before I can go any deeper into this movie.

 

I just came back from this film here in Sweden, and wow. I thought I would be filled with emotion, but... I feel numb.

Tring to digest everything that happened in this movie is gonna be tough. A LOT seems to happen.
As posted above, I also had a bit of a hard time buying Anakin's turn to the dark side.
Even though he's a troubled kid... I don't know... It just happens so quick. Perhaps I just need to think it over.
That whole scene with Mace and Palpatine really left me without breath. I've always absolutely LOVED the Emperor (sounds weird I know), but in this film I hated him. And that's in a good way.

Fantastic ending to the saga.

Must sleep on this.

 

my mind=blown!!!


I loved the movie, it was awesome.


Its 4am here, so I'm gonna get some sleep to let it all sink in but it was great finally seing it after waiting for 3 years.

 

Wow. I don't know what else to say, though I'm sure I'll think of more later.

 

It's been over 12 hours since I saw it, so I think my thoughts may be somewhat coherent. Somewhat.

Let me start by saying this: I disliked the movie. Let me follow this statement with the following: I disliked the movie in the way I was supposed to dislike it. The film is utterly gut-wrenching and heart-breaking that it is difficult to sit through (the last 40-60 minutes were particularly strenuous). I walked out of the cinema with my stomach in knots. I still haven't slept (yes, I'm completely wiped out but my brain won't let me rest yet). I am in no rush to see it again. Though the film is one of the best in the saga, it is definitely the least enjoyable.

Now, for some basic notes:

THE GOOD

- The Acting: Sensational from all. Even the usually wooden Portman somewhat impressed me. Standouts include Hayden, Ewan, Ian and Frank (Oz, that is )

- The Special Effects: flawless and jaw dropping.

- The plotline: brilliant. Having read basically no spoilers about the storyline, the movie kept me interested the entire way through.

- the Jedi purge: when the clones turned on Ki Adi, I had chills. Truly a gripping montage.

- the dialogue: much improved, very little cringe-worthy stuff

- Anakin's corpse: I'm glad Lucas went there. It was somewhat haunting. Obi-Wan's dialogue in this scene was really tear-jerking stuff ("I loved you" )

- Windu's death was quite servicable.

- Grievous was better than I expected. There wasn't much to him but he was at least more interesting than Maul.

- Anakin's fall. As believable as it could be in a 2 hour movie.


THE BAD
Let me just preface this section with the fact that I did indeed enjoy this film. But it is not a masterpiece in my eyes. There was just too many things (some little, some rather big) that did not work for me:

- Padme's death. Ok, she loses Anakin so she has given up the will to live? Someone in my cinema laughed when that was the doctor's prognosis and I can't blame him. Padme spends a good deal of the first half of the movie glowing, absolutely ecstatic that she is pregnant. So, just because Anakin "dies" that means she can't live out of a love for her children? Give me a break.

- We finally uncover the answer to the question: is it possible to overact in a Vader costume? The answer is yes. "Noooooooooooooooooooooo". Sort of ruined the scene for me.

- Why didn't Anakin and Obi-Wan just use the force to push off the buzz-droids on their starfighters?

- Why didn't Obi-Wan and Yoda team up to fight Palpatine? Afterall, once he was destroyed it would be easier to bring back Anakin.

- Anakin's nightmares about Padme's death; what type of a sequence was that? Looked like something out of a bad 80s movie.

- How did Anakin go from turning to the dark side to protect Padme, to force choking her? That's a bit of a lapse in Ani's logic.

- What happened to Nute's voice? Did they change voice actors?

- Where did Obi-Wan get that lizard from?

- You'd think Qui-Gon's ability to communicate from the dead is rather important. Not so: it gets an off-hand comment and is never mentioned again in the saga.

And..
- The Death Star. Why, Lucas, why? It took 18 years to build the ANH Death Star and only 3-4 to build the Death Star II? That's a pretty big advancement in technology. But, then again, the Death looked like it was already one-third complete in ROTS. And here I was thinking that in ANH the Death Star was a weapon that no one in the Republic knew existed. Silly me; the bloody thing had existed for approximately 18 years already. Or at least somehow kept a secret that long.

 

I left the theater in awe. It was unbelievable. At the beginning I was unsure as I thought the opening battle was lacking something. Didn't really excite me. Once Anakin betrayed Windu though the movie was amazing. I was totally captivated.

Can't wait to see it again tomorrow/today.

 

wow

what can I say, but wow.

I brought in a snapple bottle with me to drink during the film. I only had 1/2 of it as I did not want to take my eyes off of the screen.

Ny theatre was silent for the last 45 min-hour, save one idiot who did not know Padme was having twins.

I wonder what Amanda has to say about Padme's death. As she swore Anakin couldn't kill her. and from a cpov she was right.

I loved how GL mirrored Padme's death, w/ Vader's birth.

Mace's duel w/ Sidious was awesome. Mace really held his own against the Sith Master. And I am glad that it was through his own lightning that Sid got scarred.

The Big Question: Who won the Battle of the Senate between Yoda and Sid? I think Yoda showed that he was more powerful. And that the only reason that Yoda went into exile was that he knew he had one chance, and did not succeed fully.

The Duel was excellent. Everything it was built to be.

omg this was great.


During Order 66, I was on the verge of tears, and all the hairs on my arms stood up. Ki-Adi trying to survive the clone troopers. Aayla being shot in the back. The youngling who Bail nearly saved.

This was excellent.

 

I've been thinking about it all the way home, and I can only say one thing: that is one heck of a good flick.

Sure, a couple nitpicks (is it just me or did Padme look like she was turning into the Bride of Frankenstein during that "love is blind" scene?), but overall I think this may well be my favorite of all six films.

I don't think the "Noooooooo!" was overacted, as has been suggested. It looked pretty much like I would expect a newly-cyborgized man still smarting from getting his legs cut off and burning up then having all kinds of nasty surgery to make him into a half-human monster would react to Palpatine's lie.

And what a lie it is. My heart ached with that one.

Did I imagine it or did Palpatine explain Anakin's birth with that whole Sith legend story?

Anyway, I thought ROTS combined the grand space opera feel of "New Hope" with the dark forboding of "Empire" and the emotional resonance of "Jedi" (minus the Ewoks) to produce the most mature, most fulfilling chapter in the "Star Wars" saga. Well done, George.

Now I think I'll cry myself to sleep.

 

I laughed, I cried, I cheered (See. Sleepless shirtless Anakin) seriously, I can barely speak now I cheered most of the parts so enthustically

*coughs*


Its 3am and I am going to catch some sleep.

Honestly, I would love to write more than that since there is just too much to explore, But right now I am just too blown away to write anything that makes too much sense

 

First off, the movie itself. It's by far the best of the prequels (and I enjoyed both TPM and AOTC) and ranks on par with the best the OT has to offer. It has some pacing issues, especially in the beggining, but once Order 66 is issued, well you know. One of the best hour and a half of my life.

Palpatine, Obi Wan, Yoda and R2D2 stole the show. And Anakin's and Padme's acting was very good, miles better over AOTC.

I loved the duels, the comic relief was more appropiate and funny, and I enjoyed most of the 'romantic' storyline. The movie also have some problems with tidbits of dialogue, you know usual Star Wars stuff. And the pacing is kinda off in the beggining. The space battle did nothing to me and the Dooku duel seem well meh!. But my biggest gripe by far is that I felt Anakin's turning was a bit to 'fast'. His reasons were legitimate and understandable, yet he seem to make the jump at a breath's notice. One minute he is asking himself what he has done, the next he's kneeling before the Emperor. Nonetheless these complaints are minor and do not overshadow the GREATNESS of the movie.

As a fan, what can i say that can't be done? Believe the hype, you'll leave the theater wanting to watch ANH, you'll hope Anakin does the right thing, and even though you know what is going to happen you have this blind faith that someone will put an end to the madness, that someone will say STOP THIS, LOOK WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO YOURSELF.

I was emotionally affected. I've never cried at a movie. I cried like a baby, tears running down my cheek crying. Once Order 66 is issued my jaw started shaking and a knot in my belly formed. With every jedi killed I flinched a little bit harder. But the moment when all broke loose was when Padme holds Luke in her arms and calls him by name. The power of this scene blew me away. Padme screaming, Anakin screaming, Padme bright, beautiful, Anakin, dark, scared, horrible. This was it to me, the circle was complete. I have become one with Star Wars, I shall become a more powerful nerd than you can ever imagine.

Other moments that got me deep were the parallelism between the Throne Room in ROTJ and bits of the Dooku duel, and more important, the Mace-Palp duel. I couldn't help but smile when I could see the Emperor's skull, and how he beg for Anakin to save him. And the fact that both Mace and Palp fall to the abyss, just awesome! The Throne Room scene will never be the same again. Another time when I choked up big time was when Anakin told Obi Wan he hated him. That hurted and McGregor's face showed it. Also when Obi sees Anakin kneeling in front of Palpa...wow!

But the worst scene of all (the worst in a good way) has to be when Anakin chokes Padme. How can good people get so evil?

Quote me and take it to print, with this move GL makes Anakin into one of the greatest tragic heroes of all times, all mediums. He's right there with Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Oedipus, etc.

 

It's kind of hard to put into words my reaction to this movie. It was amazing, but afterwards I felt more sad than anything else. From Mace's death to the end this was just an amazingly dark, depressing movie. I will have to see it again to fully sort out my reactions, but I'm not sure I feel like seeing it again right away because it's just so sad.

 

It took me a minute to really get into the movie, which means I will have to see this again so that I can truly appreciate the space battle. Other than that this movie is a 10/10 for me. I am truly in awe of this work, it came out so well.

My favorite scene would have to be either: Padme's death/anakin's death (aka luke and leia's birth/darth vader's (as we know him) birth), or when Anakin kills dooku.

Someone I know really predicted how Anakin hurts padme on mustafar, i have to give him props for that. I had thought that it would have been extremely powerful if that's the way it would be in the movie - and it really was.

The imagery in this movie is great; so is the acting. It's hard to say this for a movie that GL directs, I would like to say "the acting is wooden" but I truly cannot think of any part of the movie in which lines were delivered badly or anything of that sort. Ian McDarmiad is AMAZING!

 

I was even more emotional during the last 20 minutes the second time around. Stinrab put it best - this the probably the best film in the saga, but the least enjoyable. Both times I have left the theater feeling I didn't enjoy it, but then realize because it's just awful stuff happening.

Our projecter shut down twice, once during the movie. Nearly a riot in the theater. The movie stopped for almost 20 minutes.

 

Just saw it twice in a row, in French then in English. Totally in awe. It was at times extremely sad and frustrating to see such evil happening. I'll have to digest my viewings for a few weeks before I see it a third time.

I think the only big thing that was wrong with the movie was that some of the elements that allow us to connect to Episode 4 were a bit "rushed".. I mean they all happen in the last 10 minutes of the movie. A little bit of elaboration on those things would have created a smoother transistion from the PT to the OT. Because when going from EP3 to EP4, transistion is definately important considering it is 6 episodes.

Apart from that, almost everything in the movie was very very good and could be justified. Nothing was gratuitous, everything had a reason.

And what about the imperial set at the end? And the officers? WOW. Every single detail was there. It just looked great.

Excellent job George and thank you!

 

Okay, so this is the inital reactions thread, so mine is short and trite:

Wow.

I think that this is the Star Wars movie George has always wanted to make, but couldn't until now. During the OT, he didn't have the technology, and during the PT (before now), he didn't have the compelling story to tell (and don't get me wrong, I enjoy much of TPM and love much of AOTC, but George has said that they are only 40% of the PT storyline combined).

It may just be the initial thrill, but I think ROTS may just be perfect.

Can't wait to read everyone's thoughts. Must sleep now.

WJE

 

Not even sure what to say yet. Totally overwhelmed. So many more things make sense now, though.

Did anybody else notice that, in the beginning, R2-D2 seemed to flow as much a part of the team as Anakin and Obi-Wan? Obi-wan seems to have lost his 'just a droid' attitude, at least in regards to him.

Anakin's fall didn't seem quick to me. It's nice to know now why Yoda reacts like he does when Luke has visions of his friends in trouble, too.

Only thing that got me is how everybody kept alternating between Emperor and Chancellor when referring to Palpatine. The first time, even, it seemed they were calling him Emperor when they shouldn't have heard of the declaration of Empire yet. That's quite minor, though, and it may make more sense on future viewings.

 

I think they were switching between Emperor/Chancellor and Republic/Empire just because they weren't used to things yet. I kind of liked that.

 

Mwa-Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

I am so glad I stayed away from every form of hype for this movie. Yes, for those that don't know, I am ESS, Spoiler and Trailer Free. No OS info, no HyperSpace... nothing.

For the 'Major Bad-***' villain... the great General Grievous... of whom, unfortunately, even I accidentally got spoiled a little on... for him to be a six-pack-a-day Emphysema patient that punks out more times than Maul did...

Mwa-Hahahahahahaha!!!!!



Seriously, I am blown away. It was definitely the single greatest chapter of this saga. So much we knew had to happen, and it delivered on every last one of them.

I need to see this again. And again. And again.