PT Should ROTS have been 3 hours long instead of 2?

I loved the movie, don't get me wrong. However, it's plot seemed the most rushed out of all 6 movies. I could not buy how easily Palpatine turned Anakin to the dark side. If the movie was 3 hours long (compariable to the LOTR movies), there could have been a more obvious slippery slope for Anakin that would lead to the dark side. Also, plot lines that either conflict with the OT (such as Leia's rememberance of Padme or Obi Wan thinking Anakin could turn back) or unfinished/unmentioned plots (Sifo-Dias) could have been fixed or finished. People mention that there should have been more of a build up to his turning in the previous movies, possibly even having him turn in Ep 2. However, I think Ep 3 was the right movie to do it in, but given the vast amount of resolutions, the movie should have been quite a bit longer than the other films.

 

Yes it should have.

I actually like Episode 3 the least out of the prequels... I know that's hard to believe, but it's true.

Anakin's turn literally ruined the film for me. Oh and Grevious using 4 lightsabers at once destroyed the pedestal I put jedi and Sith on... He should have just used 2 of the staffs that the Magnaguards used...

Anakin needed to turn for power reasons -not the crap that we were delivered. And this film needed to be longer for sure -that way all that needed to be wrapped up wouldn't have felt so rushed.

 

If it was done well, I certainly possess the necessary attention span.

Lucas was very strict on running time, as if he was expecting a response of "too long, didn't watch".

 

Personally, I don't think ROTS needs to be any longer, although I certainly wouldn't mind if it were. Admittedly, the Sifo-Dyas plot could have been wrapped up more cleanly, but I think it would have been rather cumbersome to integrate considering that we would have to look back over ten years prior to resolve it. And honestly, it's fairly obvious that either Palpatine or Dooku ordered the army and killed Sifo-Dyas. Clarification would have been nice, but rather unnecessary, in my opinion. As for Leia's remembrance of Padme, I have never seen that as a plot hole or a conflict with the OT.

Anakin's turn, I feel, comes across as rather abrupt if you only take ROTS into account. AOTC does a nice job of setting it up, however. Anakin in that film is a bit more "unpleasant," I suppose, because it's necessary to establish his underlying problems -- attachment, feelings of inadequacy, resentment of the Jedi, manipulation by Palpatine, desire for a responsive government, and so on. ROTS builds upon that by showing Anakin's increasing distrust of the Jedi and his strengthening belief in military action while introducing a fear of loss. So, overall, I like the movie the way it is.

 

The movies have already been done and despite their flaws I prefer them to remain the way they are.

Constantly going back to make little revisions kinda seems like performing multiple plastic surgeries on an already beautiful woman.

Could the movies be improved? Maybe, but I feel they would need to be drastically changed for any significant improvements to be realized. I fear that the small cosmetic changes could lead to a certain loss of charm.

 

I still feel as though it was have been better as a 3 hour film. However, I would not recommend going back and changing it. I just think it would have worked out better if it was 3 hours long when it was it theaters back in '05 (6 years already, geez time flys)

 

Strictly speaking, although I agree that ROTS felt a bit rushed, I don't think making it longer would have helped.

What would have worked was combining most of the storylines of TPM & AOTC (which, by GL's own admission, had a lot of filler - or 'Hamburger Helper' as he put it) into Episode I, & making Eps II & III a combination of certain parts of AOTC & all of ROTS.

Introduce the Anakin/Padme romance in Ep I & allow it to sink in far more over two films, so that its tragic outcome would have far more impact in Ep III. More of the actual Clone Wars in Ep II. Bring in Bail Organa in Ep I. Etc etc etc.

20/20 hindsight from fanboys is such a wonderful thing, yes?
I still stand by that position, though, always have. TPM & AOTC had too much fluff, ROTS was trying to stuff too much into one film. Three hour SW films wouldn't work, though, I honestly don't think there's quite the same depth that the LOTR stories have (hell, the LOTR films should have actually been longer), nor should there be.

 

I would have liked to see Luke and Leia born prior to the end of the movie. This way, it would give Leia more time to know her mother. Also, it would coincide with what Leia said about Padme in Return of the Jedi.

I would have liked to see Master Yoda talking to Qui-Gon Jinn. It was in the ROTS novel, but not the movie.

But overall, I have no problem with how long the movie was.

 

I think the DVD version of the movie added a little time to the second half. I could just be imagining things.
Having said that, the speed of Anakin's turn seems completely intentional. He's selling his soul in the pledge scene, some have said the sound Sidious makes is as if he is sucking Anakin's soul out. At this moment both the Jedi and the Sith seem morally equivalent, so Anakin sides with the one who can help him save Padme. I like the turn.

 

It didn't have to be a 3 hour movie to tell the whole story. Lucas said what needed to be said.

 

Why? So the movie could be padded with scenes that would only drag its pacing?

 

I've always felt that ROTS was two movies squashed together actually.

The first was the fall of Anakin and the failure of the Jedi, culminating in the duel against Mace and the Jedi in
Palpatine's office.

The second was about the repercussions and consequences. featuring Obi-wan and padme both trying to deal with the sweeping changes that has occured in the GFFA, and dealing with the one they pinned all their hopes of victory (anakin) becoming the enemy.

Because of time George was forced to gloss over or just cram all the beats of these two movies in as little time as he could. But sometimes I think what if it had been Episode three and episode 3.5? How much better would it be?

 

This sounds confusing. I believe that Lucas did okay with his films. If Han and Leia's romance wasn't played out in the first OT movie, I see no need for Anakin and Padme's romance to be shown in the first PT movie. These are drastic changes that are unecessary.

And by the way, I disagree. 20/20 hindsight from fanboys suck. I haven't read a fanboy revision of the movies - especially the PT movies - that made sense to me.

 

Most of the time, DRush, you're speaking my language. Right on! I will also add: Star Wars is MUCH deeper than "Lord Of The Rings" (in my opinion). At least... if we're sticking with the films. Tolkien may have been a dab hand with prose and philology, but Lucas is a master of the visual field.

 

Tolkien also spent virtually his entire adult life on Middle-Earth; he was still writing about it when he passed away. George claims he wants to do things other than Star Wars, but can't seem to really get away from it; he obviously still has alot to say/present, given the extension of the planned run for the Clone Wars cartoon and news about the live-action series perking up again.

 

ROTS certainly felt rushed to me, so yes, it could have afforded to be significantly longer.

It was far and away the best film of the PT, but they had to cram so much stuff into it in order to tie up so many loose ends. Many scenes felt so rushed to the point of not being believable (e.g. Anakin's turn in Palpatine's office).

With 20/20 hindsight, I think Lucas should have started the story with the Clone Wars in Episode I, which would have given more time for the story to adequately evolve. That way, they wouldn't have had to rush Ep III.

 

no revenge of the sith is a perfect movie, every scene,every shot, I don't want it changed.

 

This is not a dis of TPM or AOTC because I like them, but I wonder how one 3 hour prequel movie, set during the Clone Wars would've been received.

 

Lucas had three movies and over 7 hours of screen time to unveil the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker but unfortunately chose the last hour of the last film to really tell the story. Don't get mew wrong, I love the first two prequel movies, but as stated earlier there was plenty of filler scenes.

It seems like Lucas did not have an overall storyline written prior to making the movies. Oh, he had certain things to accomplish, introducing Anakin, young Obi, Emperor, etc. but it felt like he wrote AOTC after the filming of TPM and ROTS after the filming of AOTC. No vision of this is what needed to be accomplished in each movie, but rather cool scenes that individually work but not as a storyline for a trilogy.

For example, starting Anakin as a youngster in TPM, than jumping ahead 10 years almost creates a disconnect for the audience. Also, having two differenct actors playing Anakin makes him seem like two different characters.

Lucas had plenty of time to portray the story, he just spaced it out poorly.

 

Lucas had three movies and over 7 hours of screen time to unveil the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker but unfortunately chose the last hour of the last film to really tell the story.


I disagree. The problem I have with this comment, is that you seemed to think that Anakin's downfall happened overnight. It didn't. It began the moment he was reluctant to leave his mother behind on Tatooine and what happened in ROTS was simply the last act of a long downfall. Sometimes, I wonder if many fans were too busy trying to find flaws in the PT that they failed to see what was happening before their very eyes.

 

I agree with most of that. I have always been of the opinion that Anakin should have started out older, and should have been portrayed by the same actor throughout the trilogy.

 

You are so right! I have watched every PT movie at least ten times each because I wanted to find the flaws in each movie. Now, I will re-watch each movie knowing everything was perfect and no one should have opinions and/or critiques.

 

Hmmm, no one should have opinions or critiques? Then why have a discussion board?

And... in my opinion, the PT certainly was not "perfect".

 

I agree that the events of TPM played a part in Anakin's downfall. It makes sense to show the viewers Anakin's attachments to his mother and his hardships in early life on Tatooine because these things put young adult Anakin in perspective. However, I'm not sure an entire film needed to be devoted to them.

One of the first things I speculated about after seeing RotS (after I'd finished feeling blown away by it and was ready to analyze it, I mean) was how great it would have been if that story had been less rushed and stretched out over a greater percentage of the PT. For example, could the events of TPM and AotC had been compressed into a single film, leaving two more to tell the story of RotS? Maybe Anakin's childhood could have been seen in flashbacks, or maybe the film could cover a long timeframe so the audience could watch him grow up.

BTW, speaking of Tolkien, I think this is one area where he and Lucas are alike. Both tell wonderful stories, but struggle with the concept of pacing.