As of 2013, it is two years from the
release of the new “Star Wars” trilogy and eight years since the release of the
last prequel, “Star War Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.” George Lucas got a
lot of flack for going back to the past with his new trilogy and doing what
many fans, most notably Patton Oswalt, would say was a poor job. However, of
those three films most people would agree Episode III is the best one. We
finally get to see the rise of the evil empire, Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth
Vader and we get a great lightsaber battle between good and evil on a volcanic
planet.
I’ve watched these movies at various points
of my life. My parents showed me the original trilogy on recorded VHS tapes
while we were living in Newfoundland in the early 90s. The new trilogy started
coming out in 1999, when we were living in South America. By the time the final
episode came out, we were back in Canada, so it all came full circle. I saw
Episode III in theatres in Quebec City with my mom and my brother and once
again after getting the DVD for Christmas. Now maybe 10 years I will end up
getting some sort of nine-movie Blu-Ray combo pack.
As this episode begins you go in knowing things
are not going to end well, but they do start with a bang. As the iconic opening
credits inform the audience, war has been raging in the galaxy for a while now.
The Jedis have been fighting separatists and their droid army led by dark Jedi
Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and cyborg General Grievous (voiced by Matthew
Wood). The Jedis fight back with their own army of clones, which they
conveniently stumbled upon in the previous episode. The movie’s first battle
takes place in ships shooting each other above Coruscant, the galaxy’s capital,
and goes non-stop until characters crash land in the city.
While the battles rage on, Supreme
Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDermid) is pulling strings to become more powerful
and eventually become Emperor Palpatine. The war has already granted him almost
complete control over the senate, but he has other plans. He appoints Anakin
Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) as his representative on the Jedi council. When
they do not respect his authority, Anakin becomes Palpatine’s confidant. He
tells Palpatine he has had vision of his wife Padmé (Natalie Portman) dying, In
turn the Chancellor convinces him the only to avoid change her future is to
embrace the dark side. Uh-oh.
After a deadly fight between Palpatine and
Master Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson, who gets a great death scene) the evil
plans are finally set into motion. Palpatine orders the clones to kill all the
Jedis knights. Anakin walks into the Jedi academy and slays all the young
trainees. Padmé, pregnant with twins, has to go on the run after watching the
senate grant Palpatine full power. As for the droid army, it was just a matter
of flipping an off switch.
The third act of the movie contains some of
the most dramatic moments in the Star Wars saga. Hundreds of Jedis are shot in
the back by soldiers with whom they had been fighting side by side. Master Yoda
(Frank Oz) tries to kill Palpatine and nip the evil empire in the bud while
there is still time, but he is defeated and goes into hiding. Anakin Skywalker
and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) finally have the duel that will leave Anakin
so scarred he will have to wear the most recognizable villainous helmet in
movie history.
As with all of the prequels, the weakness
here is the dialogue. For one thing, I can’t be the only one who thinks
“Revenge of the Sith” sounds an awful lot like “Revenge of the Shit.” Also, who
the hell says “younglings” when talking about kids? Some of the cheesiest lines
come up when the romance between Anakin and Padmé starts to fall apart, as they
state the obvious: “You’re breaking my heart.”
Despite the weak dialogue said by the
characters whenever they are not fighting, writer and director George Lucas
managed to close his new trilogy with a satisfying end. What was rather bizarre
is that at the time of the film’s release people saw it as a critique of the
foreign policies of George W. Bush. Actually, Lucas had started writing the
film during the Vietnam War. It’s just an unhappy coincidence that decades
later America would be once again stuck in an unpopular war and give
unprecedented power to its leader. Once again, things had come full circle.
What I found the most disturbing was the
odd resemblance between Emperor Palpatine and Pope Benedict XVI. Seriously,
look at a picture of these two side by side and tell me they don’t look alike.
Once the dust settled and the fanboys stopped
screaming, this turned out to be a good ending to one of the most famous sagas
in movie history. Now, lets just wait and see if J.J Abrams can cook up a new
trilogy with better dialogue in 2015. You never know, the Force might be with
him.
Comments
Post a Comment