Episode III

So, yesterday Connie and I went to see Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and I have to say that overall I liked it. I'm a big fan of Star Wars, I have been since I was 8, but I have been very disappointed with the new films prior to this one, and I admit that even this one doesn't rate as highly with me as the old ones do.

I guess the problem I run into is that the new ones are all about spectacle, with character and story taking an almost second place position to trying to wow the audience. This is wonderful if you're trying to create a movie that the audience will view once and then forget about, but if you want to tell a real meaningful story that people will remember and want to see again you have to give them something with more substance. In this, Lucas comes closest with this new movie, but still falls really short of the mark.

Someone really needs to tell George Lucas when enough is enough, because if he wants to make a giant visual painting using special effects that's fine, but this is suppose to be a story. The biggest problem I found was that even when there was something important happening Lucas feels the need to have a huge number of "cool special effects" going on around the characters which keeps the audience from focussing on what's important. The end fight is a blazing (if you'll pardon the pun) example of this, with the environment getting just as much attention as the fight when in fact the environment should be a minor detail compared to the fight itself. I've always felt that an artist was best served when they were given limits to push and to sometimes break, because I have seen so many artists who have no clue what to do when you given them complete freedom. Editing is good, it can be your friend, and boy does Lucas need an editor.

That said, it really isn't a bad film, just one in need of better storytelling, dialogue, artistic thought and acting. Still, there are some good moments in the movie that will probably be remembered for a long time, one being Padme's comment when the Chancellor becomes the Emperor and the other being the look in Anakin's eyes as he has the mask put on him. Those two moments stuck with me far better than any of the special effects shots of the movie, because they were human moments, and I was there to see a story about people, not computer special effects.

Rob