I can’t quite picture myself without Star Wars. It’s always been there as a piece of entertainment, a playground and a cultural point of reference for all the people I usually hang out with. So it’s actually slightly melancholic to finally see the Star Wars saga take a bow and exit stage left.
But what a way to end, huh?
The first part is pretty boring, usual ‘new-trilogy’ nonsense, but once Anakin is turned… Holy crap! I didn’t know Lucas could do movies that were this good! It’s dark, brooding, captivating, breathtaking, sweeping… All the things we remember Star Wars being, just more!
I am of course brimming with observations and thoughts on this occasion, hopefully I can pen it tonight and spice it up with a few photos and what not. For now I’m just overjoyed to find the final piece of the puzzle to be genuinely worth the wait.
PS: If you wrote a review of it, drop a link, I’d love to read it.
I posted my thoughts on Revenge of the Sith a few days ago.
I’m hoping to see it again relatively soon, without the distraction of trying to manage kids and their snacks :)
It totally kicked my ass HARD!…i’m not the biggest SW fan, but this was a pure visual treat.
Oh yeah forgot to post this pic…
http://imagenes.yonkis.com/2452005191643.jpg
Think you’ll apprechiate it ;)
My post was pretty small but post about it I did – I enjoyed it a lot.
http://www.binarymoon.co.uk/2005/05/star-wars-episode-iii-revenge-of-the-sith-review/
I’m going to have to see it again, maybe. I hate to be the voice of dissent, but I didn’t like it at all. Color me very disappointed. Visually though, it was stunning.
I posted my thoughts straight after the midnight showing I was at last wednesday night…
I thought it ruled like Genghis Khan!
I watch all six movies…twice since Episode III was released… Yeah I did do that :P
It made me realize, it wasn’t about Luke, it was about Anakin the whole time.
Here’s a review:
http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/002686.html
I thought III was better than I and II…
http://www.onedigitallife.com/index.php?p=502
I couldn’t bring myself to review it in one long post, so I did it in short observations / sarcasm bursts
I really like Kottke’s review and Mr. Sun’s review of Revenge of the Sith. They both summed up my feelings pretty well.
Seen it twice, loved it, posted some thoughts on it.
I like what he did with the light sabers…lots of those…which was nice…
I am sure you are not reading anymore reviews by now, but here are my thoughts on it: My Feelings
I’m still reading them, bring ‘em on!
I’ll have to postpone my own though, it’s running a bit long, so I’ll finish up tomorrow.
I just saw the movie on Wednesday night, and I will write a review during this weekend. Will be back to post the link here and of course read yours.
I don’t have enough thoughts for a full review, reely, so…
1. The actor playing Palpatine did a super job. Marvellously slimy.
2. Ewan McGregor should have a lightsaber shoved up his arse. I don’t care if Lucas can’t direct actors, or if you don’t like a bit of green-screen work! What did you expect from Star Wars, exactly? Act, you bastard!
3. Natalie Portman is hot.
4. This film was cool, because, unlike the first two, some stuff actually happened.
5. Hayden was alright, but isn’t really quite magnetic enough to play this theoretically fascinating character. More of a problem in Episode II, but still an issue here.
6. Lots of cool tie-ins with episode 4. Lots of stuff making sense.
7. I really wish C3P0’s memory wipe could have been handled without quite so much of a giant knowing wink in the audience’s direction.
8. Yoda is the coolest.
9. George Lucas should have a lightsaber shoved up his arse for that cringe-worthy, final “Noooooooooooooo!”
10. And the War on Terror allegory didn’t have to be made quite so tooth-grindingly obvious, either. We get it, George! We’re a reasonably intelligent lot. No wonder it got standing ovations at Cannes. Certainly wasn’t for the dialogue.
11. So, better. But there still hasn’t been a Star Wars movie that’s also been a really good movie since 1980.
saw it the day it came out in America of Bush. it made me cry 4 times. funny how i can finally say a movie made me cry. being a teen, i cant fully realize the effect it has on ppl’s world. i can understand what inspiration it has on me and my little half-ass indi moives.
http://micvskyeno.blogspot.com/2005/05/star-wars.html
I wrote about my activities over the opening weekend of Episode 3. Not much of a movie review, but you can assume that I enjoyed the movie after seeing it 4 times.
Another Long Weekend
Just saw it tonight.
Everything Small Paul said, particulary 3, 9 and 11.
I saw it the other day, but I don’t think I’ll be able to make a proper review without seeing it again, just to consolidate my thoughts. I had to go and pee during the first bit of the movie, so I actually missed everything between the… err… two minor parts which I won’t mention even though they don’t really spoil anything. Just in case.
I have, however, been able to nit pick some things which ticked me off a bit, but it’s really just me being quite anal. So they won’t make a big part in my final review, when I do it.
Small Paul:
- Ewen McGreggor is a great actor. I don’t really know what you’re trying to say here.
- It’s funny how if, in a movie, there’s a corrupt leader who uses fear, xenophobia, and media manipulation to increase his power, people automatically assume you’re taking a jab at Bush. Nobody (anymore) ever goes, “Oh, hey, he’s drawing a parallel between Palpatine and Hilter!” or “Hey, that Palpatine guy is just like [insert any of countless numbers of despots throughout history here]!”.
Even Ewan can’t make good out of a poor script and a mile of bluescreen ;)
As for the Bush parallels, remember the “With me or my enemy” line Anakin throws at Obi-Wan? That’s not ‘random dictator’, that’s Bush, right there.
I wasn’t that impressed. See my review at Life According To Matt
Well, I thought Ewen McGreggor’s performance was passable. Not his best work, but nothing cringe-inducing.
See my site, it’s on the front page somewhere (my review). I didn’t enjoy it as much as you did, though.
My review of Revenge of the Sith. Quick summary: a great movie, 4/5.
Sean, I agree, I thought he did pretty well in this one. I wasn’t much for his portrayal of Obi-Wan in Episode 1, but then again what was I happy with in that movie :)
I just realised I didn’t post a direct link: http://avinash.apeshell.net/2005/05/20/star-wars-episode-iii/
Here’s mine!
http://www.promohthree.com/archives/2005/05/28/lunchbox/
Well…You’re not gonna like but anyway…Here’s my review:
Star Wars 3 sucks…Sorry, but it does!
Finally went to go see it. Better than 1 and 2, but still crappy. The movie lacked an overall chiaroscuro that made the ’77-‘83 movies so delicious to watch. Each fighting scene lacked definition to the next. And maybe it’s just nostalgia playing tricks on my head, but the technical effects were more boring than ever.
And omg, the script. I don’t blame the actors, I blame the script writers! Why are the robots talking in American slang? Do I need to hear Padmé say “baby room”?
Ok, wait,… I have to give props to Ian McDiarmid for his performance. The only actor that was acting!
(Has anyone mentioned that this particular episode in the SW series would have been more artistically interesting as an opera?)
Madsen: I don’t consider your post a “review”. :)
My review was also somewhat short – it’s hard to really put words to such an experience. I loved the film, absolutely worth the wait!
review in short
fgi: OK
No kidding! Madsen’s misguided blog post is definitely not a “review”. Was Episode 3 the first Star Wars film he’s seen? It certainly sounds like it. When he closed his “review” with, “What else…ohhh yeah….the resurrection of Anakin in the shape of Darth Vader….LOL…” I wondered, “Has this guy seen a Star Wars film before this? Does he even have a clue at what’s going on?” Apparently, Madsen doesn’t.
Here’s my talking points on the flick…
http://talkstink.com/archives/2005/05/23/monday-morning-jedi/
I consider myself quite the SW-fan, but sorry – I didn’t really dig this movie. It lacks the really cool characters (like Darth Maul) and it didn’t really explain Anakins transforamtion from good to evil in a convincing matter. And I really, really, really hated the romantic scenes between Padme and Anakin. “I love you” , “No I love you”, “I love you because you’re beautiful” and so on.. I mean what the fuck!
The battle at the beginning was really cool – but I was kinda disappointed at how easy the Jedi was defeated by the clones in the end, and I have serious trouble accepting Samuel L. Jackson as a Star Wars-charcater at all..
AND I totally lack respect for the Count Dooku character, and think Lucas would have been better of of giving Darth Maul the Count Dooku-role.
Ian McDiarmid did an awesome job as Palpatine, though.
Noooooo!!! Say it isn’t so! How CAN people think this bilge is good movie making? I must have slipped into an alternate dimension. My review here: http://www.headlesshollow.com
Peter
I waited 4 hours in the line to watch the most disappointing STAR WARS episode ever. Hell, the last two episodes we cool , felt there was something new and was worth the watch. but in this one it felt something like Matrix Revolutions- Nothing new, but trying to give a bunch of concept ideas and etc etc (it was ok ). But I expected some new stuff, new style of fights, The Wookie war was no no eye candy, felt like that spielberg movie with the beachfront war scene (i forgot the name of the movie).
I am going to write a review on my site, but was too depressed after watching it. Ofcourse I was happy to see most of the things but I did have high expectations for the last part of a series that a generation of us kids lived with.
On another note Michael:
The comment counter on posts at your main pages seems to have the comment count next to the title wrong (its one more than its supposed to be) or something. Like, inside this post after I will write this, there will be 39 posts , but if you look at the main page for this post it will show 40! Did you notice that? Maybe I am seeing things, just looked odd to me.
My only major issue is the “easy way out” as I see it for making the audience dislike Hayden.
It almost felt as if in pre-production they were sitting around going “ok..so he turned, but he did it for good reasons, that’s not SO bad. Hey wait! Lets make him kill a bunch of kids!” I still think we gained more pitty than anything else.
I just got a kick a puppy vibe from it. Then again maybe that’s just me.
Your review was one I was waiting for. I’m really happy to see you liked it. Here is my short review.
I watched the Episode III the day after it opened on our screens, and came away with a satisfied but also a lingering feeling of disappointment at what could have been.
The fact that Episode III was the bridge between the two star wars generations and the fact that Episode 4/5 had entranced me meant that the possibility of disappointment was going to hang over the film like a shadow.
Many of us came into the cinema with our own preconception of how the story should unfold and thus, it was inevitable that in certain areas it’d be lacking. In the end, I don’t consider the film as bad as it could have been but neither was it as good.
My review: “About bloody time”. That sums it up. I did’nt like episode 1, episode 2 was allright, but not enough to live up to the name Star Wars. But this one works. I still prefer the the movies from the first trilogi though, but this is pretty much on par with them.
i have to temper my review with the fact that i wrote it right after seeing the movie. i admit to being a hardcore dork when it comes to star wars because back in 77 ( i was eleven) when it came out i went to see it every weekend for what seemed like a year. i can see why people would not like it but i listen to the reasons, ‘bad acting, poor dialogue etc…’ and i say to myself what star wars film doesn’t have these qualities? now, i did not care for episode I and II but i loved this last film (it has bad moments i admit) and was very pleased with how it was done. my review is very long winded (like my comment).
http://mike.pcmonkee.com
I wrote a 2000 worder on my site about it – http://theliberation.net/weblog/archives/2005/05/24/star_bores/
Took about 3 days to write (due to a lack of bother really) and most of the ideas were turned into prose at 2am.
MacManX: Yes…I have watched ‘em…all six episodes, and I really liked the old ones, -maybe because they were better or maybe because I was younger…dunno.
SW Episode I was an utter disaster..really! I felt I was watching some movie where kids was the target audience (the Jar Jar Binks character and all the other moronic puppets etc etc.). Episode II was way better and I actually enjoyed it…belive it or not. Episode III was, again IMHO, disappointing.
You might say that my post isn’t a review, and that’s fine with me….you can call it what you want for all I care. I posted my opinion and I believe I’m entitled to…without having to receive rude and condescending comments on my blog…comments like Donnie Jeter posted. He somehow managed to take my review/post as a personal insult…go figure.
I wrote a review with some opinions and thoughts, though I am not that good at writing composition yet. With practice, my reviews will get better over time.
Character development wasn’t too great I thought.
The guy turned from good to bad in about 2 seconds. Would’ve liked to see him actually fall gradually and noticeablly rather than instantly _
I agree, but then again, that’s what he tried to do with Clones. Only it didn’t really work…
My word, that movie was bad !
There were really only three good bits:
Ian McDiarmid (playing Palpatine) did a superb job. Just too bad his dialog where he tries to convince Anakin is so weak.
Ewan McGregor actually did quite a good job most of the time, and when he’s given funny dialog it’s actually funny.
Yoda. Yoda out-acted pretty much everyone else. Note to George: Every dialog jumble up no need there is. Yoda might jumble up words, but he still follows his own grammar.
The rest however was just soooooooooooooo weak. He even fucked Vader up (as from Kenobi’s fight on it was going quite well) with a giant useless Noooooooooo, ugh.
So let’s recap. Camera shots were shoddy, lighting was iffy in places, pace of the movie was slow, lot’s of useless scenes, completely unconvincing story and don’t get me started on the dialog. Bah.
Anakin didn’t turn instantly to the dark side. It was indeed gradual, ever since Episode I. As he left his mother, his fear to never see again started. In Episode II, he had dreams of his mother, then he went on killing the sand people (or whatever those creatures really are). In Episode III, he fears the death of Padmé at childbirth.
While all those fears took place, he also felt that no one trusted him, often he went against Obi-Wan’s judgement. Also being on the counsel without being a Master hasn’t happened before, but apparently he’s the youngest that hasn’t been there.
Palpatine has been persuading Anakin and gaining his alliance ever since the end of Episode I where Anakin blew up the spacecraft.
To sum it up, the point of all this is that Anakin turning to the dark side was not instantenuous. Star Wars is a 6-movie package, be seen as a whole it must.
I may post a little snippet on my site, but in the meantime;
I come to EpIII from the point of view of someone not particularly into the whole Star Wars thing. I quite enjoyed the original 3 but they never really struck the chord with me that they seem to with some. I found EpI to be pretty horrific with poor acting and a seemingly pointless plot. EpII was better (still with the bad acting) but still nothing special.
So onto EpIII: I was far more impressed with EpIII than the previous 2 (like thats difficult!) and it seems to follow on almost perfectly from The Clone Wars Cartoon. A few small niggles with seemingly moronic dialog and odd behavior from characters; Like how could they not tell that the evil man in the cloak with the wrinkly face was the same man as Palpatine? Surely Ewan McGregor would make sure Anakin (by that time Darth) was dead in that firey place. Anakin didnt seem to take much persuading to turn to the dark side, Palpatine was telling him “I can save your wife” whilst in the next sentence “I will rule the galaxy” and also claimed he could bring people back to life with the force and then finally says “Err well maybe not yet”, and after all this, Anakin is still like “Err, OK no problem Im still happy to do what you say”.
Which brings me nicely onto the fact that for me, its sort of spoiled Darth, as it leaves him as basically just being a meaningless puppet for Palpatine and not particularly scary or evil seeming, in and of himself.
Yoda should have kicked Palpatines ass, in the Clone Wars cartoon, he uses his force to crash some huge spaceships into each other. Why do they bother with lightsabers when they have that power? They could have won then.
The other Jedis were pretty pathetic and died very easily.
I spotted the Millennium Falcon right near the beginning.
I went into the movie trying to be objective, but still with that niggling “Hmm Im not really much of a fan of Star Wars, it had better do something special” in my head and I must say I was actually quite surprised and despite the few annoyances (like any Hollywood movies have rock solid plots!) I did actually quite enjoy it. It was a great improvement over the last 2 and not really such a bad movie, I may even watch it again.
I wanna see it toooooo :(
I agree with Matthew. It was kind of a dissappointment for Darth to just give into the dark side that easily. It seem as if Lucas hadn’t actually thought about why Anakin switched to the dark side until the day of the shoot. He just winged it.
I think it would have made much more seance for Anakin to have just switched because he wanted more power. The romantic part of the switch didn’t do anything for me, infact when Darth learned of his wife’s death and he screamed ‘Nooooo!’ I just started laughing in my seat. Darth is supposed to be a man who has no heart and is constantly looking for more power, and then to have him care this much for someone just doesn’t fit.
Except for a few writing and acting problems I thought the movie was quite good.
Kottke said it best with
Sums it up nicely
Never commented here, but long been a lurker. Great site! :-)
And my shameless review.
I loved the third episode. Much better than the previous ones. Oh my god… I felt emotions I could not believe I would have felt again.
The “end” has been “magical”.
stunning.
amazing.
It will stay in my heart forever.
Movie was good. I still think Empire Strikes Back is the best Lucas ever produced though
Oh, BTW here was my review. Sorry.
http://www.7milesdown.com/wp/?cat=8
I got a bad feeling about this… but it was gooood.
I just finally saw Revenge of the Thithhhh yesterday. Posted a bit of a review on my site. In general I felt that it’s the best of the second trilogy films and a decent (not great) movie. But, it certainly doesn’t justify the existence of this second trilogy (or, really, of itself).
Man, I so enjoy visiting your site. It’s just pure beauty. Light or Dark.
As for Star Wars, I wrote a few notes
A friend replied offsite with more points that made me chuckle…
1. She’s lost the will to live? She’s lost the will to live? She’s lost the will to live!
2. More wookies please.
3. Sam jackson is dead hurrah! His dialog was killing me. Worse than deep blue sea.
4. Am I wrong or was the old school white hallway from the republic ship the best set in the whole film?
5. Every time I saw jimmy smits I jumped and thought “what the hell is he doing in this movie.” then I realized “oh its to drive that really lame flying car.” Worst casting since ted danson walked through the frames of saving private ryan and made me think“Norm!” amid the carnage of war torn europe.
6. Best imitation of a grape turning into a rasin while being strangled goes to the emperor/darth sidious/palpitine/gary oldman as dracula/president bush
7. Someone at ILM told me george lucas is constatly having to be pulled off underage girls.
8. Apparnetly the jedi gestation period is like two days. Did you see the size of those babies that came out of natilie portmans pimple,errr pregnant belly?
9. Apparently there is a jedi b-team.
10. 10 de-limbings if you count darth vaders legs. If you count be-headings I lost count.
11. r2 was holds out on luke later on or forgets that totally sweet spazz move, or that he can BREATHE FIRE!
12. You will be known as DARTH…. pause …. pause (someone yells at the screen) …. VADER?
13. My favorite moment is when darth forgets that he tried to kill his wife. And asks where she is and finds out she is dead. Then imitates frankenstien and then in the voice of triumph the insult comic dogs says “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” That was super funny and so thought the rest of the theater (well most of the theater).