Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

[Mithraia Coeur 0]

See it tonight?

Unfortunately, I have to work. Who knows, maybe on Sunday. Or next Friday. Bah. It was just so disappointing. ;)

[HyperDrive 0]

Saw it, and loved it. It definately ranks right behind Empire Strikes Back, as tempations become too stong to say no to. It was, by far, the best of the three Star Wars movies.

 

I'll have to go back and make sure, but it looked as though Senator Organa (who would inevitably be king later, as his adopted daughter - Leia - would become princess) had a lightsaber in one of the scenes. As lightsabers were reserved for those who could harness the power of the force, I didn't understand why he had one; all Jedi except Yoda and Kenobi had to have died in the movie or die within the next twenty years.

 

And yes, there were two scenes that bothered me: the one with Windu, and the one with the Younglings. I have to agree with some of you, though, that I felt Anikan's switch to the dark side seemed to have happened very quickly.

 

I do feel that the movie summed up loose ends much better than I anticipated. I figured I'd leave the theater thinking about multiple "unknowns" that still existed after this episode.

[Atragon9 0]

Liked it a lot, but it wasn't as spectacular as the reviews made it out to be. Definitely best of the first three and almost better than 6 (6 suffered from Ewokitis), especially with tying up of loose ends.

 

So, Lucas was so busy linking 1-3 with 4-6 (anyone note Ewan MacGregor's carefully orchestrated beard stroke as he hands over Luke at the end, it's is EXACTLY as Alec Guiness did in 4 [yeah, I've already seen it twice]), why didn't we see some Millenium Falcon-esque ships flying around Coruscant? We know that they are considered old hunks of junk in another 15 years, so why not toss them into the CGI mix in the sky? And while we're at it, wouldn't it have been a gas to run into the Solo family with pre-teen Han causing trouble for his parents?

 

[Travis Kroells 0]

* An unanswered question: WHO THE HECK IS SIFO-DIAS?!?!?!?

From what I know, he was just a random Jedi who forsaw the war. He headed to Kamino and ordered the clone army without the knowledge, or permission of the Jedi council, knowing that they'd dispaprove, and probably cancel the whole order. The only person he told in the galaxy happened to be Count Dooku.

 

After Dooku left the order, and became Darth Tyranus, Sidious/Palpitine (sp) came into the knowledge, and then tampered with the clones personalities, alowing for the whole "Order 66" bit.

 

Lesson learned: Never tell anyone your going to order an Army from long necked cloners. Espcially if the person your telling is a freaking Sith Lord.

 

;)

[Travis Kroells 0]

I have to agree with some of you, though, that I felt Anikan's switch to the dark side seemed to have happened very quickly.

Not to like go "Your Stupid" since I'm just throwing my ideas out, but heres how I see it.

 

I think Episode II in particular, and if any one saw the Clone Wars series on Cartoon Network showed Anakin's arogance, and pride with his powers. Even though he never says it, I think deep down he's thinking half the time "I'm the chosen one, I'm better then you and I shouldn't even have to bother my time with all of this"

 

We also see his temptation for the dark side when he kills all the Tuskan Raiders in II. And his mariage to Padme doesn't help any. Look at it like this. If you were married, or had some one so utterly important to you, that when someone told you the only way to save that persons life was to kill someone else...Would you do it? And just how long would it take you to decide it?

[Dumbass 0]

From what I know, he was just a random Jedi who forsaw the war. He headed to Kamino and ordered the clone army without the knowledge, or permission of the Jedi council, knowing that they'd dispaprove, and probably cancel the whole order. The only person he told in the galaxy happened to be Count Dooku.

 

After Dooku left the order, and became Darth Tyranus, Sidious/Palpitine (sp) came into the knowledge, and then tampered with the clones personalities, alowing for the whole "Order 66" bit.

 

Lesson learned: Never tell anyone your going to order an Army from long necked cloners. Espcially if the person your telling is a freaking Sith Lord.

 

;)

Still the question is unasnwered. We can assume that Sifo-Dias erased Kamino from the Jedi archives just before (or maybe shortly after) placing the clone army order (and who the heck paid for that army anyway? It couldn't have been cheap.), but that is a side issue. According to everyone except the Kaminoans, Sifo-Dias died before he could have placed that order in the first place! The Kaminoans don't have a reason to lie, but Sifo-Dias was a leading member of the Jedi Council. His time-of-death would have been documented.

[Dumbass 0]

anyone note Ewan MacGregor's carefully orchestrated beard stroke as he hands over Luke at the end, it's is EXACTLY as Alec Guiness did in 4

I didn't notice a beard stroke, but I did notice the shape of the beard itself is like Guinness's beard - and I didn't even have to see it twice to notice that (although I have seen it twice already as well - not even 24 hours after I saw it the first time).

 

Overall, however, ticket sales are down. Lucasfilms made back their investment on opening night, which is typical of all the Star Wars movies except for maybe A New Hope, but there have been no problems showing up right before the movie starts and buying your tickets. There are lines, but no bigger than the lines for the Matrix or Terminator movies. Nothing you have to plan your day around. Showings still have unsold seats. The theatre across the street really misjudged the demand and devoted 12 out of a possible 12 screens to showing Revenge of the Sith and is loosing money doing it.

Edited May 23, 2005 by Dumbass

[Dumbass 0]

Yoda taking care of the Imperial Red Guard made the whole movie worth watching. Everyone burst into laughter.

Yeah, that was funny. The elite Red Guard are taken down just like that. I don't know what was funny about it, it just was.

I was surprised, I thought Dooku/Tyranus had killled Obi Wan at first.

Oh, so YOU are the holdout who insists on seeing all the movies in numerical order. ;)

They should have absolutely! cut the Younglings scene. It was totally sick and completely unnecessary.

Agreed. What Anakin should have done was spare the younglings, tell them to go hide, and report to Sidious that there were no survivors. That would have set the stage for the "There is still good in him" plot of Return of the Jedi.

The discussion between Palpatine and Anakin about the Dark Side was great philosophical stuff.

Again, agreed. They should have expanded that topic a lot more. It was interesting, and it made me think "You know? Maybe we *do* need the Sith and the Dark Side. How can the Force be balanced if there is only the Light?"

Wasn't Vader supposed to keep Amidala alive with the powers learned from Sidious? What happened to that part?

Ahh, that's the whole reason Anakin turning to the Dark Side is so tragic in a Shakespearian sense (Interesting how you mentioned Henry VIII). The reason he turned was to protect Padme, and now has to live with knowing it was his turning that killed her in the first place!

They could have cut more from the first space battle which was very messy.

I actually liked the approach Lucas took to that battle. The battle itself was not the plot (other than it was happening) but the specific part of the battle with Obi-Wan and Anakin on a special mission to rescue Palpatine was.

Obviously Sifo Dyas was Darth Sidious's Jedi name before turning over to follow the Dark Side and his master Darth Plagueis.

Obviously not. Sifo Dias was a leading member of the Jedi Council at the same time Palpatine/Sidious was a Senator and later Chancellor. I'm sure someone would have noticed two public figures looking alike, even the cloners. Palpatine would not have had access to the Jedi archives. If Palpatine had been a Jedi I'm sure someone would have known.

There was an excess of violence, but you couldn't really feel Vader's anger enough. Hayden didn't portray an intense hatred like the Emperor did so well in Return of the Jedi.

True, but remember he JUST turned to the Dark Side, and still had some good in him even in Return of the Jedi. Remember, Return of the Jedi was not about Luke's return but Anakins.

Edited May 23, 2005 by Dumbass

[Dumbass 0]

And did anyone notice the rip off crash landing from Generations? ;)

Remember, that was long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away. I'm sure the saucer separation technique wasn't as developed yet.

[mtporter 0]

I went and saw the movie again today and I noticed something that had bothered me the first time. So padme is pregnant with twins as we all know, but she doesn't look it. She is so small in some costumes she doesn't even look pregnant. Then at the end when she has the kids, they show them and they are mega babies. They look as if they are about 2 months old. I thought that was kinda crazy

[Travis Kroells 0]

Meh, it happens ;)

 

You know, Lucas could have saved the Galaxy by having Qui Gon Jinn stay alive. He would have kept the peace, cause he kicks so much...:P

 

I just went through all the other five movies, and I've rated my top Lightsaber duels.

 

1. Obi Wan vs Darth Vader (Episode III)

2. Qui Jon Jiin & Obi Wan vs Darth Maul (Episode I)

3. Luke Skywalker vs Darth Vader (Episode VI)

4. Yoda vs Darth Tyranus (Episode II) ((Just because it was so hilarious)

5. Luke Skywalker vs Darth Vader (Episode V)

 

Edit/Update/Note: Before anyone says anything, I don't consider the Yoda/Sidious fight to be a true lightsaber duel, since they just spend half the time throwing senate floaters at eachother. Real mature for an 900 something Jedi Master, and a Lord of the Sith...

 

B)

Edited May 23, 2005 by Travis Kroells

[John_Anderson 0]

* An unanswered question:  WHO THE HECK IS SIFO-DIAS?!?!?!?

Okay... this is gonna take a while...

 

Sifo-dias was an actual Jedi Master on the Jedi Council who died around the time of Episode I. Now, strangley enough, this was the time that Count Dooku left the Jedi order, over his fustration with the council and their response to the death of his former apprentice, Qui-Gon Jinn. Mmkay, from what I understand, Sidious impersonated the newly deceased Sifo-dias (Notice the similar sounding names?) and had the order placed in, and had his new apprentice, Count Dooku/Darth Tyrannus, who is loaded mind you thanks to his title, find Jango Fett and use him as the basis for the new clone army.

 

This is how I understand it, and when you think about it, it does make some sense. ;)

 

Hope it helps

Edited May 23, 2005 by John_Anderson

[John_Anderson 0]

Who is this guy Tion Medon? And where are the rebel troops Obi-Wan asks him to prepare against Grievous?

Tion Medon is simply the man who runs Utapau, during post production people were wondering who this guy was too, but the only information available on him was that he would help the Jedi somehow, and he did this of course when he confirmed that Greivous was actually on Utapau.

 

I thought I saw Tions troops fighting against the droid army on the lower levels, since that's where they were located, while the Obi-Wan/Grievous fight took place on the upper levels.

[John_Anderson 0]

I could not understand Anakin's feelings or motivations clearly. As an actor Hayden is not all that convincing. He has the looks maybe but not the skills. They should have replaced him for part III with a more seasoned actor.

 

You couldn't really feel Vader's anger enough. Hayden didn't portray an intense hatred like the Emperor did so well in Return of the Jedi.

 

I actually do not blame Hayden for this, I blame Lucas's directing. If you've seen "Shattered Glass" you'll know what I mean. I knew all the actors in the movie had the chops to give spectacular performaces, but when you have weak dialogue in the script, and bad directing, there is nothing they can do. I leave the blame soley on Lucas for this.

 

They should have absolutely! cut the Younglings scene. It was totally sick and completely unnecessary.

 

I cannot disagree with you more. It obviously show's Anakins desent to the Dark Side, and we all know that he and the Emperor were responsible for wiping out all the Jedi anyways. It's as simple as this, if your name isn't Obi-Wan or Yoda, and your a Jedi, you're cannon fodder. So, sadly enough, the Younglings had to die. It was either going to be at the point of blaster or Anakin's Lightsaber.

 

They should have included more of the Wookies for the kids sake and make it family oriented. There were two year olds in the audience. I would not let my children see this movie. And what happened to Vader on the hill side, come on you can't let kids see that. Even I'm going to have nightmares about General Grievous.

 

I would not recommend a single parent to take any small child to see this movie. There's a reason why the MPAA gave the film a PG-13 rating. :P

 

Lucas had given fair enough warning to parents that this movie was not going to be kid orientated, and that it was going to be terribly dark. War is never meant to be kid friendly. We do, after all, witness the total destruction of the Republic and the Jedi, as well as the rise of Darth Vader.

 

I applaud Lucas for this, even though it might hurt him a little, this movie just had to be darker if it was going to be a sucess.

 

I wouldn't take a little kid to see Return of the King, which had the same rating, but I'd let them wait until they were a little older, you see where I'm coming from? :D

 

I would love to have seen more about Princess Leia's parents the King and Queen, that was a very touching moment. After all, wasn't it their planet the Death Star blew up?

 

Aye, it was. Senator Organa was the Senator from Alderran, and him and his wife sadly parished when the Death Star destroyed Alderran. B)

 

<<Wow... I just made a lot of posts on this thread... the most I've done in a while ;) >>

Edited May 23, 2005 by John_Anderson

[Cougar 0]

Cool animated pic ;)

 

http://img270.echo.cx/img270/8044/macevspalp4aw.gif

[Mithraia Coeur 0]

I'm seeing a lot of harsh criticisms of the movie.

 

Now that I've finally seen it.. I COMPLETELY LOVED IT.

 

I think it did exactly what it needed to do. It set up Episode 4.

 

I think the acting was great. I really couldn't have picture anyone else playing those characters. I'm seeing so many people put down both Hayden's and Ewan's performances .. but I completely disagree with those reviews. Anakin was a troubled and confused young man. His turn to the dark side seemed partly out of desperation to save his beloved wife and partly his pride. It had been 'hurt' by the Jedi Council who he viewed did not see his potential. Palpatine fed into that .. knew exactly what to say to him and manipulated the situation. Anakin IS the chosen one. He brings balance to the force.. eventually. The good in him wins out at the end.. in Episode 6.

 

The WHOLE thing was awesome. I did find the youngling part disturbing. I even had a few tears in my eyes. But the story had to be told. I think the scene was perfectly done. I was more worried about actually witnessing it. The scene was more heartwrenching than anything; the ultimate betrayal. You could even see it in the kid's face when Anakin lit up his lightsaber .. he knew what was about to happen. But we all knew Anakin was capable of it .. he had no problems killing the Sandpeople children in Episode 2.

 

Would I see it again? Already making plans to. ;P It was awesome. And definitely worth it in my book.

 

;)

[Dumbass 0]

Anakin: "I shouldn't have killed Dooku. It's not the Jedi way. He was an unarmed prisoner."

Palpatine: "He still had half his arms."

 

;)

[Tethra 0]

It was about as exciting as watching a toddler having a temper tantrum... wait it was a lot like a toddler having a temper tantrum. Also Naboo women sure have fast acting wombs, it looked like Padme was pregnant for about a week with the time frame that Lucas set up.

Edited May 24, 2005 by Tethra

[Seiben 0]

Now, I've seen it today.. And I really did enjoy it alot. Of course, I found (And expected) the plot to be quite predictable. But the Special Effects and the Action scenes were were very good. I'd agree with some of yu in saying Ep. III is the best of the pre-quel Star wars series.

[Cougar 0]

Something I made:

 

Click to enlarge:

 

[Dumbass 0]

Also Naboo women sure have fast acting wombs, it looked like Padme was pregnant for about a week with the time frame that Lucas set up.

Well I don't care. Even if she was 8.75 months pregnant and Vader had his lightsaber to my throat, I'd still do Padme!

 

Besides, Luke became pretty close to a full Jedi in about a week in The Empire Strikes Back, didn't he?

Edited May 24, 2005 by Dumbass

[Cptn Moose 0]

I'd agree with some of yu in saying Ep. III is the best of the pre-quel Star wars series.

That's a dubious honor.

 

First of all, I have to say that I enjoyed the movie. It's hard not to. The special effects were spectacular. I just expected more.

 

I think a lot of the movies problems are hidden behind special effects. And I honestly don't like what the franchise has turned into, which is nothing but a series of over-specatular fights tied together with 2 dimensional characters and plots with no surprises.

 

Where was the playful banter? ("I love you." "I know.") I was in a theatre for all three of the original movies. I remember the collective "gasp" when Han threw the second line at Leia, and the raucous cheer that erupted when she threw it back at him in the next movie. And lets not forget one of my all time favorites, "Aren't you a little short to be a storm trooper?" There were no gasps in Episode III, no laughs, no nothing. There wasn't even a genuine display of affection between Obi Wan and Aniken. I don't believe Aniken ever liked him, no matter what they say.

 

Where were the plot twists? "I am your father, Luke" has become somewhat of a cliche, but it was still shocking the first time you heard it. Even though everyone knew the ending of Sith in advance, there could have been some suspense somewhere.

 

Where were the Jedi mind tricks? The Alec Guiness Obi-wan resorted to violence as a last resort. Most of the Jedi we've seen in the prequels are bullies and thugs.

The Skywalker vs. Vader duel in Episode V was all about stealth and head games. They were clever, and they each tried to out think their opponent. All anyone does anymore is pound away until someone cuts off a hand.

 

Where were the characters?

a) Who turned Padme into a Barbie doll? She certainly showed more potential in Episode I. Are we really to believe she lost the will to live on the eve of birthing two children? Motherhood always takes over.

B ) How could Obi Wan have possibly turned his back on a chared and smouldering Aniken, no matter how hurt and angry he was?

c) Are we supposed to believe that Darth Vader, master of the force, could be nose to nose with Princess Leia in Episode IV and have no clue it's his daughter? That part of the story will never hold water with me.

d) And since Obi Wan obviously knows Leia's significance and birthright from the get-go, are we to believe he's such a chauvanist that only Luke is worthy of being sent to Dagobah to study under Yoda?

e) "We must hide the children where the Sith can not detect them. Send the boy to his family." And then hide the other one with a childless couple who work with the Emperor. Smart move, Yoda the wise.

 

The youngling scene was brilliant. We needed much more of that underplayed, understated ruthless terror. Imagine what this movie would have been like if killing Count Dokku was the choice that pushed Anikin to the dark side, and the rest of the movie was made up of scenes like this, one after the other, each one more shocking than the last, until the audience had to give up hope that he'd ever find redeption. That was the type of filmmaking we expected from Lucas 20 years ago.

 

And we needed less special effects. The last 45 minutes of the movie was compelling and exciting, and it was only about 4 characters. The space battles and other combat scenes were too crowded and overwhelming to be enjoyable, and they were all the same machines we saw in the last two films.

 

I know this makes me the curmudgeon of the galaxy, but I would have been happy if they'd showed us the last 45 minutes of Sith five years ago, then made up a new story. Aniken's history and decent to the dark side was not deep enough to be a 3 episode story.

 

But the last 45 minutes were awesome. I'd go again just for that. : )

 

Moose

[STSF_BluRox 0]

It's Yoda's fault anyway, if he had just let Dooku kill Anikan and ObiWan in episode 2, and went after Dooku...having sacrificed 2, he could have saved millions. Almost makes him look like a hypocrite in The Empire Strikes Back, when he tells Luke he may have to sacrifice his friends. Words of experience? Is the guilt laying heavily here?

 

And that girl...what was she thinking leading the boy on. Her fault too.

[Atragon9 0]

"We must hide the children where the Sith can not detect them. Send the boy to his family." And then hide the other one with a childless couple who work with the Emperor. Smart move, Yoda the wise.

Oooh, you hit on one of my favorite scenes of stupidity. Hey, let's hide the children, so we'll send the boy to Anakin's HOME PLANET, heck - he'll never look there! Yeah, we'll give him to his step brother and we'll still let his last name be "Skywalker," uh huh, uh huh.

 

And what is it with the planetary governments back then? First you have a Queen that gets elected on Naboo and now you have an Alderaan Senator that must become royal later on, so that his daughter can be a Princess.

 

[Mithraia Coeur 0]

Oooh, you hit on one of my favorite scenes of stupidity. Hey, let's hide the children, so we'll send the boy to Anakin's HOME PLANET, heck - he'll never look there! Yeah, we'll give him to his step brother and we'll still let his last name be "Skywalker," uh huh, uh huh.

That part kind of got me too. But I also thought up a sort of explanation for that. It's pretty established that Tatooine (forgive my spelling if I am getting it wrong) is a very remote planet .. very far from any Republic dealings. We see that in both Episode 1 and Episode 4. It's under the control of the Hutts and not the Republic/Empire. Either it's too insignificant to the Republic/Empire to deal with .. or just happens to be under the radar.

 

And technically, Anakin/Vadar has NO family on Tatooine anymore. It's only by marriage and he never knew his step-father and step-brother; except for that one visit. All he has was his mother ... and she is gone. He has no ties with that planet anymore. He was a pain-filled man .. maybe he did what some people need to do with painful memories .. block it out. Pushed it from his mind as best he could. And he becomes too consumed with the Dark Side and his allegiance to Palpatine.. it's just not a focus anymore.

 

Besides, he knows Padme is dead. Anyone think he may have just assumed that they 'baby' died with her. (He was unaware of the twins. He just knew she was pregnant with their baby.)

 

Bah, I'll stop rambling. But that's what I am getting from it all.