Despite everything I have claimed for the last three years, I went to see Revenge of the Sith on Sunday. As regular visitors to this site may know, from the moment I walked out of the theater following the execrable Attack of the Clones until about two weeks ago, I have been loudly declaring to anyone within earshot that George Lucas would never again get any of my money.
Then something funny happened—I’d like to say it was the surprising number of good reviews, but it probably had more to do with most of my childhood having been spent waiting for the next Star Wars movie. The funny thing that happened was that I found myself getting excited about this one. I was embarassed at first, given my frequent and vocal protestations about how much it was going to suck. However, after several days of vascillation, I finally came to the conclusion that I’ve seen all the other movies in the theater, so it wasn’t going to kill me to give this one a chance.
The verdict? As you might have guessed from the title of this entry, Revenge of the Sith did not suck. Perhaps it is a symptom of the same state of denial in which I found myself following the opening night of Phantom Menace, but I think I would go so far as to say that this one was actually pretty good. While it certainly had its problems, I don’t feel that my money was wasted, and am even considering seeing it again in the theater.
First, the problems:
- The scenes between Anakin and Padme are still terrible. The dialogue is, at best, groan-inducing, and there is no chemistry whatsoever between the two of them. Add to that the fact of the escalating ridiculousness of Padme’s outfits and hairstyles, and it’s a recipe for disaster. On the other hand, these scenes are short and infrequent.
- There are still a number of gaping logic holes. Why do R2-D2′s rockets seem to come and go based on the needs of the script? Why doesn’t Chewbacca remember Yoda? Why does Palpatine’s entire plot seem to hinge on an extended series of chance events?
- A key moment in the story is ruined by one of the worst staging/scripting/acting choices ever committed to film. The entire movie builds to this single point, and it was done in such a hackneyed, cliched way that I actually laughed out loud. How could anyone possible film this scene and not see it for the Simpsons-style parody that it is? Unbelievable. All that being said, the rest of the movie is pretty damn good. For the first time in this trilogy, the effects actually serve the story, rather than either getting in the way, or distracting from the lack thereof. More importantly, the characters are actually interesting this time around—Ewan MacGregor does a great job of creating a believable Obi-Wan, Palpatine dominates nearly every scene he’s in (as well he should), and for once, Anakin didn’t piss me off.
Most importantly, this film starts getting back into a story and characters that I actually care about. As in the first two movies, there are still big political manueverings going on, but unlike the first two movies, they’re actually interesting this time around. It’s probably too early to tell for sure, but for now, I’m tempted to say that I’d be happy to ignore Episodes I and II, and add this one to the original three movies. There may be further updates and/or changes of opinion once I’ve seen it again and have more time to think about it.
Or once the state of denial has worn off.