Star Wars: Episode III review

DON'T READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM...SPOILERS TO FOLLOW!

So I went to see Episode III of Star Wars, the last film in the "prequel" Trilogy series. In short, it was better than Phantom Menace (Episode I) and Attack of the Clones (Episode II), but nowhere near as good as the original trilogy. Sure the special effects are better, but the story and the acting in the modern Star Wars films leave a lot to be desired. Perhaps it is because the original trilogy holds such a special place in my heart from having watched it so many times growing up. I just can't get into the new films as much.


About the Story:

Episode III's story line was the best of the prequel trilogy. This may be because it focuses on a serious and someone dark theme - the transformation of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader. I did like how the plot evolved causing Anakin to question his Jedi masters when they put him in certain positions he felt to be unethical. Anakin became confused about whom he should trust and the motivations of the Jedi council. Upon learning the identity of the elusive Sith lord (Palpatine), he attempted to do the right thing by turning him in, but his Jedi training would not allow him to accept the execution of Emporer Palpatine by Mace Windu. After all, Palpatine had become very friendly with Anikin.

Through most of the film Palpatine had been egging Anakin on to disobey the Jedi council. It was no secret that Anikin was dissatisfied with his mentoring. This was a major theme during Episode II. In that film, he expressed on numerous occasions that he felt he was being held back. True, his abilities were great and his skills strong. What he was lacking was the emotional stability to progress any further toward the title of Jedi Master. Anakin refused to see this and instead took the attitude that his mentors were jealous of his exeptional skills. Palpatine agreed with Anakin, telling the young Jedi what he wanted to hear and pretending to befriend him. Obviously this was all manipulation. The secret emotional attachment of Anakin to Senator Amidala was another strong factor causing Anakin's emotions to get the better of him. His premonitions of her death created much fear in him. He could not resist the idea that learning the secrets of the Dark Side of the Force may be able to prevent her death.

There were other sub-plots as well. The capture of General Grievous, the politics in the senate and the continuation of the clone wars. These were all secondary though.


Special Effects:

The special effects in this movie were out of hand. Every shot in this film had some kind of CGI something going on in the background or the foreground. Look out the window behind the dialoguing characters and you'll see a highway in the sky full of spaceship traffic. Maybe there are computer generated robots or aliens in the room talking with the characters. There was always something going on. These CGI guys are really starting to show off now with all this grutuitous stuff.

The battle scenes were unreal. Whether in space or on some planet somewhere, there was just waaaaay to much to focus on. This movie must be watched several times just to grasp the awesome computer graphics. And then there are the lightsaber battles. They are much more exciting than those in the original trilogy, but suffer a little from Matrix-ism. That's okay I guess... these are Jedi masters. Nobody needs to tell Obi-Wan that "there is no spoon" if you know what I mean.

The sounds were really cool as well. I consider sounds to be special effects... they're just auditory rather than visual. Sounds are a very important part of making the unreal that much more believable. Many of the sounds in sci-fi films like Star Wars a are not things you have ever heard, but they follow the rules of sound that we are used to. All except that "no sound in space" rule. That one has gone out the window long ago as far as sci-fi space movies are concerned.


What I didn't Like:

Well, there was some goofiness in this movie. I have to admit that the comic relief was less corny than in Episode I or II. They still managed to throw in a Tarzan vocal coming out of a wookie swinging on a vine. Then there was that iguana thing that Obi-Wan rode on. That was pretty dumb. Then there was Natalie Portman's dialogue. I think she has the potential to be a great actress, but these love story lines they give her make me sigh and shake my head in disapproval. At least the Han Solo - Princess Leia thing worked. What was up with General Greivous' wheezing and why were his innards so unprotected?

I also had a problem with they way they felt the need to tie EVERYTHING together. It was just too neat. Why did Yoda have to know Chewbacca? I don't even really know the neighbors at the end of my block. Why did Obi-Wan have to be the reason for Darth Vader becoming "more machine than he is man" as explained in A New Hope (Episode IV)? Why did something have to cause the emporer to be come all wrinkly and pale and why was he so goofy and Mad-Hatter like when he entered Dark Side mode? The other thing I noticed is that they use any excuse to show off some new location. A lava planet, a forest planet, a planet that looks like a refrigerator case in a florist shop. True this was done in the original movies, but it just seemed more like a "look what we can make on a computer" type of thing. The Darth Vader "Nooooooooo!" thing was just stupid and he looked like Frankenstein's monster at one point.


What I Did Like:

As I said before, the special effects (though sometimes a bit overboard) were cool as were the sounds. This movie had a better story. I liked the serious and somewhat dark nature of this film. I liked the young Jedi in training that tried to protect senator Organa. I liked Greivous' four lightsabers at once fighting technique. Yoda was awesome... you know what I mean if you've seen the movie. The vehicles were really cool and started to evolve into the Empirial look we are used to seeing in the first group of films. The blockade runner made an appearance, albeit slightly modernized. They should have done this with all the "new" Star Wars films... slightly modify the old look instead of making the stuff from the prequel look more technologically advanced than the stuff in the original trilogy.

This movie is fun to watch; I've seen it twice so far. It is definately on my "DVDs to buy" list.