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'Revenge of the Sith' reviews (Spoilers)

Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

Things to watch for: ( according to Time Magazine - May 9 )

1. George Lucas: He's in a scene at the opera, in blueface, playing Baron Papanoida.

I knew he was in there somewhere when I went to see it but I was never able to find him. Now I will on my next viewing.

2. The return (sigh) of Jar Jar Binks: You've got to admire Lucas' guts, since the character was so reviled. But at least he doesn't talk.

I could have sworn he had one line, something like, "Excuse me." I guess I could be remembering wrong.

3. Jett Lucas: The director's son plays Zett Jukassa, a brave but doomed Jedi.

Like his father, I knew his kids were in it, but I didn't know that young Jedi was him until after I saw the movie.

4. Leia's blackade runner: The hallway of her ship, where we first meet Vader, was re-created for this movie.

I knew all about that. I loved it and how it tied into ANH beautifully.

5. Grand Moff Tarkin lives! Or at least Lucasfilm managed to create an uncanny lookalike for Peter Cushing, who originated the role.

One of my favorite parts of the film. He doesn't have nearly enough screentime, or lines for that matter. I guess the guy that plays him is a main villian from Farscape.
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

I guess the guy that plays him is a main villian from Farscape.

Yeah, according to the movie's credits, the guy playing Tarkin at the end is Wayne Pygram, who played Scorpius on Farscape. This has led some to speculate that he will be playing Tarkin a lot more in the upcoming live-action TV show.
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

This has led some to speculate that he will be playing Tarkin a lot more in the upcoming live-action TV show.

That's what I've been hearing. There have been rumors that he is actually the character that the series will revolve around. I highly doubt it, but I'm sure he'll make plenty of appearances.

There are too many rumors as to which character the series will feature. Even the chick in my avatar was rumored to have the series revolve around her character, Aayla Secura, but that is highly improbable as she was killed off. I read in an interview that the actress was in negotiations to be in the series, although now it looks as if it'll be a different character.
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

Yeah, I have throuble thinking of a show revolving completely around the character of Tarkin, but I haven't any trouble seeing him popping up frequently as a main villain role.

My best guess for the show would be something along the lines of the formation of the Rebel Alliance. From what I've been given to understand, the formation was originally part of the RotS but was more or less all removed. And I could see pulling that from the movie if the TV show was going to focus on it with appearances of characters like Captain Antilles and Mon Mothma and the like.
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

Well, I've seen ROTS.
It was much better than the previous two movies. I don't know what the hell it was - the first two should have worked. Somehow, the first two - especially TPM lacked something. I can't explain what it was - they just did not have the 'it' factor. ROTS did.
Yes, some of the acting was pretty dreadful - especially Hayden Christiansen - he reminded me a bit of Frodo - although I think that Elijah Wood might have done a better job. Some of the dialogue was mega-corny, and so sweet that it should have come with a sugar alert for diabetics. I would have liked to have seen a lot more of the Jimmy Smits character, and more of Padme, believe it or not. Ewan McGregor was good.
I found Anakins' slide toward the dark side believable. Bit, by bit, he was slowly took one step after another towards the dark side - sometimes pulled towards the dark side, it should be said. But in the end, he did it of his own free will. And in a way, his actions brought about what he had feared would happen. I think that Padme died of a broken heart, more than anything.
But, I enjoyed ROTS, and got really pulled into the film - something that does not happen all that often with me, I liked the SFX, and I liked the battles and the visuals - atlhough they do not a good story make.
But most important, this time, the movie had the certain something that makes a movie work - regardless of corny dialogue, bad acting or soap-operish plotting. It worked.
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

Wow, Scorpius/ Tarkin crossover, Geek-on! I thought I recognised those cheek bones...


He would make a great reoccuring villian.
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

All this Star Wars talk reminds me of something funny I once found on somethingaweful.com

ripvtide6qe.jpg


:D
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

The hooded Sideous from Ep 1 - III to me looked EXACTLY the same as the Emperor in tESB and RotJ. No difference at all. It was the Chancellor that looked different and normal.

Senator/Chancellor Palpatine:
young-palpatine.jpg

palpatine_3.jpg

chancellor_palpatine.jpg

palp.jpg


Darth Sidious (pre-Mace fight):
big.jpg

sidious.jpg

Sidious.jpg


Darth Sidious (after-Mace fight):
darths.jpg

_40507021_sidious.jpg

thedarkside26ph.jpg


The Emperor (RotJ):
empereur.jpg

Palpatine004.jpg
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

Hmm,
i still like the idea that Sideous looked evil underneath all along..

This on the TV series...


http://www.moviehole.net/news/5661.html

Newton eyed for Star Wars TV series
Posted on Sun, 22-May-2005

Is Australian actor Matthew Newton going to a Galaxy Far, Far Away?

According to The Sunday Herald Sun - quite possibly.

George Lucas has done an 'availability check' on the young actor - the son of TV legend, Bert - to see if he's free for his upcoming 100 episode "Star Wars" TV series.

Lucas first met Newton a few years ago when the Australian actor - whose credits include "Queen of the Damned" and "Blurred" - tested for the role of Anakin Skywalker in "Star Wars Episode II : Attack of the Clones".

It's believed that Newton was Lucas's second choice for the part of the gung-ho Jedi in training. He even was flown to stay at the Lucasfilm ranch to test.

Blonde-haired newton Newton, 28, is no doubt being considered for a leading hero role in the series, believed to be centering on all-new characters, and not necessarily those in the money-spinning film series.

"Star Wars" wouldn't be the first science-fiction show that Newton has been involved in. He played Ka Jothee in "Farscape", several years ago.

The young actor's next film role is in "The Great Raid", for director John Dahl.

Moviehole ran this rumour by a company employee, who confirmed that Newton is someone Lucas is 'seriously having a look at'.
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

To put it succinctly, there are surprises aplenty in Revenge of the Sith, but they mostly concern details. As with Titanic, we're all going into this movie knowing more or less how it ends. Whether the movie's good or not depends entirely on how they get there.

Three word review: George Lucas delivers.

Oh, it's not perfect. There's plenty to be irritated about, but to me, that too was in the details. The overall story was solid and did a fine job meshing the prequel trilogy with the original trilogy, and with a ton of eye candy thrown in just for fun. I know, the film snobs will berate it precisely because of the eye candy, but then they shouldn't go. We've known since 1977 that the visual effects are a major component of these movies, and in Episode III they pull out all of the stops. In fact, I will go out on a limb and declare that with the completion of his saga, George Lucas has created a mythical universe as visually rich as Tolkien's Middle-earth. Don't get me wrong; I'm not talking about depth of story and character, but Lucas has clearly succeeded in creating a fantastic and set of worlds whose existence you can simply accept on sight because the details have been attended to; the austere, empty shopping-mall halls of Cloud City in the theatrical release of The Empire Strikes Back have been atoned for by traffic-filled metropolises, jungles teeming with life, and people on the periphery of the scene having conversations we'll never hear. By showing us that there are things happening in his universe that do not have anything to do with the story at hand, Lucas has made it that much more believable.

Having bashed (as everyone else does) Lucas' hand at writing dialogue and directing actors, I'm happy to report that those things are handled more ably in Episode III. Trust me, they're still the weakest links in the Star Wars chain, but I didn't think they were nearly as laughable as the attempts in Episode II. Hayden Christensen seems to have grown a bit either as an actor in general or as an actor who gets no help from his director except to "do it faster, with more intensity." He takes on the rather difficult task of portraying a man who chooses to do evil, and yet remain sympathetic in some ways. His portrayal allows us to know, as Luke says in Return of the Jedi, that there is still some good in Darth Vader. That's a far cry from the whiny little jerk in Episode II. Natalie Portman is a disappointment; she's a better actor than has been shown in the Star Wars movies, but she doesn't rise above Lucas' mistakes as well as Christensen does. It generally goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, that Ewan McGregor does a fabulous job as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and that Ian McDiarmid is simply brilliant as Chancellor Palpatine.

Wow. We wanted to see how Darth Vader got that way, and boy, did we. If Lucas has done nothing else right in the prequel trilogy (and some will argue that that's the case), he surpassed my expectations by far in showing Anakin's slow conversion to the dark side. If anything, Lucas has taken some of his disappointments from the earlier movies and built upon them to actually make something work! Specifically, I'm thinking of Anakin's dreams of his mother in Episode II. I hated how all that was handled, and yet in Episode III, it's essential to the plot that we know his dreams come true. His nightmares will drive him to action, and a certain Sith Lord who wants to become Emperor knows it and uses it. By the time Anakin even knows what's going on, he's practically being fitted for the Darth Vader suit. And that's a particularly deep theme for a movie that's so easily dismissed as eye candy: that in contrast to what we thought when we first saw Vader in A New Hope, evil doesn't simply wear a dark cape and announce its presence by choking a helpless space pilot. Evil can be subtle and persuasive, and can bring good people under its thrall and get them to do bad things and still think they're the good guy!

That last bit has gotten a bit of play in the blogosphere, with conservative commentators going nuts over the apparent allegory to current politics. Maybe Lucas is a flaming leftie who thinks Bush wants to be Emperor, maybe he's not; but it's a matter of historical fact that dictatorial regimes have gotten good people to do bad things, and I tend to think that Lucas is going with a thematic truth of human nature rather than a lopsided commentary on current events. Yeah, there's a character who's kinda like bin Laden (but he's also kinda like Mussolini, weak and cowardly and ultimately destroyed), and yeah, there's a "If you're not with me, you're my enemy" line (but Bush wasn't the first to say that), so while I get where the conservatives are coming from --cliches do come from somewhere.

It's particularly disturbing --and intentionally so, no doubt-- that Anakin can still honestly believe he's on the right side after he's killed a bunch of kids just so they wouldn't grow up to be Jedi. Disturbing, but compelling. And far better drama than I'd expect from the guy who saddled the saga with Ewoks.

Just as cool is the revelation that the Jedi really are plotting to depose the Chancellor and take control of the Senate. Sure, they're not doing it out of personal ambition and they do express concern that they're playing with fire in terms of Jedi principles, but it serves to further strengthen Lucas' theme of good and evil looking different depending on your point of view. And mind you, this is not a facile attempt at moral equivalence; the movie does not for a moment suggest that the Jedi are as bad as the Sith --but it does point out that the bad guy isn't wrong 100 percent of the time.

There are disappointments, the biggest being Natalie Portman's aforementioned performance. I know that she's generally a good actor, and I know that Lucas is roundly and correctly criticized for not directing his actors well. But the other cast members pulled it off this time around and she didn't. Her death scene had virtually zero emotional effect on me, and I don't mind telling you I'm not afraid to cry during a movie if it's earned it. Upon reflection, some of that could have been due to the direction and editing, but I don't think so. The scenes were juxtaposed with a crippled Anakin's anguished transformation into the tall guy in the black suit, and those scenes were compelling. I just can't shake the feeling that while the characters were lamenting Padme's loss of her will to live, the truth was that Natalie had lost the will to act.

Most of my other quibbles really are detail-oriented. Lucas did a generally excellent job tying all the loose threads together, but there were some clunkers. One that really stood out as a tacked-on scene was when Yoda commented to Obi-wan that while they were in exile they could learn how to join with the Force and become immortal. What a creaky way to set up for the Obi-wan and Yoda ghosts to be seen later in the saga --especially since there was a better way to do it! Also, while a chapter this dark really did need some comic relief, I think having all the enemy droids sound cartoony wasn't the way to go. Yanked me out of the movie faster than the Gimli-Legolas drinking contest in Return of the King. And the editing of the scene in which Anakin takes the action that puts him on the dark side almost makes it seem like a sudden and unnecessary move for him to take; one moment he's upholding the Jedi principles, and the next he's pledging allegiance to the Sith. The scene has general integrity, but something about it just moves too fast. Finally, we catch a glimpse of the Death Star under construction, and this raises more questions than answers. Does it really take twenty years (the approximate time between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope) to build one of those things? And if so, how did the Empire almost complete a second one in the six years between A New Hope and Return of the Jedi? No, I think it would have been better to pass up the temptation to show us the Death Star and instead have the Emperor mention that he has a project he wants Lord Vader to oversee that will enable them to keep the new Empire in line. Showing is almost always better than telling, but in this case they showed us something they probably shouldn't have.

But now some good details.

You'll see very, very little Jar Jar Binks. Jar Jar is an easy target, and truth be told, Lucas went a long way toward making up for his presence in Episode I by having him be the moron in Episode II that allows Palpatine to be given emergency dictatorial powers. But ultimately, I believe that the less we see of Jar Jar, the better off we all are. And he's barely in Episode III.

There's a great sequence showing the demise of the Jedi that actually makes sense. The question has always been that if the Jedi are spread throughout the galaxy, how could they be so quickly vanquished? In addition to presenting a solution that is elegant in its simplicity, Lucas frames it well, allowing us to see the tragedy unfold without overdoing it.

I liked the little homage to the old-time serials that Lucas has always maintained he's recreating in Star Wars. One of the clone commanders is named Cody. Once or twice he's actually called Commander Cody. In those old serials, Commando Cody was a helmet-wearing, jet-pack flying hero (he also served as the inspiration for The Rocketeer).

And finally, the fun details, the glimpses of the Star Wars universe that, like the Force, binds the whole thing together. Chewbacca's there, helping Yoda out. If you're looking at the right part of the screen in one scene, you'll see the Millennium Falcon coming in for a landing at Coruscant spaceport. And Grand Moff Tarkin, governor of the Death Star, even makes a cameo. There's a lot of stuff like this, again not really overdone, but ladled out in a thick enough portion to make geeks like me quite happy.
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

My 3 word review: All is forgiven

Just a question: what order will people be watching the 6 movies in from now on?
I think its better to watch the prequels last.
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

Did anyone spot this? I didn't at the time. But my mother who is an ex-nurse, did.
At the end when the twins were born, did anyone think that the babies were a wee bit big too be twins? Twins are usually much smaller than single babies, and are often born prematurely into the bargain.
Although to be fair, you can't exactly expect the film makers to run out and find a pair of newborn premature twins.
And George Lucas an't exactly into realism.
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

At the end when the twins were born, did anyone think that the babies were a wee bit big too be twins?

Well, if they'd been born to a Human mother, you might have a point. But given that they were born to an alien of unknown species who lived a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, about whose reproductive biology, gestation period, etc. we know nothing, it is really hard to make the case that this is an error. ;) Or even that Lucas is being "unrealistic". Hell, we're not even given any real indication of how much time elapsed since the last film, or how much time the story of the current film occupies, so even if we'd known the average gestation period for Padme's people we'd still have no idea if the twins were premature, late or right on time. :)

Regards,

Joe
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

Good point - I guess like everyone else I had thought that all the human-looking characters were human.
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

I didn't think the size looked odd but I was unsurprised that they seemed a bit cleaner than human babies right after they pop out.
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

Just a question: what order will people be watching the 6 movies in from now on?
I think its better to watch the prequels last.

Here's my preferred viewing order: ANH, ESB, then back to TPM, AotC, RotS, and finally wrap up with Jedi. This way the awesome surprises of ESB are preserved. More or less.
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

Finally got around to seeing it last night. Now bear in mind that I'm not a huge SW fan, although I enjoyed the first trilogy when it was first release at the cinema. I have fond memories of sitting in the Dominion, Tottenham Court Road (BIG cinema with ferocious sound system :)) and watching with my mouth gaping wide as the first battlecruiser made its appearance on screen.

I hated the first 2 of this trilogy and went in with very low expectations.

Having said all that, I felt it was better than I'd expected, with some unexpectedly moving moments. Points I liked included:

- tied up a lot of loose ends nicely
- Yoda was excellent
- set designs were stunning
- relationship between Sidious and Anakin/Vader. When Sidious found Anakin's mutilated and burned body barely alive at the end, he reached out to touch Anakin with an unexpectedly gentle and caring gesture
- mirroring of Anakin/Padme at the end. Both in operating rooms, one being forced to live, one giving up on life
- the look of horror on Anakin's face as the black mask came down

Things I didn't like:

- battle scenes very confusing. Too much going on. I actually felt slightly queazy once or twice in the opening scenes.
- logical inconsistencies such as the ship at the start nose diving into the planet from orbit. And although it was breaking apart they managed to find a space port to land it in! That and the speed with which they seemed to be able to get from one place to another. The galaxy is a BIG place!
- Anakin's slide to the dark side was just too damned quick. From killing Mace, to pledging allegiance to Sidious, to killing the younglings, all in one night? Sorry, I don't buy it.
- great to see Chewie again :)
- R2D2 was brilliant :LOL:

Overall, better than I'd expected, but still not a patch on the first trilogy. Or maybe I was just younger then with lower expectations :)

BIG bonus for me, was watching it in a cinema full of quiet and well behaved adults, while sitting in a comfortable seat with reasonable leg room. Bliss!
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

- mirroring of Anakin/Padme at the end. Both in operating rooms, one being forced to live, one giving up on life

And Padme also giving new life and hope for the future.
 
Re: \'Revenge of the Sith\' reviews (Spoilers)

And I forgot one more thing. The duels between Yoda/Sidious and Anakin/Obe Wan were technically great, but they didn't have me sitting on the edge of my seat, because I knew all four of them would survive. One of the issues with doing a prequel I guess :(
 

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