MOVIE REVIEWS
Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Josh Brown
That’s it. That’s the end of it. No more. It has come full circle, finally.
The Star Wars series has officially concluded, with the release of “Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.” It is the last Star Wars movie they will ever make. In a series that started in 1977, in the middle of the story, it is finally over. Everyone knew this day was coming. The hype has been unreal (but not unexpected). But was the hype, the anticipation and the climax of the series really everything it was supposed to be?
To answer that question, I had to actually see the movie, of course. And that is what I did, with Noyse columnist and roommate, Richard. We bought our tickets several days in advance, and attended the 12:50 showing on opening day. Usually I’m not so anxious to see a movie, and usually wait weeks before seeing it. But this time, it was an exception. It was the end.
When the movie started, with the classic theme music and diagonal scrolling text, I will admit, I got goose bumps. It was just a feeling of utter nostalgia. I can’t say I was lucky enough to see the original movies when they first came out, but I did see them at a pretty young age. So I was taken back quite a few number of years.
The movie started off with a classic aerial battle scene, mainly to show off the technology of today. And in the first light saber battle scene, the transformation of Anikan Skywalker to Lord Darth Vader begins to take shape.
At points, the movie was somewhat slow moving, with a few pointless scenes. Thankfully though, there wasn’t a long, drawn-out romance scene, like in Episode II, and there was no annoying character, like Jar-Jar Binks in Episode I. But halfway through, the movie picked up quite a bit.
Seeing Anikan struggle with and straddle the lines between The Force and The Darkside was very well done. I think they did a wonderful job showing how the character evolved with the story.
Mase Windu’s death scene was supposed to be extremely awesome, from what Sam Jackson said in an interview a while back. Unfortunately, I don’t think it quite lived up to his feelings on it. In that same scene, Anikan turns over fully and pledges his allegiance to the Darkside. And, I found it very anti-climatic. I expected something much more dramatic and drawn out. Instead, it was quick and easy.
Natalie Portman did a great job in the movie, but she is so beautiful, I would have liked to see her a lot more. But maybe, there is never enough of her, regardless of how many scenes she is in.
The dialogue was quite cheesy at times, which might annoy some people. But for me, it fit the whole essence of the Star Wars story.
There was quite a bit of comic relief from the likes of Yoda and R2-D2, which was much needed to break up the straight-forward flow of the classic good vs. evil storyline.
The two things I was looking the most forward to in this movie was seeing how the Jedi Council was killed off, and how Darth Vader actually ended up in that suit. The Jedi death scenes disappointed me quite a bit, as I would have liked to see them much more extensively and detailed. How Vader ended up in the suit, however, was quite impressive. And when they showed the mask of Darth Vader, and he takes his first breath in the suit … wow, goose bumps again.
The ending of the movie was predictable, because well, everyone has scene the original Star Wars movie. But this movie did a great job setting it up. They talked about the separation of Luke and Leah, the beginning of the building of the Death Star, and the exile of Yoda and Obi-Won Kenobi. By the end of the movie, all I wanted to do was go watch Episode 4, A New Hope.
So I suppose the movie did exactly what it was meant to do. It finished up the story of Darth Vader going to the Darkside, and setting up the story of Luke Skywalker and friends. It really brought the series full circle. While some things could have been differently, it defiantly lived up to the hype, if only because now, it’s finally over.
