Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

Needless to say, I abandoned my original plan to see Kicking and Screaming last night in favor of seeing Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith at 3am. It was a tough choice, but I fear that Kicking and Screaming could very well be the path to the darkside.

So, as director Kevin Smith so eloquently put it in his review of this movie, “Revenge of the Sith is, quite simply, f***ing awesome.” As it lived up to his expectations, so to did it live up to mine. Granted, I was mostly hoping that it wouldn’t be as substandard as Episodes I & II, but my expectations for Sith have grown considerably over the previous month leading up to the release. I was at the point where I expected nothing short of the magnificence I had grown up with in watching the original Star Wars movies.

If you’re not a Star Wars fan in general, then this movie probably won’t be quite as exciting for you as it was for someone like me. Yet I believe that even without any great affection for the Star Wars universe, this movie is still one that tells an interesting and poignant story. The space battles are glorious, reminiscent of the rebel battles from the original trilogy; the CGI effects are not distracting in this movie as they were in the first two prequels, and everything appears more consistent with the look of the originals, including the battle ships and uniforms of the storm trooper clones.

The light saber duels are also superb (as to be expected these days), especially the duel between Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin (Hayden Christensen). Not only is the choreography both elegant and fluid, but the emotions behind the fight are real, and for once, sharply delivered. The final exchange of words between the two is performed wonderfully by both actors. Hayden Christensen is much better in his portrayal of Anakin in this installment, and I loved watching his conflicting emotions grow as the story progressed. Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) was also excellent, deliciously evil and extremely insidious. He was exceedingly cunning in his deceptions, and he beautifully orchestrates his plans--the most important being the luring of Anakin to his cause.

One more note about the light saber duels—there isn’t much cutting from one shot to the next, so unlike most action fights these days, the viewer can actually see what the hell is happening between the two characters. I wasn’t stuck wondering at every moment which character was struck with that last punch, who had the upper hand in the fight, or why directors allow cameramen with severe epilepsy to film such crucial scenes. George Lucas apparently does not have those same hiring practices. What he does tremendously lack, however, is someone to write the dialogue for him. As everyone anticipated, the dialogue is the weakest part of the movie, especially in the love scenes. It was almost embarrassing at times to hear the words that Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman (Padme) were forced to utter.

Star Wars fan or not, given that Darth Vader is one of the most famous film icons ever, it’s hard not to be intrigued as to how he descends to the dark side of the force. Furthermore, this movie is the final piece in the Star Wars prequels, the story that we have been wanting to hear since we first discovered that Darth Vader is Luke’s father 25 years ago. Well, in my case maybe only 20 years ago, but regardless, everyone has waited a long time for this. And George Lucas finally gets it right.

This film gets the oscar rating from me, an average Star Wars fan (as in, I didn’t camp out in line or arrive in full costume, but I’ll definitely see it twice). For those of you who are indifferent then I would give it four stars, but regardless, this movie was indeed, fucking awesome.