I almost rolled off the couch to go see Star Wars Episode III at 12:01, 12:05, 12:11, 12:16, or 12:23 AM early Thursday morning, but laziness prevailed and I waited until Friday night. Luckily a few people were still in costumes. One kid had a complete Vader getup on. Stupid kids showing up at the 10:15 showing. Admittedly, IÕm not the biggest Star Wars fan in the galaxy but I love seeing these big movies on the opening weekend.
Don't click below if you don't want to read spoilers.
In short: I laughed, I didnÕt cry, and it paled in comparison to Cats.
Highlights for me included the opening space battle, Yoda traveling to the Wookie home world, the crazy cool lightsaber battles (especially between Obi Wan and General Greivous), and of course the (re)building of Darth Vader. And R2D2, the hero of all the movies, kicks so much ass itÕs unreal. I think the best acting in the whole movie was done by Yoda, with Obi Wan a close second. Chancellor Palpatine was excellent as well, with the Darth Sidious side of things a bit less believable. I guess itÕs hard behind all that makeup. The opening scene space battle actually felt like I was in a video game, complete with crash landing. Amazing to see it all completed, it must have taken forever to render those special effects.
And now for the low-lights. The love scenes were nearly unbearable. I remember my sister creating more believable romance between her Barbie Doll and my Skeletor action figure. I know Natalie Portman is a good actress. I loved her in Garden State, but it didnÕt even seem like the same actress in this movie. I was really glad when she finally died because both our suffering was finally over. And Samuel L. Jackson (say what again, motherfucker!) was even a tad dry.
Clearly, all 6 moves taken as a whole really tell the story of the rise, fall, and redemption of Vader. The end of this movie was where the money was, and I suspect the whole reason we were forced to suffer thru Ep. II, and to a lesser extent Ep. I. Everyone, me included, wanted to see how Darth Vader came to be. George Lucas managed to create a whole fantasy world that was believable and detailed. Those space shots with all the traffic on the planets were so cool. The story really answered all the important questions, and offered an adequate explanation of how Darth Sidious used AnakinÕs fear of loss to manipulate his actions. My big question is that if the Jedi are so powerful and wise, why the hell didnÕt they follow their own protocol when dealing with Anakin throughout his time at the temple. Every chance they got, they broke rules for him, making him the youngest this, or the first that, or whatever. In my opinion, the Jedi failed Anakin.
One other tidbit in the movie that I didnÕt expect was in the ChancellorÕs speech to the Senate. Perhaps IÕm reading a bit into it, but statements like, Òeither youÕre with us or youÕre against us!Ó really reminded me of G-dub.
ÒThis is how liberty dies, to thunderous applause.Ó Indeed.