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   Just saw this at the midnight showing last night. Don't want to give away any spoilers since most people have not seen this one yet. All I can really say is that I would probably rank this better then Episode I, but below Episode II and no where near touching the originsl trilogy. Without giving anything away I think that the best part of the movie was definately the imagery.

RISE, LORD VADER!

I wanna see this but the way I figure it, I won't get into a theater for weeks.

I just saw it and It did feel darker than the other two. What they put more of is poltical babble and felt some undertones about the current administration in here in the US.  Daniels right about imagery they put a hell of alot more of eye candy. Overall I enjoyed it. Also keep a look out (for better or worse) at the end what looks like CGI Peter Crushing.

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You can’t give it, you can't buy it, and you just don't get it!-Aeon Flux



Post Edited (05-19-05 17:20)

I thought it was terrific. I'd rank it behind ANH and ESB. It's much better than the last 2 movies.

I'd admit. that  "youger" Moff Tarkin looked silly, He looked more like that guy from Deep Space Nine. Lucas could've easily left Tarkin OUT.

Wonderful movie, nonetheless.

**thumbs up**

If all goes well and according to plan, I am sneaking out of work early today to go view this. There's a place up the road from where I work that has this movie in 2 theaters and they have early showings. With any luck, I'll be able to squeeze in there somewhere.

Episode III was much better than I expected, but it had many scenes that were unwillingly funny or embarassing or kiddy-like.
F.e. when R2D2 sets the two Droids on fire, then there are Droids that speak slang, the voice of General Grevious sounds very strange, etc.

the best thing of this movie - the great highlight - is, that JarJarBinks has his filthy mouth shut.

Can anyone explain why  this ridiculous General Grevious coughs? It´s just a robot, so why the hell does he cough and gasp for air?

Grevious coughing distracted me as well.  This all comes from the Clone Wars cartoons on Cartoon Network.  Windu and Shaak Ti gave Grevious an ass whipping in the cartoons.  I just assumed it must have been left over from that....perhaps damaged lungs from those battles.

On a personal note, I loved the film.....but the novelization was better.  The Grevious battle was better in the book.  As was much of the expanded dialogue.

All in all...a good way to cap off the second trilogy.

Grevious was a cyborg. Obi-Wan clearley exposed his heart and lungs, that being the reason he targeted that area with the shock stick thingy they were using.

It was all good, but some of the intimate moments. Lucas is well known for not being an actor's director so I never let that part bother me.

Just saw STAR WARS EPISODE III tonight and thought it was a very good film. The strong points overcome the weak points for a very good film and fits nicely into episode order. The whole Saga feels complete. Overall well done. You will get your moneys worth on this one.

Strong points.

1.) Palatine/Vader scene at the end by the lava river. (don't want to say to much)
2. ) Chancellor Palatine is a highlight.
3.) The actor playing Anakin Skywalker was decent
4.) The actor playing Obi Wan Kenobi was decent.
5.) Focus on the strong point of the whole Star Wars thing which is really Darth Vader and the "Force".

Some Draw Backs.

1.) CGI (still a minus, even though much better use this time around) Also just looked at the openings scene to the orginal movie a few minutes ago and thought it was much better done with the model. CGI is lazy movie making.

2. ) The reasoning behind Darth Vaders transformation was extremely weak, but it didn't matter as Palatine/Vader scenes overshadow this flaw. He could have been converted by some other more obvious reasons.

3.)Obviously Lucas knew little about family, child bearing, mother/child ties, and what the word hope means when he wrote this story. Either that our he was just trying to show us how mixed up the parents of Luke and Lea were.  This part didn't work for me. (don't want to give up to much info here.)

Lucas does manage to put a two good scenes on the screen that are reminicient of some very old horror films moments. Well, just want to say the film is good and definately worth seeing.



Post Edited (05-20-05 20:25)

One of the morning shows here had a guy show up at the midnight premiere where people had been camping out in line dressed up in their star wars costumes bearing light sabers. So recording the whole thing on a hidden mic he jumps to the front of the line and shouts

"CAN I PLEASE HAVE EVERYONES ATTENTION!"
The crowd quiets down
"WELCOME TO THE MIDNIGHT PREMIER OF STAR WARS, REVENGE OF THE SITH!"

"WHO WANTS TO SEE THIS MOVIE?"

"WELL LET ME TELL YOU THAT I HAVE SEEN THIS MOVIE AND IT IS FANTASTIC!"

"AND IT HAS A TWIST AT THE ENDING THAT YOU WON'T BELIEVE!"

"AND THIS IS HOW IT ENDS.....GENERAL GRIEVOUS IS KILLED WHEN HIS HEART IS CUT OUT"

This is where the boo's and hisses turn into cussing and the crowd about to beat him down. Naturally he was making up the plot twists but he wanted to see what a crowd of star wars fanatics could do if someone spoiled the ending when they were about to go in to see the most anticipated movie of the year..lol

After the crowd became angry security came and escorted him out.

I heard the movie is already on file sharing and in mexico they are selling bootlegs on dvd

***Possible Spoilers***



Well, I left work early yesterday and was able to get in to see this. I'm still not completely sure if I liked it or not. I know that I liked it more than Eps 1 and 2 but certainly not as much as the orginal 3.  But, I just don't know if I was happy with it or not. One thing that let me down was how it was implied (at least to me anyway) that Darth Vader would be a big part of this movie. Sure, you could say Anakin is Vader and the fact that he became Vader throughout the film means that the film did, in fact, make Vader a big part of it. I was just somewhat let down by the fact that Vader in the suit didn't appear until almost the end. I also had reservations about 2 of the things that Scott mentioned above. Anakin did seem to convert entirely too easily. It could be argued that he was blinded by the fact that he may be able to prevent the death of Padme but I had to wonder why, as a Jedi, he wasn't able to determine that perhaps he was being tricked into believeing this. Also, throughout the years, I have always assumed that Vader was the baddest of bad, that he became Vader  because of hatred and anger. Sure, that had a little to do with it but it seems more like he became Vader almost for a noble cause, to attempt to save the life of someone he loved. As Scott pointed out, weak. Scott also brought up the point of Padme giving up so easily just because she lost Anakin. Huh? She just had 2 babies, don't they count for anything? She had no desire to live for them, she was being selfish because she lost Anakin? I feel this could have been handled a little bit differently too.
I'm glad I saw it and I was quite happy with most of it but I was just left feeling somewhat uneasy and maybe annoyed.

My friend summed it up well

"It's best of the 3 prequels which is to say it's the turd that floats to the top but at the same time the dialogue sucks, the acting is horrible and the 2nd half is far superior to the first half but on the plus side it leaves you wanting to watch the original trilogy."

I know right after the movie I wanted to go out and purchase the original star wars Trilogy DVDs (none of the special edition crap)

worst part in the movie

Vader: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

"worst part in the movie

Vader: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Oh my God...yeah, I blanked that out...That was something I never really needed or wanted to hear from Darth Vader. That was just poor.

My wife and I finally got around to seeing the flick last night and.....well....I was impressed as hell.  This is exactly what I've been waiting for - a good prequel!  I thought the film was much better than the earlier prequels.

The only problem that I had with the film was that it was too short.  Sure, it was 2hrs and 10 minutes but I would have loved to have seen some added exposition when it came to Anakin turning into Darth.  I would have liked to have seen him battle some more with his choice of turning to the darkside.  They could have cut a lot of scenes in this film as well to make room for that exposition.  Hell, the Wookie planet battle was just there for them to introduce Chewie.  

I didn't expect to like the film at all.  I have hated the other prequels and just went to see this one "just because".  But, by the end, my eyes were wet.  It was pretty fulfilling to see this story that was SO MUCH a part of my childhood and psyche come full circle to where it began.  Watching Luke being delivered to his family by Obi was something I've been waiting for all of my life.

I applaud Lucas for actually making a good prequel.  I'll certainly buy this one when it comes out on DVD and possibly see it a few more times at the theater.



Post Edited (05-22-05 08:54)

I want to take my kids to it but I want to see the Genndy cartoons first and I'm waiting for Netflix...

I wonder if people will think better of  the first two after this one brings the story together and more of it all makes sense.  I happened to like the first two.

I never hated the other two like a lot of folks. I do think he made some mistakes, like all the cartoony characters and he should never have tried to make a love story with his lack of ability at working with actors. He badly distracted folks from the story he was trying to tell.

I think he really did a good job at showing how a democracy could be overthrown by the very people who think they are trying to preserve it. Palpatine played everyone against each other and used the Jedi's arrogance and apathy against them.

I loved the little bit in TPM when Palpatine says "We shall be watching your career with interest, young Skywalker." while subtley slipping into the Darth Sidious voice. Talk about foreshadowing.

People who even hated the other two have to admit he ended it well.

I enjoyed episode III very much.  Please don't read my post if  you haven't seen the movie.

Agree re:  the horrid, horrid, horrid, horrid, HORRID attempts at love scenes.  Lucas ought to be banned from trying that sort of stuff.  Or he should hire someone whose job it is to poke him with a shock stick whenever he attempts to write intimate dialogue (instead of delegating it to someone who can).

Things this movie did for me that I was not expecting (and some random thoughts):

-  The Jedi are revealed as flawed, and their elimination is realized as part of the process of "restoring the balance."  *Not* just wiping out the Sith.  Wiping out the Jedi, too, is part of this process.  This was a startling facet of the movie, to me.   It is reflected in the many failures of the Jedi to do the right thing with Anakin; the Jedi fail *him* in so many ways, and in their failures they contribute to what is to come -- Windu, for example, is such a prissy sort of character, rather focused on power in his own way, and not willing to extend compassion or trust to Anakin; without that human element to mentor him through, how was Anakin supposed to overcome his passions?

-  I was very worried that the reasons for Anakin's fall would suck, or be incoherent at the least.  They were somewhat incoherent, but it "worked" for me.  I took it in the same way you take Romeo and Juliet falling in love after a brief meeting -- an element of tragedy that is presented in an abbreviated fashion.  Particularly I enjoyed the lines about "I'm not the Jedi I'm supposed to be.  Something is wrong."    He knows that he is being corrupted (that he has been in the process of being corrupted for years, really) -- but he can't find his way through because of his character flaws.  Yoda called it right when he first saw Anakin, of course; I find the motivations that drive Anakin to be believable, and reasonably established if you take all three movies together.  NOT high art.  But it "works" for me.

-  Wasn't the last scene where Obi-Wan defeats Anakin awful to watch, or was it just me?  I found the last meeting between them to be moving.  "I have the high ground, Anakin.  Please don't try this," as a line, covers a lot of ground.  And then after he defeats him, Ben can't kill him, and has to avert his face and leave.    The look of trapped horror on Anakin's face as the mask comes down to him.    It was extremely strange to hear Vader's voice asking questions about Padme's health, I admit, and the "nooooo!" I could have done without.  Just having everything in the room burst and bend would have been a better demonstration, with that Vader strangled roar as the only line, IMHO.

-  The use of Qui-Gon as a little plot device to explain how Ben achieves transcendence was pretty cool, I thought.  It adds to the first point I made -- in that the ultimate goal of the jedi ("oneness with the Force") is not achieved by any of the council, not even Yoda.  It is achieved by a rule-breaking rogue who does the right thing after careful consideration, and who disobeyed the council out of his best judgement (not passion).  Through him, the threads that sustain the hope for humanity (represented in Luke and Leia) are kept unbroken; without Ben's ghost, Luke would not have survived to ignite Anakin's eventual response that "restores balance to the Force."    Which is all to say, the Jedi's greatest goals are not accomplished by the people highest in its hierarchy, and that flawed hierarchy is destroyed as part of restoring balance.

-   It was a large mistake to use Samuel Jackson as a prominent character.  The SW movies benefited greatly from the use of actors who don't draw in many pop associations with them.  Christopher Lee, as Dooku, was okay, because Dooku is just a step sideways to become Saruman, in my mind.  But I couldn't watch Mace Windu without mentally editorializing:  "Say what again!  I dare you, I double-dare you!"   "Does he LOOK like a b***h?" ... the jedi council needed to be played by lower-key actors, and Samuel didn't belong.

Whoo, I wrote a book, sorry.  But I really enjoyed this movie, much more than I expected!  I didn't enjoy it just because it didn't suck (which is what my highest hope had been); I enjoyed it because it added things to the series that I had never before considered.

So:

Did Palpatine's master create Anakin, then, as Palpatine implies?  Was he born to become a Sith tool all along?

I saw this and found it to be the best one since Empire.

I loved how R2 kicked ass in the beginning of the film and the Emperor definitely stole the show.
His evil cackle even when hanging on for dear life in the senate chamber made me laugh.

One thing I didn't understand is, how did the emperor get thousands of Republic loyal clone troops to go along with his bidding and slaughter the Jedi?
Did he use some big mind changing Force wave?
One second the clone troopers are loyal to the Jedi and the next second they're shooting at them.

I can't wait until this comes out on DVD so I can finally own all six films.

Lucas, for the most part, has redeemed himself.

Hey Ash, he probably had them programmed from the beginning. He was after all responsible for creating them. Maybe some built in trigger or maybe they all had allegiance to the Republic, but not the Jedi.

I think Obi-Wan just assumed that Anakin was going to die, he was slipping into the lava as Obi-Wan left.  I think if Lucas had left out the one scene of Anakin basically burning alive, the movie would've been PG. Oh and I hope everyone noticed Obi-Wan picking up Anakin's light saber before he walked off.

It was pretty gruesome the way they just stuck some prosthetic limbs on him and slapped him in the suit without even treating his wounds or even cleaning him up. Man, he still had the melted clothing attached to him.

The movie overall: Best of the new series, in my opinion.  Probably better than Episode VI too.  Tried to be more character-driven but still nowhere near ANH or ESB.  Special effects - the opening space battle in particular - were again the highlight.

The wrap-up: Way overplayed.  We didn't need to see every last thread from this episode to ANH connected right down to Tarkin, the construction of the Death Star, and Captain Antilles.  We would have gotten it without all that.  I also thought the ending scene with C3P0 was dumb...  but then again, I thought the very idea of having C3P0 or R2D2 in episodes I-III was staggeringly idiotic anyway.
 Overall, the long denoument made the movie seem like an homage to the first movie rather than an actual part of a coherent series (having Chewbacca in it also had this effect).  I hear that Lucas cut a scene with a young Han Solo on Naboo because that would have been "too much."  If only he dropped all the other stuff that was too much.

The acting: Hayden Christiansen was remarkably good as an insecure, squirming, reporter with a poor handle on the truth in a fact-based movie called "Broken Glass."  Unfortunately, I think he is real poorly cast as an elite Jedi knight with a tortured soul and a mean streak.  Reminds me more of a kid throwing a tantrum.  Natalie Portman really  looked like she was tired of these movies.  MacGregor was excellent, especially in the climactic confrontation.

The Wookiees: Did anyone else feel like the Wookiees were tacked on just so they could have Wookiees?  Totally irrelevant to the story, although maybe it could be an indication that Lucas is softening his hardline stand against re-releasing the 1978 Christmas Special?  We can only hope.

George Lucas's political awakening:  The hamfisted attempt at an allegory of the times was hamstrung by over-obviousness ("If you're not with us, you're against us" -- Darth Vader/George Bush) and a D-minus grasp of how the world works ("If we can just catch that madman hiding somewhere in a cave, the war will be over and peace will reign." -- Yoda/John Kerry).  Stick to escapism, Mr. Lucas.

Overall: I liked Episode III, but I'm glad that Lucas is done with Star Wars.  If he had made these first three movies back in the 1970s with the sensibilities he obviously had back then, they would have been much better I think, even with the diminished effects.  Whatever Lucas did between Jedi and Phantom Menace did not have an overwhelmingly positive impact on his ability to tell a good story.

"Grevious was a cyborg. Obi-Wan clearley exposed his heart and lungs, that being the reason he targeted that area with the shock stick thingy they were using."

I got this...  but then how did he manage to survive in the cold vacuum of space outside his ship?  Not pointing this out as a weakness, just offering fodder for the geeks to enjoy explaining away.

Eirik,

You forgot Padme's line "So this is how liberty dies - with the sound of applause."

I agree 100% about the wookies being in the film just for there to be wookies in it.  The battle on the wookie planet did little for the storyline.

"Also, throughout the years, I have always assumed that Vader was the baddest of bad, that he became Vader because of hatred and anger. Sure, that had a little to do with it but it seems more like he became Vader almost for a noble cause, to attempt to save the life of someone he loved"

I actually thought this was the best and truest thing about this movie - the road to hell being paved with good intentions.

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS****



Eirik wrote:

> "Also, throughout the years, I have always assumed that Vader
> was the baddest of bad, that he became Vader because of hatred
> and anger. Sure, that had a little to do with it but it seems
> more like he became Vader almost for a noble cause, to attempt
> to save the life of someone he loved"
>
> I actually thought this was the best and truest thing about
> this movie - the road to hell being paved with good intentions.

Still, I say weak, the way it pertains to Vader. I understand what you're saying but it doesn't work for me.

You also brought up a good point that reminded me of something I didn't mention earlier. The ending where everything ties so nice and neat to ANH...Vader and the Emperor standing at the window looking out at the Death Star being made. Hmmm...I figure in ANH that Luke must be about 16 or 17 and in that one we see the Death Star as something new that was just finished. It took them that long to make it? Ok, you could argue that but then how long passed between ANH and RotJ? If you recall, there was a second Death Star that was nearing completeion and operational in that one. Did they somehow take 17 years to build the first but just pitched the second one together in a few years? Nitpicking, I know, but there was no need to show the Death Star at the end of this one.

"You forgot Padme's line "So this is how liberty dies - with the sound of applause."

I actually thought that was a good line -- and the whole theme of tyrants using a crisis to consolidate power and destroy a democracy is very accurate.  My problem was the implication (by rather obvious analogies, two of which I pointed out) that that is somehow relevant to today's America.  I find that proposition laughable.

The overall message is not new to the series.  In Star Wars, Tarkin announces at the Death Star staff meeting that the Emperor has "dissolved the Senate and is using local governors to control the star systems."  Replace Senate with Reichstag and star systems with regions of Germany, and you have exactly what Hitler did in 1936 (or so... bad at dates).  In abstraction, it is a powerful message for a sci-fi movie to incorporate...  Laden with current partisan hyperbole, it is eye-rolling Hollywood silliness.

Good point odinn7.  I find that an even more egregious "chronology-problem" is the fact that a 30-something Obiwan will become a 70-something Obiwan who can't remember R2D2 in those 17 or so years.

More Movie Shouting Scenes...

VADER: NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
KIRK: KAAAAHHHNNNNN!!!
ROCKY: ADDRRIANNN!!!!
JACK (from Titanic): I'M THEE KING OFF THEE WUUURRLLLDD!

etc....

From Team America.....

Matt Damon: "Maaaat Daaaamon."

Don't forget Brando and "SSSTTTTTEEEEELLLLAAAAA!"

Actually, I didn't mind Vader's "NOOOOOOOO!" Would you have rather had him laugh maniaclly after learning of the death of the love of his life??   I'm not trying to be a Star Wars geek or anything, but how would anything else have led to a redeemable villain?  I know the "NO!" thing doesn't sound right coming from Vader, but what else was he supposed to do?  Personally, I think Lucas should've made episodes 7, 8, and 9, instead of doing 1, 2, and 3.  Actually, I think Lucas even mentioned in an interview that the reason why he made Episode IV first was because he knew it was more fun and interesting, more or less, then the whole Trade Embargo storyline (eps. 1-3).  Please feel free to criticize this!

I think, as someone else mentioned earlier, I would rather just had Vader destroy the room as he did without the ridiculous "NOOOOOOOO". It would've gotten the point across without being so silly.

You people are picky. :p

This is easily the best of the Star Wars movies, by a large margin.  In fact, I'm going to go ahead and say it's the best movie I've ever seen.

It did what few movies have ever done: it sucked me in.  I was there.  I was a part of it.  I felt the lightsabres singing my hair during the battle with Grievous.  I felt Anakin's torment when he was looking across the city toward Padme.  I felt Yoda's determination when he fought the Emperor.  And I felt the heat and the emotion during Obi-Wan's fight with Anakin.

It was just an incredible movie.

Bloody Cider, how many times in your life have you yelled NOOOOO or heard someone else do so? It's how characters express despair in movies written by people who give no thought at all to how people express despair in real life (that and WHYYYYYY???)

I cried "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" today when I found out that they're gonna remake Adventures in Babysitting, if that counts.  Actualy, odinn is right.  Vader should've just destroyed the room and then maybe get into an evil pose and breath heavily for a couple of seconds, and then have the Emperor say something about Vader's anger or something.  But since that didn't happen, all I can think of is that maybe Lucas wanted to back up Luke's statement in ROTJ:  "I can sense the good in you."  You never know, maybe 20 years from now, there will be a Special Edition of ROTS where the "NOOOOO!" is erased, kinda like when they got rid of Luke's maniacal scream in the current DVD version of ESB...

What?!?

They took out the face-twisted-up "No... No..!  ...    KNOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!"   ?

That's the most awesomely bad overacting in the original trilogy!  :/  How could they mess with it.

I have heard rumors that Spielberg may, possibly, might, maybe, perhaps be thinking about considering thinking about starting  to ponder potentially doing episodes 7-9?  Can anyone confirm/deny?

If they wait much longer, they will have to call it Walker Wars: The Retirement Years.

I can't confirm or deny that rumour, but I know originally there were suppose to be nine episodes in the series, so it doesn't look impossible.

I saw Lucas deny the whole 9 episodes rumor.  He is playing with the idea of a TV series that takes place between Ep's III&IV.

It's been long known that Lucas whole saga is nine episodes long.  However, Lucas has said he won't do the last three.