Lucas Wised Up and Delegated!

Rating: 8/10 (19 May 2005)

As one who did not trust any reviews or ravings preceding this film (we saw it all before when CLONES was hailed as "The best since EMPIRE" and turned out to be another dud), I have to say I was thrilled. I'm not going to get into all the hits and misses, read enough other reviews and you'll get the picture. I will simply say it finally feels like a STAR WARS movie again.
However, I think the answer to why this film is so much better rests in a very simple concept - Lucas delegated again. There has been much written about the fact that Lucas turned directing the key action scenes over to Our Lord Thy Film-making God, Steven Spielberg. He turned over directing the actors to Christopher Neil. And he turned over the script to Tom Stoppard.
The results are an engaging, thrilling and emotional experience. Emotion is what's been missing from the previous two films more than anything. In analyzing why Episodes 1 & 2...well, they just sucked...a big part is that you are not emotionally engaged or attached to any of the characters. Further complicating the problem is the plot revolving around characters who's fates we already know. Here's an example: I did a marathon this past Saturday and watched all five DVDs straight through, in prepping for SITH (went 4,5,6,1,2 BTW). Episode 2 has a big sequence involving Obi-Wan clinging to an assassin droid, flying high above the capitol in peril. This is a very flashy little scene, but the problem is, anybody who knows ANYTHING about STAR WARS, knows that Obi-Wan is certainly not going to die or be crippled. So, consciously or subconsciously, you're not emotionally engaged in the scene and you're more interested in looking at your watch to see how long this scene has gone on.
If you were still engaged with the characters emotionally, the films would have worked, despite the issue of knowing the outcome already. TITANIC overcomes not only the issue of knowing the ship sinks, but (like George Lucas' handy work) overcomes a script with a thick layer of cheese on it. Yet, you become involved with the characters and the plot, so you are still open to being manipulated emotionally and the film makes an impact.
STAR WARS Episodes 1 & 2 have done the opposite. By the end of either film, I would have given a reproductive organ (left one, preferably) to see young Annakin or whiny teen Annakin, or @#*$ing Jar Jar Binks tortured and mutilated and raped right out of a scene from PULP FICTION. I certainly didn't care about their fate in the films' plots.
But REVENGE OF THE SITH, delegated to able craftsmen, gives you the feeling of caring about the characters. They're interesting, likable (even when evil) and most of all - human. Not wooden puppets. This effect is all the more surprising, given that you REALLY more or less know the outcome of this movie going in. Besides common sense, I had read numerous reviews of the film, including some with spoilers, so there was little I didn't know already. But I still got sucked up by every minute of it. I even found myself misty-eyed for a little while. This is a long way from "Yousa people gonna die?" My reservation with this film is that Lucas is getting so much credit for the results, when it has to be said, once and for all, that the only STAR WARS films that worked on multiple levels were the ones he delegated to other craftsmen (GOOD writers & directors). To know, had it not been for Spielberg, Stoppard and Neil, this film may have been another disaster, yet they get no credit is astounding. Once again, every other credit in the beginning is "George Lucas", "George Lucas". It's like the credits from a bad student film, where the insecure filmmaker feels the need to credit themselves for every other position, when any experienced or knowledgeable filmmaker will inherently know the director had his hand in everything - it comes with the job.
Makes me wonder if that's what Lucas directing these prequels was all about, urinating on his territory so people know it was his. God forbid the world know that Irvin Kushner was the genius behind the success of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Or now that the success of REVENGE OF THE SITH goes to Spielberg and Stoppard.
I will make one other comment, John Williams finally showed up again! Williams hadn't created a truly powerful score since SCHINDLER'S LIST. Further, his work on Episodes 1 & 2 was plain doo doo, save for the two operatic themes.
Well, in SITH, Williams creates an AMAZING score, some of his best work ever. Maybe it's because he had good cinema to score to, maybe the half-baked efforts for MENACE & CLONES was due to him saving his wad for SITH.
The other triumph was the photography, beautiful. Tattersall does an incredible job, also crediting ILM, since so much of what we're seeing on the screen is animation. But it looks awesome.
So, overall, beware the hype, but be ready for a great ride from REVENGE OF THE SITH. It's almost worth having to live through Episodes 1 & 2, it really is.
I say almost...had Lucas delivered a scene with Jar Jar bent over a chair with a gag-ball in his mouth, being violated by Zed, while the Gimp watches in glee...just before slicing his Gungan head off with a lightsabre, I would say SITH more than made up for MENACE & CLONES.
Maybe Lucas will put that scene in the extended DVD.