Darker With More Elaborate Score

Rating: 8/10 (20 May 2005)

I agree with some other comments re. the acting and dialog here. This is not an in-depth psychological thriller and I didn't expect that kind of profundity shall we say. Yeah, Christensen COULD have been a little weak for the crucial pivotal role he played but there were some very fine sequences and scenes nevertheless. I particularly appreciated the way in which Lucas interspersed Episode IV images into the movie: Senator Organa's ship is the same type that opens Stars Wars: New Hope. The star-cruisers look more closely like the Imperial Star Destroyers in New Hope. Of course Palpatine assumes his Emperor garb and voice. A true SW fan will enjoy this yarn. I think by now non-fans will not expect anything other than what they get in the film if they watch it.
I need to say something special about the score. Yes, we have the theme and its variations and the tunes that will take you back 28 years (yikes) but I noticed something deeper and more elaborate as well. I have heard that Lucas sought collaboration in this installment because he needed to cultivate a darker atmosphere. There were several times where there was an ominous choral score which overlay the scenes: particularly two - the entire scene with Anakin and Palpatine in the grand "theatre" and the 'juxtaposing scene' of Anakin in the Jedi Temple and Padme in her apartment 'facing each other' telepathically. In the first the lure of the Dark Side for Anakin is literally FELT through the music and in the second the doom of their relationship is likewise foreshadowed. These were to my mind 'un-Lucas-like' scenes somehow and it really did help make this film wholly different! It was good to see Lucas give the viewer some added depth. I think he knew the End and also the Beginning of the story deserved it.