More Than the Sum of It's Parts!

Rating: 6/10 (23 May 2005)

At last we come full circle. As I sit writing this, it's tough to think of the idea that there will be no more Star Wars movies. This isn't a reaction to Revenge of the Sith as much as it is a statement of a generation. As long as allot of us have been alive, there's been the wait for a new Star Wars movie. Kind of interesting, perhaps now it is a time to think and dream of other things as opposed to hoping and waiting for the inevitable. Star Wars fits into many of our lives as a type of road marker.
Does all of this really mean anything? Who knows but what IS known is that my film-making tastes have changed over the years and Star Wars, I had begun to feel, was a part of the child I had left behind who yearned for adventure and pulpy science fiction. The Phantom Menace was a small disaster, coming at the heels of other films that captured my imagination more (like Dark City) but still left me with some good feelings. Attack of the Clones, on the other (and more depressed) hand, was a complete failure as a film. I hated it and still do. It is everything which I hoped a Star Wars film WOULDN'T be. Dull, boring, devoid of character, and poorly written. Through all of the prequels, however, was Lord of the Rings which (for many of us) represented what we WANTED to see out of Star Wars. Rich characters, lavish sets, bold emotion, and gripping tragedy. I was disappointed with George Lucas, not because he'd made a couple bad films, but because he refused to take any criticism about them and try to fix the problems he'd created. And I wondered if the fanboy child in me had died along the way somewhere. Thus going into Episode III, I had dismal hopes even though word of mouth had been generally positive.
Going with a friend of mine from work and my dear wife (who also had very dismal hopes for this film) we sat patiently in a decidedly empty theater. For all the hype surrounding the amount of money that Sith was pulling in, it was a little surprising and didn't say much for repeat business. But the trailers eventually came and went and the familiar phrase "A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy Far, Far Away" shown on the screen, sparking the interesting yet again in the inner-child I thought might be dead. As the opening crawl faded away the movie panned down to the underbelly of a ship ... I was hooked. From a film-making standpoint the opening shot is glorious. Not flashy, not choppy, but elegant and serves to take the viewer into the film. Kind of grabbing the audience by our coattails and pulling us in for a ride.
And what a ride it is. Without hesitation I can say that this is the best film of the prequel trilogy (though I know that may very well be faint praise). And it is a film that I had no clue George Lucas had left in him. Are there problems with the movie? Yes, great big ones that threaten to make the film implode. One of which, involving the newly suited Darth Vader, threatens to make a parody out of what was supposed to be an emotional scene. And let us not forget that Lucas cannot write dialog that is anywhere near romantic. Padme is reduced to nearly a blibbering idiot in the film. The other major problem the film has (and this is in majority due to the miswritten first two films) is that Anakin's turn is too sudden and complete to be anywhere near the realm of believability. This is distressing as the rest of the film is bent on his decisions and his decisions don't really make THAT much sense. It's an amazing feet then, that I was able to move past these faults and get swept up along with the finale of the movie.
What works in this film, works on an extraordinarily entertaining and emotional level. There are moments in Sith which succeeded in making me happy, sad, excited, curious, and shocked. Not things I associated with the first two prequels. Take, for instance, that opening shot I was talking about. I know, intuitively, that everything I'm looking at takes place on a computer. But instead of having the perfect movements of a computer, the camera follows the ships almost not quite sure where they are going to turn next, putting the viewer in a position of guessing at what is about to happen. Another, almost paralyzing moment in the film is the end of the great duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin. All in all, this duel was a little too truncated and could have been bigger. But the end of it all (and we may be moving into SPOILER mode here), with Anakin dismembered and burned beyond recognition, using his last breaths to spit curses at Obi-Wan as Obi-wan turns and walks away, is fantastic and well written. Not the type of piece I would have expected from George Lucas.
To summarize; Revenge of the Sith is hampered really only by mistakes made early on with The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. It seizes it's chance though to be something more than it's parts and makes for not only great entertainment but a happy (albeit rather dark) place for fans to end this series. 6 years ago I thought it impossible to write a negative review of a Star Wars film. Now, I'm surprised (delightfully) that I have written a positive review of the final Star Wars film we're likely to see.
Final Grade: B+