My favorite Star Wars

Rating: 10/10 (8 April 2020)

Not only is this the movie that we were all waiting for but it's also an absolute masterpiece. The story is tight and flows quickly with precision. And I think the biggest wow factor of this movie was what we had all been waiting for: how Anakin became Darth Vader. It was not a reason that any of us predicted or even could. But it felt right and natural. He became Vader because he thought he was doing good and not evil? What? And that's real stuff. Bad people don't think their bad, they think they're doing good.
That's what is so good about this trilogy, it focuses on the grey of good and evil while the original trilogy focused on the black and white nature. It's a good contrast. I don't know about you guys but I've learned most life lessons from Star Wars and as an adult I was able to learn still.
The opening is amazing. About a half an hour of the clone war. We don't see a lot of this war, so this half an hour really let's us see what it was like between movies. Also what it does is give us Anakin's and Obi-Wan's relationship. Because they don't share much screen time. This sequence shows their rapport and puts them through many life and death situations to show us how much they mean to one another. And R2 finally gets his day. Of course they don't realize that he's saving their skin. Seeing R2 destroy two super battle droids it's just great
The end is again beyond what I thought Star Wars could be or even any ending to an epic series. Instead of the giant fights that have always ended these movies we climax with a duel. Two duels really but two duels! They are epic but still it's a personal climax. You don't need a huge action ending you need an ending that you're emotionally pulled into. And that's just what you get.
The scene before the duel is the most powerful of all 6 movies. Husband versus wife and friend versus friend. Obi-Wan doesn't want to kill his friend but will as always to do his duty.
And emotions cause Obi to be unable to kill his friend. But Jedi don't have emotions? Well maybe the Jedi aren't right. Mace is going to break the rules to do what's right. Anakin's repression of his emotions caused him to go to the dark side. He ignored them until he could be used by evil. Luke listens to love and it's that love that kills the Emperor. If he killed Vader he would have been unable to kill the Emperor himself. Again, the grey area of this movie. Luke doesn't pretend he doesn't have emotions, he learns to control them. This is where the Jedi mess up.
You really get the sense that they're going all out on this one. All of the set pieces are as cool as it gets. General Grevious, the Boga, the Jedi star ships, the new clones, Wookies, even Obi-Wan's beard.
And I can't stress how important Attack of the Clones is to this movie. It sets up Anakin's dreams with his mom. You saw that he was right in 2 so when he has the dream about Padme you don't question for a second that it's going to happen. If Anakin was able to respect nature and not try to change what he coveted his wife wouldn't have died. He wants to persevere what he wants so badly that he kills to keep it. But that's not how it works and because of his actions he loses it all.
The clone war is an excuse for the Clones to be all over the galaxy so when order 66 is issued the divided Jedi can easily be killed and the emperor's soldiers are already enforcing his rule.
We waited to see the Emperor show up and boy did he. His facial deformation was a nice surprise too. But I love him in this because he is the most evil he has ever been or ever will be. Because he has been hiding his true self for 30, 40 years? So he is really able to let his hair down and explode with evil. We get to see him fight with a lightsaber which is almost as cool as seeing Yoda fight. And then they get to fight each? Mind blown! I love the trash talking that happens between the two.
Padme dying of a broken heat isn't some fantasy thing about love. People that are really sick really do die when they stop fighting and give up. She gives up.
One of my favorite parts is when Obi is asking Padme where Anakin is on the veranda. He figures out who the father is and says, I'm so sorry." Very cool.
Other great part is when the Jedi council is talking about the Wookies and Yoda says that he has good relations with the Wookies. Your two favorite Star Wars things combined. And then when Yoda rides on Chewie's back.
Two of my favorite parts show the genius of Lucas as a director. After the huge nonstop half an hour there is a little interlude with Grevious flying to Utapau. It's a cool little visual scene with killer music but as an audience it gives us a chance for our minds to take a break.
The next "breather" interlude is after Anakin does his murdering and the empire is declared and we get to see Anakin crying over what he has done while looking at the awesome volcano planet and the music swells to a great climax. After a lot of things have happened emotionally and plot wise we get a break.
Another great choice from Lucas is to not show Anakin killing the young Jedi. I think that after seeing such an atrocious display of cold blooded murder, as an audience you wouldn't feel any sympathy for Anakin. There's a difference between knowing it happened and actually seeing it.
I use this example of what comic relief is all the time. After the duel of best friends starts and a very emotional scene Yoda walks in to the Emperor's office. They move their staff's to strike and Yoda lifts a finger and throws them against the wall knocking them out. I laugh every single time. I saw this movie in the theaters a lot of times. Even more than what you think a lot is. And it got a robust laugh every time. It's comic relief where comic relief is needed. It's not a joke, it's relief. And for those of us who grew up and wishing the red guards were in the movies more and then they're finally in this one and they are finally going to fight and they don't. Very funny.
When I walked out of the theater in 2005 I thought this was the best Star Wars and after almost 20 years my opinion has not changed and only strengthened. Hayden does a great job, as well as everyone else. Ewan fully becomes the Alec Guinness that he had been laying the ground work for two movies. This movie takes everything from the other 5 movies and builds upon them to go where no movie has gone before.
You wanna know how good this movie is? It's so good that you forget that General Grevious was in it.