Rewatching Revenge of the Sith

Y'know, there's another plot thread that was all but forgotten. Remember Anakin's line in TPM? "I had a dream I was a Jedi. I came back here and freed all the slaves."

See, this is exactly the sort of thing that could have been built upon to develop a dedication to seeing justice done, that could then very easily have been twisted into an obsession with imposing order on the galaxy. That, to me, sounds a lot more like Darth Vader than "I just LOVE TOO MUCH!"

And yet, Lucas laid that gun on the table in Act I, and never fired it by Act III (to cop an old storytelling rule of thumb.)

 

Oh sigh. Couple of things.

I hate the "if Padme died during childbirth how does Leia remember her mother?"

Um because Bail had a wife and Leia thought that was her mother. Soooo....I mean would it make sense for Padme to be alive and with Bail? She had to die.

The Yoda point...why didn't he get back up and continue fighting? Okay...wait for it, because you're going to hate it....

Sidious had the "high ground".....yep. Let that concept sink in.

Why did they split up? Admittedly probably not the smartest...but it was master against master and then it was master making one last ditch effort to stop Anakin's fall. Remember, it's not until Anakin says that in his "opinion the Jedi are evil" that Obi-Wan seems to give up hope that Anakin can be saved.

Damn though...Ewan Was soooo good at the end of that.

 

"Leia... do you remember your mother? Your REAL mother?"

All right, now... hands up, everybody who's only ever known the mother who bore them, and who WOULDN'T respond to a question like that with some variation on the "What the hell are you talking about?" theme?

 

Did Leia know that she was adopted by the Organas? She never mentioned to Luke, in the films, that Alderaan was her adopted homeworld. Luke asks about her 'real' mother because he knew she was a Skywalker, and adopted by the Organas.

 

Yeah I think that was a very poorly written scene in ROTJ. All of a sudden Leia knows she's adopted AND has always known...somehow...that Luke was her brother? Not to mention she apparently doesn't have any problem with Vader being her dad either.

Oh...Okay.

 

ObiWan/McGregor was the saving grace of the PT, and actually makes some of it watchable. Now if Lucas had hired someone more talented and experienced for the protagonist role that is Anakin, the PT may have been half decent, even with the plot / storyline flaws left as is.

Nonetheless, I've been tempted to re watch the PT too (it's been a while), with all these concept art leaks for ST and what not.. Just trying to remind myself of the general plot and look for clues.

The plagueis reference is interesting, because it was one of the more powerful scenes, and it almost implies that we haven't heard the last of that story.

 

I hate to say it, but the entire PT was a toilet log. However, there were some scenes that were memorable. ROTS has the following pluses in my book:

1) Palpatine was excellent throughout. Loved the way he said "Unnatural".
2) Dooku was well done. That look on his face when Palpy tells Anakin, "Kill him!" is priceless. He was used and betrayed, and that realization was well done by Lee.
3) Obi Wan's speech to Anakin after cutting his legs off. That was McGreggor at his best right there.
4) Anakin becoming "mostly machine, twisted and evil" Vader was great until he did a Frankenstein imitation.
5) The closing scene with Vader, Palpy, and Tarkin viewing a newly initiated Death Star was well done.


That's about it as far as I can tell.

 

But remember right after Luke and Leia talked she was seemingly upset. It took her a little time to grasp it all.

 

Yeah, about five seconds after having both of his hands cut off and reacting with a soundless look of mild surprise. I always miss his reaction to Palpatine's line because I'm still reeling at how utterly ridiculous his non-reaction at the double amputation was.

 

Christopher Lee was a disappointment. There. I said it.

I know he can act. I don't know why he didn't.

One thing about a Sith Lord - he has presence. When Vader walks into a room, any room, he's suddenly the center of attention. When Darth Maul shows up you just know someone's gonna lose an appendage.

Christopher Lee's Count Dooku is just so meh. Unremarkable. Forgettable. No presence at all.

Honestly, the Clone Wars version of Count Dooku is more entertaining than the Christopher Lee version.

And Christopher Lee's fight scenes? This guy was supposed to replace Darth Maul? Count me unconvinced.

 

I agree in principle on all of this.

In Dooku's case, he was meant to be that other type of Sith; An aristocrat fellow from a well-to-do family background; an older gent- particularly intellectually astute and status-hungry; arrogant... someone that nobody suspects. A master of the Force- more in "action" than in subtlety. He was just stupid enough to put his faith in an even more intellectually endowed evil genius....

GL wrote the story backwards though. We should've seen Dooku before Maul. Imagine if EP.1 introduced Dooku and had him knocked off by the end of the movie- this could've been Qui-gon and Obi's fight; Anakin could've been a witness- something for him to learn from and process. Maul could've then been introduced in Ep.2 and then knocked off by Anakin in the beginning of Ep.3. Natural progression on both sides of the Force-table. It would've also shown how powerful Obi-wan indeed was by defeating Anakin in a duel afterwards.

Damn, if things would've been different...

 

I have been saying for years that the problem with the PT is it tries to tell this Shakespearan-type story, yet Lucas is still trying to cater to kids. What makes the OT great is it has touches of comedy, drama, mythology, yet it never takes itself too seriously. They are fun movies, made in the serial tradition that Lucas/Spielberg grew up in.

If Lucas wanted to craft a dramatic story of a jedi gone bad, then he couldn't do it still trying to appeal to 8 year old kids? Its like making a movie like Platoon or Schindler's List, yet still trying to gear for a PG rating so young kids could see it. The movie's would not work, because they were suppose to be some serious subject, yet they are trying to appeal to little kids?

Everytime the PT (especially ROTS) tries to get serious, it falls flat on its face. The love story, Anakin leaving his mom, Anakin turning the darkside, etc. In a sense, Lucas wanted it both ways, still capturing that young kids audience to sell toys, but then tell this Shakespearan Tragedy of Anakin Skywalker to adults.

There are good moments in the PT that I genuinely enjoy, but the overall movies just don't hold up because of this. I have been staying away from Episode 7 spoilers for the past few weeks, but my biggest hope is Disney/JJ realize that the OT movies were fun, and that was a big part of their appeal. When SW takes itself too seriously like the PT, it just comes off as awkward. IMO

 

Too bad for you.

I only see awesome-ness.

Best film of the series.

That's one of the many brilliant things.

Don't know what you mean by CGI. That is excluding all the sets, models and miniatures, props, costumes, masks etc etc. So you mean what in terms of CGI?

Looks fine and natural to me. Whatever that means for Force users.

Again I don't know what you mean by CGI.

I'm totally sold.

Hayden was great, Natalie was great, Ewan was great, I love the Anakin-Padme scenes. Nothing was done any better in any of the films.

Don't know what you want really. He's brilliant throughout.

No, one of the best things in all Star Wars ever.

Which is exactly what the prequels did. I don't know why people thought it was otherwise.

People seem to forget that Harrison Ford didn't like his lines in the first movie and then took that back. He also wasn't the most thrilled with the other films as well in various cases. The actors also talk about how fake it was on the sets and how they had to imagine everything because nothing was really there.

It seems to me that in your case it's pretty much the same old thing. You want your Star Wars in a certain way which for whatever reason the prequels didn't provide you and you integrate that with the way they were were made. The problem is that all the techniques that were used on the OT were also used on the PT only more and better and to a scale they couldn't do because the technology wouldn't allow it. The ST is going to use all the same tools the PT did and more. It's not going to look like the OT in that the scale and scope will not be taken backwards. The designs of course will harken back to the OT in terms of various designs but it will be OT inspired designs in a PT universe.

 

Qui-Riv-Brid, that took courage. You stood up for an unpopular opinion. Maybe I disagree with some of the stuff you wrote, but you explained yourself articulately and respectfully. You've earned a like from me.

 

Just because you have different opinions doesn't make either of you wrong, it just means you disagree.

 

I like the Prequel Trilogy, I guess I look like Charles Lindbergh.... Eh, I guess I kind of do.