May 23, 2005
I haven't bothered crafting something like an LJ-cut, so I'll just put the review where you have to unhide it to read.
The reviews said this had more of the feel of the original trilogy to it. I kind of saw that, but I think that was just because Jar Jar Friggin' Binks had no lines and only about 5 seconds of screen time.
Overall, Lucas did a decent job of tying up the loose ends between the prequels and the originals. Some were handled better than others -- Jimmy Smits' "wipe the protocol droid's memory" was necessary, but a little too easy. And I still want to know where R2's rocket thrusters disappeared to in the intervening 18 years. Maybe he just ran out of fuel?
I know that they had to have Anakin fall into the lava pit to become Vader, but I just didn't buy Obi-Wan (now just Ben, I guess) doing the Pontification Before Polishing Off The Enemy bit. The plot obviously required it, since if Kenobi has the good sense to finish him there are no episodes 4, 5 and 6, but there had to be a better way of doing it than that.
The betrayal of the Jedi seemed off, too. Vader wiping out the Younglings I can actually buy -- in his twisted state he probably thought he was doing them and the Empire a favor. But more of the Jedi should have been able to sense the clones/stormtroopers betryaing them. I realize that nobody can get the drop on Yoda, but these are supposed to be intergalactic badasses here.
Oh, and there's the standard bit about how you can tell where the real actors get swapped out for CGI. You'd think that they could manage a smooth transition now.
Now that I've bitched about some things, on to the stuff I liked. This was the best of the prequel trilogy, and better in some ways than ANH and ROTJ. I've still got to give The Empire Strikes Back the overall edge, though.
The means by which the Emporer became the wrinly old bastard he was in the prequels was cool, if not well-explained. He was obviously Darth Plagus' apprentice (aside: Darth Plagus? Even J.K. Rowling comes up with better names than that) so maybe using the lightning forced him to look his true age?
The means by which the Republic willingly became the Empire, paralleling Anakin's choice to become Vader, was well-done and just a little too close to reality in some ways. (But I'll argue politics some other time. This is still a popcorn flick at heart, and I'll review it as such.) You could argue that the Senators were mind-tricked by Sidious/Palpatine just as Anakin's will was bent and twisted, but I think it actually works a bit better if Sidious is such a master manipulator that they all went along with no interference.
The creation of the original trilogy's Vader was cool, though a little gorier than Lucas usually does. That first wheezing breath after the helmet was clamped in place was actually kind of chilling in a way -- probably because I knew what was coming in ANH, Empire and Jedi. That last bit of manipulation by Sidious was just enough to finish his turning: There was nothing left to live for, other than cleansing the Empire. Though he obviously did make good on his plan to off the Emporer. Just took him a while longer than he thought.
The light-saber battle between Kenobi and Skywalker were suitably intense, though I think Sidious was a little too good with a blade.
Overall, good flick. Go see it. I may have to give it another look on a bigger screen at some point. But since this movie runs close to two and a half hours, this time I'll make sure I drain the bladder beforehand.
