The opening sequence on Dooku's ship was awesome. R2 was awesome back in the day.
My only real complaint is that Lucas needed to differentiate Vader from Anakin a little bit better. Watching the whininess carry over once he had the mask/outfit on wasn't right. The whole "Where's Padme?" - "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" sequence should have happened while he was on the operating table. THEN the mask comes on.
However, Anakin worked the rest of the movie.
More fighting = less time for dialog. Watching those "romance" scenes gives one an idea as to why Lucas' marriage may have failed.
Interesting that we don't get our explanation of how Leia knew her birth mother better than Luke.
Overall, best of the prequels, if only for all the action. Now its time to watch the original triology again to look for holes...
"Now that you've built up the courage to get into the gym, let me give you five reasons why you should put in the time to train with consistency: 1. Increased strength 2. Improved self-confidence 3. Injury prevention 4. Self-discipline 5. Sex (Trust me, you'll have a better shot with the ladies if you're in shape.)" -- Making the Game, pp. 14 - 15
My only real complaint is that Lucas needed to differentiate Vader from Anakin a little bit better. Watching the whininess carry over once he had the mask/outfit on wasn't right. The whole "Where's Padme?" - "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" sequence should have happened while he was on the operating table. THEN the mask comes on.
Well, Vader should be whiny. He hasn't been hardened by years of living in a weird suit. Anakin was always a whiny guy, so, I imagine it'll take him a few years to really toughen up. Then he just gets whiny again by Jedi.
Something a friend of mine noted after the film tonight: We are left to believe, if we think about it, that Darth Plagueis is Anakin's dad. He had the power to magic life out of mid-air by "manipulating the midichlorians." Anakin was, we are told, conceived in just that way. Can we give him some points for continuity, even if the storyline is kinda lame?
Also, why even bother mentioning Qui Gon again? I imagine that's justifying Obi-Wan's suicide mission for us, 30 years later. Ah, ok, he was talking to Qui-Gon! He must have been studying how to be a ghost! Having watched the original trilogy a million times, I never felt like I needed an explanation. Seeing him come back in ghost form in Empire leaves one with the impression that Obi Wan meant to do that.
Just got back from the theatre, and I have to say I didn't like it. I don't know if it's because (a) nothing could have lived up to my expectations, or (b) it wasn't that good because I knew the ending.
I didn't like the action sequences. We get it that you're good with effects, but let me focus on SOMETHING. The romance scenes didn't work for me. I thought he did a good job filling gaps and explaining why things were the way they were in the other movies.
I guess I felt 'meh' when it was over, and can't say that I ever felt as psyched during the movie as I felt seeing the commercials for it.
I left the midnight screening feeling very, very fulfilled. We're given a very RATIONAL explanation for Anakin's turn: Fear. And the continuity of Yoda's "Fear is the path to the Dark Side" speech left me smiling. The space battle opening ROCKED, and from then onwards...everything clicked.
Oh, and just one thing bugged me: When Obi-Wan & Yoda are surveying the damage at the Temple and mention Anakin's heel turn, Obi-Wan twice refers to "The Emperor". The conversion of the Republic to the Empire JUST HAPPENED less than 20 seconds before, so how does Obi-Wan know? And why does he refer to him as "The Chancellor" for the rest of the film?
Other than that, great film-going. The action made up for the lack of bad dialogue, and this film felt like a deserving balls-to-the-walls third act, and backwardsly justifies most of the stuff in the rest of the prequels.
It was worth watching for the Anakin/Obi-Wan duel. Everything else that didn't involve Palpatine was pretty mediocre. It was a decent movie, but far from great.
And as expected, Grievous was totally wasted. I had high hopes for him too, after seeing what a badass he was in Clone Wars...
I certainly can't complain. It's very hard to judge a movie on one midnight showing. No matter how hopped up on caffeine you are; you still worked a full day and it's past midnight. It's not like you are in prime evaluation mode...
That said, for me the highlight was Ewan. He was outstanding. There were so many nods to Alec Guinness in mannerisms and such, it made this Obi-Wan mark proud.
Also, they did a great job for me in explaining why Vader was such a heartless bastard. His reasoning for turning made perfect sense to me. And the incredible beating/suffering/agony he endured sold me that he could be righteously pissed off for 20 years.
The movie did everything it needed to do. We all knew what was going to happen, we just didn't have the how. The how satisfied me. I am perfectly satisfied. We all pretty much guessed where it was going to fall in the ranking (5,4,6,3,2,1) and it did.
4 1/2 hours of waiting in line, 2 1/2 hour movie, 3 hours of sleep before school and it was totally worth it!!! I totally loved it and thought it was the best of the episode 1-3 trillogy. The all out action was cool, i loved the story line tie ins, and the acting was amazing. Anakin was really good at being evil. There was lightsaber battle after lightsaber battle which i thought was cool. Overall it was a great movie. What other movie is there where the bad guys win???thats just awesome.
It wasnt bad for 20+ years of anticipation. A few things
-Of course the effects were awesome,no one can deny that. Sometimes I thought there was too much going on,though. Also if Lucas wanted all the clone troops to be CGI,then he shouldnt have had them remove their helmets so much, because it was obvious that Jango's head was just tacked on.
- The dialogue was still bad, better than AOTC, but still wrong in some spots. Some of the humorous line by Obi-Wan on the Seperatist ship was just clumsy and out of place.
- The Action was great, seeing so much violence in a Star Wars film was a little jarring. When Anakin walked into the room with the younglings, everyone gasped in a "I cant believe they are going THERE" kind of way. Very sad.
- General Grievous was just wasted. And I thought they should have had Mace Windu kill him. Or Shaak Ti.
-It was weird finally seeing Palpatine so animated and talking so much. I cant figure out if he was "playing possum" during the fight with Windu to turn Anakin, or was he really beaten.
- the Wookiee scenes were great, making Chewbacca and Yoda friends was a nice touch.
-Speaking of Chewie, did anyone see the Millenium Falcon? It was in there.
- The final battle with Obi-Wan and Ankin was good, I thought they should have gotten more "Matrix-y" with it but it was still intense. But DAMN No no wonder Vader was pissed with Obi-Wan. Seeing like that, youd think Ben would have done the Samurai thing and finished Anakin off instead of leaving him there with his skin melting off. Jesus.
-Because the dialouge was so clunky, there wasnt a lot of subtleness. theyu really pounded you over the head in the last 20 minutes as they tie the two trilogies together. I agree that having Vader show emotion in the suit was a bad idea. That "NOOOOOOOO" line was supposed to be anguish and heartbreak not a cheesy whine. That was almost Captain kirk in Wrath of Khan bad. Also, we get it that Padme dies of basically a broken heart, to have it explained to us by the OB/GYN droid was too much.
- And finally, I knew R2-D2 didnt have his memory wiped. C3P0 yes,but I knew in the original trilogy R2 knew who everyone was. Which now makes his interaction with Yoda on Dagobah a little weird.
-Anyway, it was as good as I could hope for. After it was over I feel a little sad. You wait 23 years for a movie and I guess you feel a little empty when its over.
"I could be wrong, but I doubt it"---Charles Barkley
- Why was Greivous always coughing? Was this explained somewhere?
- In the last sequence on the Star Destroyer with Darth Vader, all the crew aren't clone guys. Where did they come from?
- So, why again did Palpatine turn all wrinkled? Because he used his lightning? So was that supposed to be the first time he ever used it? How come Dooku isn't all wrinkled then? Or was Mace shooting some of it back with his lightsaber or something?
- How does Obi-Wan know that Darth Vader is Anakin in the original trilogy? Seems like he would have assumed he was dead after frikking burning alive in front of him (which was the best, most powerful, most emotional sequence in the movie). So how does he know that Darth is "more machine than man"?
- They still didn't explain why some Jedi (ok, two of them) disappear when they die and others just lay there and rot. Why does Obi-Wan become more powerful than Darth can ever imagine when he kills him? Why didn't Qui-Gon turn into a spirit? Is it because those Jedi were killed and Yoda and Obi-Wan (and Anakin in 'Jedi') were ready to die and at peace?
- Who ordered up the clone army? They say it was Cypher Dias (or however you spell it), so was he a rogue Jedi or was it Dooku or was it Palpatine or what? And who was the Jedi who erased the clone planet from the Jedi archives?
- Who was clouding the Jedi's interaction of the force? Palpatine? Is he really so powerful that he can hide facets of the Force from the Jedi council?
Originally posted by bradbiceIn the last sequence on the Star Destroyer with Darth Vader, all the crew aren't clone guys. Where did they come from?
I don't know if that scene happened immediately upon Vader returning to work, as it were. It possible that enough time had passed that Palpatine could start implementing an Imperial Army based on more than just copies of one guy, and these were the first recruits/volunteers.
So, why again did Palpatine turn all wrinkled? Because he used his lightning? So was that supposed to be the first time he ever used it? How come Dooku isn't all wrinkled then? Or was Mace shooting some of it back with his lightsaber or something?
Palpatine was always wrinkled. He used the force to make him appear normal. It looked to me like he was burning too much energy in the fight to keep his appearance up. And once the jedi were gone, there was no point to keeping his identity a mystery. He had power, who cares how he looked? Plus, he was able to use his "disfiguration" to his advantage politically.
How does Obi-Wan know that Darth Vader is Anakin in the original trilogy? Seems like he would have assumed he was dead after frikking burning alive in front of him (which was the best, most powerful, most emotional sequence in the movie). So how does he know that Darth is "more machine than man"?
Vader seems high enough up in the Imperial Chain that he'd be somewhat of a legendary character in the galaxy. Even if he didn't use the force to sense or track events, I'm sure he'd have his ways of keeping tabs on what the Empire is doing.
They still didn't explain why some Jedi (ok, two of them) disappear when they die and others just lay there and rot. Why does Obi-Wan become more powerful than Darth can ever imagine when he kills him? Why didn't Qui-Gon turn into a spirit? Is it because those Jedi were killed and Yoda and Obi-Wan (and Anakin in 'Jedi') were ready to die and at peace?
It would seem that Qui-Gon was the first to figure it out. He taught it to Yoda who taught it to Obi Wan, so they were able to do it properly and vanish when they died. He probably becomes more powerful since he becomes one with the force and immortal, in a sense. I think the better question is how did Vader pull it off at the end of RotJ, given that nobody ever taught him how. Maybe it has something to do with the burning of the bodies (for both him and Qui-Gon). There is a theory (Lucas may even have made it canon) that Anakin does disappear from within the Vader armour when he dies, and Luke burns only the outfit. I know that the RotS book goes into more detail on Qui-Gon's return, but I can't say I've read that.
Who ordered up the clone army? They say it was Cypher Dias (or however you spell it), so was he a rogue Jedi or was it Dooku or was it Palpatine or what? And who was the Jedi who erased the clone planet from the Jedi archives?
They should have gone over this better. There's a backstory regarding Sifo-Dyas and Dooku's turn to the dark side, but I'm not sure how much of that is EU and how much is canon. I'll be watching AotC this weekend and paying extra close attention at the end to see if I can follow. All you really need to know is that Palpatine was behind the whole thing.
Who was clouding the Jedi's interaction of the force? Palpatine? Is he really so powerful that he can hide facets of the Force from the Jedi council?
I think its a combination that he was that powerful and the Jedi were a bit too arrogant for their own good. Palpatine could not only use the Dark Side to obfuscate his plans, but also he could keep the Jedi busy with regular political crap and do just enough to addle them without arousing suspicion.
"Now that you've built up the courage to get into the gym, let me give you five reasons why you should put in the time to train with consistency: 1. Increased strength 2. Improved self-confidence 3. Injury prevention 4. Self-discipline 5. Sex (Trust me, you'll have a better shot with the ladies if you're in shape.)" -- Making the Game, pp. 14 - 15
For the Clone Army, either Count Dooku ordered the army while he was still with the Jedi...or Palpatine did it and said he was part of the Jedi Council.
I particularly enjoyed the story Palpatine told Anakin about the old Sith Lord who could create life and escape death, only to be killed by his apprentice in his sleep. Somehow, I got the impression that Palpatine was that apprentice and that he just slyly explained to us how Anakin could have no daddy.
Very well done! Great movie and a lot of cringe-worthy moments. I counted about three times where the audience just completely let out a collective gasp:
1. When the Clone Troopers turned on the Jedi. 2. When Anakin slaughtered the younglings. 3. When Anakin turns on Mace. You knew it was coming, but seeing Samuel L. Jackson in that kind of agony is still discomforting.
The day belonged to the Sith and this was a great way to conclude what's been a most-amazing series of films. I still wish they had gone further in explaining Qui Gon's secret, but beggars can't be choosers.
Oh, and of course, General Grievous was horribly wasted. I half-expected him to twirl a handlebar mustache with his laughable villain mannerisms.
The clones looked like characters from NFL2k on the Dreamcast when they showed the pulled back scenes with multiple clones present. Why bother? It looked bad.
Man, I never thought that Natalie would be the weak link in a romantic scene, but her direction must have been awful. Some of those scenes were painful.
All in all I was happy with the movie.
Willful ignorance of science is not commendable. Refusing to learn the difference between a credible source and a shill is criminally stupid.
Originally posted by Freeway420I particularly enjoyed the story Palpatine told Anakin about the old Sith Lord who could create life and escape death, only to be killed by his apprentice in his sleep. Somehow, I got the impression that Palpatine was that apprentice and that he just slyly explained to us how Anakin could have no daddy.
Yes, in the EpIII book, in the big reveal scene where Palpatine admits he's a Sith Lord, he does so by bringing up Plageius again, point blank saying, "It's no myth. He was my master, and I killed him in his sleep." Actually, there's a nice touch in the original story scene in the book, where Anakin asks what happened to the apprentice, who Palpatine says went on to become the greatest Dark Lord the Sith had ever known, to which Anakin replies that it was clearly only a tragedy for Plageius, and that for the apprentice, it had a happy ending. Palpatine, slick as ever, comes back with, "Interesting. I'd never thought of it that way."