Star Wars. Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith

CONCEPT

What a compelling, challenging, and quixotically problematic film! I've observed to several friends since I saw I Revenge of the Sith at midnight Central Standard Time last night that the most striking feature of the movie, above its many successes and failures, is an increible bravery. This is an very courageous film, almost foolhardy, and because of choices it makes, may come to take on an importance that transcends any question of its status as a work of art.

But that sounds like a good wrap-up point, so I'll start by talking about the movies considerable flaws.

NOTE: I'm not claiming that this is spoiler free; in order to make any substantive point about the film I have to reference specific moments. I've tried to identify these events without "giving them up." If you are willing to accept a few things as a given (hint: for example, there is an/two apocalyptic battle(s) which I will refer to as such and nothing more), this post will not ruin anything for you.

Lucas has said that the harsh reviews of Episodes I and II are due mainly to a divide among his fans at around age of twenty-five, the younger half enjoying the new movies and the older half (with presumed media and critical clout) hating them. As someone straddling that line, and knowing people on both sides, what straight up bullshit. Comments like that can only make me wonder if this man is as divorced from reality in the rest of his observations.

The only "group" that preferred the newer movies were the under-twelve set (when Episode I came out) who were coaxed in with the bubble-gum effects and mentally molested by the likes of Jar Jar Binks. I think, when I was eight to twelve, I might have fallen for this. Ironically, Lucas will lose favor with this audience with Episode III, as the movie will probably give many of them nightmares.

Older fans (ie. older than twelve) might disagree on everything else (I still maintain that Return of the Jedi's the best so far), but we generally and genuinely agree that Episodes I and II suck.

Here are some of the reasons why Episode III might suck as well.

COMPLAINTS

1. Bad CGI.

I'm a stickler here.

Human civilization has had five thousand years experience (at least) with puppets and detailed sculptures and, to this day, I find both are very convincing in the initial series. The Star Destroyers and X-Wing fighters all have a very tangible and three-dimensional presense on screen, however "archaic" their construction, and likewise, a physically present yoda, for whatever awkwardness he might retain (I can't imagine him wielding a lightsaber, for example) had the quirks and nuances of human movement.

On some level, I don't care if Episode III features the most sophisticated graphics used to date. We aren't being asked to believe in a synthetic world, a distinction that leaves Episode III inferior in this regard to such relics as Disney's Tron. We're being asked to suspend belief and see this universe as if it actually exists. That being the case, I expect to see the effects of humidity, the sporadic accumulation of dust or wind on buildings, and the exact response of physical actors to physical objects. It's been done in the past, and sometimes with revolutionary effect. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is an excellent example. The original Matrix is another. Even by now, however, Lucas hasn't convinced me. And if I'm not convinced, then I'm not convinced. Bad effects are really no better than bad acting.

Ahh, bad acting...


2. Bad Acting

If you have this much money in which to make a movie, you can afford a decent screenwriter. You do not have to write lines that are like a bad Japanese-to-English translation video game.

Moreover, if you don't have a gift with exceptionally talented and occasionally vanilla actors, than let someone else handle the non-battle scenes. Especially if they deal with young love. (I'm admittedly still baffled by this, since Lucas was certainly in his element with American Graffiti, but there you are).

I don't have to say anything else here, as the movie speaks itself.


3. You Can Have Too Much of a Good Thing

Lightsaber fights followed the tenth-of-a-second rule. If they lasted more than a tenth-of-a-second, they'd go on for five minutes. There was no gradation martial ability, and it had the effect of making all foes equal, kind of like the minibosses in later MegaMan games. Also, I can't imagine after the gymnastic-martial-supernatural-prowess of Episodes I through III anyone would revert to the dull swashbucklery of IV through VI.

Likewise... dramatic settings. The locations of the final confrontations in the were badasssweet. They would've been even cooler if not diluted with cursory settings in spaceships, jungles, mountains, and so on. Three major settings sufficed in each movie in the orignal series. The think five or so would've been sufficient here.


4. Too long.

This movie was two-and-a-half hours long. Twenty of these could have been shaken off and redistilled as suspence. That way, there's no time for your midnight audience to doze.


5. Insufficient development of characters along certain lines.

Some critics have alleged that Anakin's motivations are too shallow and two-dimensional to justify his rather drastic actions (particularly after the scene with Mace drama, which one might explain away by saying Anakin acted impulsively and without the chance to reflect).

I disagree, but the comment is well-observed. In short, his motivations are not developed sufficiently. This is an area in which minutes siphoned away from galactic battles and lightaber fighting could have been reallocated to a very real ethical dilemma, and more importantly, the way a character interprets the role of destiny and choice in his life.

This problem can also be largely chalked up to problem #6.


6. The prior two movies.

Maybe this criticism is out-of-bounds, but the logical lapses and gaps in Episodes I and II really gave this movie a lot of explaining to do. If nothing else, these were liabilities that required time and energy to reconcile. Episode III could've made itself a lot cooler if it didn't have to spend so much to unsuckify its predecessors.

PRAISES

And there were some good points as well:

1. Imaginatively Conceived Settings

Even if there was an overload of settings, the locations themselves were spectacular. The symbolic resonance of setting in the two (simultaneously occurring) apocalyptic battles was not lost, and in no way detracted from the drama of the climax itself.


2. Timing

Many sequences lasted exactly as long as they should've. Despite its one cheesy moment, everything that happened after the apocalypic battle(s) seemed chosen and played out with great precision. Many other of the most dramatic moments, such as moment of Palpatine's transformation and the moment in which Anakin is irredemably lost to most of us, took up just as much screen time as was needed. This created genuine suspense.


3. Good Acting!

McDiarmed was downright sexy, and I have a hard time imagining that anyone in his confidence would be able to resist for long. Hell, I might become a Sith lord myself. I would go so far as to say the McDiarmed inspired in Christiansen what Portman never could... genuine, unaffected emotion. The mental striving of these two character, and the knowledge that poor Anakin is both mentally and emotionally outgunned, made their interaction the single most compelling aspect of the movie's first half.

Other characters that seemed better than before were... Jackson as Mace and Oz as Yoda?! In the past two movies, the Jedi Council was able to establish itself as a credible entity to be reckoned with... almost like a monastic tradition in the spirit of the Catholic Church that didn't make mistakes like, say, the Inquisition. But in the last too movies, this respect for the Jedi was more established through default and appearance. Many of the conclusions they drew seemed superficially flawed and a little irrational. Thinly disguised plot devices. In Episode III, the political maneuvering of Palpatine on the one side and the Jedis on the other felt more like the chess match it should've been all along... brilliant leaps of insight and unfortunate but understandable errors.


4. Political/Historical Cogence

A challenge in the entire Star Wars franchise is to embody the realities of the sources that inspire it (to be simple, let's just call these Eastern mysticism and the history of the Ancient Rome) with its own fictitious and imaginative signature. The whole series, and especially Episodes I and II, have erred far toward the latter. Episode III, better than any of the other movies, reconciles Star Wars' political and historical roots with its own stamp, and this is extremely compelling. With our own reference points of Crystalnachts and coup d'etats, we can thoroughly understand the entanglements that lead to the developments in Episode III, and we respect just how entangled they are. We don't, however, forget for a moment that we are "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away."


5. Darth Vader

But if I have to set aside one solid artistic achievement of this film, it is the reconciliation and development of Darth Vader. Any other character explored in the original series (Obi Wan, Yoda, the droids and Wookiee) are essentially unaltered in our eyes by their appearances in the prequals. In fact, this is a good argument that many of these characters are a somewhat two-dimensional.

Where Darth Vader is concerned, however, Episode III changes everything. The transition from anger and ambition to hatred and evil is in the end effected in a genuinely disturbing way. Anakin is more than the tragic hero, and Darth Vader is more than the bad guy who finally redeems himself. This is the installment where most of the important changes take place and the treatment of Darth Vader himself is alone almost sufficient to redeem the film of is flaws.

Darth Vader has always been one of the most striking and powerful villains in science fiction. I actually put in him first place, barely edging out Lynch's interpretation of Baron Harkonnen. It is a great achievement of Episode III that he takes the final steps to be come a true Hannibal Lecter or Tetsuo... maybe even a true Macbeth.

* * * * *

If I weighed my praises against my complains, I'd ultimately describe this as a movie I thoroughly enjoyed. Some of the flaws are pervasive and unforgivable, but many choices are sufficiently challenging, compelling, and thought-provoking to lift the film out of the mire.

Ultimately, however, the context of the film is one of its most remarkable features. This is an incredibly braive film in several very concrete ways.

For starters, holy shit, what a downer! Seriously. As the film that will cap off (at least for the moment) one of the most successful and influential movie franchises, Lucas plays played a very serious gamble that seems to risk losing both sides of the aisle.

Any kid who genuinely (and I don't mean in a momentary burst of sugar induced giddiness) loves Jar Jar is going to wet his pants at the sight of Sidious vs. Mace. I might have wet my own pants at that point. The evil is so palpable and powerful in this film, so utterly overwhelming, than any of Lucas' newly-acquired "younger" fans will have to keep a quick footing to draw from this installment what they drew from the others.

This is where his base would normally come in to support him, one would expect. But wait... they're already alienated by dreariness and silliness of Episodes I and II. He has to win them back somehow.

But Episode III isn't just grim or dark... it's a relentless darkness that only marches and grows, and the ending of The Empire Strikes Back is downright cheerful when held against the final resolution here.

The movie it isn't just courageous for setting its own course whatever the commercial consequences. Episode III also places itself boldy and unashamedly in the political sphere. There's Padme's loaded line following Palpatine's grand announcement. There's an acknowledged parallel between the disollution in the Republic and current American politics. Most dramatically and contentiously, there's Anakin (long after the fall) essentially paraphrasing Our Beloved Leader. Wow. Never thought I'd see in a sci-fi blockbuster during the War on Terror. And if my interpretation seems too out of left field (on several counts), I'd point to the connections exploited this week by MoveOn.org and Michael Moore, and also by George Lucas in interviews.

This film is an attempt engage political questions through popular media, and while the angle is undoubtedly critical of the present administration, the effort probes questions rather than disemminating answers. It will be inyterested to see if this is picked up by the public at large, and if so, how conservatives will respond.

These are two ways in which the bravery and audacity of its conception had a positive effect. And of course, many of my criticisms can be attributed to the same things: audacious risks. It's a given that, if you take a bunch of audacious risks with a film, many of them will fail with spectacular consequences. That's what makes a risk audacious. This spirit of risk-taking, however, elevates the film above would otherwise be.

Overall, I'd rank Episode III at least a solid fourth out of six, and possibly even tie it for third. But the film has excited my admiration. If viewed as the attempt to tell a story on its own terms, to make a Space Opera more than just a Space Opera, it can only fall second to the orignal Star Wars.