I’ve been a fan of Star Wars since the first movies came out. The characters were absolutely brilliant as was the casting, the plots and story lines were beautifully crafted and the epic scope of the films truly paved the way for future film making. Kind of like what The Matrix did for the action genre. Yes, there’s no doubt about it... George Lucas is a visionary, but I didn’t get that feeling at all from Episodes 1 - 3.
I bet I’m going to get shot down in flames for this review, but I think there are several reasons for why the prequels failed to appeal. First and most important is the casting. To be able to fully appreciate the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker, he has to have at least one or two redeeming qualities. The only time we sympathise with him even slightly is during the first movie, when he’s still a kid. I remember wondering ’’How could this child possibly turn to evil?’’ at the end of the first movie. By the time the final credits rolled up for Episode III, I was like ’’Why did I even care?’’ It’s really hard to empathise with someone you don’t even like, and let’s face it - if Hayden Christensen came across as a sulky jerk in Episode II he was nothing short of a depraved monster in the final episode. Aside from the fact that he was the wrong person for the role, Anakin’s character was poorly developed and considering he’s the protagonist, I consider that unforgivable.
Another thing I didn’t like about the series is the continuity of it. I saw the original movies when I was a kid, and back then we had to rent movies on VHS. Now if you grew up in India in the ’80’s you’d know that there wasn’t a great deal of choice back then and you rented pretty much what you could. As a result I saw Return Of The Jedi first, followed by A New Hope and finally The Empire Strikes Back... You know what? It didn’t matter because each of those episodes was a stand-alone story in itself. Not once did I feel I was missing anything or that I needed to catch up with the plot. However with the new series it’s blatantly obvious that there’s more to come - almost as much as it would have been if George Lucas had put in a short promo of the next film at the end of the credits. If you ask me, he took an amazing saga and turned it into a soap opera.
Ok so I’ve been ranting on about the series and this is supposed to be a review of Episode III right? Well as you can imagine, with these thoughts and opinions on Episodes I and II, it was a wonder I dragged myself to see Revenge Of The Sith. I guess curiosity just got the best of me and I needed a sense of closure about Anakin / Darth Vader. As I’ve already said, Anakin was unbearable. He’s sullen and deceitful right from the beginning, and when he does give in to the dark side, he doesn’t really put up any kind of fight. One would expect some degree of conflict when faced with the choices Palpatine offers Anakin, but there is no evidence of any such emotion. His downfall is simply too quick and easy to warrant any sympathy. I also feel the movie was marred by improper pacing. Anakin’s downfall would have been so much more effective had it been more gradual. Maybe another episode was needed in order to achieve this properly or maybe Lucas should have cut some of the love scenes out of Episode II and incorporated some character development instead.
It’s true there were some great special effects and some spectacular action sequences, but this is no more than what is expected of any contemporary movie of this genre. For that matter, the earlier movies were not lacking in this department either. The difference being they were reinforced with believable characters and great screenwriting.
The best thing about this movie? The epic musical score and ’’A long time ago in a galaxy far away’’ in blue letters. Should have left right after...