Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith

A little late, but still: I finally got to see Star Wars Episode III last friday — it was dark and it was good.

We finally get to see the fall of Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader — which is driven by love and fear of loss. Even though one sees how he strugles with the choice between the Light and the Dark Side, then the outer transition was a little quick for my taste: at one moment Anikin is in dispair, and in the next he pledges his loyalty to the Dark Side.

Seeing the film was a bit strange, for even though there were some twists and turns in the plot that surprised me, it was somewhat constrained by the three following films — there was a lot of things that just had to happen. For example, you knew that Anikin Skywalker had to become Darth Vader, that Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia had to be born, and lots of other things, including the rise of the Empire towards the end when things go really bad.

I liked the style of the film, and I really enjoyed how the design of the space ships and the uniforms changed to become more like what we see in the fourth episode, “A New Hope”. It was a nice feeling of déjà vu. The other clues and small comments shattered throughout the film were also a nice touch.

All-in-all I will say that the seing the film is a must for anybody who has seen the other films. With it the final piece of the story has been filled in and the saga is complete.

10 Comments

  1. Mikkel:

    I agree that the transition is much too quick, but I still think this is the best of the three new Star Wars episodes. Time to see the old ones again — they are still the best by far.

    May the Force be with you

  2. Martin Geisler:

    Hey Mikkel, good to see you stopping by!

    I would love to see the old ones again — they had a special quality about them that’s hard to describe. But right now I don’t think I have the time (exams are coming in just a month) so I’ll wait a bit.

  3. Martin Geisler:

    :-D That brought a big smile to my face! But really, it’s very much fits with the Jedi way of thinking to use light-sabres — like you said, it’s more the Samurai way of combat. (But I have to admit that I also sometimes think it would be more effective with a quick shot with a blaster…)

    As for a realistic space film, then I guess Arthur C. Clarke’s classical 2001: A Space Odyssey is your best bet (if you ignore the strange stuff happening at the end of the movie). In that movie the empty space is truely empty with no sound waves or anything like that. And the space ships also don’t have artificial gravity.

    It’s actually very interesting to see what people thought of the future (of computers) back in 1968 when the film was made. For example, the computers have no problem with voice recognition, but the graphics produced on the navigation controls is very primitive. Strange how people tought it would be more difficult to through some textures on a screen than creating and understanding voices…

  4. Mikkel:

    Star Wars is meant to be an unbelievable fairy tale, not a documentary.

    And how can you deflect blaster shots with a blaster pistol? This COULD explain why he wants his sabre back. And by the way, they DO throw their sabres around (at least Vader does it in Ep. VI).

    I do agree that sound in space is bad, and that Obi Wan should have killed Vader while he had the chance…

  5. Martin Geisler:

    For a documentary, then go see Apollo 13, which is a great movie IMHO. They tried hard to make everything as authentic as possible.

  6. sherry:

    I think you take this too seriously. Maybe you get into the film more than most. I think the film is more for entertainment and escape than a documentary. I like your way of thinking though, much more in depth than most…..very sexy. I suggest we get together and see 2001: A Space Odyssey and see if Martin is right.

  7. Martin Geisler:

    It’s been a while since I saw it, but I can remember that the space scenes are very empty and very silent.

    Oh, and please report back on the dating! :-)

  8. Mikkel:

    How am I wrong about this? Obviously their goal was to make wildly unrealistic space battles - if they break the laws of physics, then so be it. It IS supposed to be this stupidly unrealistic, and it does bother me, but not nearly as much as it seems to bother you.

    Something that annoys me much more is the poor acting we see some scenes. I simply can’t see why Anakin turns to the dark side so quickly.

  9. Martin Geisler:

    I don’t think you’re not wrong — Star Wars have never been about making the physics 100% correct (the whole idea of the Force doesn’t really work then, does it?) but instead about making a good story of Good versus Evil.

    Combine that with some cool characters like Han Solo, a master bad guy like Darth Vader, some silly robots and you’ve got a good and entertaining film. Make three of them and you’ve got a legendary film series.

    Now go about 20 years ahead and buy some big computers. You can then finish off the story by making the first three episodes, using your big computers to make bigger and more spetacular space scenes than ever before.

    People will of course realize that the first three are still the best because of their classic feel — the new ones somehow feels a bit ‘plastic’ like with all those magnificent space ships flying around being all reflective and all… :-)

  10. Tucker:

    I’d say lightsaber over gun. 1. lightsaber deflects lasers. 2. lightsaber doesnt runout of ammo like blasters. 3. lightsabers look cooler. 4. Gn ep 5, they try your shoot them technique and fail.Vader opens his hand and cathes the bolt like a fly.

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