May 19, 2005

My Review of Ep. III

Five Words: Lucas really pulled it out!

More below the fold..... (SPOILERS)

Holy cow! This one really grabs you by the huevos. Even though I don't have any.

And Natalie Portman is WAY WAY WAY better in the context of the film than she is in the trailer. The love scenes are far less painful than in Ep. II. He's a little wooden with her, but she really is much better.

I thought the "immolation scene" was a little anti-climactic, I had always pictured Anakin falling backwards from a great height into a volcano, and then being blown out to where he was rescued by the emperor.

Grievous is pretty cool, but he coughs too much, and that lizard thing Obi-Wan rides is the Jar Jar of this movie. Speaking of, he was not at all obnoxious. For a change.

R2 gets the comic relief at the beginning, but Yoda gets the biggest laughs for the way he takes out the Imperial Guards (who show up in the red uniforms rather than the blue for the first time about halfway through)

Oh yeah, and Grievous's death? Heartburn. Literally.

There were some clunky movie references, most notably Wookie Tarzans......

My DH says Mace Windu died like a sniveling bitch.

Anakin's burn makeup was excellent and when they showed the mask coming down from the inside I got cold chills!!!!

I have been waiting 6 years for somebody to kick the shit out of Nute Gunray!

Posted by caltechgirl at May 19, 2005 10:58 PM
Comments

You went to the 8PM show and posted by 11:00PM. Very diligent. I cheated and took my son out of school an hour early so we could see an afternoon show. But I got caught in you 4:30 rain storm walking out from the theater.

Anyway - I agree - Lucas pulled it off and with you assessment overall, though I'm still fast forwarding the Padme scenes on DVD.

Could you have a more gleeful evil emperor?

Super G

Posted by: Super G at May 20, 2005 08:39 AM

I'll have to come back and read this, I have tickets to see it at 7:30 tonight.

Posted by: Contagion at May 20, 2005 08:43 AM

Oh yeah - I forgot - Go Heels. Best of luck on your dissertation defense!

Posted by: Super G at May 20, 2005 10:42 AM

You actually thought Portman was good? I strenuously object (get THAT movie reference!)! Portman and Christensen had no on-screen chemistry and were given cheesy one-liners ("hold me like you did on Naboo?") in an attempt to make some sort of love story.

But the real crime was when Darth Vader first appeared and began crying for Padme. That, my friend, is not what an evil villian does. :-)

However, the special effects and story-line made it watchable and enjoyable. But I honestly do not know why Spielberg was reduced to tears during the thing...

Posted by: Mark at May 20, 2005 02:58 PM

BTW, the line about Padme is supposed to make you realize that Anakin is in the suit, that he didn't magically transform in to some wholly evil other, so that when he kills the emperor to save Luke at the end of ROTJ, you get it. He is still in there.

It's actually fairly realistic, if whiny. In real life, the first thing he would have asked about after waking up from being unconscious probably would have been his wife and kids, assuming he cared about them.

But he does look like a wuss.

Posted by: caltechgirl at May 20, 2005 03:05 PM

I just got back from the movie. I can understand the scene with Vader crying for Padme. It makes sence to me. I however did not like the way he finally embraced the darkside. Way too much apathy for me. I don't want to give away spoilers for anyone that hasn't seen it so I'm not going to go into too much detail. But it's a very specific scene that bothers me. It reminded me of when my 12 year old does something wrong, is punished and gives me that "I don't care" look.

Other then that I liked the movie, it's still no Empire Strikes Back.

Posted by: Contagion at May 20, 2005 11:29 PM