ceebeegee | Revenge of the Sith review

So, I saw Revenge of the Sith last night with Alex, Don and Big D.

I...think I really liked it. It has its flaws--the dialogue in some scenes is pretty bad (God, I feel for Natalie and Hayden--Harrison Ford once told George Lucas "you can type this shit but you can't say it"). They have one scene that's particularly bad, in their apartment, all "I love YOU more, no, I love YOU more." Or something like that. And it can be confusing--I'm still a bit lost about the function of the Jedi Council, and who the different war factions and sides were (Separatists? A droid army? Trade Federation? Whatever).

However. All last night and today the different versions of the Jedi theme have been going through my head, the martial march, so stern and inspirational, and the sad, mournful version that plays in Ep. 4 when Luke gazes at the twin sunset. This movie gets the important stuff right--it takes you out of yourself, takes you to another place and time, and it feels real. It depicts the terrible fate of the Jedis, how they were, as Ben says in Ep. 4, hunted down and murdered. The last third of the movie is incredibly sad. It's other things too--exciting (the duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin is KICK. ASS) and visually compelling (during the duel between Palpatine and Yoda, Palpatine is literally dismantling the Senate and trying to crush Yoda). There's humor--when Yoda first walks into Palpatine's quarters, he casually dispatches his bodyguards, just immediately decks them. No biggie. It made me giggle. But mostly there's such terrible sadness. I had to hide my face during some of it--I can't stand seeing people murdered in cold blood. And Anakin just breaks your heart--he's trying to protect Padme, and gives up his soul to do so. He murders Mace Windu, and helps exterminate the others. He murders the children. And then after all that...to be told she died anyway. He was played, Palpatine lied to him and now this sick, decrepit evil thing has his soul in check. It was all for nothing. And he's imprisoned in this awful, physical, black plastic cage. He is truly in Hell.

Obi-Wan's anguish is especially compelling--during his battle with Anakin, he cries out "You were the Chosen One!" His and Yoda's depression and utter defeat is so sad--you can understand why they retreat to their dusty little corners of the galaxy, why Obi-Wan becomes a hermit, and you can see the galaxy shifting, slowly, into the grubby, defeated, militaristic world it is in Ep. 4. (That's one of the best things about the movie, is how you can see the pieces one by one falling into place.) There's a real sense of destiny, of tragic arc, in this movie, almost Arthurian or Greek, especially with the terrible sadness. The last shot, of Owen and Beru holding Luke and gazing into the twin sunset while, again, the Jedi theme plays, is pretty incredible.