Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith
[See my overview of the first five Star Wars movies here...]
Twenty thoughts on Episode III in random order (contains spoilers—if it matters...)
(1) My personal grade? I've had a week to think about it, and can think of no reason not to give it an A. It improves upon Episodes I and II in virtually every area, and, in fact, has some acting performances that I would consider 'strong'--a Star Wars rarity. It accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do, and does it with style and power...
(2) The response to Episode III around the Internet has been kind of interesting—those who hated the first two prequels have had their 'hearts softened' a little bit. Episode III has made I and II better in their estimation (although not necessarily good). Those who liked the first two prequels—myself included—it seems to have had the opposite effect. The quality of Episode III has made the first two actually worse upon reflection for us—making their weaknesses all the more evident. What this means is that instead of the markedly diverse opinions on Episodes I and II, Episode III has caused the general opinion to regress towards some 'mean' in the middle somewhere…
(3) The action scenes in Episode III are fine…but it occurred to me while watching it how bored I am with action scenes in general. It takes a special action scene (of Crouching Tiger…, Spiderman 2, or LOTR quality) to be compelling to me nowadays. The action in Episode III is technically perfect (and improves in the ‘context’ category I complained about in the earlier article), but I’m not going to really remember them a month from now in lieu of...
(4) The talking scenes, which to me were the best and most memorable parts of Episode III. Yes, that may come as a complete surprise since all the Star Wars movies (including this one) aren’t known for having scintillating dialogue or anything approaching Oscar-caliber acting. Episode III improves in the dialogue area from I and II (still with a few clunkers here and there), but a lot of talking scenes are passable, and some even quite remarkable. I loved every scene with Palpatine and Anakin together—the best scenes in the prequels by far. The scenes with Padme and Anakin together were less consistent, but still interesting. Episode III should show the doubters the difference between ‘bad acting’ and ‘bad dialogue’—you can see the inherently good actors in Star Wars rise to the occasion when they have words that are more worth their while…
(5) As to the rating, at our screening, we saw moms dragging 3 and 4 year old kids with them, seemingly oblivious to the PG-13. Do some people pay any attention to ratings? (I know moms who do this with R-rated movies as well) That said, Episode III does earn the PG-13 rating, certainly, but is milder than, for example, the "Lord of the Rings" series. I wonder what it would have been like if the entire Star Wars series had been a little more ‘adult’ (read: PG-13) and less 'kid-centric' like Episode III was, but we'll never know...
(6) So, now that the series is complete, what would be the proper order to view all six movies in? You would think straight numerical order would be the proper way, but it's obvious the prequels weren’t designed, nor really appropriate, to be viewed first. Episode I does not explain the Force the way Episode 4 does, and many elements of the prequels were specifically written for people who were already familiar with the original trilogy. Plus, watching Episode 1-3 first essentially spoils most of the surprises of 4-6, most significantly Luke’s relationship with both Vader and Leia. The order in which they were released is probably the best (4,5,6,1,2,3), or I'm thinking you might try (4,5,1,2,3,6), with the setup, then the back story, and then the conclusion. This saves the ‘father’ revelation from being spoiled (although not Luke and Leia’s relationship), and then ends at the end where it should.
(7) I mentioned that there weren’t any ‘cool’ Han Solo characters in the prequels that you’d want to hang out with…but maybe I was wrong. Upon reflection, I’d hang out with the young Obi-wan—he’s my favorite non-evil character of the prequels…
(8) I still think Lucas should have rethought C3P0 and R2D2's place in the series. They are not there for comic relief, they are not there to be action heroes. I think they're just there to be there. To be immortal observers of all the things that happen around them from generation to generation. The attempts to shoehorn them into other roles just do not work. Just have them wandering around together observing events from the very beginning of Episode I to the end of Episode 6. (Credit where credit is due, though, for adding in the 'memory wipe' for consistency's sake... Interesting that only C3P0's memory is wiped--that means Artoo remembers all...)
(9) Great scene #1: The end of the Jedi's encounter with Count Dooku aboard the Separatists' ship. Deliberately framed as a direct reflection of the similar scene in “Return of the Jedi”, it has Palpatine sitting on his ‘throne’ while a potential new apprentice fights and defeats his old apprentice. Anakin faces the same choice Luke does in “Return”…but makes a different decision.
Anakin: The Sith are only concerned about themselves...about gaining power.
(10) Great scene #2: The wordless scene with Anakin and Padme looking out at the cityscape of Coruscant pondering
the deep and important things in their lives. For a ‘utilitarian’ director such as George Lucas, this is one of the more artistic and powerful scenes in the entire series.
(11) Episode III did a good job of tying up loose ends in the series and not creating new ones. However, there are a few problems... Most obviously, when asked about her mother, Leia says (in Ep.6) that she has a few memories of her being “beautiful…and sad”. Episode III contradicts this completely--she certainly couldn’t be describing Bail Organa’s wife who is quite happy to have a daughter.
(12) Actually, I’m not sure why Padme had to die at all…
Suppose she lived through her childbirth, and then was ‘adopted’ herself, along
with Leia, by (in this case, an unmarried) Bail Organa, raised Leia between the
two of them…and then passed away quietly somewhere between Eps 3 and 4 when Leia was very young.
This wouldn't contradict Leia’s memories later in the series and could easily be
explained. Why would she start a new life on Alderaan and not continue her normal life as the Naboo representative?
She probably wouldn't want to participate in the new Empire politically, plus
she might not want Anakin/Vader to come looking for her… Would her not dying in childbirth contradict Anakin’s earlier visions? Not necessarily…the visions were never shown to be
authentic--things that were truly destined to happen. The point of the visions
is that Anakin interpreted them to be authentic (encouraged by Palpatine…who had his own motive for doing so)
which was the catalyst for his moral choices. True, her death does
add great irony to Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side since he did so for the sole purpose of
keeping her from dying, but it could have been just as ironic to have Anakin
fall to the Dark Side in order to prevent her from dying in childbirth, and then to have her living through the birth
uneventfully, showing his fears were in vain.
(13) Furthermore, Padme’s heart is broken to be sure…but what mother
wouldn’t want to keep living for the sake of her children? Another reason Padme’s
death, simply for ‘not wanting to live anymore’ was debatable and unnecessary…
(14) Yoda's sudden mention of Qui-Gon near the end is another loose end that sort of came out of nowhere. I mentioned that Qui-Gon not sacrificing himself for the sake of Obi-wan in Episode I was a missed opportunity,
and this final mention makes this more glaring. Had he given himself
to the Force when the opportunity was there to benefit Obi-wan, that would have presented a great ‘training’ opportunity for Obi-wan to learn to do the same at some point in the future for Luke. As it stands, mentioning Qui-Gon at all in Episode III doesn’t really make any sense…
(15) This could have been asked as early as 1977, but didn’t really occur to me until Episode III made it obvious: What exactly is Yoda and Obi-wan’s
plan, after the fall of the Jedi? The two of them are still strong in the Force. Stormtroopers would be no match for them, and there are only two Sith Lords to oppose them.
(Not to mention, Obi-wan beat a healthy Anakin, so there’s no reason for him to think he couldn’t handle the mechanical suit Vader if they met again
in the future as well.) So, why aren’t the two of them leading the rebellion against the Empire,
themselves? Instead, they hide out on remote planets and…wait twenty years until the son of Anakin will grow up and (maybe) defeat the Empire, while the regular mortals struggle against the Empire
for decades. That’s the best plan they could come up with? Not only that, if that
was the plan, why did Obi-wan wait until R2D2 and Leia's message showed up 20 years later to even mention the Force and start Luke’s training? Why wasn’t he
actively training him at an early age, if he was depending on him to save the galaxy?
(16) Obi-wan’s line “Only a Sith deals in absolutes…” may have been a veiled attack on George W. Bush as a number of other critics have inferred, but even on the face of it, Lucas appears to have forgotten which side is which. The
Jedi are the absolute ones, while the Sith are the ones who obscure the lines between good and evil... Isn’t it Palpatine who earlier in the movie says: “Good is a point of view…”? It is Anakin who is tempted to blur
good ends and evil means together—learning about the Dark Side and betraying the Jedi in order to save the life of his wife.
(17) I’m not sure how the logistics of Anakin and Padme hiding their marriage worked.
All evidence from the movie seems to indicate that they still
lived together—didn’t anyone notice that both Anakin and Padme had the same address? When Padme’s pregnancy became too obvious to be ignored, who else would people
suppose would be the father?
Whether anyone thought they were lovers or not, Anakin still hung out with her a lot. Wouldn’t someone have put two and two together? (Certainly Obi-wan, being close to everyone involved…)
(18) You can make many direct parallels between Palpatine and Satan, and the techniques both use to turn good people to evil. In both case, they make careful and effective use of the weaknesses and imperfections of the ‘good’ people to make their case. It’s obvious that Anakin is distrustful of the other Jedi. He doesn’t see them as nearly as virtuous as the Jedi ideal would have you believe. Here’s an interesting exchange between Anakin and Palpatine:
Anakin gives the ‘book’ answer about the Jedi—but does he believe it at that point? Are the other Jedi really concerned only about others? Note that Palpatine
never denies Anakin’s original statement about the Sith—but instead turns it around and
suggests the Jedi are the same way…and Anakin finds it difficult to disagree in his heart.
Palpatine: And the Jedi aren’t?
Anakin: (hesitates) The Jedi are selfless—they care only about others.
Hypocrisy is a funny thing—on the face of it, it is totally irrelevant to the
issues at hand. A person who says ‘pornography is wrong’, yet views it himself
frequently is most certainly a hypocrite, although that fact does not affect in any way the truthfulness or falseness of his original statement. Yet, hypocrisy remains one of the most effective methods of discrediting righteous principles. Most people will turn a deaf ear to the man in the above situation—discrediting his statement due to his failure to live it himself. What’s more, the man might continue by saying ‘you should avoid alcohol’—which he himself
might follow
faithfully—yet many will turn a deaf ear to that statement too, due to his
lack of 'spiritual credibility'.
Once upon a time the Jedi probably fully lived up to their ideals. Through the passage of time—and a certain level of complacency—some of the Jedi are
now concerned about only themselves, and the power of the council. The failure of the Jedi to live up to their standards allows the Sith an inroad to tempting Anakin (and anyone) to consider other options…despite the fact that the actual principles behind the Jedi Code have
neither been discredited, nor the Sith philosophies defended. The argument has been placed on the wrong level
of discussion, and Satan/Palpatine has drawn someone away from the right by emphasizing the failures of others to live rightly,
not by successfully arguing that wrong is better. It’s an effective argument…yet entirely false. Pornography is or isn’t damaging to the Spirit, whether X number of members regularly view pornography or not. The Jedi way is or isn’t superior to the Sith, whether or not the current Jedi are faithful followers of it or not. Unfortunately, Palpatine was successful in allowing Anakin to judge
the foundation by the flaws of the people standing on it, not in its fundamental
value.
(19) Lucas may not end up making Episodes 7-9, but he could
always make a prequel-prequel trilogy...from the time period before
Episode I. As mentioned in the previous thought, it would be more
significant to show the way the Jedi used to be in comparison to how they were
right before the fall. Certainly the thousand millennia history of the
Republic has plenty of opportunities in creating new and interesting stories about the Jedi (as the "Knights
of the Old Republic" series of computer games demonstrates...)
(20) In conclusion, perhaps a word on families is in order. The Jedi teach that Jedi Knights should avoid close attachments in order to more fully serve the greater good…while remaining somewhat detached from it. (Not unlike Catholic priests…) Yet, as many Star Wars fans have pointed out, it was Anakin’s ‘personal relationships’ (i.e. his son) that led to his redemption and the destruction of the Empire. Is this a fundamental flaw in the Jedi Order? (Many people view it as a flaw in the Catholic Order to be sure…) Episode III shows, though,
that if Anakin had followed that principle of the Jedi to begin with, and not gotten involved with Padme, he might not have been tempted to go to the Dark Side in the first place. He wouldn’t have a son…but he
then wouldn’t have needed a son to redeem himself anyway. So, in the end, the family attachment issue
being good or bad for Jedi is sort of a wash...
Interestingly, though, in the Star Wars novels that take place after the fall of the Empire (not strictly ‘canon’, but still
largely accepted within the Star Wars universe) Luke gets married himself, showing that the new Jedi Order is going to be a little different than the old. Perhaps the prophecy that Anakin was going to bring “balance to the Force” has its fulfillment in the rise of the new Jedi Order after his death. He has brought the end to both the original line of Jedi and the Sith (through his son) and a new breed of Jedi, with a blend of old and new principles will take its place. (Actually, I still could have done without the whole
'prophecy' and 'Chosen One' thing in the first place…)
