«The Greatest Phallusy in Horse Racing | Main | Bangkok Hip Hop Party Tonight »

Revenge of the Sith Review

Posted by Lance Powers

I won't lie to you, I'm a super big Star Wars fan from way back. I waited in line for 5 hours with my mom to brave Revenge of the Jedi in a packed old school prairie theatre which has long since been torn down. I baited an usher at the theatre with $20 ($750 dollars today) for a RTOTJ poster and quickly glued it to the back of my bedroom door. I played with the dolls, watched the Christmas special, and toughed it out through The Phantom Menace and that last one they made. I am pleased to announce I walked out of Major Cineplex (wicked digital screen in Cinema 3!) at the World Trace Center a happy camper today. Here is why...

Spoiler alert! Ok this is all spoilers so stop now if you have not seen the movie. Seriously do not read this as the movie has more than one surprise I was not expecting.

Dark, dark and more dark. This movie is about Vader. For the last 15 minutes of the film Anakin becomes Vader. You get 3 or 4 lines of dialogue out of Vader only but that's just the way it is. Rejoice as yes it is James Earl Jones! Speaking of personality throw backs to the original films, can you say Wookie! The original actor who played Chubacca has also returned as the hairy giant ape guy we all love. He gets a few groans and squelches in the film as well as a look at his home planet and more Wookies. Bonus.

If you did not already know Senator Palpatine is in fact Lord Sidius or the Emperor as he is come to be known. Something interesting happens here as Palpatine transforms to the Emperor as a spooky looking old man during his fight with Mace Windoo. At this point Anakin kills Mace Windu. The Emperor also seemingly has the power to avoid death as one of his force powers – which is what he uses to attract Anakin to the dark side of the force. Interesting twist there.

There was a couple of cheesy scenes but my cheese meter is extremely sensitive. I was also memorizing each second of this film for later regurgitation so I'm not the lightest critic. Hayden Christiensen has a couple of irksome moments of dialogue with his co-star Natalie Portman. But they never had good chemistry unfortunately. Nothing like Han and Leia. All in all it wasn't anything even remotely close to Episode II. Barf!

Ok the scene that completely blew me away, and the part where the movie really exploded in climax, was the fight between Anakin and Obiwan. Now get ready for this. In their inevitable light saber dual, Obiwan completely kicks Anikan's ass. In fact he cut off his legs and 1 of his arms and then watched him nearly burn to death. And then he takes off with Anakins wife, Padme to witness the birth of, you guessed it: Luke and Leia Skywalker. Anakin nearly dies but luckily the Emperor comes along and saves his life and transforms what's left of him into Darth Vader. At this point the movie completely takes off into a vignette style of tie-up scenes and just when you're ready to explode the credits role.

With a complete lack of good movies on the horizon this is a must see. You won't see anything out of George Lucas for some time either although he supposedly has committed to Indiana Jones IV (gnarly). Darker and more resonant, tautly directed, and handsomely produced, Episode III is the best installment of the Star Wars legend. ROTS is an explosive ending for any star wars fan, and the epic is now tied up nicely in my eyes. Which is pretty damn hard to do.

Go see it now and oh uhh yaa, may the force be with you. Yes they say it in the movie too!

Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith - 9.2/10

Posted May 20, 2005 at 12:32 AM | Permalink |