dolari | See Mr. Green? He's so serene...he's got a TV in every room.

Well, with a few days between me and the showing (and some work related
stress) I can FINALLY give a little review of the movie.

One word review: WOW.

Several more words: Now that was what I was expecting. Episode I felt
like it was spinning it's wheels. Episode II was rolling, but not without
some serious "getting out and pushing." Episode III, though, just pops
you upside the head, and actually IMPROVES Episode I and II. And it takes
Epsiodes IV-VI and puts a new spin on them. And not the bad spin I was
expecting.

It was an EXTREMELY powerful movie, whose ideas and visual punched through
some really really bad dialogue. It still works, though, and works
effectively.

The Good:

Early drafts of Star Wars had "War drums echo through the
heavens as a rollup slowly crawls into infinity." It was very chilling to
hear these war drums finally in this movie, and then the Force Theme
playing through. usually it's a very compelling theme, or a wistfull
theme. it was strange to hear it aggressively played, almost like the
Imperial March.

                                PALPATINE
                        It is only natural. He
                        cut off your arm, and you
                        wanted revenge. It wasn't
                        the first time, Anakin.
                        Remember what you told me
                        about your mother and the
                        Sand People. Now, we must
                        leave before more
                        security droids arrive.

Did anyone else notice that JUST as Palpatine says "Sand People" a ship
flies by in the background, along with the sound effect of Tusken Raider
howl?

In Episode II, there weren't a lot of senes with Annikin and Palpatine, so
their "friendship" didn't seem very believable. In this episode, though,
the relationship as friends is quite clear, and very well done...although
a little more "father/son" than I expected. But...well...Palpatine IS
Annikin's father. He tells him stories about the Sith, he reassures him,
pats him on the back when he needs it. The Jedi? they keep him at arm's
length, and don't tell him anything. In fact, despite Annikin being the
strongest of the Jedi, they refuse to MAKE him a Jedi.

Maybe it's just the stuff _I_ went through as a kid, but the council just
smacks of jealousy. Annikin is brash, yes, but a little more trust and
tolerance, and he could have been The Greatest Jedi Ever at the age of
whateverhe is, instead of nemesis of the Jedi.

The scenes of Annikin and Padme sitting in silence across Coruscant at
sundown is SUPERB. It looked as if they were looking right at each other
across the planet. It conveyed their love MUCH better than some of the
goofy dialogue ever did. Just like Padme bursting into tears as the Jedi
Temple burns.

The Death of the Jedi borrowed a little bit of Cinema History from The
Godfather, but it was WELL handled. I wish we had seen more of the Jedi
dying, since we only saw a few and the younglings, though. I would have
really enjoyed seeing quick shots of MORE dead Jedi. Maybe it's just me,
but I always saw the Jedi as a huge police force, and in the Prequels,
they seemed to be a very small force (the most we see is in Episode II).
Not so much a complaint as it was a wish.

The final swordfight between Annikin and Obiwan was just GREAT. A lot of
"psychology" is in there...seeing Annikin thursting and jabbing in ways we've
never seen the Jedi fight before, which shows that he's not a Jedi anymore,
and seeing poor Obiwan basically retreating through the whole fight, except
for the very end. And what an end! I didn't expect to see Obi Wan slice
Anikin to basically a living torso. It just felt so wrong, but in just the
right way.

The Bad

I don't think Natalie Portman is a bad actress, but,
unfortunately, most of her scenes that survived just are badly written,
and occasionally badly directed. Most of her scenes involve romance
between her and Annikin, and the dialogue isn't all that good...as a
matter of fact, at the screening I went to, there were snickers at their
lines. Another shot of her on Mustafar where she sees Obi-Wan for the
first time, seem badly acted (although, it might be just how George
directed her). Padme in general seemed to be a step back from her
previous self, but most of the scenes that would have shown her still as a
political powerhouse were cut out (see below).

Annikin's jealousy of Obi Wan comes out of left field, mainly because
another cut scene took out some dialogue between Palpatine and Annikin
(see below).

While it's neat to see all the clones being copies of Jango Fett, some of the
CGI to make all their heads look the same was just not very good at all, and
either looked like the head was just pasted on, or that they were moving
VERY mechanically. The first shots of the clones in thier fighters, they
look like their faces was just pasted on their helmets. George, sometimes
it helps to allow your actors to be actors, and not action figues.

Jimmy Smitts is really wasted, and feels like set dressing in most of the
movie. He ends up just up happening to own a speeder and the Tantive IV
while the jedi hitch rides with him. Like PAdme, though, his role was just
slashed to what we see now.

The "Change the Jedi Temple Code" scene just seemed kinda unecessary, and
seemed to be done simply to get Obiwan to the security tapes of Anakin
kneeling in front of Palpatine. It also raises the hope that there might be
other Jedi out there, which makes Lukes "Last Jedi" status a little iffy, and
less suspenseful. I think it would have been better to cut this scene and
allow a Bail or Padme scene back in.

George broke the Show - Don't Tell rule with Qui-Gon Jinn, which is just sad,
seeing as there WAS a scene with Yoda and Qui-Gon. Instead, Yoda just TELLS
us that Qui Gon came back...not nearly as dramatic.

The Ugly

Okay, I admit it - in my minds eye, I didn't see Annikin sorta
"catch on fire." I wanted to see Annikin FALL IN to the lava. I fully
expected Darth Vader to be a brain, a head, and mabe a few organs in that
suit, not a roasted marshmallow. Who needs that suit? A few skin grafts and
he's good as new...well...a whole LOTTA skin grafts.

Oh, and one more "Ugly" bit:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ('nuff said :) )