May 20, 2005

Revenge of the Sith I Like

Star Wars is now complete. Revenge of the Sith the greatest Star Wars movie it is not. But it did tie up plenty of loose ends. Visually it has gorgeous backgrounds and amazing computer animation. But Lucas went overboard in the big battle scenes. Too much was happening. Ships and battle droid zipping all over so fast made it hard to focus on anything. There was just too much stimulation.

The acting was uneven. Typical of Star Wars, but it doesn't hold the movies back. Hayden Christensen surprised me with the emotion and conflict he radiated from his Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader character. It wasn't a stunning performance in any sense of the word--he seems to jump too quickly into full-bore hate of Obi-Wan after having his legs sliced off. A final moment of last-chance redemption would have been perfect in that scene. While I was pleased with Christensen's performance Natalie Portman pumped out a cardboard cutout role as Padme. Lucas could have just made the character completely CGI and it would have had more emotional depth than Portman demonstrated. In her hands Padme regressed from the selfless, brave, creative Queen of Naboo into a secret, pregnant wife in desparate need of a hug and some Prozac.

One of George Lucas' themes of the Star Wars movies is how a democracy devolves into authoritarianism. In Lucas' world here's what you need to transform a democracy into a dictatorship:

• lightning bolts from your fingers
  
• a Senate filled with weak-minded morons you can use your mind powers on
  
• a clone army
  
• the ability to organize a massive conspiracy using the above mentioned clones so that your opponents will never suspect they will be betrayed.
  
• an apprentice more powerful than yourself (but not at smart) to do your heavy lifting
  

If this is what worries George Lucas then he hasn't much to fear from President Bush.

Sith is deserving of a few more theater visits. Mainly because the the battle scenes are so busy you can see more and more with each viewing. Also you can find more little details that tie up Episode III with the second half of the series.