OT: Star Wars Episode III
 

Only 6 hours away before the pemieres here in the Philippines. :)

Can't wait.

can someone post spoilers?

***SPOILER***








The Jedi will be defeated and Anakin will turn into Darth Vader. years later a young Jedi will choose the Force instead of the Dark Side and will fight Vader, who is...

DUN DUN DUNNNNN....that Jedi's father.

Well, OK, but don't tell anyone...

Anakin goes bad and becomes Darth Vader.

I posted that in invisible type, right?

EDIT: Damn, beaten by HA! I accept my failure humbly.

Spoiler

Highlight to read:

Anakin kills Padme

You want to put some space between that spoiler and the pay-off?

Everyone? I'd say most don't. I'm guilty of a clicking the thread though, so serves me right.

Spoiler.......

It might be nice of you not to reveal that, as im sure there are some that don't know.

if people didn't know that then they probably arent that big a Star Wars fan, so knowing isn't the end of the world. this is common Star Wars knowledge, no one would confuse me with being a Star Wars geek. i'll take down the post though, just ot be safe. sorry.

so who else is going to geek out and go to the midnight showing?

I'm using the excuse of "I have to see it before our four year old does, so I can know if it's appropriate for him." :D

ok, i just consulted my SW geek friend and found out it's not 100% definite how Padme died. it's generally assumed. i won't say how its assumed she died in case you don't want to be spoiled, although if it isn't definite she died that way then it's not really a spoiler.

her death is open to interpretation, but the movies explanation is...a bit laughable.

Alright, me and the nerd boyfriend, CleBrownsfan are going tonite at midnight. It was a last minute decision. Hope it's worth the day I'll have tomorrow at work!!!!

Well, I'm not going at midnight, but I will be going at 1:15 PM tomorrow (bought tickets on Fandango).

going tomorrow too.

I am also going at midnight.

I'm down with the 12:01 screening. At last count, there were 29 advanced sold-out screenings at midnight in Kansas City. One theater is also offerings screenings all night, so you can catch it again if you want.

SPOILER ALERT!



Here's a review from EW:

EW review: 'Sith' delivers not

Lucas' storytelling fails Anakin's embrace of the Dark Side

By Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly




(Entertainment Weekly) -- Having spent two scattershot blockbusters whetting our appetite for the fall of Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), George Lucas makes it easy to experience "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" as a rush of deliverance -- even if the movie itself doesn't fully deliver.

From the opening space-combat sequence, in which Anakin and his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), dodge an onslaught of fireballs and enemy craft so dense that the two might be threading their fighters through needles, you can feel Lucas' boyish engagement in the galactic universe he's created.

The Jedi Knights are on a mission to rescue Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), who has been kidnapped, and already there are hints of the conflict to come. As the two are attacked by spidery buzz droids, Anakin tries to shoot them off of Obi-Wan's ship, an act of headstrong aggression that makes you think, ''With friends like this ...''

Unlike "The Phantom Menace" or "Attack of the Clones," "Revenge of the Sith" unfolds with a fury of consequence. There are rousing lightsaber duels, like the one in which the skull-faced General Grievous wields four sabers at once.

Yoda, with his twinkly scowl of purpose, has become such a crowd-pleasing action figure that when he coughs up solemn syntactical howlers like ''A prophecy that misread could have been'' -- well, forgive him almost you can.

The madly detailed cityscapes raise eye candy to a dimension of comic-book awe, though I confess I miss the nearly tactile thrills generated by the original "Star Wars" films. Lucas' digital imagery allows for whizzy, swirling layers of technological hyperactivity, yet its lacquered gleam is just artificial enough that when a panoramic window gets smashed during a battle in the Jedi chamber, my reaction was to think, ''Gee, how will they find replacement glass that big?''

Petulant and morose, with a slightly slurry delivery, Christensen plays Anakin as if locked in a private adolescent snit fit. As political infighting rages between the forces of the Empire and the Jedi (who are portrayed -- in a pointed parallel with our own wartime climate -- as under-siege liberals fighting ostracism), Anakin is torn between two father figures: the honorable Obi-Wan and the ambiguous Palpatine, played by McDiarmid with the jaunty menace of a corporate seducer.

Of course, this is really the story of how Anakin outgrows his need for masters altogether, becoming a ''dark father'' himself. Darth Vader, with his fascist armor and his morbid cosmic boom of a voice, was always an image of malevolent manhood, even if he is the emperor's lackey. Since Christensen has never come close to that level of gravitas, we're eager to see how Anakin the testy apprentice, the surly, conflicted boy, will emerge, corrupted, from the shell of his innocence.

He does and he doesn't. Anakin's journey to the Dark Side is sparked by half a dozen different motivations, none of them entirely convincing. He has a nightmare that his pregnant bride, Padmé (Natalie Portman), is going to die in childbirth, and Palpatine exploits this premonition by promising Anakin that the Dark Side will give him power over life and death. But since the ''Hold me like you did by the lake on Naboo!'' love scenes are embarrassments of cheesy acting and cheesier dialogue, they have the unfortunate effect of hinging Anakin's descent on the worst moments in the entire series.

Anakin's instincts may be noble, but when he's chosen to be a member of the Jedi Council and yet denied the title of Master, the omission inflames his rage, a development that rings jarringly false. Anakin's appointment is an unexpected honor for a young Jedi: Why would he suddenly be up in arms about not receiving the ultimate rank as well? In case that conflict doesn't do it for you, he's also been asked to spy on Palpatine, which softens him up to believe the lie that the Jedi are hatching a conspiracy.

All of this is so talky and abstract, however, that Anakin's gathering storm seems hokey from the start, a function of the fact that it's simply time for him to begin getting mad. The trouble with "Revenge of the Sith" is that we're never really shown what we're told about endlessly: Anakin succumbing to the temptations of power.

He sulks a lot, with a bead of resentment in his eye, but his actions never take that crucial turn toward the destructive narcissism of Darth Vader. The audience has to work to make sense of his journey, but what we're really doing is putting together the script that George Lucas didn't, quite.

Beneath Anakin's slipshod motives, one senses a failure of will on Lucas' part. The "Star Wars" series divided the world into Good and Evil in a way that Hollywood, by the 1970s, had forgotten. But Lucas, in his by-now reflexive populism, wants to turn Anakin into Darth Vader without risking any loss of sympathy for him.

The one figure in "Revenge of the Sith" who taps the true spirit of "Star Wars" is Ewan McGregor: With his beautiful, light, clipped delivery, he plays Alec Guinness' playfulness, making Obi-Wan a marvel of benevolent moxie.

It's certainly fun to see Darth Vader's black armor snap into place (though couldn't they have waited until Anakin's burned skin stopped smoking?), but by the end of "Revenge of the Sith," it would be a mistake to confuse Lucas' tidy game of connect-the-episodes with the elemental pleasure of the series at its best: pop storytelling done effortlessly, ushering the audience into the darkness and the light.

EW Grade:B-

Kevin Smith Disagrees With The Above Spoiler, Here Is His Review.

***SPOILER ALERT***






- "Revenge of the Sith" is, quite simply, fucking awesome. This is the "Star Wars" prequel the haters have been bitching for since "Menace" came out, and if they don't cop to that when they finally see it, they're lying. As dark as "Empire" was, this movie goes a thousand times darker - from the triggering of Order 66 (which has all the Shock Troopers turning on the Jedi Knights they've been fighting beside throughout the Clone Wars and gunning them down), to the jaw-dropping Anakin/Obi Wan fight on Mustafar (where - after cutting his legs and arm off, Ben leaves Skywalker burning alive on the shores of a lava river, with Anakin spitting venomous sentiments at his departing mentor), this flick is so satisfyingly tragic, you'll think you're watching "Othello" or "Hamlet".

I saw a gorgeous digitally projected version of the flick, and lemme tell ya': this is a beautiful looking film. The opening space battle sequence is the best in any of the six "Star Wars" movies. Grievous and Kenobi's lightsaber duel is bad-ass, with Grievous rocking four sabers. The Clone Wars end rather early in the flick (about the halfway point), leaving the rest of the film to concentrate on Anakin's turn to the Dark Side, and the resulting slaughter of the Jedi.

Perfect example of how dark shit gets: remember the Younglings - the kid Jedis in training from "Clones"? As a result of Order 66, when Anakin invades the Jedi Temple with an army of Clone Troopers, he enters the Council room to find a gaggle of said younglings hiding behind the seats. They see Anakin and emerge, asking "What should we do, Master Anakin?" The query's met with a stone-cold Anakin firing up his lightsaber. The next time you see the kids, Yoda's sifting through their corpses on the floor.

Yes, it's just that dark - and rightfully so. This is the birth of Darth Vader we're talking about. The only comic moments in the flick are given to R2D2, and while good, they're all pretty few and far between; the order of the day is dark, dark, dark.

Ian McDiarmid and Ewan McGregor steal the show, but Hayden Christensen silences any naysayers who wrote him off as too whiney in "Clones". This is the flick that feels closest to Episodes 4, 5, and 6, because - for the first time since "Return of the Jedi" - there is a clear villain. And for all the shadow-play Palpatine has been upto in the last two flicks, his treachery is about as subtle as John Williams' score in "Sith." Whether he's slowly drawing Anakin toward the Dark Side during an opera/performance art piece with his promise of the Sith's power of life over death, or he's engaged in a balls-to-the-wall lightsaber duel in the Senate with Yoda, his "Little, green friend" (his words, not mine - which I kinda dug, because, interestingly, I think it's the first time anyone's acknowledged that Yoda is green in any of the "Star Wars" flicks), this is the Emperor's movie.

The last fifteen minutes dovetail nicely into Episode 4 (or just plain "Star Wars" for you non-geeks), and the movie is full of link-up moments as well.

- At flick's end, Threepio and Artoo are given to Captain Antilles (with the caveat that the Protocol's memory be wiped).

- The twins, natch, are split up. Leia heads to Alderann with Bail Organa, and Obi Wan hands Luke over to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru (indeed, the closing shot is Owen holding Luke while looking out over the setting suns of Tatooine - mimicking the shot of the adult Luke doing the same in "Star Wars", complete with callback cue from Williams).

- After he succumbs to the Dark Side, Anakin tries to convine Padme that he can overthrow Palpatine, and together, he and Padme can rule the galaxy as husband and wife.

- Vader and the Emperor stand beside a younger Grand Moff Tarkin on the bridge of a Star Destroyer, overlooking the earliest construction stage of the Death Star.

- Yoda telling Obi Wan that, as he heads to Tatooine to hand over Luke and go into exile, that he should spend his time learning to commune with those who've crossed over to the next stage of life, as Yoda maintains he's been doing with Qui Gon (and Ben will later do with both Luke and Yoda, in "Empire" and "Jedi").

- And, hands-down, the best link-up to "Star Wars" moment that I enjoyed the most: Bail Organa and Yoda stepping into the hallway of the Rebel Blockade Runner that opened "Star Wars". Unlike all the high-tech CGI wizardry of the rest of the prequel Trilogy, this is a low-tech looking set, right out of circa '77, and for some reason, it really captured my imagination. I mean, this is the same exact hallway in which we got our first look at Vader, oh so many years ago, and I appreciated the hell out of Mr. Lucas including it - because it really felt like a nod to the hardcores.

Look, this is a movie I was genetically predisposed to love. I remember being eight years old, and reading in "Starlog" that Darth Vader became the half-man/half-machine he was following a duel with Ben Kenobi that climaxed with Vader falling into molten lava. Now, twenty six years later, I finally got to see that long-promised battled - and it lived up to any expectation I still held. I was sad to see the flick end, but happy to know it's not the end of the "Star Wars" universe entirely (I've read stuff about a TV show...).

"Sith" doesn't happen; "Sith" rules.

okay, so if there are 18-20 years between RotS and ANH, and 8 years between ANH and RotJ, how the heck did they build the 2nd Death Star so quickly?

Just askin'.

2 stars at the same time, man

The second death star wasn't quite complete, anyway, was it?

I'll be there tonight at midnight. Saw the last two at midnight as well so might as well stick with tradition.

By the time of "A New Hope," the Empire has resources far exceeding those of "Sith."

Hey, maybe the new Death Star was just a salvage job of the old one... I dunno...

i thought it was done, and its look was just a trap.

Improved efficiency. They already knew how to build one.

They brought in independant contractors to help build the second one.

Any contractor willing to work on that Death Star knew the risks. If they were killed, it was their own fault.

But their life insurance premiums must have been through the roof... what with the first one blowing up and all.

Judging by the Big Dig, that would have doubled the build time, not halved it.

Fully armed an operational, but not complete.

Geek Alert!: The expanded universe muddles the origins of the Death Star even more. Before AOTC, it was believed that the Empire's secret military development facility at the Maw Installation hidden inside a series of black holes was the origin of the Death Star. Obviously AOTC reveals that there was linkage between the Separatists and the Death Star some 20 years before A New Hope. Why it took 17-odd years to build the first Death Star is a mystery.

Given that, I think the construction of the second death star still makes sense. I believe the Expanded Universe "literature" suggests that it may have been under development in conjunction with the original. Plus, as noted above, it had been done before, and it seems that there was some sense of urgency to build the second.

Yeah. The Empire probably offered incentives if the subs completed ahead of schedule. Also, at some point in the construction, didn't Darth vader come in and act as the general contractor or site manager or something? He would be good at that:

Sub: "Hey Darth, I am gonna need a written change order before I am going to install these counter-sink flanges because they cost more than the flanges I was going to use under the original bid"

DV: "How about if you install them even though you don't have the written change orders. or, i could write up the change orders right here on the end of my light saber and plunge it into your chest. Either way..."

Sub: " I'll tell you what, my guys will go ahead and install the flanges, and you can just send me the change orders whenever you have the chance to do them."

DV "hey, thats great, i appreciate you working with me here. We really want to get this thing operational"

If it was done, they would have been able to defend themselves. As it was, they had a shield generated by a base on the planet and once that was down, all of the ships were able to simply fly right into it. Not a very good defense.

Besides, it's always faster and easier to build something after you already built one before it. I'm sure they ran into a butt load of problems during the construction of the first one. They would have learned from that and built the second one at a much faster pace.

Yeah, and they figured out how to deal with strikes more efficiently ;).

<-- heading out in a few to go see the midnight show

It's only 8:15 Eastern... guess you're expecting a line...

If you see any chicks dressed up as Stormtroopers, take pix...

I'm going tonight. My friend says that the line starts forming at 10:30

The things I do to appease the geek in me. Stand in line, a long one, for a friggen movie. Myself better give myself some good sex tonight!

EDIT: And the digital camera is coming with me for pics. Of crazies in line, not of crazy freaky selfsex

I went last night because my ticket said May 18, 12:01 AM. It was strange cause the theater was closed.

Well. Just saw the advanced screening of Star Wars here in the Philippines last night, about 12 hours before the actual showing... my thoughts?

It didn't blow me away, but it did do what it should do... complete the circle.

Was I disappointed? Maybe, because I expected more out of Lucas' final foray into Star Wars.

The movie jumps right in where the Star Wars Clone Wars Cartoon Mini-series left off. So it's a big plus if you followed the cartoon well.

Lightsaber battle count: 5

Dooku vs. Obi Wan/Anakin
Obi Wan vs. Grievous
Palpatine vs. Mace Windu
Palpatine vs. Yoda
Obi Wan vs. Anakin

I'm sure we'll all have different reactions to the film.

Definitely darker, highlighted by the Jedi slaughter perpetrated by Darth Vader. Unfortunately, I think the movie could've been stretched into two movies. As it is, Anakin's eventual fall to the dark side seems rushed... bah.

Thumbs in the middle, slightly being puled up because it's the last Star Wars flick we'll see from George.

couldnt they do more? like a star wars episode 3.5 or 7?

Am I the only who understood very little of that..except perhaps the ending?

That's what I get for not seeing (or caring) anything about the previous two episodes. Maybe I'll catch this on DVD if I can figure out who's what.

is James Earl Jones used as Vader in this movie?

So, will the emperor threaten to use the Nuclear Option to silence debate against his judicial nominees, who are leading towards the sith?

Yes.

And Vader does a resounding and yet absolutely corny "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" scream towards the end.

Silly really. :)

Just got back from seeing a 6PM advance screening in New York, then drinking with friends and analyzing it to death.

I was once again disappointed. I'll go into much greater detail in the coming days.

***spoilers stuff******









Yeah.. That whole Frankenstein vibe of the last scene (breaking out of the shackles) combined with that corny scream had me nearly crying because it was so lame. Also, the earlier lava surfing was annoying as shit. There was a lot to dislike about this movie, just like the preceding two.

Spoiler....










Maybe I was disappointed because I expected the saga to go off in a big BANG.

The movie began with the potential to be great, but it was like a reverse snowball that saw the characters devolve into the horrible ending sequence.

I expected Anakin's journey to becoming Darth Vader to be a much more harrowing experience. Even more so, I expected his transformation from human Vader to the half-machine Vader to be the coolest shit in the world.

But no. It stunk to high-hell. heh.

Just saw it and it was kind of disappointing. In almost every way, it is better than the previous 2 prequals....but also has some of the dumbest, chessiest things in the entire saga (all 6).

SPOILER: (Is stating this really needed in this thread anymore? :) )








Vader screaming "NNOOOOOOOO!!!" was HORRIBLE. Palpatine, when on the floor after getting beat by Mace Windu going "No! No! No!" in that voice was just comical. I'm sure it was supposed to be sinister, but it was just comical. Padme dying because "she's lost the will to live" was just....incredibly lame.

And getting back to that scene with Palpatine and Windu. Did Mace take 3 total n00bs with him? I know Lucas was trying to show that both Mace Windu and Sidious were so much better than the other 3. That Sidious was so strong and powerful that he could pwn most Jedi easily. But that didn't happen. What I saw was 3 Jedi standing with their dicks in their hands and not doing anything to avoid Sidious' slow saber attacks. Sidious did not come off as powerful there, the Jedi came off as a joke. The kid that wasted a dozen clones was better with a lightsaber than those 3 Jedi Masters were.

Anyway, I'm going to bed. It probably sounds like I hated the movie but I didn't. It was pretty well done, but there are a few parts of the movie that just completely take you out of it.

Just saw it.

I loved it.

Goodnight.

Spoiler Alert.







Once again Chems Theory about Anakin's Paternal lineage is correct.

Spoiler Alert Again: Gripes..............................













Dola: The story really didnt answer anything for me..... The only connection with 4,5,6 were the droids and 2 babies. The end should have tied more loose ends ie....Yoda going off to Degobah, Rebellion starting, or at least implied, bounty hunters being ordered by vader to hunt down Jedi's, Wookies being enslaved, a young 10 year old street urchin in a cameo appearance,

Saw it. Loved it. I think it is a terrible movie, however. :)

So Kit Fisto goes out like a bitch? That is worth the price of admission alone. I've always hated that guy.

I saw a midnight showing as well. Free tickets for being a business partner with Intel :)

Good flick. Definetely does a good job with continuation. I would see it again.

****spoilers*******






I also laughed out loud at that Palpatine moment.

Another dumb-ass moment for me was the line Anakin had when talking to Amidala soon after she'd arrived at the lava-place. It was someting to the effect of "The Jedi can't save you now.... only my new powers can!" It just sounded ridiculous.

And maybe that gets to the crux of my disappointment. To me, Anakin never truly became evil. He did evil things, yes, but only to reach what most would consider a noble goal (saving those we love). At some point I guess you could say his selfishness overpowers even that love, but selfishness isn't evil.

Like others have said, it's a good movie. Easily the best of the three prequels. But I'm still trying to figure out how such a badass in the OT came from a guy who was really just an immature, selfish guy.

actually, I wasn't going right to the theater - there was about 10-12 of us going, and one guy picked up the tickets for all of us. We all met at the theater at 11 and got right in - it was mostly full by then and the crowd was 90% high school kids, many of whom were holding lightsaber duels on the front stage before the movie started. No stormtrooper chicks - there were several chicks with Leia hair, a few dorks with Vader masks, and one lifetime virgin who had made a Jar Jar headpiece out of construction paper.

as for the movie, I personally was surprised. As I've stated recently, I didn't really like Menace very much, and I LOATHED Clones, so I had some pretty low expectations, but I ended up loving a movie I was ready to dislike - which seems to be putting me in the minority here.

To me, the action stuff worked really, really well - much better than the sloppy CGI stuff from Ep II. There still were some eye rolling parts - R2 again using powers that he doesn't have in IV-VI, the silly Tarzan yell from the wookies, and some amazingly corny reaction shots they use from Palpatine in the early going - but in most cases the silly stuff was more on par with the earlier movies, not the over-the-top goofiness of I and II. Again, from a purely action level, this movie blows away I and II and, to me, is right on par with the originals.

I guess most of your enjoyment is going to hinge on the Anakin to Vader thing. In my opinion, this worked for me (yes, even the Frankenstein thing). While he did turn faster than you'd probably expect, I think they did a pretty good job of giving some good excuses for him to turn - the turning scene itself was kind of awkward, but overall the reasons behind his choices worked for me. And I thought they did a surprisingly good job of tying up loose ends from the other two prequels - it all seemed to kind of come together rather nicely (and unexpectedly) in III.

Most surprising at all to me was the directing. I have been a big critic of Lucas being sole writer and director on I and II - I think his best work is to write the story and produce it, and have a different director / screenwriter, a la Empire and Jedi. I think I and II would have been MUCH better movies if he'd used another screenwriter and director. But the direction and writing were rock-solid here - the cinematography in many places was stunning, and there were actually a few good dialogue scenes (Anakin and Palpatine at the opera thing, for example). Christianson was still not great, but he (and most everyone) had much better dialogue to work with than the last 2. Like I said above, the action scenes were simply terrific (and I disliked much of the cheesy digital battles in Clones).

so, I liked it. it "worked" for me when I was expecting it to fail. I'm pleasantly surprised that I liked it (and a little surprised that less of you all did).

It is in bed.

I saw it and loved it. It was not on par with ANH or ESB, but it was a good movie. The parts that hacked me off were the cheesy love scenes and Palpatine's voice after the transformation. That said, there were several parts I loved.

It certainly had flaws, but I thought it was a good movie. I wasn't disappointed in it as a whole at all, although I can understand why some people felt that the lame parts drug it down some.

Yoda did say he had to go into seclusion or hiding or something as he had failed when fighting the emperor. Also I guess there were originally some scenes that had Padme essentially starting the rebellion that were cut, as well as a sub-plot about wookiees that was also cut entirely.

and so begins the live action star wars tv show...

I enjoyed the movie and will probably go see it again as the theater was so freaking HOT that it was almost distracting at times.

I just wish that the movie had given more time to Anakin as Vader instead of just a quick scene or two. Would have been cool to see Vader get more and more powerful.

Bingo!

LOVED IT!

What a fabulous movie! As I was saying, all the prequals were leading up to this and it sure did not dissapoint. The CGI which looked somewhat cheesy back in TPM is jaw dropping here. This is the best looking movie I've ever seen. It blows LOTR trilogy out of the water. The action is non stop and the dialogue isn't bad (as good as the original trilogy). McGregor is perfect as Obi-Wan, Christensen plays Anakin well, and McDiamid is excellent as Palpatine.

I would have liked to have seen Anakin's fall more streached out, but the movie was over 2 hours as it was! That said, I was satisfied that keeping Padme alive turned him.

And I like the visual touches at the end. Padme's burial procession shows that they faked the twins dying when Padme did.

And how much fun to see a proto-Death Star?

I'd have to say this is perhaps the best Star Wars movie aside from ESB.

I give it an A!


What do they say? "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions"? He may have had a noble goal, but at what cost? Do the ends justify the means? I don't think so. In the theater I was in, people gasped when the younglins asked Anakin for help and the lightsaber went on. I think most people would consider that ultimate evil.


And didn't you here the dialog when they were at the water ballet? Selfishness is a part of the Sith... Selflessness is part of the Jedi. So yes, in this context selfishness is evil, and I think most people outside of utterly looney Randists would say being THAT selfish is evil.

I think he did truly become evil. Slaughtering all of the kids and the Trade Federation was quite evil. In the end, he really fell in love with his own power. What started him on the dark path, protecting the Chancellor, was quickly thrown out when he decided that he could kill the Chancellor and rule the galaxy on his own. At that point he was totally gone.

The part that they didn't show in the movie is the fact that losing Padme turned Vader totally cold. It is quite easy to presume that this was the point where he lost the ability to feel and became just a cold evil machine.

The fall was a little too quick, but given the time constraints, it was decently done.

SPOILERS!!! SPOLIERS!!!

I thought this is the best since ESB. Very dark, lots of action, and really nice to finally see the background of the story. I tell you what, even though Lucas says he isn't doing it, I'm thirsting for 7-8-9.


Yoda went into exile there. Obi-Wan into exile on Tantonine.


I believe that is what you were seeing when Leia was show with the Organa's at the rebel base.

You also got the Death Star being built. Chewie's background. And, they mentioned how the Jedi's learned to communicate with the dead. Obi-Wan was supposed to learn from Qui-Gon.

I thought it all tied together beautifully.

As to more time on Vader, keep in mind the forthcoming television series is supposed to focus on the period between Eps. 3 and 4. There are plenty of storylines.

I thought it was incredible, great movie.

I wonder how FOX News would have covered the attack on the Jedi Academy?

just to chime in, i wanted to add that i thought this was easily better than RotJ, and crept towards the top 2 (though didnt beat them). i found it incredibly entertaining.

"Oh Ani... hold me... hold me like you did beside the lake on Naboo..."

Does anyone working on his movies ever have the balls to tell Lucas that his writing abilities are shit?

SPOILERS!




Enjoyed it. Thought it was an interesting Greek Tragedy, with Anakin as the tragic hero: classic hubris leading to his downfall, including being the cause of Padme's death.

But I do think Lucas needs to spend as much time on the writing and dialogue as he does on all the visuals. I mean, Padme gives up the will to live, EVEN THOUGH SHE KNOWS THERE IS STILL GOOD IN ANAKIN? She still gives up? I thought that line would have been better said by Obi-Wan when talking with Yoda and Bail Organa. Would have made the same point, and not completely contradicted the cause of death for Padme.

Agreed on the Windu / Palpatine fight. Could not believe the other Jedi just stood there, and Palpatine's "acting" was a bit much.

But, the key to enjoying these three (which I figured out 30 minutes into the Phantom Menace and has kept me in good stead since) is to remember it's all about telling the backstory. The action scenes are a bonus (well, they weren't in Menace), and you have to gloss over details, but if you just pay attention to the broad story issues they come out all right.

Also, when a mother has a child, let alone two...thats usually a reason to stick around for a while. but oh well.

Yeah, that was the one of the most perplexing things about it I thought. I highly enjoyed the movie though. Reading this thread I kind of agree about some of the cheesey parts, but they really didn't both me much at all.

I didnt read through this thread because I am not going to see Episode III till tomorrow night but I still wanted to post this. A group of fans made an Independent film that is suppose to take place between Ep III and IV, it costed around $30,000 to make. You can find it at http://www.panicstruckpro.com/revelations/ . Also there is a set of cartoons you can buy on the internet that takes place between Episodes II and III. I'll try to get that link too if anyone is interested.

did Boba Fett make an appearance in Ep. III? or any mention of him?

No.

weak, he should be slicing up motherfuckers.

Some thoughts, **SPOILERS***






















1) Fight scenes were off the hook.

2) Evil Anakin kicked ass.

3) How Anakin got there was a total letdown, from "What have I done!" to "Yeah, i guess i'll join the dark side" in under 2.5 seconds.

4) The acting was every bit as wooden as the first 2. Jackson was stone and I cringed every time Portman had lines.

5) Christiansen was better, but I wondered if the lack of transition in the story was because of a lack of faith in his ability to pull it off.

6) The Vader scream ranks right up with the greatest UIC movie moments of all time.

7) The entire Senate applauds the announcement that the Jedi are evil and Palpatine is reforming the galaxy out of nowhere? WTF.

8) The wrapping up of plot points in the last 5 minutes did not feel special, they felt tacked on.

9) The reason for Annakins turn, not wanting Padme to die because he had a dream she would, felt as dumb as the midiclorines explanation in EP 1, it just made no logical sense. Make Obi Wan the choosen one, have him get a little close to Padme and boom, theres your reason for Annakin to go nuts



Good movie, but still too much avoidable cheese to call it anywhere near the level of the first 3 (final 3).

I thought the writing and dialogue was on par with the original movies, which weren't exactly Shakespeare, you know.

I can see Padme giving up the will to live even if she believed there was still some good in Anakin. I mean when Obi-Wan came back, didn't he think that Anakin was dead at the side of the lava pit? I don't remember, but did Obi-Wan tell Padme that Anakin was still alive in his charred body at the side of the lava flows? It seemed that Obi-Wan didn't think that Anakin would be able to do anything else in that state, and definetly wouldn't have become Vader (oops!).


Well, wouldn't he be like 14 when the movie took place?

he looked to be 8 or 9 in Ep. 2, and I thought there was like an 8-10 year gap between movies.

My wife and I are going to see the movie tomorrow. I havent read many blockbuster reviews in a long time where so many critics enjoyed the movie and so many fans hated it. I expect to enjoy it, I am one of the few people who has enjoyed all 5 of the previous films so far.

Well "What have I done!" is easily transposed as Oh Shit, I can't go back now.


Fixed it for you ;).


I dunno.. how'd you have done it? It seemed very well done to me. Much better than, say, LOTR's ending scenes. They did it quick, without much dialog, and conveyed enough info as needed.


Remember Jedi can see the future to a limited degree. Yoda seemed to take it seriously. And the dream actually did come to pass.

i liked it. Palpatine graduated from the Academy of Over The Top Acting. this is where having a good director would have helped, a better director would have reigned Palpatine in and not made him overact. the movie is still good, definitely better than the 1st two prequels. i couldn't get enough of Yoda.

According to this timeline:

http://www.jedinet.com/timeline/index.asp

It seems RotS happened 3-4 years after AotC. Though it isn't official.

This one:

http://www.timelineuniverse.net/Riseoftheempire.htm

Also says 3 years between movies.

It's been asked recently how we could make fun of them (the Star Wars geeks) since we ourselves fall into that same label.

This is proof they are far worse than we are.

I can't see this being more than 4 years after the last one, although it felt like about 2 to me. And there's now an 18 year gap between episodes III and IV.

Thats funny, I always thought of it being more like a 15-16 year gap, but I guess it would be hard being a Senator at the age of 15. 18 does seem more appropriate.

I saw the movie tonight, and I have to say that for a while, I considered that it might be the best of the entire double trilogy. But in the end I was dissapointed with a few things. I enjoyed the movie a great deal but there were some things that bothered me.

1) This was the movie that I was expecting to be for Episode 5. I would have liked to see the development of the characters go a little farther than it did here.

2) Becoming Vader scene. It was way too Frankenstien. I just sat there and rolled my eyes. It sucked.

3) The wussifying of Vader screaming "NOOOO!"

4) I wanted Obi to kick Anakins ass, and leave him for dead. The fight seemed to even, I really wanted to end more lopsided. That would have made the need for the dual in IV to be more significant.

5) Why does R2 do shit here that he can't do in 4-6? For instance, why can he get out of the ship on his own, but in 4 he needs a big crane?

6) I hate when "older" technology looks better than the stuff in 4-6.

7) Vader's helmet looks wrong. There's something about it that just isn't right.

8) I thought that some of the scenes were too graphic. Dookoo, and Vader come to mind. The movie seemed to be trying to make up for what was missing in 1 & 2, but it will make it hard for me to have on when there are any kids around. My 10 yr old saw it, but I will have to think about when to let my other kids on to it. I hate having to do that, especially since the other 5 movies were mostly harmless.

Ah, well, I loved the lightsaber duals. They are always my favorite part and they were particularly good here. The opening sequence was good. The story moved along quickly and filled the gaps here and there. I did really like it, but a part of me feels pretty let down.

the one that sticks out to me is the one with the Jedi younglings. Even though it wasn't graphic, it seemed unecessary and gratuitous...and not something I'd want my youngster to see

Hence PG-13. I think it was absolutely warranted - that was the point, afterwards, where my wife and I both said we lost the sympathy for Anakin. Of his series of decisions - that, to me, was the irrevocable one.

Well, my gut feeling is that Luke is in the 17-19 range in "A New Hope." But beyond that I recall (i think) reading at some point that Luke and Leia were supposed to be 18 in that movie, with Han being more like late 20s.

The problem with that is then people wonder why people spoke so highly of Anakin in the first place if he got his ass beat, even after he turned to the Dark Side.


I think it was necessary... to show the evil and twistedness of the Dark Side. That way you won't have people writing articles saying that the Dark Side just isn't that bad.

Well, as far as the movies (not the books, haven't read them, don't really care to at the moment) go, the Jedi are all dead save Yoda and Kenobi (so no bounty hunters necessary), and Yoda is heading off somewhere - unnamed - into exile.

I'm guessing Han's background and the whole Wookie thing is from the books, but bear in mind - Yoda left the Wookie homeworld on his own, with the help of Chewbacca and the other guy. The troopers were left behind, so it leaves that door open.

The stilited writing, for me, was expected - I went in expecting a decent movie and got a 3.5/5 star one, so I'm happy. Some very, very good parts - some bad parts, mostly due to dialog. Jar Jar Binks was used perfectly, by which I mean hardly at all. The voices of the trade federation were toned down to where they should have been in Ep1.

Biggest gripe - Padme died. So much for "Leia, what do you remember about your mother - your real mother?" in Jedi.