Star Wars

By : Suzanne Philips

  May 19, 2005

 
After much debate over what time to go see the new Star Wars film today (you 
see the theatre here in town was showing it nearly every hour for the first 24 
hours and I couldn't decide if I wanted to go at like 4 in the am or around 
10)  I decided to go to the 10:25 showing.....which started late, and with a 
full theatre full of some crazy A** people, I thought there might be a riot, 
thankfully they figured out how to press play....crises solved.

For those that don't know, I am a huge fan of the first 3 Star Wars films.  I 
saw the first one 7 times in the theatre the year it came out dragging one or 
both of my parental figures with me to their annoyance.  I saw the first one 
of the "new" SW and was appalled.  The trailers for this one looked great so I 
really wanted to see this.

In my opinion: 
PROBABLY A GREAT DEAL OF SPOILERS SO LOOK AT YOUR OWN RISK:

Star Wars Episode 3 is a good film.  It is not a great film, but it is a good 
film.  By far the best out of the three prequels.  

The film starts off with a very light tone, Obi-Wan and Anakin are out on a 
search for the abducted Chancellor.  There is much banter and more than a 
little icky homo-erotic quality going on, I didn't quite see the reason for that, 
maybe others didn't notice it but I do know the idiot men around me were 
remarking on it....but I digress....There was a very Abbot and Costello sort of feel 
to the first part of the film, lots of jokes and almost a cartoon-y feel to 
the characters.  My big thing with Sci-Fi or Alternate Universe films is that 
you have to be able to suspend your beliefs and feel that the world the 
characters inhabit is real.....I didn't get that sense in the first section, I almost 
kept waiting for a drum crash after each punchline.  I don't think this was 
the fault of any of the actors in this section, I think it was primarily a 
script issue.  What made the first three so amazing was that you truly could 
believe that world existed and get behind it easily, not so in the first part of 
Ep. 3.  

I was starting to get pretty apprehensive at this 
point......until.....SPOILERS again:

There is a fight scene with Mace Windu, the Chancellor and Anakin that is 
amazing, the effects were great, the dialogue was right on point and it just all 
gelled....THIS is what I was waiting for in this film.  

The film does a really good job of transferring the emotions from Light to 
Dark and by the end of the film, everything is really dark, the sets, the 
characters, the emotions....Lucas does an amazing job of this, he kind of sneaks it 
up on you and about 3/4 of the way thru you are kind of depressed and are like 
" wait....why am I so upset....ohhhhh" .  The sets are really nice, they do 
have some green screen problems where the computer imagery they put in just 
really doesn't look real, (perhaps they should have called the Weta folks for 
some pointers.....dang oh no she didn't ....yea I did) but there are a great deal 
of locations and the pace of the film does really keep moving.

Actor wize:

Hayden Christensen is really great as Anakin aka my man D.V.  He has a huge 
arc in this film and truly fulfills it without going over the top.  And he is 
half nekkid in one scene, thank you George Lucas!  he is just really 
interesting to watch and you really understand with him the motives that drive
Anakin to 
become Darth Vader.  One thing I kind of like about Hayden is he has done 
some really nice work in some eclectic films and has managed for the most part to 
stay out of the tabloids and avoid the Star Wars curse .....need we say Mark 
Hamill??

Ewan McGregor - sigh...we loves us some Ewan - oh yes we does 
preciousssss...sorry got distracted there....sadly he is not nekkid.....and he was
on such a 
role with that.....He is really good and very distracting with his perfect 
hair that always seems to fall right back into place and his lovely eyes....oh 
yea he had dialogue too, he really handles some crappy dialogue quite nicely I 
thought and his scenes at the climactic battle with Anakin are great

Sam Jackson was really good as Mace Windu, not over the top at all and he was 
one who truly existed in the world that Lucas creates.

Ian McDiamard is by far the best performed role in this film, he is the only 
one from the get go that I truly accepted in this make believe place, he is 
not cartoon-y at all, when he reveals himself to be truly evil near the end, he 
gets a little close to the edge, but he is a master manipulator and I really 
found myself looking forward to the next time he would be on screen, just 
masterful.

Yoda - my little green homie kicked A** , since the technology has improved 
since the first 3 films, he looks amazing and just Rocked!  Everyone loves 
Yoda, the crowd applauded nearly every time he was on screen.

And of course big up to my main man Darth V......don't get me wrong I love me 
some Han Solo, did I mention I saw it 7 times in the theatre and it wasnt for 
Chewy.....but Darth Vader rocks......he is just the baddest motherf$%^^ &*  
in the world....to see the suit come together, I did get some chills.

Anyway, it is definitely a fun film and worth your $8-10, it is great to see 
it with a crowd cause the energy is good fun!

And as my friend Fred so succinctly put it " I liked the last one better than 
the first two Star Wars prequels because it was gooder! "


nuff said?


Suz
 

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