Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

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I’ve seen this twice now - once with the folks from work on Friday, once with Jenn on Sunday. I’d see it again.

A lot of people out there seem to be complaining that they didn’t get what they wanted out of this one. Let’s put this into perspective:

This is a science fiction movie series about people who have some sort of telekinetic powers given to them by a mysterious “Force” in the universe. People fly spaceships. People duel with swords made of contained laser beams. Everyone in the universe speaks English except Chewbacca. And you’re complaining about plot holes?

I look at Revenge of the Sith like this: Coming in, there are certain plot points that need to be addressed to bridge the gap between Episodes II and IV. Anakin has to turn into Darth Vader. Chancellor Palpatine has to become the Emperor. Luke and Leia need to be born. Yoda has to make it to Dagobah. And on and on. If you were paying attention to the other five movies, you know what’s going to happen in here. It’s like watching Titanic: Is the ship going to sink or isn’t it? You know the ending already - you’re just along for the ride.

Thinking about it like that, this movie was awesome. I loved it. The action was great, the story moved along fairly well (maybe a little too quickly toward the end, but that’s okay), and all of the loose ends were sewn up. Every plot point that I wanted to see addressed got addressed. Plus - and this is a huge bonus - there were no “cute” characters like Jar-Jar Binks or the Ewoks to mess it up. It stood on its own without selling out.

I’m still not a big Hayden Christiansen fan. I don’t feel him as Anakin. I’m not sure why, he just didn’t sell me. The rest of the cast did a good job.

The effects were good, too. The battles were great! Why couldn’t they have done that sort of stuff in the last two movies? This was what I was waiting for this whole time and I wasn’t disappointed in the least.

Maybe I’m not a “true fan.” I didn’t think The Empire Strikes Back was the best of the original three - I liked Episode IV best. I didn’t get all worked up about the little plot points that some of the more obsessed fans get worked up about. I was happy to see characters I loved on the screen. I was happy to see the plot points I was hoping to see addressed get addressed. I was happy to see great effects and I was happy to have a good time watching it.

Go see it. You’ll like it.

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