Revenge of the Sith

Film Review: “The Revenge of the Sith”



For me, my general comments on Sith was of bittersweet observance. I tried to get into it, but there was something that just kept me at more than an arm's distance. I couldn't get into the emotionality of it because the movie was took much on the techie side. Too much happening all at once and not enough gravitas to keep it interesting. As a trilogy, from the first frame in "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" straight through "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" and completing in "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King/War of the Ring", it had me. I was interested because the mood of the movies pulled me in. With this current trilogy, I just couldn't get into the whole techie end of it.

There was a charm to "Star Wars" (and that is what I'll call the supposed 'fourth' film in the series because to me, it will always be called STAR WARS). There was something that just made you go on this journey with this kid called Luke Skywalker and feel for him. Then through into "The Empire Strikes Back", it carried the story on into something wholly different but still the same considering it was the second part of the story. Then in "The Return of the Jedi", there was that satisfying conclusion. A kind of cathartic end that you could walk out remembering.

With the first film in this completely disparate universe, there was nothing that I could find to latch onto so to speak. Nothing that I could say was memorable about "The Phantom Menace", "Attack of the Clones" or for that matter, "The Revenge of the Sith". I hated Jake Lloyd as the young Ani and couldn't get into his character because I didn't like him. I wonder what would have happened had Lucas been able to get someone like a Freddie Boath who was in "The Mummy Returns"? I feel too, Lucas prematurely killed off Darth Maul too soon. Ray Park was so much more menacing than Vader. He had this inherent malevolence I never got from Hayden Christiansen who was supposed to embody that essence. To me, he never really matched up to David Prowse in the black costume. That is what Ray brought to Maul was that complete evil quality. I would have loved to have seen him continue into Clones and Sith. That Darth Grievous just wasn't threatening enough, certainly not like Maul and Prowse's Vader was. Vader is iconic and that costume is synonymous with the "Star Wars" mythology, Christianson just couldn't give that same gravitas Prowse did throughout three films. But as a unit, Lloyd and Christianson just never seemed to make me 'feel' for Ani, not the way I did for Luke and Han...even Lando.

Throughout the course of the three films. I felt there were only a few moments of what could be considered 'magic'...and most of those involved Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Ray Park and Natalie Portman. They all worked quite well together...BUUUUUUT, not as well as Hamil, Fisher and Ford did. Yoda's fight scenes were laughable and this brings me to the main reason I didn't or couldn't get into this series: Continuity.

The continuity of these films seems anachronistic with the first three. Case in point: The discussion on the bridge in the Ewok camp where Luke and Leia are talking about their mother. The dialogue goes as such:

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76 EXT EWOK VILLAGE - NIGHT

The walkway is deserted now. The windows of the little huts glow and
flicker from the fires inside. The sounds of the forest fill the soft
night air. Luke has wandered away from the Chief's hut and stands
staring up at the Death Star. Leia finds him like that.

LEIA
Luke, what's wrong?

Luke turns and looks at her a long moment.

LUKE
Leia... do you remember your mother? Your real mother?

LEIA
Just a little bit. She died when I was very young.

LUKE
What do you remember?

LEIA
Just...images, really. Feelings.

LUKE
Tell me.

LEIA
(a little surprised at his insistence)
She was very beautiful. Kind, but...sad.
(looks up)
Why are you asking me all this?

He looks away.

LUKE
I have no memory of my mother. I never knew her.

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According to this, Leia has a physical memory of her mother which means Padme, so the death of her in "Sith", makes no sense. I always believed Luke and Lei's mother lived and became close to Bail Organa and THEY raised Leia. This is what Lucas conveys in the above scene. How could Leia remember a mother who died? Lucas screwed up royally in this scene. I'm not sure if he forgot what he wrote and shot in the third film, or if he just decided to reinvent the mythology ad hoc. Other inconsistencies were with characterizations. I never got that Yoda was a physical body. I believed throughout Empire and Jedi, he was more philosophical and able to use the Jedi's mind tricks to accomplish his end. Hence this scene in Empire:

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YODA: And well you should not. For my ally in the Force. And a
powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. It's energy
surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we...(Yoda pinches
Luke's shoulder)...not this crude matter. (a sweeping gesture) You must
feel the Force around you. (gesturing) Here, between you...me...the
tree...the rock...everywhere! Yes, even between this land and that
ship!

LUKE: (discouraged) You want the impossible.

Quietly Yoda turns toward the X-wing fighter. With his eyes
closed and his head bowed, he raises his arm and points at the
ship.
Soon, the fighter rises above the water and moves forward
as Artoo beeps in terror and scoots away.
The entire X-wing moves majestically, surely, toward the
shore. Yoda stands on a tree root and guides the fighter
carefully down toward the beach.
Luke stares in astonishment as the fighter settles down
onto the shore. He walks toward Yoda.

LUKE: I don't...I don't believe it.

YODA: That is why you fail.

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and this one.....

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With Yoda strapped to his back, Luke climbs up one of the
many thick vines that grow in the swamp. Panting heavily, he
continues his course -- climbing, flipping through the air,
jumping over roots, and racing in and out of the heavy ground
fog.

YODA: Run! Yes. A Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware of
the dark side. Anger...fear...aggression. The dark side of the Force
are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you
start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny,
consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice.

LUKE: Vader. Is the dark side stronger?

YODA: No...no...no. Quicker, easier, more seductive.

LUKE: But how am I to know the good side from the bad?

YODA: You will know. When you are calm, at peace. Passive. A Jedi uses
the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.

LUKE: But tell me why I can't...

YODA: (interrupting) No, no, there is no why. Nothing more will I
teach you today. Clear your mind of questions. Mmm. Mmmmmm.

Artoo beeps in the distance as Luke lets Yoda down to the
ground. Breathing heavily, he takes his shirt from a nearby
tree branch and pulls it on.
He turns to see a huge, dead, black tree, its base
surrounded by a few feet of water. Giant, twisted roots form a
dark and sinister cave on one side. Luke stares at the tree,
trembling.

LUKE: There's something not right here.

Yoda sits on a large root, poking his Gimer Stick into the
dirt.

LUKE: I feel cold, death.

YODA: That place...is strong with the dark side of the Force. A domain
of evil it is. In you must go.

LUKE: What's in there?

YODA: Only what you take with you.

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This conveys he was the ultimate master of the Force, which meant he didn't need weapons as he used his mind to control any given situation as Luke did in Jedi with Bib Fortuna in Jabba's palace. He told Luke he wouldn't need his lightsabre as he entered the tree, but Luke took it with him anyway. That head shake of disgust showed Yoda's turmoil in that Luke was supposed to be the chosen one. So the flip-flopping, tumble turning Yoda in all three prequels was funny. I laughed uncomfortably when I watch these scenes because it's so clear Lucas didn't remember his own work in the three previous films. Another place where I noticed huge continuity errors between the first trilogy to the prequels was in the story itself. I always believed Anikin was older than he appeared as in Menace. I thought he was at least a teenager when Ben began teaching him. With what we saw in Jedi when the unveiling of Vader occurred, we saw an older man in the form of Sebastian Shaw. That was a gross inaccuracy and I hated the special editions where Shaw's face was covered over by Christiansen's. How could Lucas be so uncaring of what we older viewers know of that end scene in Jedi where we got that moving end. Seeing Ben, Yoda and Anikin standing there was so very moving and finished the trilogy for me and many others of my generation. That Lucas chose to slap us in the face and no doubt, Shaw's family, makes the ending of Sith dissatisfying.

I hope I didn't go on too long and I'll leave this now and make room for anyone else to include a rebuttal to my comments or to concur with me.