or the working title: The Legend of Curley's Gold
Shayna and I saw Star Wars yesterday. We were responsible young adults and decided not to see it at midnight, but rather catch a matinee after work.
I'll try not to spoil the movie for those that haven't seen it.
It's way better than Episode 1 & 2. It still pales in comparison to Empire Strikes Back though. The romance story surrounding Anakin and Padme is wooden and it's hard to believe that they tolerate each other let alone love each other.
The lightsaber battles are cool. And the story is good. It was interesting to see how Anakin became vader.
Overall, I give the movie an alright rating.
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See, Lucas blew a golden opportunity. The set-up was there. He just failed to capitalize fully.
ReplyDeleteIt was firmly established in the first five films that Jedi were supposed to retain absolute control over their emotions. The Sith's great power, on the other hand, came from recklessly marrying a mastery of the Force with unlimited hate. That's why you have repeated warnings - both to Luke in the original trilogy and to Anakin in the prequels - to rein in their feelings. Episodes I & II having established that Anakin had trouble controling his emotions, particularly where they concern people he loves, Lucas should've made that lack of control the focus of his transition to the Dark Side.
Imagine that Episode III began with Count Dooku nearly killing Obi Wan, whom Anakin loves as a brother. In a fit of fear and rage, Anakin unleashes power that he has never experienced and kills Dooku. Obi Wan and the other Jedi are, frankly, terrified at the combination of prowess and ruthlessness that he displays, while Palpatine is thrilled and makes Anakin his personal guard and liason.
The Jedi masters try to rein Anakin in and tell him that he's endangering himself and everyone around him by handling his emotions so recklessly. In the meantime, Anakin is stunned by the capabilities that his emotion unleashes and he deludes himself into thinking that it can be used for good. At the same time, he resents the concern shown by the Jedi and their refusal to promote him to Master. Palpatine entices Anakin not with promises of control over life and death, but rather by placing him in situations where he can fuel the boy's curiosity about his potential and his desire to become the greatest Jedi ever.
As the Jedis' concern continues to alienate Anakin, Palpatine's fawning draws him closer. Palpatine sends Anakin off to fight the Separatists, where the young man becomes the most fearsome of warriors as he allows more and more fury to infuse his use of the Force - at the same time driving him unwittingly toward the Dark Side. Meanwhile, the Jedi are also dealing with Palpatine's power grab and coming to realize that he is the hidden Sith Lord - but they keep this hidden from Anakin. In a climactic moment, Anakin returns to report to the Chancellor at the very moment that Mace Windu and several other Jedi attempt to remove him from power. Anakin believes that he is witnessing a coup and a threat to the man that has become a father-figure, and he kills all the Jedi involved. Palpatine siezes the moment and issues Order 66, declaring all remaining Jedi to be enemies of the Republic and condemning them to immediate execution. Palpatine finally reveals himself as the Sith Lord, but by this time Anakin is so bound up in the Chancellor's thrall (and the hold of the Dark Side) that he willingly pledges to become Darth Sidious' new apprentice and the Supreme Commander of the new Empire. His first priority is the destruction of any remaining Jedi.
Obi Wan and Yoda escape the initial attempts on their lives and return to Padme, who recently had the twins. They tell her what Anakin has become, hoping that if she and Obi Wan can confront him together, whatever good he still possesses will bring him back from the abyss. They go to the volcano planet, where Darth Vader is finishing off the Separatists, and Yoda goes to battle the Emperor. When Vader sees Padme with Obi Wan, Vader is amazed to see her still alive after childbirth (he was still having those dreams, remember). She's so terrified of what her husband has become, she tells him that it was the children that died. She also refuses to get out of the way so that Vader can kill Obi Wan. Vader's rage is such that he uses the force to hurl Padme away, where she slams into a rock wall and is killed. Obi Wan and Vader then stage a furious duel around Padme's lifeless body, which ends with Vader's mutilation. Obi Wan collects Padme's body, leaves Vader for dead, burning on the edge of a lava flow, and returns for Luke before going into exile on Tatooine. Leia, of course, is given to the Organas to be raised on Alderaan. Vader is saved by the Emperor, placed in the infamous suit, and resumes his role at the Emperor's side, unaware that his children are alive.
Now THAT's a movie.
Instead, we got this cockamamie plot where Anakin is basically tricked into making a decision to become evil. His wife, who is supposed to be a strong character, just "loses the will to live" and fades off after childbirth. Meanwhile, Vader is tricked (again) into believing that he killed her. He even belts out a melodramatic "Nooooooooo!!" when he finds out that his wife is dead.
Bullcrap. The greatest villan of all time should've truly been the cause of her death. THAT's tragedy. And is would have made Vader's eventual decision to save his son that much more redemptive and satisfactory.