the beginning of a beautiful friendship...
Okay, so you want to know where I rank it among the other 5 films in the series. I'll tell you. I rate the Star Wars (in terms of my favorite) films as such:
1. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (77)
2. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (80)
3. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (83)
4. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (05)
5. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (99)
6. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (02)
It's quite possible that Empire is still the best, but New Hope is still the most "fully functional" from beginning-to-end and stand-alone out of all of them - and it had the best villain of them all: Peter Cushing (of course).
So, how do I feel about Episode III? I have to tell you: I really, really liked it. It is hands down the best of the prequels and is almost on par with Jedi - but still, nothing compares to the Luke/Vader fight followed by the "redemption scene" at the end of Jedi - one of the greatest scenes in the history of film. I'll be honest - whenever Revenge of the Sith doesn't focus on the contrived and horridly-written love story (Annakin and Amidala) it works like gangbusters. It's fast, it's lucid and above all - it's rock-solid (for the most part). I am not so quick to defend Obi Wan's "mission" given to him by Yoda at the end - and the Missus brings up a good point: why would Amidala have just given out at the end ("her will?"), especially since any mother would have fought for her children till the bitter end? Giving-out was simply put: a sorry choice. But the scenes between Palpatine and Annakin were really the heart of the whole thing for me. And if the "bad guys" were the heart of it - then Yoda was truly the soul. I just have to thank George Lucas (finally) for giving Yoda something to do here. When he clutches at his heart through his little green chest - it felt like mine breaking too. Beautiful suspension of disbelief for a great CGI character (so what if it was not Gollum). For me, Yoda brought the house down.
I wont go on too much about it - except that it really was worth the ten bucks (and me leaving the compound) to go see. And above all else, it really was worth the wait. I will say that it looked less like a cartoon or video game than the first two prequels and Lucas kept the action direct and tight - with alot of focus on the humanoids this time. An exceptional amount of close-ups were used to great effect at keeping the story about the characters and less about the themes - and a truly great "idea" binds the Palpatine and Skywalker characters together (what a fantastic revelation) that carries over throughout the rest of the films - "let's find it together". With movies like this - you just have to take the good with the bad, and there were equal amounts of both. But contrary to popular belief - I walked away thinking that "bad" didn't necessarily win out in the end. The Sith want to end the corruption of the Senate, of Democracy. They live by their passions, and this is probably the only thing we truly learn about them in the whole film. In the end, are those such bad ideas afterall?
You see it. Decide for yourself. The lightsaber duels were a-plenty, but alot of the action (to me) was lost in the tight shots. The best duel in the series is still the final fight at the end of Phantom Menace. Yoda and R2 were the real heroes of the new film and George proved once and for all that he can ruin any young (living) actor that he can get his hands on (Christensen and Portman). Jimmy Smitts was actually quite fine, and so was Ewan McGregor. Ian McDiarmid hammed it up wonderfully and Samuel L. Jackson didn't go out "like a punk" as he feared before filming began. I just wish Christopher Lee had a little more to do here instead of that under-developed, coughing and weezing cyborg, General Grievous. Oh well. Good with the bad, remember? But I still have to ask: who the fuck is Wayne Pygram?
In closing: this has been a great and worthy build-up. I love the Star Wars/Burger King scratch-off games, I loved peering through all of the paraphernalia in print and watching all of the teasers on line over the months. I especially loved conversing with all of you about it since late last summer when I started this blog. Now, as some of you may know, I am directing my energies elsewhere. Creatively I am at a crossroads. And no I don't mean the Walter Hill/Ralph Macchio (or the Britney Spears) kind of crossroads either. I am about to take that big leap - when the world's biggest critic finally becomes a contributor. And it's going to consume alot of my time, money, creativity and spirit. I promise to keep all of you who check in here frequently in tune with what's going on - but this may be the last "official" Dan Dorman movie blog post for quite a while. But don't fear, I will be starting up another blogsite very soon, some of you are already aware of it (and it's purpose). I guess what I'm really trying to say is: I don't like writing about movies very much at all. It's time I got off my ass and finally started making them myself. I just want to say that this has been alot of fun (although more often than not exhausting) and I hope you all will continue to check back whenever you want (you never know when there will be a surprise waiting). I do have to say that out of all of the posts I have made, in talking with you guys through the comments - my favorite one still has to be the Alan Rickman post (but I think the comments are all gone now). That comment stream about summed up how I still feel about alot of things (especially "Oh, God!"). Oh well, I wont keep going on about how fun and challenging this has been for me - or how I hope all of you will continue to be creative (and successful) in all of your lives. You can email me anytime. I look forward to that. To make a long story short (too late), thanks for reading.
In all sincerity,
D.
"Fear of death is fear of what we may experience. Nothing at all, or something quite new."
- Marcus Aurelius
ps: See, Matt - I finally found a place to use that quote!
Okay, so you want to know where I rank it among the other 5 films in the series. I'll tell you. I rate the Star Wars (in terms of my favorite) films as such:
1. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (77)
2. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (80)
3. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (83)
4. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (05)
5. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (99)
6. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (02)
It's quite possible that Empire is still the best, but New Hope is still the most "fully functional" from beginning-to-end and stand-alone out of all of them - and it had the best villain of them all: Peter Cushing (of course).
So, how do I feel about Episode III? I have to tell you: I really, really liked it. It is hands down the best of the prequels and is almost on par with Jedi - but still, nothing compares to the Luke/Vader fight followed by the "redemption scene" at the end of Jedi - one of the greatest scenes in the history of film. I'll be honest - whenever Revenge of the Sith doesn't focus on the contrived and horridly-written love story (Annakin and Amidala) it works like gangbusters. It's fast, it's lucid and above all - it's rock-solid (for the most part). I am not so quick to defend Obi Wan's "mission" given to him by Yoda at the end - and the Missus brings up a good point: why would Amidala have just given out at the end ("her will?"), especially since any mother would have fought for her children till the bitter end? Giving-out was simply put: a sorry choice. But the scenes between Palpatine and Annakin were really the heart of the whole thing for me. And if the "bad guys" were the heart of it - then Yoda was truly the soul. I just have to thank George Lucas (finally) for giving Yoda something to do here. When he clutches at his heart through his little green chest - it felt like mine breaking too. Beautiful suspension of disbelief for a great CGI character (so what if it was not Gollum). For me, Yoda brought the house down.
I wont go on too much about it - except that it really was worth the ten bucks (and me leaving the compound) to go see. And above all else, it really was worth the wait. I will say that it looked less like a cartoon or video game than the first two prequels and Lucas kept the action direct and tight - with alot of focus on the humanoids this time. An exceptional amount of close-ups were used to great effect at keeping the story about the characters and less about the themes - and a truly great "idea" binds the Palpatine and Skywalker characters together (what a fantastic revelation) that carries over throughout the rest of the films - "let's find it together". With movies like this - you just have to take the good with the bad, and there were equal amounts of both. But contrary to popular belief - I walked away thinking that "bad" didn't necessarily win out in the end. The Sith want to end the corruption of the Senate, of Democracy. They live by their passions, and this is probably the only thing we truly learn about them in the whole film. In the end, are those such bad ideas afterall?
You see it. Decide for yourself. The lightsaber duels were a-plenty, but alot of the action (to me) was lost in the tight shots. The best duel in the series is still the final fight at the end of Phantom Menace. Yoda and R2 were the real heroes of the new film and George proved once and for all that he can ruin any young (living) actor that he can get his hands on (Christensen and Portman). Jimmy Smitts was actually quite fine, and so was Ewan McGregor. Ian McDiarmid hammed it up wonderfully and Samuel L. Jackson didn't go out "like a punk" as he feared before filming began. I just wish Christopher Lee had a little more to do here instead of that under-developed, coughing and weezing cyborg, General Grievous. Oh well. Good with the bad, remember? But I still have to ask: who the fuck is Wayne Pygram?
In closing: this has been a great and worthy build-up. I love the Star Wars/Burger King scratch-off games, I loved peering through all of the paraphernalia in print and watching all of the teasers on line over the months. I especially loved conversing with all of you about it since late last summer when I started this blog. Now, as some of you may know, I am directing my energies elsewhere. Creatively I am at a crossroads. And no I don't mean the Walter Hill/Ralph Macchio (or the Britney Spears) kind of crossroads either. I am about to take that big leap - when the world's biggest critic finally becomes a contributor. And it's going to consume alot of my time, money, creativity and spirit. I promise to keep all of you who check in here frequently in tune with what's going on - but this may be the last "official" Dan Dorman movie blog post for quite a while. But don't fear, I will be starting up another blogsite very soon, some of you are already aware of it (and it's purpose). I guess what I'm really trying to say is: I don't like writing about movies very much at all. It's time I got off my ass and finally started making them myself. I just want to say that this has been alot of fun (although more often than not exhausting) and I hope you all will continue to check back whenever you want (you never know when there will be a surprise waiting). I do have to say that out of all of the posts I have made, in talking with you guys through the comments - my favorite one still has to be the Alan Rickman post (but I think the comments are all gone now). That comment stream about summed up how I still feel about alot of things (especially "Oh, God!"). Oh well, I wont keep going on about how fun and challenging this has been for me - or how I hope all of you will continue to be creative (and successful) in all of your lives. You can email me anytime. I look forward to that. To make a long story short (too late), thanks for reading.
In all sincerity,
D.
"Fear of death is fear of what we may experience. Nothing at all, or something quite new."
- Marcus Aurelius
ps: See, Matt - I finally found a place to use that quote!
