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2 Comments & 0 Trackbacks of "Initial Reaction to Episode III"

*Contains Spoilers*

I was on the whole disappointed in episode III. Both from plot concerns and general filmmaking concerns.

Filmmaking concerns: This is only partly Lucas' fault, but the lightsaber cut scenes were aweful. Given that Dooku and Palpatine are each around 80, yoda is a puppet, and Grievous is CGI, they had to rely on doubles and CGI for the majority of lightsaber battles. This would be fine, except Lucas tried to hide the fact with numerous cut scenes. At times every swing of the lightsaber was shown from a different camera angle. Thus there was no flow to any of the fight scenes, but rather a motion-sickness induced nausea.
I also felt Lucas once again fell into the trap of "hey, look at how amazing the world I created is. " "great, now tell a story." "In a minute, check out the lanes of traffic on coruscant."

Plot problems:
1- Once again the Jedi are morons. Yoda can sense Jedi being killed halfway across the galaxy, but the rest of the members of the council can't sense the clones next to them are going to kill them in a second?

2- All of the foreshadowing of Anakin's doubts and struggles, and the ultimate conversion to the dark side takes place in about 2 hours. He goes from rushing to Mace Windu to tell him Palpatine is a Sith Lord to rushing off to kill Mace and save Palpatine to pleding undying allegiance to slaughtering children in no more than 2 hours of "real" time. I know a number of people who are really in love with their wives, but I think they would agonize for a very long time if presented with the choice of letting her die or slaughtering a day care center.

3-Obiwan can't bring himself to kill Anikin but has no problem leaving him on fire and screaming in pain while he walks away.

4- Wookies age backward. A fully grown Chewbacca is the personal assistant to the Grand Wookie (or whatever his title is) and looks older than he did 18 or 20 years later in episode IV. The entire wookie world scenes were unneccessary and the time could have been spent fleshing out other more important things.

5- why does technlogy go backwards? R2D2 has 1/3 his abilities in episode IV.

6- The big, bad bad guys (dooku and grevious) end up being beaten relatively easily.

7- they can rebuild the entire fleet, clone army, redsign their uniforms and all in 18-20 years, but it takes at least that long to build a death star. The second one only takes a year or two.

8- too many cute joke attempts. most people overlooked it because it was spread out over multiple characters instead of focused on JarJar.

I realize most of these are minor points, but they add up to me. By far the biggest issue I had was the ease of transition to the dark side.

Things I liked:

I liked the forshadowing of technology.

For the first time, a jedi is able to win a battle WITHOUT becoming angry to do it. Obiwan keeps calm and actually regrets having to beat Ani. All of the other battles in all 6 movies are won when one of the Jedi gets ticked off.

The plot twist in which anikin's turn to the dark side, which he did to save her, is actually what killed Padme.

Posted by Don Probst, May 20 2005, 09:06

Mr. Probst correctly observes that most critical element of the movie is Anakin's change of allegiance from the Jedi Council to the Sith. Depicting that conversion is the raison d'etre of the entire prequel trilogy. If Lucas gets it right, the other faults of the films become minor issues; if it fails to ring true, then the whole saga is a shallow, unsatisfying spectacle. I would agree that the crucial events happen rather quickly from both the audience’s and the characters’ frames of reference. Mr. Probst seemed to think this was a weakness of the film, but I felt it was exactly as it should be.

In drama, many tragedies hinge on a choice made in an instant. Up until that moment the tragic figure is in control of his destiny and in that moment he can freely choose either option. The tragedy results from him making the wrong choice; from that point on his doom is sealed and only misery can follow. For Anakin the fateful decision was to stop Mace Windu from killing Palpatine.

I felt that moment was masterfully constructed so that we know Anakin has a choice but there is little doubt which side he will choose. Both sides have been manipulating Anakin against the other, leaving him uncertain whom to trust. Seeing Mace Windu threatening a seemingly defenseless Palpatine confirms his doubts about the Jedi Council. Throughout the prequels Master Windu had made his reservations about Anakin quite plain; of all the Jedi he is the least likely to have Anakin’s trust. By revealing his true nature to Anakin only hours earlier, Palpatine left him little time to fully process the implications. All Anakin had really heard was that Palpatine might hold the key to saving Padme. Thus when that purple lightsaber goes up, it comes as no surprise that he chooses to preserve Palpatine, and therefore hopefully Padme, instead of helping the one Jedi who is the biggest impediment to his ambition.

After the death of Master Windu, an exhausted, defeated Anakin seems willing to do anything Palpatine says, starting with the massacre at the temple. This may have seemed like an abrupt transition, but I felt it was the resignation of a young man who feels he has just been forced to sever his ties to an order that never provided what he most needed – a father. Qui-gon might have filled that role but he was killed before he had the chance, leaving Anakin to be trained by Obi-wan who was still in need of guidance himself and who thought of Anakin as a brother. Palpatine was the closest thing he had to a father and perhaps was his father, in light of the insinuation that he orchestrated Anakin’s virginal conception. Is it any wonder that in his most broken and vulnerable moment he gives himself over to the only one who was always there for him?

Posted by Andy Walsh, May 22 2005, 12:31