Revenge of the Sith finally

[triadruid]

So a bunch of us (19?) did in fact traipse out to the movie theatre last night to see RotS (after watching AotC so we'd remember what Lucas tried to tell us was going on there). Lucas promised to tie up loose ends, and I took him at his word. In that regard, I wasn't disappointed. This is more about the film itself than the plotholes/continuity in a larger series; there's too much nostalgia tied up in IV-VI to give them a fair appraisal, and I-II set most people's bar absurdly low.

• Actually, he did a fairly good job. Much better than the last two films, and tied up nearly every loose end, efficiently if not with a pretty bow.
• Yoda continues to be one of the best characters in the new trilogy, along with the droids (even if it was out-of-character for them to joke, get offended, or even talk); if they'd CG'ed Anakin, it might have been an improvement.
• I firmly believe that with the acting talent they had at their disposal in other roles, that Lucas' direction/script has to take the lion's share of the blame.
• One of the things wrong with the new trilogy, as we learned quickly while watching RotJ afterward, is that this series has no Han Solo. No one has ANY sense of humor, and they're all so damn...earnest.
• Gen. Grievous was entirely unnecessary and confusing if you hadn't read any spoilers. "Why is a droid coughing?" "Because he's a cyborg." Oh. Why?"
• Coatl-monsters (whatever Obi-Wan was riding on Utapau, that kept whooping in delight) however are entirely worthwhile.
• There has been a lot said about the triumph of effects over characterization, but the lightsaber/fight choreography was much better in this trilogy overall. Seeing actual Jedi fight, instead of home-schooled Jedi brats and cyborg has-beens (sorry, Vader), was a treat. The fight on Mustafar in the volcano was probably worth the price of admission by itself.
• The opening sequence Battle of Coruscant was utterly non-engaging, however. Too much going on involving people you don't know or care about, too early in the film. Contrast with the Battle at the Second Death Star at the end of RotJ.
• Jar-Jar does not, in fact, get executed, but there's always Flash movie fanfics to hope for.
• R2-D2 was as stunningly competent as ever, possibly too much so. -10 continuity points for not wiping his memory banks, Georgie
• It was nice to see "Duel of the Fates", my favorite John Williams piece from the new trilogy, make a re-appearance here.
• And as someone else already mentioned, the best acting of the day was probably when niveustigris took on "Mace Windu", "Anakin", and 2 other Jedi outside the theater while we were waiting. He was Darth Malice, dual-wielding lightsaber spoons; they had the new-generation neon lightsabers and full costumes. He almost won; one of them did get our extra ticket as a 'tip'.

Comments

[kittenpants.livejournal.com]

Several times in the film, I was silently chanting, "It's just a bad translation, they're just dubbing in English dialogue." It helped a little.

The droids stole the show. The droids had more personality, humor, charm, and wit than the human characters. Which is a goddamn shame. I enjoyed the film, but certinly not for the acting.

In watching Return of the Jedi, I noticed a lot more people smiling. Even when facing certain death, Lando, Han, Leia, and even New Improved Stoic Luke 2.0 are cracking jokes and snappy one-liners, and grinning at each other before leaping out to shoot things. There's a lot of cheering, even over minor and inconsequential victories.

In the prequel trilogy, it seems that joy, humor, and charm have been completely bred out of the various species, but that the droids still carry on the imitation in their programming. If the Empire had to be created in order for people to learn to laugh again, you kindof feel that maybe it was worth it.

Which is not the point, I wager, that Lucas was trying to make.