Anakin's path to darkness too steep! (SPOILERS)

[Belen]

Just seen it this afternoon and I agree with Phaedrus to the extent that he in the confrontation between Windu and Sideous everything seemed reasonable, including his "what have I DONE" angst when he turned against Windu... but then within a few heartbeats he was professing devotion to Sideous as his apprentice.

I have no complaints over the pacing of his journey to the Dark side - in fact in the opening of Ep III he had largely overcome the temperamental teen-ager he was in Ep II, and seemed a very credible knight.

It was just that the final act of turning to the dark side seemed too... precipitous, compared to the way the rest of it went.

Ever notice how many parallels exist within the movies. Anakin's fall closely parallels the scene with Luke in ROTJ. The only difference being role reversal. Luke lost his anger when he defeated Vader after cutting off his hand. Anakin turned after cutting off Windu's arm and allowing the Emperor to kill him.

Episode 1 and 4: Save the Princess/ Defeat the Enemy ship
Episode 2 and 5: Love story/ large set battle/ spoiler revealed (I am your father vs. Join me, I trained your master)
Episode 3 and 6: Betrayl vs. redemption

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Ever notice how many parallels exist within the movies. Anakin's fall closely parallels the scene with Luke in ROTJ. The only difference being role reversal. Luke lost his anger when he defeated Vader after cutting off his hand. Anakin turned after cutting off Windu's arm and allowing the Emperor to kill him.

Episode 1 and 4: Save the Princess/ Defeat the Enemy ship
Episode 2 and 5: Love story/ large set battle/ spoiler revealed (I am your father vs. Join me, I trained your master)
Episode 3 and 6: Betrayl vs. redemption

I did notice the same thing. To me it actually felt a little too forced, the parallels a little too contrived. Kind of the same way that I felt it was too contrived to have Boba Fett's father be the model for the clones and having Chewbacca save Yoda just to try and tie things into the other movies.

As for Anakin's turn to the dark side. I agree that there was plenty of buildup and the reasoning for it was sound, but I think the final acting out of the fall was a bit clumsy. I think it easily could have been handled in a more elegant and dramatic manner. I also think the same thing could be said for the dissolution of the Republic and the creation of the Empire. Admittedly to do so would have required more time and therefore would have had to result in fewer or shorter amazing battle and fight scenes, and since those seemed to be the real passion of Lucas, it was not going to happen.

 

[mojo1701]

As for Anakin's turn to the dark side. I agree that there was plenty of buildup and the reasoning for it was sound, but I think the final acting out of the fall was a bit clumsy. I think it easily could have been handled in a more elegant and dramatic manner. I also think the same thing could be said for the dissolution of the Republic and the creation of the Empire. Admittedly to do so would have required more time and therefore would have had to result in fewer or shorter amazing battle and fight scenes, and since those seemed to be the real passion of Lucas, it was not going to happen.

The question is: will the casual movie-goer notice this? I'm going to go see Sith with my cousin on Saturday (second time for me), and see if he gets this. He's only seen Episodes I and II before, and I'm gonna show him IV-VI afterwards on DVD.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

TOTALLY unconvincing.

They cut out the part where Palpatine tricks Anakin into watch the entire Star War Christmas Special and it drives him to evil, madness and poor choices.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

They cut out the part where Palpatine tricks Anakin into watch the entire Star War Christmas Special and it drives him to evil, madness and poor choices.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Ever notice how many parallels exist within the movies.

Episodes 3 and 6 open with a rescue, Han and Palpatine.

There is also a kind of harmony to the titles, only reversed.

Phantom Menace is a thematic opposite of New Hope

Attack of the Clones is thematically similar to Empires Strikes Back.

Revenge of the Sith is also thematically opposite to Return of the Jedi.

 

[DM_Matt]

I agree that Vader took a bad deal. Palpy offered him the following:

"Join with me, your friend Palpy, who turns out to also be the murderous bastard indirectly responsible for cutting your arms off that it turns out that you've been dedicating your life to hunting down. We'll kill all the Jedi, and if we do it quickly enough, we'll have a month or so figure out from scratch this ultra-advanced power that only one guy has ever developed which might save your wife."

Heck, if Vader truly understood how to be a Sithy bastard, his reaction should have been to kill Palpy and use the publicity to develop a combination of fame, political power, and force ability that would make him the most powerful guy in the universe. He could even stick with the light side at that point, at least for a while. The Jedi Council would have no choice but to make him a master then.

He could EASILY parley that into leeway regarding his relationship with Padme, such that he could expect her to not have to hide form getting proper medical care, and/or be able to garner a whole lot of resources towards making sure she survives.

 

[Arnwyn]

At first blush while watching the movie, I thought the fall seemed a bit fast, but upon quick reflection I thought it was relatively reasonable (for Star Wars, at least). I knew that the foreshadowing was certainly there, and realized that the real problem was that the fall was done in such a clumsy and hamfisted manner that it took away what otherwise would have been a reasonable series of events, and that I would have to apologize for/justify the events in my own mind (which wasn't that hard, as evidenced from the number of very good reasons in this thread).

In any case, I am very thankful I saw Ep I and II (and Clone Wars) right before seeing Ep III, so it sure helped a lot. A lot.

(I still have a hard time with how fast it went to killing children though...)

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

(I still have a hard time with how fast it went to killing children though...)

Yeah, I was expecting that to be an Episode III thing not an Episode II thing.

 

[Arnwyn]

Yeah, I was expecting that to be an Episode III thing not an Episode II thing.

Heh... I see your point. Though in my mind I was heavily differentiating between Tuskan Raiders (monsters) and civilized Republic children. Thinking about it, Star Wars doesn't really work that way (nor should it).

Dumb mistake on my part, actually.