Episode III Rocked!!!

[John Crichton]

Not impressed here. The dialogue sucked, IMO.

The dialogue for all 6 sucked. They were never about that.

 

[ShadowDenizen]

Back from the midnight show.
Well, Ep III was about a 7-8 (on a scale of 1-10). Definitely the best of the preguels.

That said....
(Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD.)

My thoughts on the film (forgive me if they're a little bit "stream of consciousness"):

--I really enjoyed the final 3rd of the film quite alot, after a somwhat disappointing beginning and middle.

--The dialogue was somewhat wooden, but better than Ep. I & II: I still found Hayden Christansen somewhat miscast in this role. At first, I was convinced it was the dialagoue, since HC was really good in "Life as a House" and "Shattered Glass", but now I'm leaning more towards him being miscast as Anakin.

--Unfortunately, while the Padme/Anakin relationship was portrayed better than it was in EP. I & II, it still felt a little flat, which is disappointing, considering that that is really the crux of the film. I wish that they would have done more foreshadowing in the first two films, (maybe have Anakin have dreams of Padme's death in Ep. II, as a start?) using the three stories to tell a sweeping, interconnected tale, rather than leaving everything ''til the 3rd film. More, I think that Lucas is WAY too enamored with CGI, often at the expense of plot/character development. (And, as an aside, MUST all the CGI creatures make obnoxious noises? Uptapi lizard, I'm looking at you!!)

--I think the "Jedi Purge" scenes would have been more effective and poignant if we'd gotten to know ANYTHING about the Jedi that were killed. Obviously, Obi-Wan and Yoda are in no danger, and the only other Jedi they really defined even peripherally was Mace Windu.

--General Grievous? FEH. What a lame "villain", and an obvious attempt to capitalize on the "Clone Wars" cartoon. "Ha, Ha, Ha! My devious plan of ESCAPING is now complete!!"

--The "Wookie Army" sequence.. Was this really needed? Especially since there was no clear purpose for including it in the film (other than a lumsy point device to drag Yoda away from Coruscant before the Jedi Purge, of course), and no effective resolution onscreen.

--The Emperor? Seriously rocks.

--Anakin's turn to the Dark Side seemed (IMO) rather sudden, instead of a gradual build-up. He essentially goes from a confused Padawan to a child-killing maniac in the space of one or two scenes.

 

[Templeton580]

No spoilers here.

Cripes, can we have ONE thread about this flick without spoilers?!

There are three or four others with spoilers already.

Some of us have small children and can't get to the theater until Gramma is in town.

 

[satori01]

Not impressed here. The dialogue sucked, IMO.

Bleh, it certainly had the best dialogue of the prequels, and the scenes between Anakin and Padme actually worked imho this time around.

I will say this, especially during the begining there where alot of lines that had the potential to be funny in a deadpan sort of way that fell flat.
George as the director only has himself to blame, but the action, the emotion, and the sheer visual spectacle make up for it.

 

[Laurel]

From a midnight show watcher

In comparison, to EP 1 & 2 this rocked! And I have to see it a few more times, but might even put it above 4.

The script was bad, but that's never been the gold for the SW movies. It's always the one liners, and there were some good ones by Obi.

It had the cool fights. It had the Yoda. It had the very dark depressing points. It had the typical Lucas fades. It had the answers to some of those little questions we all had. It finally answered the big questions. It had some twists that those of who don't read spoilers were surprised at, and it had those twists we knew had to come about. It had the cool CG. It left some points unanswered, so we can continue to question and debate. It even had a moment I felt like screaming "Kahn!"

I will say, though, that some of the stuff seemed like Lucas was just throwing it in. I also wished there was more Padme. They just kind of left her with only bad lines.

For me, the first 30 minutes flew by, and even for the rest of the film only the romantic scenes really slowed it down.

 

[Trainz]

I gave it an 8. Really cool flick. Anakin's look in his eyes as the Vader helmet descended upon his face gave me shivers. And the first breath. Damn.

--Anakin's turn to the Dark Side seemed (IMO) rather sudden, instead of a gradual build-up. He essentially goes from a confused Padawan to a child-killing maniac in the space of one or two scenes.

I was discussing this with my wife. I was disturbed too at that, but then I said 'this is not simply the case of a human being committing evil acts after being hurt, there's the very real dark side that also twists his mind. We simply cannot look upon his behaviour with our own psychological mindset, there is a very important unknown value in this equation'.

 

[Desdichado]

I was discussing this with my wife. I was disturbed too at that, but then I said 'this is not simply the case of a human being committing evil acts after being hurt, there's the very real dark side that also twists his mind. We simply cannot look upon his behaviour with our own psychological mindset, there is a very important unknown value in this equation'.

I dunno... I thought it was sufficiently built up; I mean, all of Clones was him struggling with the Dark Side. Much of this movie he seemed torn between both sides. And lets not forget that he was essentially tricked into finally making the decision to side with the Sith.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I dunno... I thought it was sufficiently built up.

I didn't think it was sufficiently built up, but I didn't really mind since he seemed to go to the point of no return. I just wish he was a bit more tortured and confused after his pledge to the emperor instead of being so convicted. That's the only thing that bugged me about his turn to the darkside. If while fighting Obiwan they added the "I have no choice I must obey my master" stuff from Jedi, that would have been perfect. Also, him telling Obiwan that it was too late for me, would have been great as well. Other then that, I thought Hayden did a very good job.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

The turn was fairly quick...however, if you bought into his motivation of doing ANYTHING to keep Padme alive, it was definitely built up enough. If you need more, though, yeah, it was left kind of out there.

 

[ShadowDenizen]

The turn was fairly quick...however, if you bought into his motivation of doing ANYTHING to keep Padme alive, it was definitely built up enough. If you need more, though, yeah, it was left kind of out there.

Well, I wanted to buy into it, but I didn't: their relationshiop wasn't "real" to me. And unfortunately, that's the crux the movie rests on. I thought that Padme was a very poorly defineted character, anyway, and they certainly didn't give her any juicy scenes in this movie. In contrast, look at Leia from the original trilogy. A strong, oiwerful, female character: she's a diplomat, but she also single-handedly kills Jabba the Hutt!!

If they'd done some more foreshadowing/ character development in the eariler film, I might've bought it. But the "I hate sand" rant ruined that plotline anyway. :\