Rate Revenge of the Sith *SPOILERS*

[Greylock]

Starting to think the Wookie yodel was in my head. No one else has mentioned it.

Solid 5 from me. It doesn't suck on every level, yet it's nowhere as good as folks are saying. I liked many parts, but not the whole.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Starting to think the Wookie yodel was in my head. No one else has mentioned it.

I didn't mention it because its nothing new. Obviously, its a Wookie tradition when swinging onto enemy vehicles.

 

[Testament]

George Lucas is a great storyteller. Too bad he's such a bad film maker.

Lets face it, Ian McDiarmid grabbed this film, and ran off with it in its entirety. His wonderfully Mephistopheles-like performance as Palpatine was the best thing about this film, save the final confrontation between Obi-Wan and Anakin.

My main beef is the same one with ALL 6 Star Wars films. As Harrison Ford said "you can write this, but you can't say it!". The dialogue is as stilted as ever, and while he might have improved by leaps and bounds with what he gave to Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen, poor Samuel L Jackson and Natalie Portman had NOTHING to work with whatsoever. Once again, the character of Padme went to waste entirely, save to be the sacrificial lamb and mother of the twins.

Like many others, I felt that the fatal moment, when Anakin sides with Palpatine against the Jedi, was quite weak. The ceremony afterwards, and the interplay between the manipulative senator and the hopelessly misguided young Anakin were fantastic, but that moment needed to be convincing. It wasn't.

My other big beef is that the pacing and structure is terrible, not as bad as AotC, but still an annoyance. In the middle of an exciting section, they cut to scheming or Anakin/Padme, and completely ruin the moment, rather than letting anything run its course. It is way too short for the amount Lucas is trying to cover, and could easily do with an extra hour.

And am I the only one who found the scene where Vader undergoes his cybernetic metamorphosis into Darth Vader to be PURE Frankenstein?

 

[Greylock]

I didn't mention it because its nothing new.

Dang. I don't remember it before. But then, the only films in the series I've watched repeatedly are Star Wars and TESP. Episodes I & II I've only seen once each. And ages ago.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Dang. I don't remember it before. But then, the only films in the series I've watched repeatedly are Star Wars and TESP. Episodes I & II I've only seen once each. And ages ago.

It was originally in Jedi when Chewie and the two Ewoks swing ontop of the AT-ST. Hearing it in Sith brought a smile to my face.

Cheesy? Of course! But it was a just another of those nice little touches connecting the movies together.

 

[spider_minion]

I gave it a 10!

I'm no Star Wars fanboy. I was underwhelmed by episode 1, and episode 2 could have been a bit better. But once Dooku met his end I really got absorbed into the movie. I really appreciated the whole plot about the democracy being turned into a dictatorship . . . after all, Hitler never broke the law in his rise to power--he just changed the laws to suit his own purposes. And then there what's going on in the US . . .

On a different level, I liked seeing Choobaka's brief cameo. I wish he had more screen time. And General Grevious was da man. He's crafty, sneaky, and robotic . . . all admirable traits. Yoda wasn't too goofy, and Jar Jar got the right amount of screen time. The darker tone really drove the experience home.

If I watched Episode III with greater scrutiny I could probably found a few scenes I didn't like. But looking at the big picture, there arn't many futuristic fantasy epics around that are this good. I will resist the urge to bash Lucas, and instead fully appreciate this fine film!

EDIT: I almost forgot . . . I feel like watching the original trilogy.

 

[John Crichton]

And am I the only one who found the scene where Vader undergoes his cybernetic metamorphosis into Darth Vader to be PURE Frankenstein?

Certainly. And I will be surprised if Lucas doesn't acknowledge that in an interview or on the DVD. Actually, I think he may have somewhere in the recent past but I have no proof of that. He's always been a fan of the classics.

 

[Michael Tree]

SPOILERS

I gave it a 9. The first half had the primary problem of Ep.II - it was just a bunch of aimless running around and pointless fights with droids. But the ending was good enough to make up for that mediocrity.

I found the Palpatine vs. Jedi fight particularly chilling, for a reason I can't quite pin down. Palpatine's fighting style just felt alien and wrong, in an entirely right way for a Sith lord.

I also particularly loved the mind-wiping of 3P0, but not R2. It's as we've suspected all along.

It also did the impossible - it made lightsaber battles bad. How can you even do that?!

Easy: Make them too fast, without much maneuvering or variety. They were all quick blurs of swordstrokes between two opponents standing next to each other. They didn't have the fun martial arts or physical maneuvering of the Ep.I duel, nor the cool structured elegance of the Ep.II Jedi battles. They were just blurs of quick swordstrokes.

The long slow scene where Anakin looks out the window of the Jedi council chamber, and across the city Padme looks out her window, was a good scene. We know Anakin is considering what he might lose, and the slow pacing gives us a chance to feel for him. So when he goes to aid Palpatine, we've actually had some emotional build-up.

Right, and there were a few other masterfully shot an paced scenes in the movie. The betrayal and purge of the Jedi montage was gorgeously done, as was the intercut birth scene and masking of Vader. (Not surprisingly, the best scenes are ones without much dialogue). The cutting on the whole was was too quick though, as you mentioned. Lucas also occasionally falls back into "telling, not showing" a few times.

7. One last request. This might have redeemed the movie at the end. Okay, so Anakin becomes Vader, and Palpatine tells him Amidala is dead, and Anakin gives a very un-Vader-like (and un-James Earl Jones-like) cry of "Noooo!" Now imagine if the scene had lingered for a moment longer.

Vader is kneeling, looking down at his new, inhuman body. He takes one slow breath, slumps slightly, then takes another breath, looking broken. And then with his next deep, mechanical breath, he straightens and stands. We can almost hear a growl in his breathing.

"Anakin Skywalker has lost all he ever loved. It has all betrayed him, all died. Now there is nothing left but the power of the dark side of The Force. There is nothing left but Vader."

And we can fade out with the Emperor quietly cackling. Roll credits.

I don't like the dialogue you wrote there, and I like the way the movie actually did end,
but I definitely agree that the scene should have lingered longer. If would have been perfect even if he just collects himself, then stands up straight and tall as his breathing becomes deeper and steadier, and calmly but menacingly walks away, so we can see the final death of Anakin and the birth of Vader as we all know him.

 

[Steve Jung]

I give it a 6.

I didn't like it, although all those I went with did. The first part was terrible. The slide from Republic to Empire was more like a steep drop. And plot holes abounded. The vehicles and starships looked silly. The Republic starfighters with the s-foils. What do the foils do? There aren't weapons on the wingtips. And the assault boats the droids used on Kashyyk. C'mon, paddleboats, like a Mississippi steamship?

 

[Flyspeck23]

A solid 7 for me. While there are better (yet similar) movies to be seen, especially in recent years, I enjoyed RotS much more than any other of the prequels.

Favorites:
- Obi-Wan and the blaster pistol
- Yoda and Chewbacca knowing each other
- Grievous and the four lightsabers (didn't watch Clone Wars though, so I can't compare)
- the death of Count Dooku
- Clonetroopers killing the Jedis (the kid defending Senator Organa was a nice twist)
- the opening battle (and the trademark "I've a bad feeling about this.")
- all those nods to the classic trilogy

Dislikes:
- Anakin's and Padme's dialogue on the balcony
- Obi-Wan's mount
- Anakin turning to the Dark Side and slaughtering younglings mere moments later
- Obi-Wan leaving Anakin to suffer

The ending could've been better. Vader's mask somehow didn't look as good as in the classic trilogy (I think the faceplate was too small compared to the whole helmet), and the buttons on the chest looked a little too 70s. And the last scene is "Owen Lars impersonates Luke Skywalker"... huh?

Hans Christian Anderson did a good job with intense glares during combat, but just a smidgen more oomph in his swordfight would have been nice.

It's a fairy tale