Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Okay, let’s start with the previews.
So after enduring about 10 minutes of commercials, not previews, but commercials, we got to something that was at least somewhat enjoyable. The price on these previews was not cheap i’m sure. And they were all movies that I want to see.
The first preview was the Chronicles of Narnia. It looked amazing. I have seen the trailer over at Apple, but it just looks so good on the big screen. This is going to be an amazing movie. It is what I like to refer to as a mix between Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Because you have the children and their points of view, but with the epic feel of the LOTR series.
The second preview was of Madagascar. This is the newest animated film to come out of the pack. With the voices of David Schwimmer, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, and Jada Pinkett-Smith, it ought to be fun to watch.
Next on the list was Mr. and Mrs. Smith. This is the a movie that I wasn’t too enthused about at first, but the more I see the previews, I think it will be a good movie. Not for the storyline or anything, but it will have good actors in it and will be very action-oriented.
Nope, still not done. I was told there would only be 5 previews and that Lucas was very adament against putting anymore in, but that doesn’t mean that all theaters abided by this rule of his.
Fourth on the list is War of the Worlds. I don’t know that I would call this a preview really. It was very weak. All it showed was fireworks going off in the distance as a war was breaking out and then something happens to the people watching. I liked the other preview I have seen before that included the bridge getting blown over right behind Tom Cruise.
We’re almost there, don’t worry.
Batman Begins. This looks so good. I watched the 10 minute featurette on Wednesday along with the Smallville Season Finale and it looked awesome. The only thing I worry about, is the one thing I always worry about when comic books get translated to movies. Dialogue. The acting is normally very good, though sometimes over the top. But it all comes down to the writing of the dialogue between characters and how comic booky it is at times. But the action in this movie looks phenomenal and the storyline is so strong anyways, so it should be just ridiculous. We’ll find out in a month, right?
Lastly, we have The Fantastic Four. This is going to be a fun movie to watch. Now, I didn’t say that it was going to be a good movie. Are the effects going to be good? Yes. Is the acting going to be good? Yes. Is the storyline and writing going to be able to stand up though? I don’t know. That is the big question isn’t it? But I still want to see it. It will be a lot of fun to see how this movie does at the box office and how the critics go after it with the recent onslaught of comic book movies.
Alright, now on to the movie
It was great. I really enjoyed it. I was a little afraid going into it that I had built it up to be more than it was capable of, but it didn’t disappoint. The acting definitely surpassed the previous 5 movies. I was definitely worried about Hayden Christensen and how he would handle this role compared to the one in Episode II. I was pleasantly surprised. From the opening scene, I knew it was going to be much better. He seems to have matured in his acting abilities. He was very solid and definitely did not have the problems that he did in the first one. He seemed a lot looser in the way he presented his lines. Looking back, I think that it very well could have been Lucas’ fault that Hayden didn’t do well. Lucas does not direct actors, he takes the storyline and the visual effects as his babies, not the actors. They are presented with the lines and are told to act them out. With the rest of the cast being so phenomenal, he did not have to deal with that except with the young actors that played Anakin in the previous two movies. Which I believe is probably why it has gotten better, Hayden has gotten more under his belt and can have more direction for himself.
What can I say about Ewan McGregor? He is amazing. He can do any role and do it with ease. He really is one of the most amazing actors out there and I do not see why he doesn’t get more praise than he does. I mean, this guy really has some serious acting chops. He was in a great movie that, if you haven’t seen it, you should, named Moulin Rouge. Him and Nicole Kidman really bring this musical to life and make you care about the characters and it is the same attachment he brings to the Obi-Wan character. He is one of my personal favorite actors and solidifies his place on my DVD shelf everytime he puts out a new movie. Plus it gets me pumped that he is out again this summer in The Island.
Natalie Portman. Okay, I have read some reviews of this movie and they have said that she is just unable to act in this movie. But I have to disagree. I think the writing for her role was just very weak. I mean, in the first 2 movies, she is this strong politician who would just as happily wield a blaster as she would pass a bill. But this time around, she is pregnant, and apparently that takes away all sense of independence. And I know that George Lucas can’t write love scenes, but these were atrocious. I mean it was really bad in a couple of spots where I physically laughed. But there were also spots where she was very believable. After seeing her in Closer and in Garden State, I expected more, but I really think that it was the writing for her role and not her acting abilities that hindered her character. And I thought it was funny that in the first scene where she is allowed to dialogue, I was critiquing her acting and the kid next to me looks at his friend and says "Wow, she’s hot". So I thought, okay when you aren’t even thinking about how hot a girl is like her, then you are thinking way too much about it.
Ian McDiarmid. I am so impressed with this guy. For those of you who don’t know who it is, this is Supreme Chancellor Palpatine/Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious. He really does a great job. He makes you think about how the Jedi think and approach the things going on and you can really see how Anakin could be duped into becoming a part of the dark side. He makes you hate him and really believe him at the same time, which would be an amazingly hard job.
Really quickly I will talk about Samuel L. Jackson. How can a guy who does such a great job in movies like the Star Wars prequels and Pulp Fiction pick such bad movies so often. He is an amazing actor and I think he should fire his agent ASAP. Because someone is picking some atrocious roles like the movie he is working on now that they almost named Snakes on a Plane about, yep, you guessed it, snakes on an airplane. How far do you have to reach before people will say, "That’s enough". Please Mr. Jackson, get a new agent.
Then there are the characters that you love from all of the movies that show up in this movie. There is Yoda, who kicks some serious tail. R2 who also kicks some tail. Skeenes commented that R2 is a lot cooler in the prequels than in the early films, and I would have to agreee. C3PO who is his always jovial and talkative self. Even Chewbacca shows up in this one, which was great. I just wish he would have fought more. I wish all of the wookies would have fought more though. I was a little disappointed in the wookie scene. It looked amazing and the reason for it is pretty clear, but I wanted more, because I am greedy with my wookies.
There were also a lot of questions that got answered in this movie from the previous 2 and the following 3 movies. You find out how and why Anakin becomes Vader. You also find out a few transition points that move the prequels into the earlier movies. A few things that aren’t explained that I would like to know though, are why Yoda chose to move to Degobah and why R2 isn’t as cool later on. I am really trying to stay tight-lipped on the details of the movie for those of you who are trying to stay spoiler-free, so that is why I am being so general in my comments.
So let me wrap this up by saying it doesn’t disappoint. If you are a Star Wars fan, go see it. That is, unless you are under about 12. It is a really dark movie that might have the little ones having nightmares and questions that really can be avoided by not letting them go. But I would say older than that should be fine. But it was just a great movie. It even had me choked up at one point after Anakin and Obi-Wan’s fight. Go see it. That is about all I can say. I give Revenge of the Sith 4 out of 5. Only because of a few plot points and some of the writing. But I would say a 9 out of 10 is a little more accurate.