And so it ends. Having seen very little to spoil any part of the movie, I was able to enjoy a Star Wars movie with a fresh perspective. I’ve come to judge these films in a class by themselves, comparing them to each other. For if they were to set foot into the larger realm of fantasy and sci-fi cinema, they are instantly decimated on several fronts by Lord of the Rings, Firefly, any number of anime series, the list goes on.
From a technical aspect, Episode 3 seemed to be about pushing the envelope in terms of scope, speed and detail. Once you have mastered the massive completely CGI set piece, there is little room for innovation. So when there’s an epic space battle, the results are astonishing and no one does it better than ILM. Lightsaber battles have also been perfected in this film and it is difficult to imagine any improvements in this arena. The fights are almost too fast, an impossible blur of flashing light.
From an acting standpoint, I felt that everyone turned it up a notch since Episode 2. Ewan definitely inhabited the role of Obi-wan this time around. Ian was perfect as Palpatine/Sidious. Even Hayden was tolerable, though slightly stiff. A big disappointment was Natalie Portman who was given nothing to work with and was downgraded to Anakin’s hand-wringing wife.
I’ve always felt that Lucas is more of a technician than a director. He has this vision in his head and at last he has the technology to translate that into a film. This visual translation seems foremost in his mind. The transmission of any kind of story seems to be secondary. While his handling of the overarching story is genius, he falters in the details, writing dialogue heavy with exposition, encouraging only passable wooden performances from his actors. If only the writers from Knights of the Old Republic could have had a crack at the script, we could have seen something more elegant. Instead, the story plods methodically towards its inexorable conclusion, words falling from the character’s mouths simply because they have to.
This is not to say that there are no brilliant moments. The seduction of Anakin, the scene at the opera, Obi-wan’s confrontation with Padme, Vader’s first words… these stuck with me. The sense of descending darkness is also effective, culminating in Obi-wan turning his back on Anakin’s charred and mutilated form.
The visual orchestration of this film was also very powerful, with Lucas quoting scenes from the original trilogy, giving moments a deep resonance. Seeing Palpatine seated on the throne-like chair as Anakin and Dooku crossed sabers in that mirror of Return of the Jedi’s Luke/Vader duel gave me chills. So too the scene of Owen Lars gazing into the twin Tatooine sunset…beautiful.
On the whole, it was a good experience which I enjoyed more than the first two films. While technical excellence won out over passion and artful storytelling, the epic themes of Star Wars were made complete in this film. The nature of Anakin’s fall is revealed and his redemption in Jedi is made much more satisfying now that we know the depth of the descent.