Revenge of the Sith

[emmagrant01]

Okay, I saw it! After a long month, I took off my red ROTS wristband, which I've been wearing since Celebration III. *sigh* Time to read the novelisation.

ETA: I haven't read the book yet, so these are my reflections just from seeing the film. I've been told by several people that reading the book helps a lot, but my criticisms below still stand -- I should have been able to see these things in the film.

So, what did I think?


WHAT I LOVED:

• Ewan McGregor! I just can't say enough about his performance. OMG -- he is Obi-Wan! And so, so sexy, dude. His performance was natural and nuanced, full of humor and spirit. Love, love, love him. Oh, and the hair falling into his eyes when he fights... Fucking GUH.
  
• The Obi/Ani slash potential! It was so slashy even my husband noticed it! Obi hanging on to Ani in the elevator shaft, Ani refusing to leave him when he was injured, the playful banter betwen them, Obi begging Yoda not to send him after Anakin, Obi's heartbroken "I loved you!" *sigh* So angsty!
  
• The camaraderie between Obi-Wan and Anakin at the beginning of the film. They're truly friends and partners in that way you imagine Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon might have been if Qui hadn't died. It helps to set up Anakin's betrayal later in the film, and it really makes it clear that Obi-Wan's words about Anakin to Luke in Ep 4 are absolutely the truth.
  
• R2-D2 absolutely ROCKS! And the fact that his memory wasn't wiped at the end, while C-3PO's was -- wow! That casts the character of R2 in the OT in a whole new light!
  
• Anakin: If you're not with me... [long enough pause for the audience to think "you're against me"] ... you're my enemy.
  Obi-Wan: Only a Sith thinks in such absolutes.
  Mwahahaha! I love you, George Lucas! Darth Bush... Heh.
  
• Tarkin! Chewbacca saving Yoda! Bail! And Bail's ship! And Bail! There's some lovely potential for Obi/Bail H/C fic in there!
  
• Hint at an Obi/Padme/Ani love triangle. Oh, the fic possibilities!!!
  
• That moment of panic on Anakin's face just before the mask goes on... So cool. There's almost a moment when you see him realize what he's done, what he's lost. Very cool.
  
• The destruct code built into the clones -- I didn't see that one coming! Fantastic!
  
• The special effects were absolutely wonderful, particularly in the battle scene at the beginning. There was so much to look at!
  
• Padme's funeral. That was a really nice touch.
  
• A mention of Quinlan Vos!!! *squees*
  
• I got such huge chills when the scroll started!
  
• Anakin's injuries -- limbs severed, burned alive -- wow, so gruesome! I don't know if I was supposed to, but I felt really badly for him there, and I was unhappy that Obi-Wan turned and walked away from him. And the scenes of him going into the suit... Wow. Wrenching. And it showed how utterly heartless Palpatine was, and highlighted the difference between him and Anakin.
  
• My transformation into an Obi/Ani shipper is now complete. Holy fuck, I need some FIC!!!!
  

WHAT I DIDN'T LOVE SO MUCH:

• I have been waiting since 1980 to learn what could have possibly happened to turn Anakin to the Dark Side. I always thought it would be something he'd do because Padme was being threatened, analogous to how Palpatine's threats against his friends nearly turned Luke in ROTJ. But the way it played out... I just didn't buy it, you know? Anakin turned too quickly, and all because he was having dreams about how Padme might die? One moment, he's telling Mace he can't kill Palpatine because it's not the Jedi way, and two minutes later, he's swearing his allegiance to Darth Sidious. Just... no. He comes across as a little loony. I'm sorry, I wanted much, much more of a dramatic turn than that.
  
• Vader asking about Padme at the end and screaming "Noooooo!!!" when he found out she was dead... ack, no. That's just not right! By the time he's completely turned, I thought he would no longer care about such things as love. He'd already pushed Padme away and strangled her, after all. I guess there had to be an acknowledgement of her death, but still... I dunno. I guess I'm contradicting something I said I loved above.
  
• Why did Padme die immediately after giving birth? Doesn't Leia say in ROTJ that she remembers her? There's a bit in the novelisation about Leia remembering her mother was very beautiful, hiding in a trunk, stuff like that. So what's up with that?
  
• And Padme fucking dies of a broken heart? What?!? I wanted her to have a more honorable death than that! For example, I really, really wanted Anakin to kill her in a jealous rage, completing his transition to the Dark Side. I thought I was going to get it for a minute there... When they said, "She's perfectly healthy, but she seems to have lost the will to live," I was like, WTF? She's got two beautiful little babies! How could she have lost the will to live??? What kind of mother is she? Actually, my husband has a theory on this. He thinks that Anakin somehow bound himself to her, so at the moment will Anakin truly died, she also had to die.
  
• A woman who looks six months pregnant cannot suddenly give birth to full-term twins. Nuff said.
  
• Cheesy romance dialogue. *shudders*
  
• I thought Yoda gave up far too easily. Is it just me?
  
• I wanted this movie to be much, much darker than it was.
  
• I really wanted to see some genuine anguish from Yoda and Obi when they returned to the Temple. I mean, they're walking around, and there are dead Jedi everywhere, and... nothing. Jedi are serene, but that's ridiculous!
  
• What happened to Mon Mothma??? I thought she was going to be in the movie!! I saw pictures of her!
  
• I knew it was coming, but the last thing Yoda says to Obi about "teaching him to commune with Qui-Gon" had me groaning. I just knew Q/O OTPers everywhere were cheering at that. So much for getting lots of cool Obi/Ani fic...
  

I'll add more stuff to this list as I think of it. Feel free to add your own thoughts below!



And OMG if you have not yet seen the video clip of Ewan and Hayden kissing, darthmyrrh has a link to it HERE.

Am now off to read some lovely Ewan/Hayden RPS over on ewan_hayden. Shhhh...

Comments

[aloverestrained.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything you said. The only thing I'd add is that Hayden is just.....not very good.

I was cringing at the forced lines.

[frenzied.livejournal.com]

Did you ever read Othello? The entire Anakin deal just absolutely smacks of it. From the jealousy to the realization at the end- I thought it was enough that I could reconcile that as a possible reason, even if I didn't like it very much.

I wrote a much longer bit about that in my journal :p

the Noooo! thing was absolute crap, I agree. i hadn't thought about the Bush thing. THAT is great! :p

[jedi-diplomat.livejournal.com]

I knew it was coming, but the last thing Yoda says to Obi about "teaching him to commune with Qui-Gon" had me groaning. I just knew Q/O OTPers everywhere were cheering at that. So much for getting lots of cool Obi/Ani fic...


That was the one thing I really really didn't like about the movie. It felt to me like a shout out to Liam Neeson. Like "well, he was supposed to be here, but then he got hit by a deer so, well, we'll give him a shout out anyway."

Oh, and what's up with everyone obviously thinking Obi-Wan can't handle loss? Qui-Gon dies and tells Obi-Wan to train Anakin, so he'd have something to do. Obi-Wan kills Anakin and immediately Yoda says "well, I want you to do some trianing out there in the desert. Find out how to be immortal." Perhaps, Anakin and Obi-Wan have the same problem with letting go?

The downfall of Anakin didn't bother me that much. In Ep2 he was already disenchanted with the Republic, telling Padme that a dictatorship would work better. Sidious was planting the seeds of doubt in his head, look at how the Jedi treat you, they don't trust me, everything that happened, could be seen from either point of view. Sidious' or the Jedi's. I think the turning point was when Mace was going to put Palpatine under arrest, then decided that no, he's too dangerous we need to kill him. Anakin, who thinks in absolutes only. Everything is black and white to him, can't reconcile that with the Jedi he was brought up to rever. He seems them as corrupt, everything that Sidious was telling him was true when Mace said that.

Remember, he was a slave for most of his early life. He was brought up around corruption and tough characters where strength was probably valued over diplomacy and talking. He saw first hand how corrupt the world around him was. He also lived with the fear that at anytime he or his mother could be sold away, split up forever. He probably saw that quite a bit with his friends. It's no wonder he would do anything, to keep Padme around with him. I thought the acting was much better this time around. Hayden did a good job of showing the conflict within him using body and facial language. And no erotic nightmares of deaths to come.

I thought it was interesting that the dreams Anakin was having could simply have been Padme giving birth to the twins. Not dying, he infers that himself from the experience of his mother. He obsesses over it, when in reality, it could have been a joyful thing. Him seeing the future where Obi-Wan knows of their marriage and approves. Even helps Padme give birth. I wonder if Anakin had ever seen childbirth before, to know that pain is a natural part of it (unless you get the good drugs) but by obsessing over it so much, he made that reality come true. Focus determines your reality right?

Anyway, just my two cents.

[sullacat.livejournal.com]

Doesn't Leia say in ROTJ that she remembers her?
I asked the same question way back last November and a couple of others, namely...

1) Do the aunt and uncle on Tatooine know about Anakin's fate? Or do they just think he died?
2) Obi says to Luke that he hasn't been called that name ('Obi') since before he (Luke) was born - is this melodrama, or is that an accurate statement?
3) Were all the storm troopers Jango Fett clones, or at some point did they use someone else, for nice fresh DNA - otherwise, wouldn't all Storm Troopers be of identical height? Were there different versions?
4) Did Obi settle on Tatooine to watch over Luke? This makes me so sad to think about.
5) At what point did Vader realize who Luke was, cause I don't think he really did in the first movie.


Sadly, no one on my flist at the time was able to help me (or gave a rat's ass).

Going to see the movie tomorrow, so I might have an answer or two, eh? :D

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Actually, I thought he was pretty good in this one! :-P

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I haven't read Othello since junior high! Maybe I should check out the Cliff Notes...

I swear that was a Bush reference. It just couldn't have been an accident!

[awaywithpixie.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes. Could not agree more. Although we all agreed that Bail was rather effeminate.

Have you read the novelisation? It makes the whole Yoda giving up thing make a whole not more sense.

Yeah, the Padme death thing stinks... I find it surprising that apparently nobody noticed her pregnancy except for Obi-Wan. I got the impression Bail didn't know either.

And yes Alderaan was peaceful... and beautiful.

And R2D2 is the man!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Good points, all. I really need to read the book! I think lots of the things that are bugging me will make more sense if I do. :-P

I thought it was interesting that the dreams Anakin was having could simply have been Padme giving birth to the twins. Not dying, he infers that himself from the experience of his mother.

Oooh, excellent point! Wow! I need to let that one sink in a bit...

[prestonsbarr.livejournal.com]

I agree with what you said.. Lucas made an awesome story, but not so good with the love scenes. I really wanted to cry when Obi was crying to Ani about being the chosen one. Ewan did an amazing job.

I didn't think Ani would drop all caring thoughts once he turned. Sith build upon their hate for strength, and if you didn't care about something, you couldn't hate either, right?

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Guess you're not worried about spoilers, huh? ;-)

[awaywithpixie.livejournal.com]

A lot of people have already mentioned the Bush reference and whether or not the film was an indictment on the current government. It is an indictment of almost any government from any era...

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the book yet, though I clearly need to.

It makes the whole Yoda giving up thing make a whole not more sense.

Is that a typo, or are you being sarcastic? I can't tell! :-P

Yes, a glimpse of Alderaan!

[awaywithpixie.livejournal.com]

Yup. Big typo. My bad. A whole LOT more sense. :P

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... Interesting thoughts. jedirita posted something on her LJ about Anakin making a conscious choice to turn, which I think is interesting. It wasn't at all obvious to me in the film.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

There was an article in the New York Times over the weekend that discussed this. Apparently, Lucas said in an interview that the film's parallels between the war in Iraq and the Clone Wars are completely intentional. SO yeah, I think that one was a jab at Bush. ;-)

[jedi-diplomat.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the novelization yet. This is just what I inferred from watching the movie, but I have read the comics and some of that is in there was well. The Jedi themselves were fractioning off, some joining the Separatists and some refusing to join either side.

It's just a theory, then there's the part in Ep2 where he's talking to Palpatine. It sure sounds like they've been talking regularly for a long time. Perhaps, Palpatine filled in the father figure roll that Anakin so desperately needed. He tells Obi-Wan that he's like a father to him, but Obi-Wan clearly sees Anakin as a brother. So there's that mismatch as well.

[julia-aka-jj.livejournal.com]

The elevator scene... I nearly drew blood biting my fist while attempting not to shriek in delight. It was just so natural for Obi to whirl around and latch onto Anakin's back. Lots of clutching and full-body touching. Seriously, he was clinging to him like a second skin!

Then the, "I loved you!"... and Anakin replies, "I hate you."

*deep breath*

I think I'm finally ready for my first real dose of Obi/Anakin slash.

I actually liked the reference to Qui-Gon. Now we know why Yoda and Obi-Wan get to be blue-glowy after death and no one else does... It kind of (note: kind of) redeems Qui-Gon's mistake in bringing armageddon!Anakin into the Jedi Order. It's also rather ironic; Anakin turned while seeking a way to cheat death, but the Jedi found their own (better) way. We also don't feel quite so bad for Obi-Wan having to sit in solitude for 20 yrs as Luke grows. We know that Qui-Gon was with him, teaching him.

Padme's costumes are always a great joy for me as I am a costume-buff, but Natalie (always) butchers her scenes. I stand by my opinion that her best acting is when she doesn't speak, because her expressions can be very good.

Order 66 just about killed me. I had the trembling-lip thing going on, the tear-ducts were getting ready to spill... I just about lost it. And the entire last ten minutes of the movie too.

I have more to say, but I'll save that for my own lj once I've gathered my thoughts. They are still pretty skattered.

[julia-aka-jj.livejournal.com]

In response to the Padme dying discussion, I'm cross-posting this from theforce.net because it about sums up why it was important to kill Padme then and there regardless of inaccuracies.

My personal opinion is, Lucas preferred to have Padme die at the end of ROTS for three reasons. One, it's more dramatic to have her die than live on. There would be no way to explain her death later on (the movie was ending), so her death would be left unexplained. Two, it makes her death more poignant because it comes as a direct result of Anakin's behavior. Three, it gives Anakin a chance to react to the news on screen (although I suppose it's possible she could have lived and Palpatine could have simply lied to him).

This explanation of seeing/feeling things through the Force strikes me as much more of an afterthought. I'd be willing to put money down that in 1983 Padme's death was not intended as an at-child-birth event.

Also, some have hypothesized about Force-feelings, etc being passed between the two b/c Padme touched Leia after her birth, but not Luke (though I can't remember).

[prestonsbarr.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with jedirita about Ani making the conscious decision of turning. He wanted to protect Padma above all else. Being friends with Palpatine was just a side benefit. Ani believed his ideals of consolidating the republic, and making one ruler was the only way to keep the peace. Its so sad that he lost what he truly wanted to protect anyways. I imagine that it was his self-hate that kept him strong for so long until Luke came into the picture.

I had to say a funny story.. I was talking to my mom after the movie, and she said, "I wonder how Darth Vader knew Luke was his son."
"I don't know mom, maybe the whole Skywalker last name was a give away?"
"Oh, maybe that did help."
My mom can be such a blonde sometimes XD

[jexay.livejournal.com]

Yes to ewan_hayden. I blame Ani's RPS fic Going Out With A Bang (http://www.livejournal.com/users/lennongirl/584298.html) because it made me into a full fledged Ewan/Hayden fanboi. Then she starts the comm... I had to be there! XD

Er, sorry I didn't read your post... Haven't seen it yet. Hopefully this weekend! Aiee! XD

[shezan.livejournal.com]

I so agree with you on the slash and Padmé's stupid death. I'd write a lot more, but it's VERY late at night here. Say, you wouldn't cross-post this at echostation, er, would you? Please? pretty please?

*bats eyelashes*

*thinks slashy Obi-Ani thoughts*

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Lucas said at Cannes you could read it that way, but he seemeed to imply he hadn't planned it from the beginning of the movie's development like that.

Oh, and actually, I think Christensen was jolly good in this, miles<.i> above his performance in AOTC.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pointing me to that fic! :-D

[zahavah.livejournal.com]

i agree 100%. although i thought the switch to the dark side was.... well, his decision to kill windu was perfect.. with the "I NEED HIM." i totally believed it. although, er, "I WILL DO ANYTHING YOU ASK OF ME" was a bit much.

i felt like they were feeding into too many established star wars cliches.. yoda's speech, saying "may the force be with you" all the time, etc...

obi wan at the end? yelling at anakin? yeah, okay. i cried. :X

i got horribly depressed about half-way through... i realized that, no matter WHAT i yelled at the screen, anakin was turning into darth vader, god dammit. :((

[jane-sehrn-ta.livejournal.com]

I share a lot of your thoughts and commented on them in my journal. I have to say that I was most devastated by the un-Jedi-like way that Obi-Wan turned his back on Anakin and left him to suffer so horribly. For someone you once loved and considered a brother, no matter what, I felt he would have had more compassion, even if it was just to give him a quick and painless end with the 'saber. I thought this was so out of character for Obi-Wan, it's the one thing that will always haunt me about this film. I thought it was totally heartless. It seems that Palpy might have been right about the selfishness of the Jedi... according to Lucas.