So... now that you've seen it, what did you think?????

[darthvyn]

just got out of the midnight showing, and i have to say that was the best star wars movie ever. my fiance cried three times. i really felt the emotion in this one as well. i thought the acting was the best of the three prequels, and the way palpatine goaded anakin along his path to the dark side was completely plausible to me.

[James Boba Fettfield]

During the funeral I was thinking, "Show Boss Nass, show Boss Nass, do it . . . come on . . . there he is!"

Best ever? Oh, hmm, I really liked it, though a lot of the Anakin/Padme dialogue made me shake my head. I did clench my fist in celebration at the slaying of the Younglings. If only they had been wearing those silly helmets at the moment, too. Sam Jackson's performance kept taking me out of the movie, too. Holy zombie Jesus, was I glad to see him get taken out the way he did.

That aside, I was happy and it was all I had expected. No big surprises since I have been rolling in the spoilers for a long while. Definitely the best of the three prequels (though that may not be saying much to some people, they know who they are), but I cannot call it the best SW film. That's still 4 and 5 (it switches) for me, though I pretty much enjoy all the films and have no problems watching any of them.

[darko666]

i also just got back from the midnight showing. i have to say that i am speechless. there was so much to take in. but i will say that i was very pleased with the way this movie played out. it was def. the most emotional out of the 3, but that was a given. it is the ESB of the prequel trilogy. i was also glad to see that the dialouge was better in this than the other 2 films. it wasn't great, but it has improved. the part of the movie where the clone troopers are given order 66 and attack the jedi, is amazing and when they show Yoda durning the scene, you can just feel the pain he feels. quite simply my fav. scene in the movie.

i'm seeing the movie another 3 times later on today, so i will have more to express after fully taking it all in. it was good to see Vader again and hear his voice.

[JetsAndHeels]

I loved this movie. So much to absorb on the first viewing, but still quite the experience. I did not sit back once during the film, for I was so engulfed in what I was seeing before me.
Going to go back and watch it again later today.....perhaps will catch some things I missed. Overall very happy with this movie.

[RussUAE]

So so good.

Loved it. Thought it might be more emotional than it was. I found the scnes with Anakin's mother mroe moving in Episodes I and II. But I sure got goosebumps throughout the movie, amazing stuff. Will be back to see it again soon.

Wasn't so keen on Grievous though - he didn't seem to add anything to the movie at all.

[CanadianPharaoh]

Awesome. Quite simply, it was amazing.

The movie had a much faster pace than AOTC (fell asleep twice trying to watch that one this week), and I found it to be more artsy than the other tow. Great panning shots, etc.

I love the Frankenstein homage at the end with Vader. I was caught off guard when he let out that wail, but I guess I just wasn't expecting the number one bad dude of all-time to do that. I love it, though.

And the twin suns scene on Tatooine? Great stuff.

I'm going again tomorrow!

[The 'Xir]

Just got out myself....Hhhmmph. Where to start. :neutral:

This is a tough one to swallow...and I think I'm gonna need a couple more viewings! Initial reaction: Looked amazing! However, I had no emotional reactions what-so-ever. Too much CG was very distracting, The scenes passed faster than gas from a short order cook(also very distracting and the reason why I think I felt no emotional responses), and story..the story...

I'm gonna need a couple more viewings.

:dis:

[darko666]

Wasn't so keen on Grievous though - he didn't seem to add anything to the movie at all.

thats Lucas's trademark with new villians. i enjoyed the scenes with him, but there was something missing. ah, but thats what the deleted scenes are for.

[Mace Windex]

AWESOME!
Excellent movie! It brought back the magic. Loved the humor in the beginning and the tragedy at the end. Most of the complaints I have seem to be over cut scenes. Where was Yoda arriving on Degobah? How about actually HEARING qui-gon? talking to Yoda? Where was Shak TI? The making of book shows her being killed by Grevious in one scene and by ANikin in another. Yet, she was never shown. How about Luminara?

And why did ANi continue to turn after attacking MAce when Palp tells him right there that HE does NOT know the power to keep people from dying? Shouldn't that have been enough to stop him?wasn't R2's memory wiped? Why does force lightning deform the emperor? Didn't bother ANi or Luke. WHat gives? How come Obi "doesn't seem to remember R2" in EP IV? Why is Obi so old after only 19 years? How can Leia remember her mother? She died when I was very young? Uh, yeah..a BABY!
I think Hayden did a great job.

[RussUAE]

Oh, and for fighting style I don't think it topped The Phantom Menace. All the sabre stuff was almost too fast.

But I liked the fact there was relationship between the characters, so that they could talk to each other, that is what makes it better, like it the OT.

[tagmac]

Overall, a great movie. Started out a little silly, but once it got darker, the whole movie changed. While I wasn't spoiler-free this time, I was actually shocked at how easily Palpy dispatched the first two Jedi, then Kit Fisto. Hated to see Mace get it, but it was obvious that was gonna happen. Not better than ESB, but definitely ranks up there. And I love it that only Threepio got his memory wiped - I always figured R2 always knew far more than was let on.

My biggest disappointments also involved the cut scenes. In addition to those previously mentioned, I thought for sure we'd see Qui-Gon as a ghost, and I thought the Kashyyk battle was too quick. Should have been longer, and we should have gotten to see Chewie and Tarfful in action, maybe killing a couple clones before Yoda left the planet. All those Jedi action figures, and yet we never see Luminara, Shaak Ti, or Barris Offee. And my biggest complaint, where was Mon Mothma and the whole group that would eventually form the rebellion (the 2000-something)? After the big deal was made about casting her part, I don't even remember seeing her in the background. Hopefully this is all stuff that was cut for time but will be resurrected on the DVD....either that, or could the tv series actually be about the birth of the rebellion.....only time will tell.

On a side note, I can see now why Jett Lucas got a figure - his small part didn't feel forced, but seemed justified, as well as being a cool scene. The midichlorians and Anakin's birth were also justified (thankfully the Dooku as his father rumor was garbage). Also loved the mention of Quinlan Vos - too bad we didn't get a scene with him.

[trandoshan666]

I found the scene where Anakin betrays Mace and turns to the dark side to be particularly gut-wrenching. It just really hit me.
On the whole, I really loved the movie. With that said, I do think some back story with Dooku and Grievous was desparately needed, particularly for those who didn't watch Clone Wars.
Wow. What an intense piece of work. I can't wait to see it again.

[QLD]

Well, just got back a little while ago. Here are my random thoughts.

Spoilers ahead for those who care.....

Overall, I liked the movie. I want to see it again so I can better judge it however. I tend to get caught up in the Star Wars hype the first time I see the prequels.

Dooku fighting was kind of ridiculous. The CGI on that wasn't very good. I didn't expect to see Lee doing backflips or anything, but, the effects could have been better. They did little to explain Palpatine's betrayal of Dooku, other than show the "oh **** my heads about to get cut off" look on his face.

The opening space battle was amazingly done.

Having never seen the Clone Wars cartoons, I found General Grievous kind of lame honestly. "I was trained by Dooku." To do what, spin your lightsabers in circles and get your *** kicked?

The CGI on the animals and riding of them was much better this time around.

Mace Windu was better this movie, and his confrontation with Palpatine was pretty good. Palpatine mowed through Kit Fisto and the others like they were butter. I know Palpatine is a bad ***, but christ, can't they at least get a block in?

Anakin's dialogue, in general, was better this film. EXCEPT when he was talking to Padme. THat was still horrifyingly awful. The scenes with Palpy and Anakin were very well done, and the buildup to it was pretty good, considering the short amount of time Lucas left himself to do so.

The voilence that the media has been hyping up, was not nearly as bad as they would have you think.

Ki-Adi Mundi went out like a punk, as did Ayala Secura.

Yoda's fighting was much improved this time to me as well. More controlled looking. Palpatine fighting was kind of iffy. When it was actually him doing the work, it looked somewhat out of place from what the CGI and stand-in Palpy did. But overall I enjoyed their confrontation.

I loved the final duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin.

The ending sequence with Vader finding out Padme was dead was pretty lame. That scene was so canned, and it's been done a million times before. NOOOOoooOOOOOOoooo......*sigh*

Jimmy Smits was excellent in his parts of the movie. I wish he had had more to do honestly.

The scene with Owen and Beru was a little.....clunky.

I know I pointed out more of the bad, than good, because it's easier. But as of right now, I did enjoy the film. But it's still not on the same level as the Original Trilogy.

[Jedi_Master_Guyute]

well, thanks to a beautiful young lady who gave us press screening tickets to the 7:30 pm show, we saw it then AND at 12:01 am and both times i LOVED IT. Teh acting was much better than teh rest of the PT and the fight/action scenes were superb. the overall emotional tone the film took on me was intense and i found myself on the verge of tears during both showings.

The force was strong in this one; i loved it. :D

[tagmac]

If any episode of the saga is due for a 4-hour Special Edition, LOTR-style DVD release, this is the one. Too many important scenes cut out or cut short, that need to be released. 8 meaningless deleted scenes won't cut it this time around (no pun intended).

[bobafrett]

I saw it, but found it a little hard to get emotionally attached to the characters. I did tear up a little at the end of the Anakin/Vader vs Obi Wan battle, because Ewan really did an awesome job. I also enjoyed some of the scenes with Palpatine slowly screwing with Anakins head and his emotions. Oh, and I loved seeing how Palpatine gets his face deformed.

Some of my gripes, you would think that after the window broke in Palpatines office, that everything would be swirling around, but nothing seems to get disturbed, including Anakins long locks. Most of the romantic dialogue, lame, but a little better than AOTC. The kisses were short pecks, almost missing the mark completely. My brain is about to shut down, and I'm sure I will warm up to this after I see it a few more times.

Well, I have to be at another news broadcast in about an hour. I will get my sleep in after that. Goodnight!

[scruffziller]

Having never seen the Clone Wars cartoons, I found General Grievous kind of lame honestly. "I was trained by Dooku." To do what, spin your lightsabers in circles and get your *** kicked?


Yea what was the deal with Grievous??? Picking up his skirt and running away like a little girl!!!!:D ...per my buds that went to see it with me. Grievous in the CLONE WARS kicked all form of Jedi hiney all over the galaxy!!! You need to see them QLD it will be a breath of fresh air.


Anakin's dialogue, in general, was better this film. EXCEPT when he was talking to Padme. That was still horrifyingly awful. The scenes with Palpy and Anakin were very well done, and the buildup to it was pretty good, considering the short amount of time Lucas left himself to do so.

I thought Hayden's performance in dialougue, even with Padme , was improved from EPS 2. His dialougue with Palpy all that time was mezmerizing. Well done Ian!!!! Also, the make up on Palpy seemed rather good than the way it was going to look. But when Hayden started getting intensly hateful just before he starts to choke Padme, the performance was so unbelievably great, I wished he had gotten there sooner.


The ending sequence with Vader finding out Padme was dead was pretty lame. That scene was so canned, and it's been done a million times before. NOOOOoooOOOOOOoooo......*sigh*
As the room started to crush and crumble, I was hoping his blurt out would have been more explosive with a force wave. That is how Peter Jackson would have done it.:D

[matthewilw]

Just got back, and overall, I really enjoyed it.

I was disappointed in how short the wookie battle was (not even going to try to spell the name of the planet.) I really wanted to see more of those new droid flying gunship-dealies.

After seeing the new jedi starfighters in the movie, I must say, that I hate them more than I did 4 hours ago. I really loved the old ones, so seeing the blue/white version was cool, even though it was very brief. I seriously hate the new hyper space rings for the jsf. What was wrong with the old 2 engine ones?

I loved all the lightsaber duels. No matter how short some of them were.

The scene with vader/tarkin/emperor/death star was one of my favorites. Very ESB-ish.

I've never seen the clone wars cartoon, so it would have been nice for them to explain why Grievous was coughing, or simply left it out.

I was glad Yoda realized that "bringing balance to the force" might not be something they really wanted.

I was amazed at how quickly padme came up with a name for a child she didn't know she had.

Simply put, it is a good movie. And I'm sure I'll find much more small stuff in it tomorrow when I take the g/f ;)

[darthverbo]

WOW!!!!!!!! I felt like I was 8 years old again and it is 1977. I seriously got the feeling of excitement. He has done it! I really am blown away. George Lucas finally captured the magic I was longing for. I even really really enjoyed Episodes 1 and 2. This one is going to be the highest grossing film ever!!!! I took my son out to see it tonight and there was a line clear around the huge cineaplex. There were people dressed up and lightsabers glowing. I said to him "look around...you will never see this again in your lifetime. A love for something that has touched so many peoples lives.
Star Wars to me is like baseball in Field of Dreams. It reminds of us of all the was good and can be again. For me, tonight I was 8 years old again. How fun is that!!!!!!!! :D

[2-1B]

Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen are the kings of Star Wars. Well done on both their parts.

Great supporting work from the others, including Nat Portman who was much, much better than some of the bad press I read on her. A very fast paced movie and I was glad whenever it slowed down to let Ani and Padme have their scenes, Ani with Palps in the Box, and Obi with Ani outside of the airbus.

I loved the fact that C-3PO was barely in it because he's sucked since 1977. I'm also glad that Artoo did not get his dome erased.

I didn't much care for the whole "Leia was held by Obi-Wan at Padme's deathbed for a minute longer than Luke so that's why she has images and feelings of her" BUT I'll warm to it eventually because it's worth the payoff of Padme's death.

Grievous sucked. Horrible character.

[bobafrett]

I did see the Millenium Falcon land early in the movie, which I was proud of, usually I miss the small details like that.

[yoda83]

Just got back, after being there since 6 PM my time, and I have to be back by 10AM for more charity work. This is just first impressions as I will sleep on this and probably watch it again tomorrow

Things I liked:

-Fight scene between Yoda and Palpatine
-Ending fight/discussion between Anakin and Obi Wan
-The fact that the true comedy was left to R2-D2, and had Obi-Wan and Anakin making wisecracks
-It showed a little more detail than the book about Order 66 and the death of key Jedi
-Most of the other action was well planned and paced
-Nod to extended universe characters like Quinlan Vos

Things I did not like
-Natalie Portman's acting for the first half of the movie (the second half was much better)
-Samuel Jackson, until the very end of him, was very 2D
-No friggin QUI-GON JINN. His talking to Yoda at the end was supposed to explain all this Jedi mumbo jumbo about spirits surviving past death, and without it, it seemed to have been added at the very last minute as an afterthought
-Some of the fight scenes seemed very choppy. One minute Anakin and Obi Wan are going at it, the next, Anakin is without his saber, and Obi Wan is wailing on him
-I have to agree with every other review, get Grievous a damn cough drop or something! :roll:
-When the hell did Battle Droids have personalities?!?
-Too much Bail Organa, not enough Chewbacca

[Garth Algar]

now that i've seen it, i'm thinking i've wasted 6 years of my life and thousands of dollars on useless toys.......i'm thinking there was way too much CGI, the editing was horrible............all the lightsaber battles sucked, grevious was a useless, stupid character, palpatine was very campy, the wookies were wasted, the film was not dark, it did not deserve a PG-13 rating.

anakin getting his legs and arm cut off was horribly filmed. chris lee got ripped off by george lucas and peter jackson. horrible death scenes in both movies.

i really liked episode 1,(though now it seems weak) was very disapointed by episode 2, and went into episode 3 with low expectations, and was still let down.

i've got tickets for 2:45 pm today...i'm not going.

[Sentinel18725]

Well....I enjoyed watching Anakin getting swayed by Palpatine. I thought that was very very important to include. The large battles were incredibly shot/created. Looked very good.

There will always be critics...I'm going to be one now. The battle on Kashykk was too little. It needed to be longer and more detailed. Seeing pre-planning and then clone troopers entrenched really made it feel like a battle. Some of the CGI looked a little sloppy but overall pretty good. Missed Jeremy Bulloch as the pilot..so I guess no figure...barely saw George Lucas.....so I guess no figure....

Biggest disappointments:

1. I thought we would see Yoda selecting Dagobah to hide at.
2. I thought that we would see Qui-Gon Jin talking about the force.
3. The scene with Darth Vader screaming was horrible
4. The way he went all Frankenstein when getting off the table was bad.
5. How about Vader getting/making his red lightsaber.

I'll see it again in about a week. Very good overall though

[2-1B]

Huh ? Bulloch was there and he even had a line of dialogue !

[Triplesaber]

mmm...it may never be the best SW ever, but i like it. Nothing beats ESB. The CGI? I thought ILM was the pioneer of them all. The saber duels r way too fast, it tkes away the beauty of it. The pace of the movie is also fast, i pity Lucas for trying to put evrythin in it n still fails. I agree the tone is dark on this one.

[Fluke Skywalker]

Doh! I missed Jeremy, wasn't even thinking about it. I did see Lucas' cameo. Missed the Falcon. :frus:

I am beat, but I'll chime in, though reading through here, I don't have anything that insightful to add.

Likey:

The film looks fantastic. F/X truly off the charts.
The best opening for any SW movie.
The acting is very good. Not just good for the prequels good. Portman actually seemed alive... until she died :dead: Ian and Ewan are the greatest. Hayden pulled it off, for the most part and when it really counted.
The duels.. the dules... the dules were great!!! :D
JW's score was off the charts... and should be on the charts

Not so likey:

Uh, wasn't Chewbacca supposed to be in this film? Wookies for two minutes... Hmmm... I smell a marketing ploy Georgie boy! Shame!
General Greivous... the Jar Jar of all Star Wars villians. An embarassment IMO.
The middle act is slow and talky, even by Star Wars standards.
The Mace/Palps duel. That was painful to watch. Started off like gangbusters then became an episode of Scooby doo.
Vader's "Noooooo!" What a real letdown. How could Lucas have approved that?

Overall, the best of the PT by far IMO. These aren't the OT, for better or for worse, but ROTS is more than a worthy entrant into the SW saga and might just surpass ROTJ on my list. OK, it does.

One last note, glad to see that all of the hype surrounding the "Politics" of ROTS was just that, hype. I had started jokingly referring to Ep III as 'Starenheit 9/11'. Some people will look at a turd, and if they're hungry enough, they'll think it's a chocolate éclair. No propoganda here. Just Star Wars.

[Won-Dum Jedi]

Bravo!

That's what I have to say.

Couple things that have probably been mentioned already:

1. The Wookie battle was way too short.
2. No explanation of Sypho-Daiz, or whoever was really behind the creation of the Clone army.
3. Dissapointed that Qui-Gon didn't appear when he was mentioned.
4. The acting was a lot better than I expected, I thought Hayden did a real good job. Ewan, Ian, Yoda always great in their parts.
5. Thought Lucas did a good job on making Anakin/Vader more of a fallen hero than a monster.
6. Dissapointed that we didn't get to see Yoda head to Dagobah.
7. Greivous was not the big bad the Clone Wars made him out to be.

That's it for now. All in all great, only Empire stands higher than this one.

[AndyW]

On the whole, I enjoyed it. It was a good two hours of Star Wars fun, and for me it rounded the trilogy off nicely. There are many good things I could say, but it will take me too long to type and mostly the film was a blur. But the opening squence, Palpatine, Obi-Wan, Bail Organa and R2's messing around all with the lifts stood out for me. Good old star wars fun. I thought the two births (Vader/The Twins) was very well done, and I don't really have a problem with the "Noooooooo" bit.

Sadly, there were things that glared out for me that I didn't like. More stuff about Qui-Gon. Just a scene where he speaks to Yoda just before Bail interupts him to say Kenobi has made contact on Poliss Massa, thats all it needed. Instead it was rushed, and Obi-Wans reaction was much the same as the audience's. "er, what the frack?".

Padmes death seemed hollow to me, I felt no emotion. Though I can ignore this as I thought the Anakin/Obi Wan duel climax was quite moving.

But, on the whole, I wasn't dissapointed, but then again, I wasn't really with the last two films so I can't complain.

[Dark Helmet]

I was fortunate to see it at at 7:30pm due to being 3rd in line and having a lady from 20th century Fox approach me asking if I wanted to see a sneak promo showing. Of I accepted and watched it again at 12:01 est.

I thought the movie overall was good. I liked the fight scenes with Yoda and sidious and seeing windu fly through the glass. Dooku's death was excellent
but.....
the biggest letdowns were the Qui gon references from yoda speaking of talking those who had passed away( as OBI did w/Luke in ANH). But we did not see the development of that "just training I have for you" from yoda.
Not enough wookies at all - zero screen time in my opinion.
C3PO did not have enough time.
Greivous needs to have some cough medicine - annoying.
Didn't show the wookie world enough at all.

But the seduction to the dark side was there but the movie moved so quickly with @10 minutes left and we have the twins being moved then we show the deathstar under construction. End of movie.....I guess I just did not want it to end. It could have been 3 hours longer and I wouldn't have cared but NOOOOOOOOOOO.
Did anyone see Bobba Fett? Maybe he was there but I didn't see him. Saw the Falcon though.lol

[CaptainSolo1138]

Freakin' sweet! I'm trying not too be to in love or too critical of the movie since I've only seen it once (so far :D ), but as of right now, RotS ranks right behind "ESB" for me! The action was incredible, the acting was head and shoulders above the previous two, it really tied up alot of loose ends, and Mace didn't, in fact, go out like a b**ch (as Samuel L. has promised for years). Wasn't too fond of the whole R2 sequence in the beginning, but I'm sure it'll grow on me. Greivous ranks just above Darth Maul in terms of lame villian (I never liked him in the "CW" cartoons, so a big part of my opinion comes from that). I did notice Bulloch as on of the pilots of the Tantive IV. OK, here it is. The thing that bothered me most: During the battle on the bridge of the Invisible Hand the huge viewing window gets broken and except for the suction or something no one seems to be affected by this. IT'S A FREAKING VACUUM!!! They'd all be dead! Perhaps I'm just being over critical. Overall, I loved it and can't wait to see it again!!

[CanadianPharaoh]

I was amazed at how quickly padme came up with a name for a child she didn't know she had.


This is easy. She planned to name the kid Luke if it was a boy and Leia if it was a girl. Since one of each gender appeared, she got to use both names.

My sister just gave birth two days ago, I know she had names ready to go. It was a girl, so the baby was named instantly.

[JetsAndHeels]

I wanted more of General Grievous. He now ranks up there with Maul and Jango Fett. Alot of hype, hardly no screen time and no big significance to the greater scheme of things (well, at least Jango was the source for creating the clones). However I did love the beginning of the duel between him and Obi Wan. Seeing his arms split into 2 and revealing the 4 lightsabers was cool.
Just wish we could have seen more of the ruthless, killing machine that he was made to be in the CW cartoons.

[Patient Zero]

Believe it or not (for those of you that know how cynical I am), I really liked it. Sure it had some negative points, but the positive parts were far more frequent.

Most of it has already been discussed here so I won't bother to repeat it. However did anyone else notice that Obi-wan seemed (although mildly) to be the comic relief character for this movie. It was not so much as for the jokes themselves, but instead as the sarcastic expressions he held.

[mabudonicus]

Jonna- funny, I thought the film was pretty funny overall, I'm kinda surprised that you are the first to actually hang a hat on it :beard:

I thought the film was GREAT myself.. 21-B was like cirque de freaking soleil, man, the way he was all over the place like that was awesome, he definitely needs a new figure now :D

And is it just me or were roughly 50% of the lines some form of double-entendre??? (if not, it's likely that it was just too late at night for me to understand what was actually happening)

And I thought GG was a lot better than most folks it seems- I thought he was actually really nice and silly but real daangerous at the same time- the over-the-top "serious" of Darth Maul always bugged me, so I thought GG was much better definged in terms of throwaway characters

Can't wait to see it again (thought I'll have to...) :beard: :beard:

[CaptainSolo1138]

I thought the film was GREAT myself.. 21-B was like cirque de freaking soleil, man, the way he was all over the place like that was awesome, he definitely needs a new figure now :D

And the great "What do 'the Deuces' legs look like?" debate has come to an end!:beard:

[Patient Zero]

Jonna- funny, I thought the film was pretty funny overall, I'm kinda surprised that you are the first to actually hang a hat on it :beard:

Hang a hat? I'm not sure I understand you there. I enjoyed it for mainly two reasons. The first is that it tryed to reach back to the dark feeling of ESB and the second is that, in comparison, it is so much better then the last two films. I never expected this trilogy to measure up to the first one. I just wanted the last part to come close and I believe it did.

Now if they could just edit out Vader's scream and show more jedi deaths...

[Hasbro'sBountyHunter]

Saw the midnight screening as well. I was pretty much in shock after the movie ended. Be honest, who else cried? As for what I thought of ROTS:

Likes:
Bail Organa's character
R2-D2's humor
The Jedi massacre (in a bittersweet way)
Yoda dealing with the Royal Guards
Yoda vs Palpy
Anakin being engulfed

Dislikes:
Kashyyyk battle too short
General Greivous' character
Dooku's Death
Mace's Death
Palpatine's hissing
Dream sequences
"Nooooooooooooo"

Anyway, someone mind telling me where all the known easter eggs are? I might wanna keep an eye out for them the next time I see ROTS.

[manji]

Although I enjoyed it, the CGI in the space battle seemed too cartoonish for my tastes and the dialogue between Padme and Anakin after the rescue was horrendous. I also preferred the Clone Wars Grievous to the ROTS version. However, the second half of the movie (after the opera house) was intensely gratifying! I'll have to watch it a few more times (when it isn't midnight after a long day's work) to solidify my opinion.

I do have one question, though, that stuck out in my mind and I haven't been able to figure out. I thought Ki-Adi-Mundi was a Jedi Knight in TPM yet was still on the Jedi Council. In ROTS, Anakin throws a fit because he is appointed to the Council but is not made a Master and claims it has never happened before him. Am I way off on this? I tried to watch Episode I again but fell asleep! Can someone help me out on this one?

[DarthZylek]

I thought Ki-Adi-Mundi was a Jedi Knight in TPM yet was still on the Jedi Council. In ROTS, Anakin throws a fit because he is appointed to the Council but is not made a Master and claims it has never happened before him. Am I way off on this? I tried to watch Episode I again but fell asleep! Can someone help me out on this one?

A case of EU being contradicted by the "canon". In the comic it talked about Ki-Adi being only a knight, but George obviously overuled that one.

[Tycho]

I liked it and it closed the whole saga up nicely.

But I was disappointed, but not let down.

I thought the movie would be a "10 out of 10" for me, but it's kind of like a 7 or 8 on first impressions, and I think that Empire Strikes Back was possibly a better film - and I like the prequels. But right now I've had 25 years to be adjusted to seeing ESB.

However, the script was better in ESB, as were all the performances save for Ian McDiarmid's (Palpatine) who did so great with his part in ROTS that he stole the show. Yoda was great in ROTS too though.

What disappointed me and what did I like?

Dislikes:

The dialogue and the humor put into the space battle. This was one of the mother-of-all space battles in SW or at least it could have been - but the cockiness and poorly delivered lines (poorly written lines too maybe) started the film on the wrong note. The Battles of Endor and Yavin were deadly serious. Hoth was tragic and the danger was present. ROTS' Battle of Corsuscant felt fake. The buildings should have been in danger with more orbital debris setting fires to the City and making Sept 11th scenes all over the cityscape. They missed an opportunity.

Also that caused the movie to start being very dorky.

MOST THINGS AFTER THAT were very cool and I loved. But it's critical how a movie starts to wrap you in.

THE LIKES

The best was Palpatine's seducing Anakin to the Dark Side, especially the Opera Scene and when Anakin drew his lightsaber on Palpatine. While Ian's performance was steller, I agree and think the conflict and torn-within performance Hayden gave was incredible.

Obi-Wan and Anakin, while having the movie's worst scenes together, had some of the best: their discussion in the temple after Anakin was made a member of the High Council and that relationship and trust as friends was truly important to make you care about the characters as they fought each other later. Then with Obi-Wan on Mustafar, again the dialogue and delivery was great! Had the space battle not been so silly, I'd have not been scared that the duel was going to suck due to the dialogue and passion being absent - but Lucas delivered, as did Hayden and Ewan in the end.

I could not believe how much they showed of Anakin being burned alive and Obi-Wan watching it and the torment he felt. I think more of the aftershock to Obi-Wan and how that scene affected him needed to be shown. Ewan could have done some good work with that. I WAS RIGHT AFTER ALL - ANAKIN DOES NOT FALL INTO THE LAVA - hahahaha!

I loved the building Vader scene and his subsequent torment and scream and hits homage to Frankenstein's Monster. I couldn't believe they operated on him while he was still conscious! Geeze that looked painful! It made Han's torture on Bespin look like nothing!

Padme and the birth of the twins and Luke's cries when his mother died was heart wrenching. Why she didn't live for her own children was beyond me though. I thought Padme was stronger. I would have had her accidently thrown and impaled on something that might puncture her chest but not her womb - and from that, have her death be caused - only she lives long enough to protect her babies until they can be delivered. Also, were she still "dying" as opposed to being dead, she could have spent time with Leia on Polis Massan after Obi-Wan left, but I guess Ewan helped her death scene - but Bail Organa could have just as easily added a human element to that - though again, it wouldn't be in Obi-Wan's character to leave before he knew her fate. She was his friend.

Anakin and Obi-Wan's words before their duel was just great. I can't wait to see that exchange again. I'm seeing the movie again in 4 1/2 hours from now.

Fallucia where Aayla Secura died was a most interesting planet they showed almost nothing of. That would have been a cool scene to explore.

Yeah the longer Wookiee battle and seeing more of Kashyyyk's legendary Worshyrrr trees would have been great.

On reflection, this almost could have been / could be better than Empire Strikes Back...but it's too early to tell. I think "could have been" is the best operator here, since the dialogue and writing in some spots could have been less cartoony. It's like Palpatine's new addition to ESB - it doesn't flow naturally. Lucas seems to be kind of OFF sometimes.

But ROTS was worth the wait!

[Jayspawn]

I was absolutly mezmorized, and I thought it was incredible. Here's my notes in a nutshell...

Great opening battle, I really liked the new Starfighters Obi-Wan and Anakin flew. They looked cool!

General Grevious I thought was gooing to be a little more impressive than he was. I was excited though when his arms opened up and he started spinning his lightsabers! I liked how Obi-Wan carefully watched him at first to see how he moved. Good movie. I like all the coughing that Grevious did -like he'd worked on himself so much that he was unhealthy.

Count Dooku wasnt in the movie enough. But I'm a Christopher Lee fan anyways and though he was good! Man, he was really trying to tick Anakin off and and got what he deserved. The look on his face when Palpatine said "Kill him."

I loved Jimmy Smits' preformance, and I wish he had been in it more. I missed Mon Mothma the 1st time. I'm gonna see it again tonight. I liked seeing Tarkin again and wish he had some lines. I liked JarJar in the movie and glad he lived through it (that that you JarJar haters!). And glad to see Boss Nass again!

I really like R2-D2 and C-3PO and thought they were great!

Ian McDiarmid's preformance was absolutly incredible! The scenes with Palpatine could have been very boring had Ian McDiarmid been a stale actor. He made great character transitions as his true identity was revealed. His fight scenes w/ Yoda were great as well. It was a great grudge match! I loved it!

Yoda was great. I liked how he senced the pain of the other Jedi's deaths. I always had an idead that he would. I loved how he took out the Red Royal Guards!

I thought the Jedi's death scenes absolutly heart-wretching!

Natalie Portman's scenes seemed to be pretty random at 1st. But then, I just saw a NEW Star Wars movie. Her diologue w/ Hayden was hit and miss I thought. Some great and some not so -but then who am I to say how a married couple should talk to eachother. She did a great job with her emotional preformance though.

I thought Hayden was great. I liked him alright in AOTC but he was more complex this time around. I really liked his showdown w/ Palpatine when he figures out who he is. His preformance when talking about "My power" and "My Empire" was great. I also liked how he was refered to as Darth Vader before he was even given his suit.

Ewan McGregor was truely the star of the movie. His preformance I thought was absolutly amazing. Great writing, great acting. I truely saw his transition into Alec Guiness's preformance. His fight scene with Hayden was incredible as well. Action packed, well run. I loved how Obi-Wan and Anakin spoke to eachother before and during the fight. I loved Obi-Wan scooping up Anakin's Lightsaber at the end.

All in all, I thought it was a great movie. I like it better than The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. But I thought it was a great sequel to them also as well as a great transition into A New Hope.

[QLD]

Did anyone else think that Tarkin's head looked CGI?

[CaptainSolo1138]

Did anyone else think that Tarkin's head looked CGI?
I thought the same thing. He looked a bit off.

[Slicker]

I finally got to see it at the 10 am showing and I totally loved it. I'll have to see it at least 20 more times to get the whole effect but I think I'll like.:p

Only 2 things I didn't like: Grevious and the whole Vader "Nooooooo" thing at the end.

[bighead5]

Not a whole lot I could add here that hasn't been written several times over but I did love the movie.

Likes:
Most of the saber battles although some were too quick both time and speed-wise
Obi/Anakin's interactions, duels, etc.
Palpy... AWESOME

Dislikes:

Opening scene wasn't as serious as I thought it should have been.
No explanation of why Tarkin, even though he's not a Sith Lord, is "above" Vader in Episode IV. Maybe this has been answered before, but I never heard it.
Battle of Kashyyk... was there really a battle there? I think I missed it.
No appearances of Qui-Gon, Luminara, Shaak Ti, Barriss Offee or Mon Mothma
No Vader (the traditional version) kicking butt all over the galaxy
Palpy killing the three jedi in his office way too quickly and easily before the final duel with Mace.
Greivous... I thought he was supposed to kick a**, not suck a**! Definitely not what the CW cartoons made him out to be.

Despite the many more dislikes I have listed above (I have a lot more likes than above, but they've been covered before by others), I loved the movie and thought it was the best one as a whole as far as the story is concerned; although, I still think A New Hope is my favorite... but give it time.

[CanadianPharaoh]

How could you not like the "Nooooo!" scene with Vader? Would you rather he were sulky throughout episodes 4,5 and 6? It had to be done to show that he was truly hurt by his actions and he is also accepting his fate as Dark Lord of the Sith. I think Lucas blocked the scene quite well... good pace, that pullback shot when he screams was just awesome. Just campy enough to fit in the whole "space serial" feel (which everyone should remember is how the trilogies are supposed to feel). Lucas also had to do it fast, show Vader's anguish quickly and get it out of the way. If the scene were 15 minutes long it would have been too much. I thought it was just right.

And yes, the operating while conscious scene was very unnerving.

Did anyone else find it weird to hear Darth Vader asking about Padmé? It threw me off but was cool to know that he's not just the evil man in the suit (yet) and still was Anakin Skywalker underneath.

[Darkness Shroud]

I have seen it twice today and i love it! My first viewing i was in total shock when my favorite characters changed or died. Aayla Secura Baby you never had a chance!! Ki Adi Mundi you still the man! Did anyone spot Shaak Ti? I got most of the familiar Jedi but not her. The film itself is truly a return to form. I still Love the other 2 prequels. The pain and anguish the characters go through is great! Especially when Vaders mask closes in on his face!! FANTASTIC!! :) I love it!

[CaptainSolo1138]

No appearances of Luminara, Barriss Offee

Someone feel free to correct me since I've only seen it once, but I'm pretty sure one of these two makes a brief background appearance on Kashyyyk.

[Slicker]

Not to be nit picky but Luminara (or was it Barris?) was on Kashyyyk I believe. You see her right quick standing on a platform but she was in no way fighting on camera that I saw.

[vadersvette]

Saw it at midnight...AMAZING!!!

The movie was so well done, compared to the other two.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the first two, but this one blew those two away!
My only complaints are:
-The super high-pitched kiddy voices of the battle droids.
-R2-D2 moving extremely fast for some reason :confused: and jumping out of the ship
-Those crappy looking hovering platforms on Mustafar that Obi and Anakin rode on while fighting (it looked so horrible)
-again, like in AOTC, Dooku is only in for a little while. He's a good character that never gets developed or much screen time.
-Where was Mon Mothma?? :confused:
-Not enough Wookiee time :crazed:
-Tarkin was there, but was never introduced, nor was the Death Star talked about.
-Qui-Gon should have appeared as a ghost, instead of just mentioning his name at the end.

A lengthly list, but most are little nit-picky details. THE MOVIE WAS GREAT!!!!
I give it :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:

[I_Luciferi]

Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?

was it just me or did anyone else get the feeling that there were HUGE gaps missing in the plot and that certain characters were edited out entirely? I am so completely dissapointed and outraged by the lameness of this movie that I think I am in shock.

Biggest dissapointments:
Chewbacca's 4 second screen time
Mace Windu's death...expected something way cooler.
Darth Vader's nameing...."You will be Darth....umm...ummm...Vader!"
The ending, namely Vader screaming NOOOOOO!
the complete and total lack of drama, dialogue and exposition.

in my opinion this movie was in some ways better than the prequels but thats not saying much, I am gonna go forget that these movies ever happened/

[sevboot]

I liked it! But I think a lot of the reason I liked it was because it was Star Wars. I think it's the reason most of us will like if we are honest about it.
And that's not the worst thing in the world, but it's kinda exasperating.
The first two Star Wars movies (Star Wars and Empire) were great movies because they were exciting, fun and very well executed. Jedi was good but we also forgave some really lame things because it was Star Wars.
Teddy bears could not take out a galactic army, but because the final fight between Vader, Luke and the Emperor is so good we still love it. Now, I actually kinda like TPM and AOTC. I mostly like them because they are Star Wars movies though. There are some very goofy, badly thought out parts to both of them. But again, I forgive them because they have light saber duels at the end of both movies and they are pretty to look at for the most part.
This last movie has some very good stuff in it. And some very lame stuff.
You shouldn't have to forgive that much bad directing. I say bad directing because I will not blame the actors. They do good work in other movies. Very good work. George just does not know how to direct serious moments and moments of tenderness. He's lucky McDirmid is such a good actor that he pulls off the seduction of Anakin stuff. Alas, there are some really bad CGI moments in the film too, and that's coming from someone who thinks CGI is a great tool. Look at LOTR for example. And why does George keep coming up with cool villians only to see them get used to the very smallest of their potential? Clone Wars GG kicks the crap out of the movie version. And the Jedi got took out like a bunch of losers. None of the others sensed what was going on beside Yoda? Lamo!! Even how Palpatine took out the other three jedi that come to arrest him was lame. It would have made more sense if used Sith lightning, but they never even tried to block him!! Oh, well...sigh.
But like the first two movies it has some great saber duels. I liked the confrontation between Palpatine and Yoda. And the duel between Anakin and Obi-won was good until the end. "I have the highground" was super lame. Um, why didn't Anakin just float down further to shore, or force push Obi-wan? Maybe even fling lava at him? Or just jump straight at him and continue fighting? Good gravy, how many times during that fight did one or the other have the "highground" so to speak? How can Obi-wan cut off three parts at once? That was as bad as the way Obi-wan took out Maul.
And Maul really did have the highground!! All of the sudden Maul just stooped fighting so Obi could jump out of the whole he was in, do a flip over Maul's head, while Maul was watching mind you, and then watched Obi-won land behind him and take a swing a him without even trying to swipe at Obi-wan the whole time? Man, even now I hate how stupid that was. And then ther is NOOOOOOOooOOOOooooOOOOOOooooooOOOOOOOO. Wow. Just wow. WHAT A WASTE OF VADER. Sigh. So anyway, even after all of this I somehow still like it. But I don't like it because it's a really good movie, I like it because it's Star Wars. And in the end I like the Clone Wars cartoon more than any of the Prequel movies.

[Blackened88]

Well I'm sad not because it's bad movie but because it's all over.:( Anyways I thought some disapontments were the Clones were not a big roll as I thought it would have been. Tarkin had no role, I thought he was really going to be in the movie. Dooku getting pwn3d so early on in the movie same goes for Grevious. In the show Grevious seemed unstopable but in the movie he was nothing to obi. Kit Fisto getting pwn3d like it was nothing.:( I really like Kit Fisto thats why. I did like and never thought that Mace would beat Palpy, does anyone else think that Mace can still be alive. But I still liked the Movie very much and thought it was good, I'll need to see it again real soon. :)

[CaptainSolo1138]

Geez, doesn't anyone have anything good to say? I don't know why I'm surprised, but I am. :rolleyes:

[bighead5]

Not to be nit picky but Luminara (or was it Barris?) was on Kashyyyk I believe. You see her right quick standing on a platform but she was in no way fighting on camera that I saw.

Thanks, I obviously missed that but I'll look when I go see it again later today.

One other thing I really didn't like that nobody has mentioned so far is that the voices for the Neimoidians and the Battle Droids were totally different from the other prequels... not the same pitch with the droids or the same type of accents with the Neimoidians. I don't understand why GL did that other than to be more Politically Correct, but why bother to do that now?

[Mad Slanted Powers]

Yes, I believe that Kashyyyk is where I saw Luminara. I did not notice Shaak Ti or Barriss Offee. The back of the Barriss 12 inch figure suggests she was on the same planet as Aayla. I'll have to look for that next time. Did anyone see Mon Mothma? I did not see her.

I'm not sure how I rate this film. In many ways great, in some ways not. A lot of it is the same feelings I had with the last two movies. So much to take in that it is hard to absorb all at once, whereas the OT has been part of our consciousness for so long it is hard to remember feeling like that for those films.

I guess for me, having liked the last two films, especially TPM, I don't understand how all of a sudden people are praising this film so much more. I guess a problem for me was Anakin's pledging himself to Palpatine. This is something that was in Entertainment Weekly last week - But Sith's most pivotal moment occurred last summer, when the F/X artists at Industrial Light & Magic told Lucas they didn't think it was clear why Anakin went bad. Later, during 10 days of reshooting, Lucas says, "I really locked the story." I understand that he was motivated by his desire to save Padmé, but something still didn't seem right. One moment, he is saying "What have I done?" after Mace has been killed. Then a few seconds later it is like he was hypnotized and is mindlessly uttering this oath to Palpatine.

Despite that, I still liked it, and will need to view it again to take in more of the detail. I think that moment just kind of confused me and made the next part of the film a bit difficult. But then again, perhaps that was the intent, as the next part involved slaughtering Jedi children. If you were watching Star Wars for the first time in order 1-6, perhaps you would be hoping Anakin would do the right thing. However, at that point you would feel betrayed, and at the end of the movie you would feel the transformation is complete.

[bigbarada]

I caught it at the midnight showing last night and all I can say right now is that this is easily the most dark, disturbing and incredibly unpleasant moviegoing experience I can remember.

I'm supposed to see it again this weekend with some friends but I dread the idea of having to sit through this thouroughly depressing story once again. I might find some way to cancel.

I didn't feel the urge to buy any toys or "take home a piece of this movie" when I left the theater. In fact, I want to keep this movie, and all the prequels, at arms length and distance myself from them forever. And for that I thank you, Mr. Lucas.

And what in the world made Hasbro believe that kids would want to be Darth Vader after witnessing Anakin's actions in the movie?

I really have the urge to pop-in ROTJ, watch the Endor battle and find my happy-place again. :)

[hango fett]

well, i have now seen it 3 times, and it is clearly the best IMO. everyone was awsome, especially the emperor. amazing. it was very sad to see all those jedi die....but they didn't show anything about luminara or shakk ti. but i assume luminara died because she was on kashyyyk wth yoda, and he would probably have found her and had her come with him.
HF

[scruffziller]

A case of EU being contradicted by the "canon". In the comic it talked about Ki-Adi being only a knight, but George obviously overuled that one.

I was confused on this one as well. The only place I ever found this info was in that EPS 1 scrapbook that came out back in 1999. Where it had a pic of the Jedi council and gave backstory to all the Jedi on the council. It said that Ki-Adi-Mundi was the only knight on the council. Now by EPS 2 he was a master. I am sure it was not mentioned in EPS 1 the movie because I remembered from reading the scrapbook and learning the info I was suprised by it. Was it in the novelization?

[Jedi_Master_Guyute]

I could not believe how much they showed of Anakin being burned alive and Obi-Wan watching it and the torment he felt. I think more of the aftershock to Obi-Wan and how that scene affected him needed to be shown. Ewan could have done some good work with that. I WAS RIGHT AFTER ALL - ANAKIN DOES NOT FALL INTO THE LAVA - hahahaha!



alright then, you're like 1/15 on your wacky ideas. I don't remember hearing anything a bout Dooku being Anakin's dad or any sort of Han Solo being a clonetrooper, so i'll let you have this one, tycho. :crazed:

[Maximillian Phokas]

I can honestly say that for me, Star Wars now officially begins with Revenge of the Sith.

What a great movie! Apparently Lucas must have watched Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings to figure out how to make a good film because I expected the movie to be better than TPM and AOTC, but I never thought THIS good!

The acting was much more realistic this time around, and even though there were moments of cringing between the Anakin Padme scenes, the overall tone of the film was definately on par with the Classic Trilogy. Is it as good as Empire? No. But then again, most of us have placed ESB on such a high plane that nothing ever will come close, but this film definately provided some relief that Lucas WAS listening to his critics (us fans) and took much into consideration. I know a lot of my friends were hoping Jar Jar would get killed, or somehow trip and impale himself or something, but he was just written off into oblivion in this film, which is even better for me - not even worthy of consideration.

Could the movie be better? Sure: less jumping around from 30 second scene to 30 second scene, more dogfighting in the beginning, more Chewbacca, more Tarkin, and if we're seeing Kashyyk, where's Itchy, Naala, Lumpy, and Art Carney??? Haha! Just kidding on that last one :)

[master J]

WHO is Syfo dyas???? Seriously! You think they would've addressed that!?
They really need to make the DVD 3 hours long... had some pretty big gaps!
Good movie though!

[darthvyn]

i really liked palpatine's account of darth plagueus (plagueis? plaigus? playgis?) "the wise." the bit about "he could use his influence over the midichlorians to create life" - palpatine is responsible for the "immaculate conception?" the evil little smile that came over his face when he said "he could stop people from dying, but he could not save his own life. ironic..." (or something to that effect, can't remember. only saw it once, and i'm very tired...) awesome. just awesome. the pseudo-ROJ anakin/dooku duel at the beginning, with palpatine "held prisoner" in his death star chair was great. the way palpatine played anakin like a harp from hell. totally let him hear what he wanted to hear, and played upon his fears. anakin's fall was completely plausible to me. i don't think there was anything wrong with his acceptance of palpatine as his new master. after doing what he did, he felt he had damned himself. he might as well go through with it now, if it will mean he can save padme.

all the relationships falling apart were gut-wrenching. the scene where anakin was in the temple looking towards padme's apartment, and padme was looking toward the jedi temple ablaze with blaster fire was just so emotional.

probably the best acted line i've ever heard in ANY movie:

"you were supposed to be the chosen one!"

although a close second would be:

"this is how liberty dies -- with thunderous applause."

yoda's last-minute thought that the prophecy was mis-interpreted... i loved that. and most of you know why ;)

yoda's knock-down, drag-out fight with palpatine gives creedence to his warnings to luke. "do not underestimate the powers of the emperor." roger that!

still, there were only a handful of things that stuck out for me. i thought john williams kinda phoned this one in. i dunno... maybe i need to see it again. i loved hearing the leia and luke themes at the end, though. no sypho-dias revelation, although i don't really mind that. obviously either palpatine or dooku commissioned the clone army. r2-d2 seemed to have a different "voice." too many beeps that didn't sound like him. but i'll get used to that one.

to me, it's tied for best with empire. the downer-endings triumph!

[evenflow]

The movie was good, best of this new trilogy, but still doesnt touch the original movies. I think the most touching part was Obi-Wan proclaiming that Anakin was liek his brother and how could he do that. The ending scene with Vader screaming no was not my thing.

I get the feeling alot of stuff was cut out. Anyone have a list? I would have like to see more with the Wookies and also actually see Qui-Gon in spirit form.

[Imperial Monarche]

now that i've seen it, i'm thinking i've wasted 6 years of my life and thousands of dollars on useless toys.......i'm thinking there was way too much CGI, the editing was horrible............all the lightsaber battles sucked, grevious was a useless, stupid character, palpatine was very campy, the wookies were wasted, the film was not dark, it did not deserve a PG-13 rating.

anakin getting his legs and arm cut off was horribly filmed. chris lee got ripped off by george lucas and peter jackson. horrible death scenes in both movies.

i really liked episode 1,(though now it seems weak) was very disapointed by episode 2, and went into episode 3 with low expectations, and was still let down.

i've got tickets for 2:45 pm today...i'm not going.

You, my friend, are FREAKIN' NUTS!!!! You obviously went in wanting to see a great summer blockbuster with no story what-so-ever. The whole story of Anakin's fall and Palpatine's seduction was a masterpiece of cinema. I think that Lucas' writing for the first two was not up to the same level to ANH (or even close, for that matter), but he completely redeemed himself with this one. The dialogue was better, the acting was much better, the special effects were good and the story was great. This was a true Star Wars and the closest we'll ever get to the OT. By far the best of the PT. I could say more, but I just haven't come up with the words yet.

[tagmac]

Count Dooku pretended to be Sypho-Dyas and placed the order for the clone army. Of course, you'd have to read the visual dictionary to know that, seeing as how it was likely cut from the film. I'd like to know what happened to Dooku's supposed last words to Palpy, "you promised me amnesty?" That would have added to the tension of the scene, and to the confusion going through Anakin's mind.

[nohagent]

I had all the same feelings/questions. I am glad I am not the only one.

[nohagent]

Its over, I had a good time at the 3 am showing, but its over. I don't feel right. Extremely sad in a way. I know it was just a movie, not the best movie for some reasonable flaws, but a Star Wars movie. We all pretty much new what was going to happen and accepted the idea that Vader hunted down and killed all the Jedi knights, but when I saw it I was disturbed. It is hard to see the connection between this Vader and the ROTJ unmasked Vader, unless even though he was on the Dark Side that he was able to grow incredibly wise. I don't know I had pride in Vader of the OT, but not the same feeling when I saw Vader again, this time I could only think, "WEAK MINDED FOOL". All in all I wish I had not seen it yet. The wait for these movies was indeed the feeling of the thrill of the hunt, and now its over. Wow, I am depressed. Star Wars was such an entertaining part of my life for the last 27 years, since I was 4, and now it is gone. I am not obsessed but It was something I enjoyed and looked forward to more than many other things. I here so many people complaining about these movies, they hated TPM, and the ATOC, but how many times have those haters seen those movies?? I think they need to stop hating, stop complaining, and find the pleasure in these films before the hate and selfish displeasure ruin what is probably their last time to harness the joy of these films. I already miss them, with nothing to look forward to know I dont know what to do or think. I want to hurry to see this one again, but I do not want to run it so quickly through my system that I get numb to it. Sith is the last one........, and we should savor it.

[Jedibill]

I loved the movie thought it was great, the only thing that disappointed me was that there was little clone and wookie action in the movie.

[jonthejedi]

I was depressed going in(a 28-year wait was coming to an end)...I was more depressed coming out. Just an emotional ride for my wife & I, both choking back tears right & left. I won't nit-pick over the same subjects many of you have covered in your posts: cut scenes, not enough Chewie, etc. I knew this story was heading into dark territory for years, but Geez!!! I think I need therapy before returning to see it again. In short...Hayden delivered the goods, and I feel this is Lucas's masterpiece, his "Godfather.". Everyone appeared shell-shocked coming out of the theatre, with very little to say. Ewan's performance DID bring us to tears. Everyone connected with this project deserves BRAVO! Now I need to watch "The Happy Little Elf."

[darko666]

i posted one review, but after seeing it for a third time, the 4th viewing will be tonight. i feel this movie gets better with each viewing. instead of just lookign at the eye candy, i listened to the dialouge this time around and heard some cool stuff. the whole Darth Plaugis(not sure how they spell it) story was great. and is it just me, or was paplatine hinting that he was the apprentice of Plaugis? because it would make sense for palpatine to be watching skywalker grow up and want him to be his apprentice. GL did rush the end of the film, but when the dvd comes out, it will contain all the deleted scenes and it will make up for that. the final duel, was more enjoyable the second and third time viewing it. i still love the Order 66 scene. it ranks as my fav. in the movie. commander cody is a cool character. funny to see him so loyal to Obi-Wan, then from one order, quickly turn on him. but this movie was in no way better than ESB. but good none the less.

some dislikes:
Chewbacca was poinltess, just as Boba Fett was in AOTC.
Saber battles were rushed.
The jedi temple massacre needed to be longer and show more.
Tarkin seemed to just be there for the OT tie in. not even a line of dialouge. what a waste.
And where was Qui-Gon?

[Ji'dai]

I liked it and it closed the whole saga up nicely.

But I was disappointed, but not let down.

What disappointed me and what did I like?

I'm surprised that the wee little Mouse Droids didn't make your "like" list ;)

There was a whole flock of them scurrying away from Anakin as he entered the Separatist HQ on Mustafar.

[DarthBrandon]

I took my Son (age 7) to see it this afternoon; both of us thought it rocked. I had to tell him several times to stop talking about it as he began driving me crazy with questions about why this & why that after the film. Finally I just said "you will learn it all in good time, now go eat your supper & be a good boy or you could end up like Anakin" His response was "heck no dad, I don't want to catch fire like he did & what he did to Mace was not nice". I thought that was pretty cool how he enjoyed it that much. No complaints from me either, I enjoyed it very much & plan to see it a few more times. :D

Likes (Everything) (Mace kicked Palpy's A%%) (movie flowed nicely) (Obi & Anakin) (Paply & Yoda,Mace,Anakin)
(All others involved) (2nd fav out of the 6)
Dislikes (nothing it was a good emotional ride)

[General_Grievous]

Hoo boy. Two screenings in less than 8 hours today. Where do I begin? Well, I'll just say what I LOVED and what I didn't like too much.

LOVED:

-VADER!!!!!
-The beginning "drums of war" that opened the space battle. Just completely awesome.
-Artoo's comic bits. Needed a few light moments before the storm.
-Grievous. I thought that he was just there for eye candy, for the most part, but, c'mon, that was awesome when he first split his arms and started melting the floor.
-Very little Jar-Jar.
-The return of Boss Nass. Hey, I liked him better than Jar Jar.
-Wookiees!!!!! And the return of Chewie (which, BTW, got a cheer from the audience)
-Order 66: Powerful, sad stuff. But Jett Lucas' role was better than I thought it would be.
-Improved acting from everyone, most notably Hayden.
-Ian McDiarmid, Frank Oz and Ewan McGregor OWNED this movie!!
-Lightsaber Duels. Fast and furious. Esp. Anakin vs. Obi-Wan.
-Temuera Morrison. I don't know why, but I just like this guy.
-Imperial Officers, Tarkin, and the Death Star tied it in nicely to the OT.
-Birth of the twins.
-The cameos. I spotted GL and all of his kids.
-Mace's death scene.
-The slaughter of the separatists. Nute Gunray had it coming since TPM.
-The fact that Owen was wearing what would later be Luke's tunic.
-Finally, we get to see Alderaan.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE THAT MUCH:
-Too much editing. The Dagobah scene wasn't there. George better include ALL of the cut scenes on the DVD.
-Was Qui-Gon's voice supposed to be heard at all?
-Palpatine's weird change of voice pitch after his face gets messed up. It went from high to low, back and forth until it finally sounded like he did in ROTJ.
-Kashyyk was rushed.
-Some of Yoda's scenes were too cute. (Him crawling around in the vents, saying he'll miss Chewie) I succumbed to the cuteness. Awwww!


Anyway, final verdict?

BETTER THAN EPISODES I, II and VI combined!!! A great way to end the saga. Thank you, George, for sharing your imagination with us. And May the Force be with you all.

[Lord Malakite]

Overall I enjoyed this movie quite a deal. The R2 scenes at the beginning were alright, nice to see he could handle himself. Didn't care too much for all the useless one line chit chat between the super and regular battle droids.

General Grievous, what can I say, I liked the character. The four lightsaber thing was awsome, not as impressive as some of his moves in the Clone Wars cartoon, but impressive none the less. I think the biggest problem people are having with Grevious over say Maul or Jango is the fact he is a cyborg. It leaves open the question as to how he got that way or why he was coughing (if you had not seen Mace force crush his chest in the final Clone Wars chapter). With Maul or Jango the characters' origins can pretty easily be self explained by the average viewer to an extent.

The battle scenes on other planets like Kashykk was a bit rushed. Had Yoda not made a big deal about it in the council like he did, or perhaps made a bigger deal about the other worlds Ki Adi, etc. were off battling, perhaps it would of balanced out some. A few scenes should have been kept that were deleted, like the Yoda Qui-Gon scene or the Mon Mothma Rebel Allience scene. It would have done a better job setting up the beginning of episode IV. Lucas still sucks at love scenes, should of got an outside source for that like he did for ESB.

The final scene with the suit was great until he questioned about Padme. Loved how we get to see the mask lowered and seeing what Ani sees through the mask's eyes. Gives more meaning to the final scene with Vader and Luke in ROTJ. I can forgive the Franken walk thing as he was new to being in the suit, shows he is only human and not all powerful as he believes. I expected more destruction though from Vader. For someone so angry there wasn't that much destruction and he broke the restraints on the table far too easily. One final thing that bothered me, the Padme dieing/giving birth scene. She didn't exactly seem all that close to death's door. Could of learned a thing or two from Sabastian's performance in ROTJ.

[Veers]

I loved it!

[v7sg]

I loved it.

my dislikes:
1-for a PG-13 rating we could have SEEN more Jedi slaughtered, especially from Anakin.
2-Anakin/Obi-Wan battle ended too quickly.
3- NO Qui-Gon Jinn

[basschick]

i wish i loved it. i feel empty and let down - and unlike some, i did like the prequels, although not nearly as much as the ot.

[matthewilw]

One more thing that I absolutely loved, was when Obi and Yoda were fighting their way into the jedi temple and Yoda threw his lightsaber, only to retrieve it from a clone troopers chest and continue fighting. Up until this point I always wondered why none of the lightside characters ever threw their lightsabers like Vader does in ROTJ, and then it all made sense. Because none of them are as cool as Yoda.

[Monstermile]

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Just did two viewings and will do a few more at least to take it all in.

-The Noooooo didn't really bother me too much. In fact I didn't put much thought into it until reading this thread. Still really doesn't bother me. It fits what the man inside the machine was feeling.
-Grevious was annoying with the coughing and overly-animated movement.
-R2 scenes were a bit bothersome. How come he never moved that fast in the OT. In fact I thought it was great in the OT when he waddled.
-The campyness was back in the Battle Droids. Could've done w/o it.
-Too many questions left un-answered.

Everything else about the movie was incredible. It was intense, sad and emotional. It didn't have anywhere as much of the boring filler as the first two PTs did. It was a wild ride. Up and down like the best roller coaster you could ever ride. I remember my jaw dropping several times in disbelief at what I was seeing. Dooku getting snuffed so quickly and in the manner he did. Anakin slaughtering the younglings. The whole "Order 66" scene. WOW!!! I'm glad I stayed 95% spoiler free.

And the tie-ins were great.

The inside scenes of Tantive IV (which were blinding BTW)
Captain Antilles getting the droids
The Emperors Shuttle
Owen standing on Tatooine looking towards the Twin Suns. Did anyone else gets chills during that scene???

But we all have to face the fact that it is pretty much over. We can relive all of them on DVD or whatever form of media is down the pike. But we will never have the anticipation of another big screen event again.

Or will we ;)

[Darth Kirk]

OK, so after having invested 28 years of my life to the mythology of Star Wars, and having to sit through the final 2:20 of the last installment about 10 times, I can honestly tell you all that there will forever be a place in my soul for this sextology.. forever.

[jeffonthego]

It was everything I hoped it would be.

After waiting 22 years for this, since the end of ROTJ and the promise of prequels one day, we finally got to see the rise of Darth Vader.

I am only 32, but I can say in all seriousness that today I could die a happy man. While I have a well rounded life with lots going for me, if I had died before today, my last thought would have been a regret at not seeing this.

Today, despite George Lucas's failings these past few years, all is forgiven.

(Well, just about, release the original versions on DVD dammit!)

[tagmac]

Just got back from seeing it again, and I have to admit, as cool as it was seeing Yoda behead the two clones on Kashyyk, I would have loved to have seen Chewie and Tarfful save him by literally tearing the clones apart. Looked like they were getting ready to then go blast some clones, which should have been included as well.

[mastermatt24]

Damn. That was one hell of a ride!
Great job GL! My hats off to you! :D

[Tycho]

After my 3rd viewing, I am really loving this movie!

It makes me want to watch the Classic Trilogy all over again - Owen and Beru with Luke on Tatooine, and Obi-Wan telling Luke about his father and "a certain point of view."


"Liar!"

"The Jedi are evil from my point of view!" - Anakin Skywalker: Revenge of the Sith

I also would have loved to see the look on Palpatine's face the minute he learned Luke destroyed his precious Death Star! I'm watching ANH right after I post!

BIG BARADA - what did you expect from this film? It was everything it was supposed to be.

[2-1B]

Tycho, I saw it thrice on Opening Day as well and it gets better each time ! :)

Anakin really nailed those lines, didn't he ? lol Well done.

[stillakid]

Well.....

It's still sinking in. Will see it again with the kids on Sunday afternoon, so I'm sure that the thoughts will have congealed a bit more by then. I'll leave myself an escape hatch and preface all of this by saying that they are my first impressions. Further thought and viewings may change any or all of this. :D

I found myself rather enjoying the opening sequence. The humor and dialogue were fitting and not forced. I actually really really liked Grievous. :) I wanted to see more of him. What I mean is, I thought he was an interesting character. The coughing was very intriguing. I want to know more about how he came to be this way. I almost wish that he had been the supervillain throughout the Prequels. Next to Obi Wan, he was the most interesting characters in the film. Oh well...

Once again, I loved Padme's new silver ship, just like the one that gets blown to smithereens in AOTC. Will Hasbro come through for us on this one? :sur:

The intercutting between action and the Ani/Padme relationship got highly annoying. Several of those moments could have been combined into one. And once again, most of that dialogue was stilted, though nothing could ever quite compare to that fireside chat in AOTC.

I found myself liking the way Palps reveals his true nature to Anakin. It seemed to make sense and Anakin's reaction seemed to be believable for the most part.

Something that really began to bother me smacked of Three's Company. Anakin is obviously having a problem with the Jedi Council because he isn't being promoted or used enough as far as he's concerned. And Ober's and everyone else on the Council seem to recognize this. So why the hell doesn't anybody just sit Ani down and tell him bluntly that he is being "held back" because of his youthful arrogance and lack of patience? I mean, it's all right there but nobody ever just comes out and says it. It's like one of those dumb sit-com plots where one character wanders into a misunderstanding and we watch the hijinx ensue. Only this time, the character decides to kill everybody. Pretty silly.

Ok, so Anakin essentially chooses to whack Mace because Palps promises the secret of saving lives to him. But almost as soon as Anakin pledges his loyalty, Palps hedges his words and says that they will figure it out together. Huh? :confused: Why didn't Anakin call him on that? This is the reason Anakin supposedly chooses one side over the other and Palps tells him afterward that he doesn't really know how to do it. That didn't jive with me.

On the same topic, Anakin's pledge to Palpatine. How ridiculous was that anyway? Out of nowhere, Anakin goes from being an almost reasonable, well, "human being," to becoming a monotone automaton. Where did that come from? And all this while Palps tells him that they'll figure this whole saving lives thing together. Huh? :confused:

Then, Anakin just blindly agrees to go slaughter the younglings? He just had a major internal conflict on whether killing Mace was the right thing to do and he instantly gives this robotic pledge then agrees to go murder a bunch of cute little kids. There was too little setup for this pivotal change in Anakin to be even remotely believable.

I thought that Ian rather overplayed the maniacal-ness once he becomes disfigured. I get that this is supposed to be modeled on cheeseball episodic serials, but his overacting those moments was out of place with his established character in the OT. I found it a little unsettling.

Padme dies because she loses the will to live? Do I really have to say any more about that? Being heartbroken over somebody you've lived with for 50 years is one thing. I personally know of at least a couple of instances where that has happened. But Padme inexplicably fell in love with a loser in the first place and now she is dying of a broken heart because he's all f'd up in the head now? Like she didn't see that coming. :rolleyes: But let's assume that she is that stupid and belongs on the Jerry Springer show. Why, praytell, doesn't she find reason to live after she gives birth to two babies? Is she that emotional depraved that she could feel no instant unconditional love for her own offspring? She comes off as more like one of those cold career women who also has some Springer-like attraction to broken men. Padme is a far more tragic figure than Anakin could ever hope to be. Tragic and stupid. She deserved to die. Stupid white trash b**ch.

Need I say again that Ober's taking Luke to live "with family" on Tatooine is perhaps one of the dumbest things somebody could possibly do. I know and you know that Vader doesn't go back home to visit mommie's grave, but Ober's has no way of knowing that he won't. So why would he hide this offspring who is undoubtedly chock full o' Midichlorians next to Shmi's grave? Makes no sense whatsoever.

And if that stuff wasn't enough, I'm sure I'll be accused of nitpicking with this one, but somebody please explain to me what exactly the point was of having Hayden don the suit? "Darth Vader" is a character who has always been played by at least two different people and in some cases, three. Prowse for the large body, Jones for the voice, and a swordmaster for the stunts and fighting. The Hayda-Vader version looked pretty ridiculous. It was obvious, at least to me, that this Vader didn't command the same large "presence" that a larger David Prowse did in the costume. Hayda-Vader was just too small. Why compromise on that pivotal imagery by not putting a suitable body inside the costume? Makes no sense.

I initially liked that Vader's rage begins crushing everything in the room. That part was cool, but it should have been left at that. The Frankenstein monster bit was pretty over-the-top and detracted from the moment. What should have been a scene that evoked sympathy from the audience turned into one that drew :rolleyes: and audible laughter instead. George and those homages. sigh. :ermm:

On the whole, this was 2.5 hours of big set pieces with very few actual plot points. The elements were interesting in and of themselves and oftentimes delightfully humorous. Some of the original unforced humor from the OT found its way back to the saga finally, namely in the R2 scenes. But with too little actual plot, there seems to be more in common with its predecessors than initially meets the eye.

After taking the day and sitting myself down to rewatch I and II, I went to see this with a group of 20. Just 2 out of the 20 had little to no problems with it. Most of the people were ambivalent to less than excited and one or two hated it. The audience, who had enthusiastically cheered at the LUCASFILM logo 2.5 hours ago, left the theater noticably less cheery. I don't get the sense that this movie will have the legs in the long run. Yeah, it's exciting in parts and as long as you ignore the nagging questions, the film moves along so fast that it is not unlike a roller coaster ride. Which leads us right back to where we started with these Prequels. Tasty, but nothing beyond empty calories. :ermm:

[2-1B]

stillakid, you seem to have forgotten to mention Qui-Gonn. :crazed: :crazed: :crazed:

Ben left Anakin for dead so there's no point in worrying that he'll go to Shmi's grave. Sure he'll find out eventually that Vader lived but then again Yoda did tell him that the boy he trained was gone.

They should be more worried about Palpatine (just like Ben says in ROTJ) but Palps doesn't know the baby lived either so I don't think there's much of a danger there.

[hango fett]

the one main thing i had a problem with is that ion the Obi vs Ani duel, you can't tell who is doing what most of the time, just see blue flashes going by really fast. the begging of the duel when anikan goes wild was awsome. how does he twirl that saber so fast??? Yoda had some good lines, thats for sure. in one of my viewings, everyone cheered when Yoda cut the 2 troopers heads off on Kashyyyk.
HF

[JEDIpartner]

I thought the film was quite good. It's definitely the best of the prequels. I enjoyed the film through and through and thought even the acting had improved. My partner doesn't agree with me on that point but, oh well... he gets emotionally invested in Desperate Housewives... *shrug* I mean, the show's fun but, come ON!

Anyhow... I thought this was powerful stuff. It seemed like the pacing was pretty unrelenting. Thank goodness for the quiet scenes between Anakin and Palpatine. Those really rocked. Ian is amazing in this film. He stole it, hands down.

I, too, was a little bothered by some of Artoo's scenes. It did seem like he was moving a tad too quickly. I did like the parts where he was having issues with the volume of the comlink inthe hangar bay. That was kinda cute.

I also had a problem with how ridiculous the battle droids and super battle droids were in this film. They were silly in TPM, but their voices in this film were even sillier than before.

Ewan turned in a fine performance as Obi-Wan. He was charming and rather funny and carried the light comedy well. I loved the way he coyly said "hello there" when he jumped in on Grievous on Utapau.

Another fun moment came as Yoda entered Palpatine's chambers and took care of the red guards in such an easy manner. That got a big laugh from the crowd. I'm still not convinced about them using a CGI Yoda for every shot but then... I didn't much care for the use of the CGI Artoo in a lot of the shots either. There are some things you shouldn't mess with.

I'm very happy with the way this film turned out and will likely see it a second time next week. I'll just have to figure out at time when I can do that!!

[General_Grievous]

One thing I'd like to point out is that if you thought the super battle droids and battle droids sounded stupid, the vulture droids sounded 100 times worse! It sounded like pygmy chanting! They were never that ridiculous in TPM.

[stillakid]

stillakid, you seem to have forgotten to mention Qui-Gonn. :crazed: :crazed: :crazed:
His mention didn't really seem to affect the story anymore than his nonsensical inclusion into the saga already has, so I suppose there really isn't much to add about him that hasn't already been said. Though I will say this after having thought about it for a little bit...Yoda's dialogue with Obi at the end regarding Qui and immortality seemed VERY tacked on, like Lucas remembered at the last second that he needed to explain the ghost thing somehow. It didn't make a whole lot of sense and left me wanting to hear what that next sentence was going to be. It's like Lucas didn't know the method to immortality either so relied on suggestion to fill in that gap. Quite unsatisfying. I would have preferred that he just leave it alone altogether.

Ben left Anakin for dead so there's no point in worrying that he'll go to Shmi's grave. Sure he'll find out eventually that Vader lived but then again Yoda did tell him that the boy he trained was gone.

They should be more worried about Palpatine (just like Ben says in ROTJ) but Palps doesn't know the baby lived either so I don't think there's much of a danger there.
Sure, Ben does leave Crisp-akin for dead, but we know that he eventually learns his fate. So at that time, we should expect that he'd realize the potential danger and move Luke and himself to safer ground. But he doesn't as we see them both still there in IV. The problem remains.

[JEDIpartner]

One thing I'd like to point out is that if you thought the super battle droids and battle droids sounded stupid, the vulture droids sounded 100 times worse! It sounded like pygmy chanting! They were never that ridiculous in TPM.

I don't even think they made a sound in TPM. They should have all just communicated through an unheard coded signal or something.

[TheDarthVader]

I liked the movie! But...there were things I didn't like. Let me point them out. Many of my points have already been mentioned.

1. No Red Royal Guards in action? I wanted to see them fight.
2. The Vader "Nooooooo" shout. He should have just kept screaming. His scream should have blown palpy back.
3. Qui Gon not explaining how he became immortal.
4. No scene of the rebels planning the rebellion.
5. No lines for Tarkin.
6. No lines for Plo Koon. I wanted to hear what his voice sounded like.
7. No Yoda on Dagobah scene.
8. Greivous with that stupid cough.
9. Greivous' death. I would rather have seen a lightsaber kill him.
10. Yoda should have done a little better in his fight vs palpy.
11. Wookie battle scene...too short!
12. More jedi death scenes. There were many more killed, ie Eeth Koth, Barriss Offee, and more council members killed.
13. Aayla Secura death scene seemed a little dumb. Her fall was not convincing.
14. How did C-3P0 get his gold coverings???????????????
15. Palpy telling about his awesome plot...and mentions Sifo Dyas.


Well that is all I can think of right now. There were just some things that went unexplained.

B.
TDV

[Bantha274]

I liked the movie! But...there were things I didn't like. Let me point them out. Many of my points have already been mentioned.

1. No Red Royal Guards in action? I wanted to see them fight.
2. The Vader "Nooooooo" shout. He should have just kept screaming. His scream should have blown palpy back.
3. Qui Gon not explaining how he became immortal.
4. No scene of the rebels planning the rebellion.
5. No lines for Tarkin.
6. No lines for Plo Koon. I wanted to hear what his voice sounded like.
7. No Yoda on Dagobah scene.
8. Greivous with that stupid cough.
9. Greivous' death. I would rather have seen a lightsaber kill him.
10. Yoda should have done a little better in his fight vs palpy.
11. Wookie battle scene...too short!
12. More jedi death scenes. There were many more killed, ie Eeth Koth, Barriss Offee, and more council members killed.
13. Aayla Secura death scene seemed a little dumb. Her fall was not convincing.
14. How did C-3P0 get his gold coverings???????????????
15. Palpy telling about his awesome plot...and mentions Sifo Dyas.


Well that is all I can think of right now. There were just some things that went unexplained.

B.
TDV

I thought the film was brilliant! But just as you said, there were a few issues I had with the film. But I'd like to respond to a few of your issues:

#1-7. I agree.
#8. Grievous' cough. If you watch the last episode of the Clone Wars cartoons (which Lucas has said is now considered canon and directly leads into the beginning of ROTS), you see Mace Windu use the force to partially crush Grievous' chest and choke him when Grievous is escaping from Coruscant. I think that's what caused Grievous' hacking cough and wheezing.
#9. I agree. Grievous went down WAY too easy.
#11. Agree. This was a bit of a let-down for me.
#14. This is also shown in the Clone Wars cartoons, to an extent.

My biggest issue with the film?
The fact that Padme doesn't even touch Leia before dieing. This just does not work. In ROTJ, Leia says she remembers her mother. There is no way this can be possible with the scene portrayed in ROTS. Padme looks at Leia, names her, and that's about it. It just doesn't fit into the continuity of the series. It's as if Lucas forgot what was said in ROTJ.

Other than these few issues, I loved the film and can't wait to see it again.
And again, and again, and, ... you get the point.lol

[jedibear]

Some interesting thoughts being bandied about here...some of 'em make me wonder if ANYTHING would please some folks....


I'm on my way to my fourth showing...I love this movie. I'll refrain from a longer review til I have time to sort it out but...ROTS is an amazing end to this long journey...

More later...

[stillakid]

Some interesting thoughts being bandied about here...some of 'em make me wonder if ANYTHING would please some folks.......

You know, a good, well thought out story would be a start. Why is that too much to ask? :sur:

[bigbarada]

BIG BARADA - what did you expect from this film? It was everything it was supposed to be.

It was exactly what it needed to be: very dark and depressing. Lucas did a pretty good job in my mind portraying Anakin's fall, with only a few moments where Anakin seemed to progress into evil too far, too quickly (his initial pledge to Palpy after killing Mace would be the primary one).

Although I do think Lucas missed the potential of Anakin and Padme's secret marriage. The Jedi discovering their relationship and forbiding Anakin to see Padme ever again, or making veiled threats that Anakin could have taken as a possible danger to Padme, could have done wonders to help along Anakin's slide to the dark side. A missed opportunity on Lucas' part.

Most of what I posted yesterday was just my initial reaction after seeing the movie, getting two hours of sleep and going to work at 9 AM. I have a different appreciation for it now after getting a full nights sleep (only 32 years old and I'm already one of those crotchety old men who don't function if they miss their bedtime :) ). It's still not a movie I would watch more than a few times. It reminds me too much of those terribly depressing 1970s movies that ANH was such a refreshing departure from.

I took the time to actually watch ROTJ again last night and now I understand why Lucas felt the changes to Anakin's ghost needed to be made. I'm still not sure if I agree with the change, but it was kind of comforting to see the redeemed Hayden Christensen Anakin at the end of the film. Plus Vader comes off as a much more sympathetic character in ROTJ than I expected him to be.

So I guess Vader's evolution through the series could look like this:

Ep3: tortured monster
Ep4: pathetic bootlicker
Ep5: evil genius
Ep6: remorseful old man

Stillakid I wholeheartedly agree about the stupidity of Padme's death. What kind of a selfish witch is she that having two children is not enough of a reason to live?
:stupid:

Artoo was the big surprise in this movie and it was great seeing what he was truly capable of. It was also very interesting to note that he was a darkside droid for a short time on film.

Overall, very well done, but not my cup of tea. Definitely the best movie of the prequels though.

[Tycho]

I agree with BigBarada on a lot of levels, especially with the kids being reason for Padme to want to live. I think had Anakin wounded her by accident in his argument with her on Mustafar, it would have been better if the life-death issue had been taken out of her character's hands.

As to Anakin pledging himself to the Sith Master?

I think what was downplayed was that Anakin just aided and abetted the murder of a leader of the High Council. Palpatine said that there would be reprocussions and that the Jedi would likely come there to kill them both.

Anakin might not have been able to believe what he'd done - he didn't KILL Mace - but he left Mace open to be killed. Thus to protect himself from prosecution, he figured the other solution was to kill all "the cops" so there'd be no one left to arrest him.

The Younglings had to be killed. It was sad and believe me it got me really mad at Anakin for doing it - but look at it this way: If they exiled the Younglings who only knew life in the temple - they'd have a whole group of combat trained kids mad at them for kicking them out of their home and a Rebellion would form from the Younglings - all of them who'd grow up into people resembling Luke Skywalker - a threat to the Empire. The Sith wanted to end the war. That was the quickest way.

[stillakid]

IThe Younglings had to be killed. It was sad and believe me it got me really mad at Anakin for doing it - but look at it this way: If they exiled the Younglings who only knew life in the temple - they'd have a whole group of combat trained kids mad at them for kicking them out of their home and a Rebellion would form from the Younglings - all of them who'd grow up into people resembling Luke Skywalker - a threat to the Empire. The Sith wanted to end the war. That was the quickest way.

That's not the issue. Of course the Younglings had to go along with the rest of the Jedi. But it's the way it was done which is in question. In short, Anakin's pledge of loyalty, not unlike a lobotomized robot, comes way way way too quickly without plausible cause.

Had I been asked to write this, and I wasn't :( ;) , I would have had the Clone Army launch an attack on the Jedi Temple with the gunships, leveling it in the process while Anakin was sent out to "hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights." Having the Jedi get unceremoniously shot by Clones was pretty anticlimatic. Supposedly Anakin HATES the Jedi and is ******** that they kept putting him off. He'd have FAR more believable motivation to go out and kill them than to calmly march into the Temple and slaughter those cute little kids. It didn't make any sense at all.

[2-1B]

Sure, Ben does leave Crisp-akin for dead, but we know that he eventually learns his fate. So at that time, we should expect that he'd realize the potential danger and move Luke and himself to safer ground. But he doesn't as we see them both still there in IV. The problem remains.

What about Ben's belief that Anakin "died" when he became Darth Vader ? :confused:
Dead men don't return home to visit their mothers' graves.

[stillakid]

What about Ben's belief that Anakin "died" when he became Darth Vader ? :confused:
Dead men don't return home to visit their mothers' graves.


Well, we're back to the reason why the OT and the Prequels will never match up. ;)


LUKE
Come with me.

VADER
Obi-Wan once thought as you do.

For starters, ROTS failed to illustrate the above. PADME is the one who still believes that there is good in Anakin. Obi writes Hayd-akin off pretty quickly.

But for the sake of argument, we'll assume that it did happen the way it should have. The above quote indicates that Obi initially thought that there was some hope for Anakin which indirectly implies that we should have seen Ani/Vader running around being bad for a while before the final lightsaber duel. This would have given Obi time to see Anakin running around being an all out bad guy but believe also that he might be able to "save" him from himself. I suppose we kind of get that with the holo projector, but that's really skirting the line.

But anyway, this still goes back to what is sold in AOTC and ROTS as the primary reason for Anakin's fall...that being Shmi's death. It was her demise that initially motivated Anakin to look for this holy grail of immortality. His search gains priority when he suspects that he'll need "it" to save Padme. So that being the case, even though "the good man who was your father was destroyed," it doesn't necessarily eliminate Vader-kins feelings for his mother. It is entirely logical that he would return to visit her grave at some point ESPECIALLY because there is still good in him. Again, we know that he doesn't, but Obi doesn't know that Vader-kin never will and to hide the galaxies "new hope" in the one place that Vader is likely to revisit is insanity.

[nohagent]

Anakin is not Vader, the more I think of it the more I think that Vader is too cool, calculating, intelligent, and mature in an aspect that even as spoiled Anakin could gain some sense of maturity as he grew older but it would not be the same as Vader's disposition. The Hayden-Anakin-Vader would be more like the transformers Starscream character. That is of course if the Darkside is not a cure for spoiled whining adolescents.



Obi-Wan one thought as you do. That is because in episode 3 volume 2 Obi-Wan goes back to try and save Anakin from being Vader. Anyone who went to Celebration 3 heard Rick McCallum and Lucas make hint-hints of such a thing.



Episode 3 Volume 2

[vadersvette]

Geez, doesn't anyone have anything good to say? I don't know why I'm surprised, but I am. :rolleyes:
I agree. I don't know what everyone's problem is! I thought the movie was amazing! I thought TPM & AOTC were really good, too. Oh well, people have to tear apart everything. Last year it was GWBush (and will always be), now its ROTS. GEEZ! :rolleyes: I don't even like coming on the forums anymore. :(

[Tycho]

I loved ROTS and all the prequels actually. I think it's easier to list the things you don't like because there's less of them and virtually EVERYTHING else that you don't DISLIKE you actually DO LIKE. That being said, I probably enjoyed every minute of the film now after subsequent viewings. I think first impressions are great to post though, because it paints a very real picture of what less hardcore fans might see in the show - those that don't go back and see it multiple times.

Right now I'm into the whole General Grievous vs. General Kenobi fight. That whole sequence on Utopau was a lot of fun!

I still love Anakin with Palpatine in the opera. Great dialogue, intriguing mystery. Ian McDiarmid's a master actor!

[Droid]

First, does anyone know what all the Sifo-Dyas stuff was about since it wasn't resolved (or mentioned) in Sith?

Second, WHAT IS THIS EPISODE III, VOLUME TWO business? Is there another version coming with more footage or is someone suggesting there is another film coming? What?

[Casual George]

I have been a Star Wars fan since 1977! I really enjoyed Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. In my mind I really saw no way that I would be anything but thrilled with ROTS. I was stupefied! How could Lucas mess this up at the very end?!? Back in the mid-eighties while browsing at my local video store, I found a cool documentary. It’s called “From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga”. It’s a great behind the scenes look at the first trilogy. In that film Lucas talked about how that a special effect by itself is a pretty boring thing, you’ve got to have a good story. What happened to that philosophy? Basically that’s all Revenge of the Sith is… one big special effect. I read the making of Revenge of the Sith book and all through that production everyone was waiting on George to write the script. The art department began developing environments, creatures, space ships, etc. with out a script. Months go by, Lucas gave direction to McCallum and production designers on what sets they needed to build, but still no script. Somewhere around the beginning of 2003 George finally delivered a first draft. He admitted that it was full of “filler”. A few more drafts were completed before principal photography began in Sydney. The point is why would you begin production on a film without a completed script? I know it happens all the time in Hollywood but when it does those movies turn out to be awful. George spent a couple of years writing the original story of Star Wars. He spent over a year working on the script for Phantom Menace. With AOTC he didn’t write the script until the eleventh hour and it showed. Matters became more dire with Revenge of the Sith, he didn’t finish that script until shooting had begun and it looks like they just made it up as they went along.

The pacing of the first film (Phantom Menace) was very slow. In many ways I think Lucas should have advanced the plot more at that stage. Because he drug his feet so much with that story he had to make up a lot of ground in Attack of the Clones. The love story between Padme and Anakin was chief among plot devices that had to be advanced but ended up being executed very poorly. It would have been easier to have Padme and Anakin both fall for each other from the beginning and let the conflict and tension rise out of the circumstances of Anakin being a Jedi (forbidden to take a wife) and Padme as a Senator. Instead we got sort of a creepy stalker like relationship with Anakin practically forcing himself on Padme, with her rebuking his advances at every turn. It was never apparent that Padme felt anything more than friendship toward Anakin. Then, as there are being wheeled into the Geonosian area Padme pulls a 180 and totally falls for Anakin. It was forced, fake and unconvincing. He had two-thirds of the film to develop that romance and he wasted it. Look at Empire Strikes Back, the Han and Leia relationship was developed throughout the film and felt very real by the time we reached the Carbon Freeze Chamber. George could have done the same with Anakin and Padme so that when we came to ROTS no time has to be wasted on scenes that have to remind us that they love each other, we should be well aware of that by now.

The story is so weak in Sith that it’s difficult to care about anything that’s going on. Anakin’s turn to the dark side should have been powerful, gut-wrenching and tragic. Instead we get a very thin motivation for Anakin’s fall from grace. He wants to save Padme’s life, I’ll buy that. Palpatine says he can teach him the secret to cheating death, A-O.K., I’m still on board. Anakin betrays Mace in order to save Palpatine and thus save Padme from death, tragic and cool. Just after Anakin pledges himself to the dark side, Palpatine says something to the effect “well cheating death is a hard nut to crack but I’m sure that between the two of us we’ll figure something out”. What the hell does that mean? The whole reason Anakin protected Palpatine was that so he could learn the immortality thing and save Padme, now all of a sudden that’s out the window (just like Mace)! That’s hardly motivation enough to go to the Jedi Temple and KILL EVERYONE INCLUDING THE CHILDREN! He’s not a tragic figure, he’s a psychopath! By the time the final duel came about I was primed and ready for Obi-Wan to kick his butt, he completely deserved it.

Revenge of the Sith is so bloated and heavy with Lucas shoving every OT reference possible in to the film that it basically collapses under it’s own weight, total implosion. The film is at war with itself, it wants to be dark and serious, yet it is repeated derailed with the three stooge’s antics of R2-D2 and battle droids and the ridiculous cough/wheezing of General Grievous. Let’s talk about the General for moment. Most fans know that he was introduced in the Clone Wars animated series on Cartoon Network. This was done at the specific request of George Lucas and the last episode of Clone Wars: Volume 1 had to be quickly rewritten to fit Grievous into the story. Genndy Tartakovsky did a great job bringing him to life. Grievous was a light saber wielding, Jedi stomping, bad a**, worthy of all the hype that had been surrounding his character. What happened? In ROTS he can barely fight his was out of a paper sack and he’s hacking and coughing (I realize that Mace gave him a force crush on his rib cage armor, but come on, enough with the coughing.). He slinks out the back door and let’s his body guards do the fighting. I kept thinking he was going to unleash some serious butt kicking but he kept on running away. In the battle with Obi-Wan he doesn’t display half of the fighting skills we saw in Clone Wars, under whelming to say the least.

Yoda fighting Palpatine: started off strong, each one getting in some good licks and then Yoda just sort of gives up. He and Palpatine are both tired from battle but Palpatine pulls himself up and gets ready for the next round and Yoda scurries away like a scolded dog. Then when he gets picked up by Bail Organa he says “well I failed, into exile I must go.” What an awful, dreadful line. Why not just have him sit there, defeated looking and leave it at that, give Yoda the dignity to ponder this defeat quietly like the wise Jedi we came to know in TESB. We know he is going into exile but George insists on making him tells us.

The “birth of Vader” scene was the last straw. I think it’s the first time in my LIFE I’ve actually been embarrassed to be a Star Wars fan. Again, Lucas goes too far. That scene should have ended with the mask being lowered on to Anakin’s face. We didn’t need to see, no make that we shouldn’t have seen Vader stumbling off the slab like some half ***** Frankenstein’s monster and utter that weak cry of “Noooooooooooooooo.” What should have been one of the coolest, darkest moments in the movie suddenly transformed into a riff worthy of The Simpsons. Nuff said.

I could keep going but it’s making me tired and depressed. :cry:

I’m going to transfer my Original Trilogy non-special edition VHS tapes to DVD or pick up a copy of the Laser Discs on ebay and try to forget that Episode I, II and III ever happened. :dis:

[JON9000]

The “birth of Vader” scene was the last straw. I think it’s the first time in my LIFE I’ve actually been embarrassed to be a Star Wars fan. Again, Lucas goes too far. That scene should have ended with the mask being lowered on to Anakin’s face. We didn’t need to see, no make that we shouldn’t have seen Vader stumbling off the slab like some half ***** Frankenstein’s monster and utter that weak cry of “Noooooooooooooooo.” What should have been one of the coolest, darkest moments in the movie suddenly transformed into a riff worthy of The Simpsons.
I thought it was worth it to see Vader get off the table and ask about Padme- just to hear the Emperor lie through his weasel teeth to make Vader hate Obi-wan more and hate himself, too. You can see the Emperor (if you watch him) respond gleefully to Vader's suffering. Man, the Emperor is a butt and I am even more glad Vader tosses him in ROTJ!

I think what we have here is a preconcieved notion of Vader as a simple hard case who doesn't have care about anything in the universe. Anything that runs contrary to that (especially after the mask goes on) runs contrary to what we cling to about the character. People do not like revisionism when it comes to icons, but to hear George tell it, this was the story all along- Anakin was a tragedy, not an inevitability.

If nothing else, reading these responses is interesting.

[Droid]

The Emperor knows Padme is dead, but not that she had children. The funeral on Naboo was public; Palpatine is from Naboo. I think the Emerpor actually thought Anakin did kill Padme. What would he believe the truth to be if he thought he was lying?