May 22, 2005
Sith, Sith, Sith
I assume everyone has either seen Revenge of the Sith by now or has heard enough so that spoilers no longer exist. If not, stop reading. I saw it last night and found it mediocre, really no better than Episode II; for detailed reasons, you can read this, as I pretty much agree with everything he writes. Anakin's shift to the dark side is thoroughly unconvincing; it takes place in about two seconds. I realize that the strength of Star Wars has never, ever been the dialogue, the acting, the characters, or the plot, but even so, his "fall" was particularly unimpressive. Given that all six of the movies hinge almost entirely on special effects, I suppose this one is successful in that regard. There are some good battle scenes. Grievous, however, was singularly disappointing. He's a bad-ass in the Clone Wars cartoon series, but here he's beaten easily. Also, who ever heard of a coughing robot? It's ridiculous, even if he does have lungs. And Yoda talks too much. The reason his tangled syntax works in the original trilogy is because he rarely spoke. He talks way too much in eps I–III to keep up the Germanic syntax. It would be far better had they allowed him to speak normally every-other sentence or so. Then his odd speaking would seem more realistic, like someone who just hadn't quite mastered the language and made occasional mistakes. Not some brain-damaged lizard. Bah; just go see Kung-Fu Hustle. It's far more enjoyable. Of course, everyone in America is now required by law to see Revenge of the Sith in the theaters, so I know you'll all go see it. It's entertaining and not a complete waste of time, but be sure to keep your expectations as low as Phantom Menace set them.