Star Wars III ROTS
I saw the big flick last night, first one I’ve seen since the first trilogy. There’s spoilers in here (Darth is Luke’s DAD!), so stop reading if you care…
I actually liked it. I enjoyed it the most of any of the Star Wars series since the original. I skipped Episodes I and II, so I can’t compare to those. The original I saw when I was in the seven-year-old boy demographic, which is exactly where Star Wars is aimed, so that’s pretty tough to beat. Some things bothered me, of course: I’m still not sure if the bizarrities of Star Wars physics are more ridiculous than Jedi Council parliamentary process. Issue stated. Answer proposed. “It’s agreed, then” and meeting over. Somehow I doubt that Jedi masters, those high strung arrogant knights, would be of one mind without a lot of posturing and discussing. Ignoring Anakin’s hissy fits doesn’t count: most politics doesn’t happen with the new guy, but rather old colleagues you’ve been spatting with for years. Of course, Star Wars biology is pretty strange too: Padme’s pregnancy seemed to progress awfully fast, given that the story of the war seemed to be happening over weeks. And wouldn’t being a master of the Force be useful in matters of birth control, prenatal assessment, and such?
I know it’s been bandied about as an anti-Bush parable, but I didn’t read it that way. It’s much closer to (reference deleted in respect of Godwin’s Law). And you know, it’s heavy-handed, but it works. Later in the evening, in an unrelated political discussion about the democratically elected deliberative body of an organization, I found myself, in all earnestness, saying something like “the Board is incapable of making that decision, it’s not structured to be able to have that discussion”. Palpatine would have been proud of me. The difference is that I have a good heart. Right? Right?
Oh yeah, sometimes the dialog and acting sucked. But, I expected that, so I give Lucas a pass. I guess I figured that I’d been spoiled by the Darth Side, and if I needed a rich, well-executed dramatic treatment of the story of Anakin, I could always return there. Low expectations are rewarded. But the costumes and special effects were great.