Star Wars Episode 3: Flawed Masterpiece

Movie Review

Published on May 23, 2005 By Cordelia In Movie Reviews

I saw it over the weekend. Frankly I think the popcorn at my local theater is getting better. Usually it has the same taste and consistency as salty cardboard but this time there was a little bit of butter flavoring to it that really brought out the subtlety of the cardboard. Not too salty either. I don't like it when you pop a piece in your mouth and the texture is gritty from salt. Sometimes when popcorn gets old and you crunch a piece just right it sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard and sends a bad chill racing down my spin and I cringe in my seat; has that ever happened to you? This time it appears the popcorn was some how fresher. Maybe they threw out the old stuff and started fresh, or maybe they got a different crew, I dunno, the popcorn was just better.

Oh yeah, and I saw Star Wars: Episode 3

I admit it, I can be hyper critical of movies. I have an MFA in Cinema-Television production from USC and I like to use it whenever possible - I mean the thing cost me $100,000 I really should get some mileage out of it, right? I can also be very forgiving of movies if I like the characters or story in general and believe me, I've liked some real dogs in the past. I LOVE the science fiction genre when it comes to books, but I have usually found the science fiction movies to be lacking. Lacking in science to be more exact. Star Wars is a fantasy science fiction series set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away", so theoretically we should be willing to accept a lot of things that we wouldn't in other movies.

Technologically speaking, the movie is a masterpiece. Lucas' use of special effects to create the story is spectacular. The marriage of real and FX is so seamless I can't tell the difference (admittedly, that's not saying much; special effects are not part of my training). I no longer look at Yoda and think "puppet", I think "wise old Jedi". I also liked the production design, the costuming, and the sound. All good. All thumbs up there.

And let's look at the story, shall we? Fantastic. Lucas spent time with famed comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell and structured Star Wars around the "Hero Myth", the archetypical journey of the hero. This structure has been around so long and permeates every part of our society until this structure resonates with us to such a degree that we generally feel uncomfortable with stories that don't follow this path. If you are not familiar with the hero myth, there is far too much for me to cover here. Try reading "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell - or anything by Campbell for that matter.

Sadly, the acting was wooden in many places. This is compounded by the fact that the dialogue being delivered in the first place was not great. Simplistic, even. Almost as simplistic as this article. And although these things lessened my enjoyment of the movie, they were not the main problem.

Seeing a movie is a visceral, emotional experience. We must connect with the characters or the emotion falls flat. Especially in this case, the audience is more than ready to have an emotional attachment to the characters. We want to go with it - we want it so badly that grown men and women dress up and go out in public and smack each other with plastic toys.

Spoiler alert! I'm taking a page out of Zoomba's book. If you want to read the rest of this text you must click and drag over this empty space and highlight the text that is hidden there. If you do not wish to know about specific details in the movie, then don't read this part.

Anakin Skywalker goes over to the dark side to help save his wife. Although his transformation seems too fast to me, he always was quick on the draw. It's the bit that follows that is upsetting. First he goes and does murder in the name of his master. Ok. That's what bad guys do, right? And then he goes and kills all the Jedi younglings. This is serious. He has apparently lost his mind. Ok. I'm still with it. And then Obi Wan sees the instant replay of Anakin doing this. Obi Wan sees his boy, the one he has had charge of since he was just a little tyke, killing babies. And yet his reaction amounts to "oh no". The world should have stopped here. This moment is simply thrown away - not even a good close up. This moment is so bad, so dramatic, so heart wrenching that Obi Wan should have fallen to the floor senseless from the impact of it. Anakin Skywalker kills babies. And yet, the moment is thrown away and we are on to the next scene. This doesn't happen once, it happens several times through the course of the movie. I would have forgiven wooden acting and bad dialogue (to some extent). I will not forgive emotional moments - the ones we most want to see - being tossed away on the wind.

This movie should have been better. This movie had all of the elements it needed to be better. I will not speculate here as to why it was not better: I didn't work on the production so I don't know what forces were moving behind the scenes. I only know that this movie made me very sad because it should have been better. Oh well, I'm already over it. I shouldn't be - I should still be thinking about the movie and how good it was, but instead, I'm already over it.

Comments (Page 1)

Danny Bassette

on May 23, 2005

Well there's your first problem, you don't eat the popcorn at theatres, it's too scary

And I will agree, they could have done better in the acting/emotional stuff. But all in all, I thought it was a pretty good movie. Although, since we're human and therefore imperfect, mustn't our masterpieces be imperfect as well?

Moderateman

on May 23, 2005

All I wanna know how does the special effect match up to the great special effect movies?

mormegil

on May 23, 2005

Specail Effects were great, as alawys. All Locus needed realy was some one with a flair for Diologue, to do a bit of a re-write. What was said did not need to be changed, just how they said it.

All of the Actors in this movie have done better work, this points to the direction. So sad. It realy could have been a great movie, insted it was just good.

Dont get me wrong, I will buy the DVD, I love the starwars movies, for the whole, its just sad, like when you buy a desert and they forgot the suger.

Zoomba

on May 23, 2005

I think it all has to do with expectations going into the movie. The people I've talked to who went in expecting a great movie, or something even on-par in quality with the average movie today came out disappointed and/or pissed off. That's not what Star Wars is, never has been really. Looking back even at the original trilogy, it wasn't known for astounding dialogue, or even all that great acting. Star Wars is a serial adventure in the old style of Buck Rogers etc. They're B-Movies. Time makes the heart grow fonder and we forget how the old ones really were. Nostalgia messes with things and we forget that most of us saw the films at a fairly young age, with less critical eyes.

I went in expecting something on the level of Ep1 and 2 in terms of acting and dialogue. Meaning I expected it to be near painful whenever it came to the acting. I'm in it for the story and the lightsabers personally, and for me it definitely paid off.

I agree with you and Dr. Guy about the conversion of Anakin, it was handled poorly. Could have been done soooo much better, but it achieved the story transition we needed to get back to Episode IV.

Of course, I've been accused by most of my friends as being way too easy on movies, that I'll enjoy just about anything I sit down to see *

* - Does not include the horrible abomination that is Sideways... I have NO IDEA why that movie was as popular as it was, or why it was up for ANY awards.

sushiK

on May 23, 2005

I agree wtih the author that it is a flawed masterpiece.

Flawed that if just fell short at certain times; the folllowing times. Script is in white.

1) Anakin v Dooku: the fight was too short, a little more would have great. I little more from Dooku being surprised on how strong the kid had gotten would have been good.
2) Grevous: Not sure if they cut out scenes for time but Grevious was supposed to be a Jedi killer, yet we saw nothing of his power. There should have been a few lead in kills by him before the Obi-wan fight.
3) Anakin v Obi-wan: The ending was a little strange. They fight tooth and nail in a lava setting then it finished with Anakin trying to jump over Obi, Szzzling hand and leg are gone. It was like taking a cooster ride, riders get that feel in their stomach going up to the summit not able to see over the top, the reach the top and only drops down a few feet.

That is my peace

Ionolast

on May 23, 2005

I think Joseph Campbell was great. I recorded all of his shows.

Star Wars trivia question: What is a subtle techonological difference between this movie and all the others?

mick_k

on May 23, 2005

But aren't Jedis supposed to be unemotional? They are supposed to control their emotions and not get attached. So maybe the reaction was exactly right on Obi Wan's part. Or maybe Lucas just knows he can't make a movie with decent dialog and real emotions and this was perfect for him, make the Jedis lacking in the emotional department.

Cordelia

on May 23, 2005

Danny: Yes, popcorn is scary, if only for what it does for the size of my waist.

ModerateMan: Special effects are not my area of speciality, but I think Lucas has always pushed the boundaries in this area. Hopefully others with more knowledge will respond in detail to you, but from my perspective they were pretty amazing.

Mormegil: Ya. ~sigh~

Zoomba: I hear you. However, $300 million does not a 'B' movie make, or at least it shouldn't. It's not like Lucas wasn't trying. You don't spend that kind of money on special effects, hair, make-up, actors, etc and then say "well, it wasn't like we meant it to be good".

SushiK: Right on with your comments. I won't comment further as I am too lazy to do the text in white thing now.

Iconoclast: I don't know. Enlighten me?

mick_k: It wasn't just the acting, it was the camera work. As an actor, you can have a reaction that is very subtle, but for the audience to see it the camera has to help us out. For all I know, the actors were having some wonderfully subtle and moving moments using nothing but their eyes...couldn't see it. Good point though.

Thanks all for commenting.

Gideon MacLeish

on May 23, 2005

I dunno...I won't get to see it till it comes out on DVD...GAAAAHHHH!!

Ionolast

on May 23, 2005

It's the only one in which two people fought with the same color light sabers.

Zoomba

on May 23, 2005

I meant the originals were B movies... That the level of quality in terms of the script and acting has always been fairly low. The new ones are B quality scripts with A quality effects and production values.

Cordelia

on May 24, 2005

Gideon: Sorry to hear you won't be seeing it in the theaters, but it won't be long before it's out on DVD.

Iconoclast: I never even thought about that. Thanks!

Zoomba: I think your analysis is right on there: B quality movie with A quality effects and production values. So sad.

Sean

on May 25, 2005

SPOILERS

I agree that the film had a few problems - any scene with Padme was bad. Her character seemed to be thrust into the role of plot device rather than a real person in this one. And her death was completely absurd - "She's lost her will to live"??? She's just given birth to twins and told Obi Wan that there's still some good in Anakin. What more reason do you need to live, lady?

Anakin's conversion may seem abrupt, but consider that two movies before this laid out the groundwork for his rage and hubris, and in this film there were a few months that went by (judging from Padme's pregnancy) where Palpatine is chipping away at Anakin that we aren't privy too. I do think the scene where Anakin 'converts' to the Dark Side after saving Paplatine from Windu seemed a bit awkward - a little dialgoue from Palpatine about how the Jedi would use Padme against Akakin for his betrayal would have helped smooth that out - but that scene where Akakin chooses to save Palpatine from Windu echos almost exactly the shot where Vader chooses to save Luke from the Emperor in Return of the Jedi. Both men are on the ground being hit by the force begging for Anakin/Vader to save them. It's interesting that in both cases, he chooses to help the underdog (as he sees it). I thought it was a neat juxtoposition.

I admit, I'm a bit of a geek and easy to please. I thought the fights were excellent and the last twenty mintues or so had me at the edge of my seat. So, yeah, not perfect, but I got what I wanted out of it and enjoyed the movie alot.

Cordelia

on May 25, 2005

What more reason do you need to live, lady?

Bwahahahahaha! Too right.

I agree that there were many good - and occasionally great - things about the movie. While I do understand that the groundwork for Anakin's reversal to the dark side has been laid, I still think it could have been done better. But then that's easy to say from my perspective.

Thanks for playing Sean. Say hi to the family.

Sean

on May 25, 2005

Hey, I love talkin' movies. And I agree that Lucas could have done a far better job laying out Anakin's fall. We get isolated scenes throughout the trilogy, but it never feels wholly consistent. He has three modes - fun-loving but kinda rebellious kid, love-smacked shmuck, and angry young man, and there's never any flow between them. He's got multiple personality disorder. At least in some scenes in this one they tried to iron that out, but obviously they didn't succeed completely.

What kills me most is that this is the guy who wrote and directed American Graffitti, one of the best examples of pure character-driven story-telling in the 70's. Somewhere along the way, he really did become more interested in laying out his shots than creating rich characters. I mean, the sequence you talk about in the temple with Obi Wan and Yoda - great layout visually, but absolutely terrible in terms of emotional impact.

Really, what I got out the trilogy was a) the Jedi were actually kinda lame, but

Yoda and Obi Wan were far cooler than I thought they were in the first trilogy, and c) Palpatine's actually a better villian than Vader.

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