Star Wars : Episode III

[m00n]

But that's the story... Him being whiney is showing how is suceptable to falling to the dark side. What does yada always say to luke. Basically watch that temper because it leads to the dark side. We hear it all the time. Anikin is whiney which is part of why he falls. He's a brat, he wants more and more, never satisfied. He plays the part exactly as he should. It's showing his character.

[nicholtl]

I definitely enjoyed this movie. It's easily the best of the most recent 3 installments, and I thoroughly enjoyed the story behind Anakin's rise (or fall) to becoming Darth Vader. He did it for love, for peace, and for power. And for those reasons, I instantly related to - and sided with - Anakin.

I've always hated name actors in Star Wars movies, and so I would rather a relatively unknown actor have played Anakin. I also detest the choice of Samuel L. Jackson and Jimmy Smitts in the films as well. That, coupled with the fact that I related best to Anakin, were the reasons I wanted to see the utter and complete annihilation of the Jedi forces.

The acting was reasonable, and as someone mentioned once before, if you intend to see this film for Oscar-worthy performances, well...don't bet on it. Then again, if you strive for greatness, as all Star Wars films do, why not go all the way? Many times, the lines were laughable, simply ringing untrue to the moment, and to the characters. Such was often the case during exchanges between Anakin and Queen Amidala (or whatever her actual name in this installment was).

I felt the story and character development that led Anakin to The Dark Side was intelligent and well-crafted. What I would liked to have seen more of, however, was additional spectacular battles between Anakin and the slaying of the Jedi masters that he had come to so bitterly despise. His meager fight with Samuel L. Jackson left much to be desired. I know it sounds sick, but I wanted to receive the full effect of him murdering the kids. We didn't need to actually see the dismemberment of thier little arms and legs and heads, but there are ways to accomplish this with the same effect, such as off-screen panning or tilts of the camera. And his fight against Obi-Wan, while cool, was not mind-blowing. Not nearly like the fight Obi-Wan and Quai-Gon had against Darth Maul in Episode I. NOT NEARLY.

I did enjoy Darth Vader's very, very human moments of despair and sorrow after he is first awakened in his new, armored state. When he learns of his wife's death, it was quite moving to see the man clad in ebony black metal crying like a little girl. However, like most of the tender moments in this film, the scene was cut short by a silly image wipe. Lucas, Lucas, Lucas...

Anyway, all in all, I recommend this movie for fans and haters alike. Not just for pure entertainment and escapist value, but because it ties many of the loose ends and draws parallels to the later episodes. For example, I liked how the Chancellor indirectly tells Anakin how he betrayed his mentor by killing him. The same fate is what befalls him, as we can see in "Return of the Jedi," when Darth Vader throws him - the chancellor, and his mentor - off the railing to save his son, Luke. Additionally, how cool was it for us to get a glimpse of the beginnings of The Death Star?

Tres cool.

Fun movie. Makes me want to go back and watch the original 3 again. Makes me want to write to Lucas and beg him to make Episodes VII, VIII, and IX.

[Klipsch Fanatic]

I havnt seen the movie yet but i will soon and the theater sound isnt as good as mine and your right i cant hear any surround sound in there but i have to admit the bass in there is actually pretty good, but that only because the theater i go 2 uses Klipsch speakers

[Grateful11]

I have to admit I got choked up at the end but dozed off a few times during the first hour. It was definitely worth seeing. Much better than I and II. Still missing about 20 years between III and IV. Maybe they'll give us that during the up coming TV series.

Grateful11

[m00n]

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On 5/22/2005 9:43:24 PM Grateful11 wrote:

Still missing about 20 years between III and IV.

Grateful11

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Yup, I agree 100%. There needs to be a star wars 3.5 to fill in those 20+ years. Shat... There is at least 2 more movies in that time period that he could fill in.

I mean think about it... In the origina trillogy, 4, 5, 6. The time span can't be more than a few years at MOST. Even 1,2,3 have at MOST a 10 or 12 year span between the three movies.

So... what the hell. We are supposed to live with a 20 year span of time between 3 and 4? CMON George. Hook up a brotha.

[dblue]

He will be hooking us up, via the animated and live action series.

And again, if anyone here hasn't seen all 25 episodes of Clone Wars, the animated series, then you will have missed out on quite a bit of story that leads up to episode 3 and contributes quite nicely.

And it just plain rocks.

[m00n]

I'm going to have to look into this. I didn't even know it existed.

[damonrpayne]

Ok, saw it.

All in all, I thought Ep I was aweful, Ep II was better.

This one was very enjoyable. As someone mentioned, if you are not watching it with the purpose of being critical its very easy to overlook the cheesy parts. There's not much cheesy content anyway.

This will be an excellent audio/video test disc when it comes out too!

[skonopa]

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On 5/22/2005 6:39:47 PM nicholtl wrote:

The acting was reasonable, and as someone mentioned once before, if you intend to see this film for Oscar-worthy performances, well...don't bet on it. Then again, if you strive for greatness, as all Star Wars films do, why not go all the way? Many times, the lines were laughable, simply ringing untrue to the moment, and to the characters. Such was often the case during exchanges between Anakin and Queen Amidala (or whatever her actual name in this installment was).

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I agree. Why not go all the way? Imagine just how much more awesome these movies could've been if they where of the same caliber of the Lord of the Ring movies, or even the Harry Potter movies.

And in response m00n's post about filling in the story with another movie or TV series, I also very much agree in checking out the Clone Wars animated series. Very well done. Also, rumour has it that there is a new TV series being developed that will fill in between Episode III and Episode IV (the "original" Star Wars movie). I hope those rumours are indeed true - me and my DVR will be waiting!

[Hardhead]

I saw it last Friday afternoon with my children. The acting and dialogue weren't good, but in general they were better than any of the other episodes. I had forgotten how irritating Chewbacca's howling is. People complain about Jar-Jar Binks, but he's not nearly as irritating as Chewbacca.

George Lucas has always emphasized special effects and neglected dialogue and casting in the Star Wars films, so we pretty much know what to expect, and that's truly unfortunate. I heartily agree with the comment above: good acting and dialogue would have made the movies much, much better. I've often thought that Lucas overdoes the special effects to the detriment of everything else as an advertisement for his Industrial Light & Magic special effects company. I'll bet it makes more money for him than the Star Wars movies.

The "love" scenes in both II and III were excruciating, and the foundation for Anakin's constant whining wasn't developed at all. "Boo hoo!" is how he sounded, and that made it difficult to care about what happened to him. I admit that as Anakin's clothes were burning in III, I thought to myself, "At last he has something to whine about." Hey, it's only a movie.

What I was taken with was the gorgeous colors during the first 10-15 minutes of the movie. I've never before seen anything that beautiful on a movie screen.

[theryugobuddy]

My six year olds and I saw this last night. Wow--from the very start the effects were pure eye-candy. The battles and swordfights are just plain dazzling, and when two separate swordfights are going on at the same time its riveting. Annakin's immature droopy whining in the past two episodes became a stylishly lethal combination of brooding and killing. Yoda is funny, powerful, and his dialect is charming. But, for Lucas to have presented this last great installment in the middle of the actual story of all six episodes is genius. Darth Vader has been an icon of ultimate evil for 25 plus years now, and to see him here in his prison in the form of a black helmet and cape at the end screaming out the last of his humanity is tragically powerful -- We know where he goes from here. Acting --schmacting! A great movie all around--

[Tom Adams]

The wife and I went last Friday night and I damn near walked out. Not because of the film, but because of the theater. As the house lights dimmed and the projectionist began the previews, the image was skewed and off-center. So up come the house lights, the radio music comes back on and the advertisements/factoids/trivia start showing. This proceeds to happen over & over for 15 minutes. I look at the wife and tell her God is trying to tell us something. Finally they get the image as right as they can, but one can still see some over-scan in the far upper right. Oh well, Ill be looking mostly at the middle of the screen and there will always be the DVD and my home theater. Sheesh.

As for the movie itself....both the wife & I enjoyed it a lot. We both felt the part where the underlings were killed was tragic, but essential in Anakins path to the dark side. I have to agree with m00n that Anakin needs to be a whinny cry-baby. Just look at how most child prodigys are in real life. Yes, theyre smart & talented & gifted; but at the end of the day, theyre still just kids emotionally. They might be able to understand complex math theories, but mess up their hamburger order and they throw a temper-tantrum.

Vaders yell, groan, whatever could have been better I agree. However, cmon.the dude just went through an arm & double leg amputation, his *** caught on fire, most of his flesh burned off, prosthesis attachment, and various electromechanical things done to save him. Damn, Im not sure I couldve managed much of a true he-man groan myself!! LOL

We thought it was interesting how the movie focused in on Padmes apparent still pregnant condition in her coffin in order to sell the notion that the twins died. Im puzzled though in that if Jedis can sense disturbances in The Force, why would not a Sith (Vader and/or the Chancellor) not sense that the twins were alive??

Did folks clap and holler in your theater as much as they did in mine??

I thought the humor was well placed.

I was shocked how restrained the theater sound system was. Normally, the volume level is probably a good 6db higher. Not really complaining for I was comfortable with the level. Still there was a definite lack of serious low bass.

Several times I thought, I cant wait until this is out on DVD so I can watch it on my system.

meuge => it would be interesting to be a fly on the wall and listen to your acting/dialog when you finally meet the woman of your dreams and become head-over-heels in love. Dude....Anakin & Padmes dialog will pale in comparison with what youll probably say.

Am I right guys??? Cmon now. Tell the truth. You know youve looked back on some things you did or said when you were ga-ga about some chick and get embarrassed just thinking about it. LOL

Tom

[damonrpayne]

Very goodobservations Tom:

They might be able to understand complex math theories, but mess up their hamburger order and they throw a temper-tantrum.

I'm much the same way.

We thought it was interesting how the movie focused in on Padme’s apparent still pregnant condition in her “coffin” in order to sell the notion that the twins died. I’m puzzled though in that if Jedi’s can sense disturbances in “The Force”, why would not a Sith (Vader and/or the Chancellor) not sense that the twins were alive??

I didn't notice that, but that's a nice touch. I'm pretty sure there's a limit on the range of the force, they would have to be nearby to sense that the twins were still alive. They were too young to be "A Great Disturbance in the Force" like the Emporer said in Empire strikes back.

[Audible Nectar]

"Am I right guys??? Cmon now. Tell the truth. You know youve looked back on some things you did or said when you were ga-ga about some chick and get embarrassed just thinking about it. LOL"

Yeah, you have a point......but we only get ONE TAKE

[m00n]

Ok... went and seen it again yesterday with dear ol dad. Different theater same story. Audio was just crap. The lfe was so shallow and hollow sounding. No richness to it at all. I have a hard time believing that George let it go out like this.

[Frzninvt]

I can't wait to get that disc in my hands and play it back on my system at reference levels - Woo Hoo. Especially the scene with the General and the four light sabre's!

Hopefully, he will release it in the fall and not make us wait.

[damonrpayne]

I belive I read somewhere that November would be the DVD release.

[IndyKlipschFan]

Damon sais..

Approximate new home completion date: 01/05/2006 (Updated daily)

hahaha Good luck!!!

[dblue]

There's a torrent for a decent version floating around out on the web for the time being...decent video, 16:9 aspect ratio, 5.1 sound (not that great but still 5.1). I'm buying the DVD when it comes out but this is a nice tide-over.