Actually, I think it was more a matter of Yoda just plain not winning and knowing it was going nowhere. How much longer could they keep it up before he was facing a couple hundred clone troopers as well?
Jedi can survive falls just fine. How would YOU handle falling a couple hundred feet? Probably not well enough to then crawl through who knows how many ducts. 
-Joe
Other things that occurred.
When we see flame-broiled Anakin right before he gets his surgery I saw that he was missing most of his LEFT arm. When did that happen? Part of his triage or something?
I thought we were going to either hear from or see Qui-Gonn. Was it cut? Did I miss it? Anyone who read the book able to shed some light?
Regarding Palpatine’s story about Ye Olde Sithe Mastere. I very much got the impression that the Sith Master murdered in his sleep was Palpatine’s master. True or false? I also got the impression that Palpatine, using Olde Sithe Mastere’s trick to get the midichlorians to create life absolutely used them to create Anakin.
I’m sure I’ll think of more.
-Joe, virigne birthe
I liked it. It was better than the other prequels, but still not close to the originals.
thoughts:
Anakin turned to fast for me. He goes from cutting a hand off, to killing all the jedi, just to much.
The “love” scenes were BAD. Cringe bad.
Ewan is a great Obi-wan! Best actor probably in all the movies. Loved him
Yoda kicked ass. When he knocked those guards out the whole theater laughed and clapped…perfect.
I dont like the fact that Dooku died so easy. I mean he fought Yoda and Yoda couldnt kill him, but Anakin does after Dooku knocks out Obi-wan? But then Obi-wan kicks Anakin’s ass…just didnt make sense to me.
Palpatine was talking about his master. But notice that although he promised Anakin he could teach him the power to manipulate life, once Anakin had turned, we learn that Palpatine really didn’t know anything about it.
I think Obi-Wan cut it off at the same time he cut off his legs.
I thought that, but as the movie went on, I also got the feeling that none of it was true, and Sidious was simply lying to Anakin to get him to turn. I think he was very relieved when Padme died (in the kind of neat self-fulfilling prophesy) and he didn’t have to figure out something he knew he couldn’t/didn’t know how to do.
Here’s my question: why doesn’t R2-D2 remember that he can fly in the original “Star Wars?” That would’ve helped him get away from, say, those Jawas and whatnot…
I’m pretty sure Dooku took a fall purposefully. Granted, I don’t think he knew he was going to die. Palpatine probably told him “I need your help turning Anakin, so after you take care of Obi-Wan, make sure to take a dive.”
Actually I’m pretty sure he did. He just wanted to make sure that the only thing with any possibility of turning Anakin back to the light side had no chance of surviving.
The Emporer is a magnificantly deceptive bastard.
Why didn’t the radio work in my 1988 Volvo two years ago?
-Joe
He hever got his fuel tanks recharged.
Could I be a writer or what?
I’m certain it was Palpatine’s master who died in his sleep. Another thought I had was that his master was the one who created Anakin and Palaptine thought, “If I kill this guy in my sleep, not only will I become Sith Master, but I’ll have a really kick ass apprentice.” So perhaps it was Palpatine’s original master who was Anakin’s father.
I found the relationship between Anakin and Padme completely unbelievable. I just didn’t see how Padme could like him at all. He was a whiney pissant right from the first movie. Despite this, I thought the two characters were pretty well put together. I liked how Anakin was a touch ambiguous. He had a reason for turning besides the ultimate quest for power.
The dialogue, in spots, was terrible and I laughed out loud in a number of places. I tried to be polite though, they were mostly short bursts. There was so much potential in certain spots…
Despite that, I really liked the movie. The middle section during the rebellion and onward I was completely gripped, especially when the Jedi were being killed. I had my heart in my throat.
As should be obvious from my first comment, I found the reason for Padme’s death a little unbelievable as, as stated before, I couldn’t see how there would be any real feelings there. The real reason should be something along the lines of death because she was ashamed in her taste in a husband. That was only a small quibble really. It really wasn’t the thrust of the ending and overall I was very pleased by it. All plot lines were tied together nicely and somewhat believably.
As far as the acting is concerned, Ewan seemed to do the best with what he was given. Sam was pretty good as well (as he always is). Natalie seemed robotic at times but was more than passable. Hayden was okay but that’s about all I’ll give him.
My mark on IMDB will probably be 7/10.
Oh, ILM and Skywalker Sound did a remarkable job. A little more bass than necessary at times but nothing major.
I don’t know if this deserves a new thread, but here are some unanswered Star Wars questions that I have.
General rambling:
Hayden Christensen
I’m thinking the real reason is sloppy writing by Lucas. But this could be explained by the fact that Leia is Force-sensitive, and perhaps uses this to divine the past and “remember” feelings about her mother. Maybe things she picked up on in the womb…that sort of thing.
The one thing cooler than Yoda kicking butt was Artoo kicking butt. Especially since he did it in such an Artoo-ish way. But Yoda just casually felling the two scarlet-robes was great, too.
I thought that the acting was better than I and II across the board; Portman in particular did a much better job in this one than previously. She still didn’t come across as a great actress, but I wasn’t cringing at her delivery. Even in the terrible romance scenes, one does get the impression that part of the reason they’re so terrible is that the relationship (such as it is) is falling apart.
It seemed pretty obvious to me that Plagus was Sidious’ master. Plagus taught his apprentice everything he knew… Sidious’ mentor taught him everything he knew. Besides, how the heck else would Sidious know of Plagus?
The bit that puzzled me was why a droid would be always coughing and wheezing, and walk with an arthritic hunch. I’m told that Grievous wasn’t actually a droid, but an organic with a bunch of droid parts, but in that case, why does the opening crawl say he was a droid? And even if his lungs were original equipment (which would explain the cough), wasn’t his musculoskeletal system mechanical? So why can’t he stand up straight?
Well that’s embarrassing.
Round 2:
Hayden can’t act to save his godddamned life. One of my seatmates is all “Look what he has to work with”, but I point out that Ewan McGregor and Sam Jackson had the same crap, but they sold it.
No feminine hygiene commercial in the middle of this one. No giant tick rides. Thank God for that.
It’s been almost 30 years, and that man still cannot write a believable love scene. Every time Padme and Anakin were speaking to each other, I was cringing. Deep-seated embarrassment for the poor actors.
The space battles were fantastic this time around and the effects were good. He doesn’t have the all-digital set thing quite right yet. The Jedi Temple still looked off to me. Much better than in 1 and 2 though.
Padme had a lot of really (really) bad hair and lighting. She’s ordinarily so gorgeous, but during the scene on the balcony, near the beginning, she turned toward Anakin when he says something like “you’re so beautiful”. She had this nasty hair mess and a really awful hag face, and it was mostly the lighting and makeup. My seatmate was again smacking me – between Anakin telling her how beautiful she was and her shooting him with her hagface, I was giggling uncontrollably.
Also (because I’m only 12 inside) when Palpatine asked Anakin whether the Jedi Council had done something “to make [him] feel dishonest”, the only thing I could think was “SHOW ME ON THE DOLL WHERE HE TOUCHED YOU”.
Yoda with the guards? Funny as hell. Everyone cheered that where I was.
R2 with the ass-kicking? Also funny as hell.
Overall, much, much better than the first two. I was dreading what he had for us in this one, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Grievous is definitely a cyborg. His meaty bits were shown quite clearly several times.
The exact phrasing in the crawl is “fiendish droid leader, general grievous”. More clear Lucas writing - it could mean that he is a droid that is a leader or a leader of droids.
The cough is explained by the meat lungs.
As for the hunch, who knows? Maybe whatever Grievous originally was (before being cyborged) is normally hunchbacked so those are the devices he chose off the rack?
I was kind of disappointed in General Grievous just because, well, he was kind of a wuss. It seems like almost all he ever did was run away. Compare that to the psycho killer from the cartoons…
-Joe
YOU CAN ?! I thought it was totally unconvincing ! Pathetic is closer to what I feel about the changing to the dark side.
The romance was unconvincing too… dumb script.
I loved it, and I know that unlike the other two prequels, my love for this movie will not fade once my rose-colored fanboy glasses go away. Here’s why: I actually cared about the plot, and found the non-action scenes as interesting as the action ones. When I made myself watch Episode II a couple nights ago, I was pretty much just waiting for the end (I’m like this when I watch ROTJ, too). When I watch this movie at home at some point, the only scenes I’ll probably get up to use the bathroom/make a sandwich during is that awful scene that opens with Padme brushing her hair. Ugh, George, what made you think that sounded good?
Also, I thought Hayden did a really good job this time around. Despite having bad dialogue to work with, he tried his hardest to create some chemistry between him and Natalie Portman, and sometimes they even pulled it off (no thanks to her… she seemed intent on delivering most of her lines like she was deliberating in the Senate). And he plays conflicted and downright evil very well, to the point that even though I knew he’d become Darth Vader, I found myself hoping that, somehow, it wouldn’t happen. Like, I was genuinely happy he told Mace Windu that Palpatine was a Sith lord. But Palpatine, of course, had to keep f’ing with his mind and heart.
Related to that, loved the wordless scene of Anakin and Padme both looking out the windows. Very, very nice music there that set the mood perfectly.
I’ve already seen it twice, and I’ve choked up both times during the Jedi purge montage and the end when Obi-Wan says “You were my brother! I loved you!” Excellent work from Ewan.
Loved the opera scene, too, and all the Anakin/Palpatine scenes. Ian McDiarmid rocked in this movie, and frankly I’m glad he played the Emperor as being ridiculously over the top, because that’s how he is in ROTJ, too.
Anyway, a fitting end and a deserving one.
Complaints: theater was way the hell too loud. Like painful to the ears at times loud. Not George’s fault, I guess. Also, the whole thing was dubbed in Spanish (but incredibly well done; Darth Vader even sounded like Darth Vader!)
So, I went to the 12:01 am showing here, too (we’re on Arizona time here, whatever that is). I’ll have to go watch Episode IV again, but I’m almost ready to say that this was the best Star Wars ever. Come on, it wrapped up everything nicely, the effects were great, and I have the advantage of not really having to experience the US acting that everyone seems to hate. As soon as I have a chance, I promise to see it in English. Remember that beggers can’t be choosers.
As for Anikan’s conversion to the dark side: it was completely credible. You know how everyone says evil’s so evil 'cos it doesn’t know it’s evil? That applied really nicely in Anikan’s fall. From his perspective, his plotting, Jedi masters are trying to effect a coup d’etat. Compounded with his wife’s impending deadly childbirth and the Chancellor’s manipulation, I have no trouble sympathizing and totally understanding and possibly even supporting what he did (remember, he’s not an omnicient viewer as are we).