Thoughts on Revenge of the Sith (unboxed spoilers)

Nope. Daytime.

The wookies didn’t name their planet Kashyyk. Soemone else gave it that name. If the wookies had named their planet, it would be something like Mwaa-aa-a-a-armnh.

Who else thought Darth Vader needed a barbie doll and a skyscraper for the scene where he broke his manacles and said “NOOOOOOOOOOO”?

Overall, not a bad film. It avoided sucking except on the occasions where Anakin & Padme were talking together. And the NOOOOO scene. It certainly wasn’t ESB, but it was better than half-assed.

I haven’t seen any of the Clone Wars series, but I don’t think it impaired my enjoyment of the film, although I accept that there may have been elements of backstory that I was unaware of.

I have to say I think that Knowed Out has hit the nail on the head for the reasons behind Anakins fall.

In that crowd of Wookiees, did I see Mala, Itchy, and Lumpy?

The Clone Wars cartoon annoyed me because the Jedi were too freakin’ powerful. Individual jedi could take on a billion droid troops (and spaceships) and not break a sweat. Yet a couple dozen clones could mow them down?

Yes, but for people who didn’t see CW, it’s inexplicable, especially since he is described as being a droid in the opening. It’s a little more clear later that he’s a cyborg, but it’s never well spelled out, and you’re left with the impression that it’s just some wacky, inexplicably coughing robot.

What’s a shame is that GG was such a potentially cool character that Lucas turned into basically a more violent Jar Jar. Shakti featured in the original battle with GG, so her dying trying to redeem her failure would sort of make sense, though it would have been outside of the film. However, ANYTHING in film to demonstrate why GG is such a major threat or so evil would have been nice. Instead, this giant threat basically seems to run away at every chance.

Yeah, but that was a cartoon. This is real life!

This is, however, wholly consistent with the prequel films–each one introduces a “badass” villain who may look cool but whose appearance is too brief and, in the long run, doesn’t do very much before getting killed:

Darth Maul: 1 kill, then cut in half.
Jango Fett: 2 kills, then head lopped off
General Grievous: 0 kills (unless you count some of the clones his bike runs over), then shot.

And Count Dooku didn’t kill anybody either, did he? :rolleyes:

Actually, now that you mention it, no, he didn’t.

But at least Christopher Lee is an actor who can convey a certain menace, even though he doesn’t appear very much in the films either. But Maul/Jango/Grievous were all show (fancy moves/gadgetry/costuming) but mostly bluster.

I think that this was intentional to help bolster the evil badassness of Darth Vader.

Maybe, but even Vader isn’t very badass in the prequels (Evil? Sure, but Badass? No). When Anakin turns, he doesn’t defeat a single combatant who’s a genuine challenge. His body count that we see are some younglings and the Separatists–all cakewalks for even the greenest of Jedi.

And why would you want to water down your new “cool” villains just to remind people of the major Star Wars villain that these movies don’t feature?

What good is coolness when you’re dead after 5 minutes of screen time?

Exactly. So either (a) don’t make them and–more critically–market them as ultracool, or (b) don’t kill them off so quickly. Why did a major villain have to die every 5 reels or so? Did Maul have to die in Phantom? No. Did Jango have to die in Clones? No. The larger story arc wouldn’t have been effected in any real sense if they lived a while longer, and their durability would have made them more effective menaces. How threatening can a villain be if one after the other are so easy to dispatch?

It also would have been nice to know where the heck Grievous came from in the first place. Who is this guy? I have absolutely no recollection of seeing him in AotC (and it’s entirely possible that I’ve just totally forgotten him - I’ve only seen TPM twice and AotC once), but there he is at the beginning of RotS, like I’m supposed to know who he is.

Oh, I agree with this a hundred eleventy gahzillion percent! I was so pissed off they’d introduce such a cool villian as Darth Maul - sooooo much cooler than Vader, Sideous, Dooku and Greivous - tell us nothing about him and then kill him off.

Lucas could spin off another three movies just chronicling Maul’s origin’s and adventures.

Maybe the damage was worse than Sidious had planned or intended? Nah. Screw any draft of the script except the one that was shot.

Dooku was powerful, too powerful for Sidious to be able to control for too many years longer. It would only be a matter of time before he made his move and killed Palpatine. Anakin was powerful, but also young and vulnerable. Palpatine knew that once he reached the full potential of his power, he would no longer be able to control him, and given that Anakin was already the Most Powerful Jedi Ever, that presented a bit of a problem. Solution? Cripple him, put him in a position where, at least for a period of time, he was dependent on his new master. It would take time for Anakin/Vader to heal, learn to use his Dark Side powers, hell, learn to freaking walk again, and in the meantime, Sidious could have a great deal of control over him. So, while he would still be (or rather, become) much more powerful than most Jedi could ever hope to be, it would take probably decades for him to reach the point where he would become a serious threat to Sidious where with Dooku, it would take, what, maybe a coupla years.

I thought the scene of Obi-Wan returning to Padme after the Mustafar duel could’ve been handled better. After Padme asks Obi-Wan if Anakin’s alright (an unintentionally risible moment, considering the horror of what’s just transpired), there could’ve been a cut to Obi’s pained expression as he pauses and says, “Padme, you have all that’s left of Anakin now.” Cut back to Padme, who for a long moment wrestles with her emotions (paralleling the long moment Anakin struggled with his when she told him she was pregnant), before she says something like “Yes, I understand. You had no choice.” [Optional third line: (breaking into tears) “But this is the unhappiest moment of my life.”]

Sure, and then you get a bunch of bitches whining about how it was actually all done just to sell more toys.

Maul was nothing more than an attack dog. He didn’t need a backstory, and he certainly didn’t need any continuing adventures.

-Joe

I have a question: The title crawl tells me there are heores on both sides. Now, General Grievous and Count Dooku are cool people (and cyborg), but heroes? Who the hell is the hero?

They’re the heroes of the Separatists. I’m quite willing to bet that the Separatists, aside from perhaps the actual Sith lords, didn’t see themselves as evil or villainous, just as the Rebel Alliance in the original trilogy didn’t see themselves as bad, although the Imperial troops and officers certainly saw them as such.