Episode III

Sunday May 22nd 2005

I just got back from watching Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Here are my initial thoughts on it.

Out of all the Star Wars films, this is the one that puts the most attention towards the actual storyline - something much appreciated. After all, Episode III is meant to be the “anchor” film that ties all six episodes together. Did it do that? Yes, it did. It did it very well. It shows all the things that explain just about everything for episodes IV, V and VI.

I only have two (very small) complaints. The first one is that Chewbacca isn’t explained very well. If you read his bio, you understand that he befriends Han Solo after he frees him from slave labor forced upon him by the Empire. They are friends ever since after that - explaining their connection in episodes IV thru VI. The second complaint is the sighting of the Millenium Falcon which happens right at the beginning of Episode III. At this point in the story, the Falcon would have still belonged to Lando Calrissian. But maybe it’s not the ‘Falcon. It could be a ship that just looks like it.. but I don’t buy that. ;-)

Aside from those two itty bitty complaints, the rest of the movie is spot on. The balance between emotion and action are mixed together very well.

On the action side, it doesn’t get much better than this. Huge battle scenes, dogfight style ship fighting and the best saber battles ever seen in a Star Wars film. No doubt about that.

On the emotional side, when Anakin Skywalker falls to the dark side, it’s totally believable why he did it. The reason is simple: For the love of a woman. One would think that George Lucas did this very intentionally. Is the path to the dark side because of a love for a woman? Hmm…. I mean, Luke Skywalker had no love interest and was able to resist the dark side. Could it be he was able to hold himself together because he had no mate? Hmm….

Here’s a few thoughts that have been rambling around in my head from watching this movie today.

It’s hard to believe that Star Wars is officially done. It’s over. Done with. All the pieces are in place. This is it. The last hurrah. I remember seeing The Empire Strikes Back when I was 5 and Return of the Jedi when I was 8. (I didn’t see the original Star Wars as a kid because I was only 2 years old at the time.) Now I’ve just seen Episode III, and I’m 30. Let’s just say I felt my age today.

If that wasn’t weird enough, I saw Episode III in the same movie theater I saw Empire and Jedi in years ago. Whoosh. This theater has changed ownership at least 5 times to my memory. Back when I saw the originals as a kid, it was owned by the same people who built the place. That has long since changed. Thankfully the theater is still the same. It’s small, quaint and predictable. :-)

Tears fell from my face at the opening note of the main theme song when the STAR WARS yellow logo first appeared. Every single time I hear that triumphant first trumpet blast, it moves me. It happened when I was 5, when I was 8, when I was 22 (1997 when I saw the re-releases) and now when I’m 30. That theme song is one of the best I’ve ever heard, if not the best. That’s the musician side of me coming out. Truly good music moves me and brings tears of joy.

And finally, concerning my own screenplay writing, Star Wars is a huge inspiration. It always has been. Movies like that let me know that people really do like sci-fi films. If you asked most people, they would not classify any Star Wars film as simply “sci-fi”. They would just say “It’s a great movie.”

It is.

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