… and it was good.
It has been 14 hours since the end of my second viewing of Episode III in two days. Many have wondered why I actually wanted to catch it twice, and to tell you the truth, I never planned to. It just happened. But I now realise that everyone should watch movies twice, if nothing more, to appreciate the rising action of the plot and to spot all the little things that you missed the first time.
And what rising action. From the second the characteristic trumpet sounds of the Star Wars theme blasts with the all-too-familar logo and the opening text crawl, Revenge of the Sith just screams action movie over and over again. The scene opens with two predecessors of the TIE Advanced, flown by Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker (played by Hayden Christiansen) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Ewan McGregor) flying over a Republic vessel before making a sharp turn straight into a space battle the complexity has never been seen before. I used to play the TIE Fighter flight simulation game by LucasArts and trust me, I empathised completely when Obi-Wan deadpans “Flying is for droids”. Upon reaching the Trade Federation ship that looks suspiciously like a mini-Star Destroyer, the two begin their search for Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), who is being held hostage by Sith Lord Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and droid General Grievous (voiced by Matthew Wood).
Indeed, the action hardly stops as the two Jedi leap straight into battle, blue lightsabers blazing as they take out the same scrawny driods that hardly caused any trouble in Episode I. You’d think by now someone would have realised how looking like Jar-Jar Binks does not make you intimidating. R2-D2 shows off a few tricks of his own as he manages to take out two other droids with relative ease. The whole rescue scene ends dramatically with a clash between Anakin and Obi-Wan against the evil Sith Lord, followed by a droid massacre later on the bridge against General Grievous.
In fact, the opening sequence was so well done, it almost made the rest of the film pale in comparison. Perhaps what ironically saves the rest of the film from losing the edge it gained, is Anakin’s “almost too simple” (says azuresque) fall towards the Dark Side. But indeed, that’s the crux of the whole series. How a simple twisting of the Jedi’s beliefs to be selfless and care for others can lead you to the Dark Side’s desire for more power on the pretext that it will allow you to protect the ones you care for. And that’s the true nature of the Force, the thin line between good and evil.
Which is why the climatic scene where Anakin pledges allegiance to Darth Sidious after the murder of Mace Windu resonated so much with me (I shivered just remembering it). Anakin is lost. Everything he’s led to believe in has failed him and he is helpless to prevent the death of the one person left that he cares about – his wife Padme (played by Natalie Portman – who looks absolutely radiant in several scenes). It is at this point, his lowest, that he gives in to the only thing he believes can help him – the power of the Dark Side. It is important to note the choice of writer and director George Lucas to show that Anakin never fully gave in to the Dark Side. He was always depicted as being in conflict with himself, suggesting his eventual redemption in Episode VI.
The true miracle, of course, is seeing how Hayden Christiansen’s piss-poor acting could actually depict the raw emotions that Anakin Skywalker feels. Now I’ve never seen Christiansen’s acting anywhere else, so I’m just basing this judgment on the past two Star Wars movies. Of course, having had my directorial debut last year, I’m also partial to the fact that even the best actor/actress suffers under an incompetant director. This is most definitely the case with Natalie Portman, who sounds almost damsel-lish with her contrived lines. Perhaps only Ewan McGregor survives Episode III with his dignity intact. His goal to live up to the reputation of Sir Alec Guiness (the actor who played Ben Kenobi in Episodes IV to VI) was a remarkable one that came off successfully. Indeed, by the end of Episode III, the stage has been all set for Episode IV.
Borrowing from Wrestlemania XX’s tagline, indeed, this is “where it all begins… again”.
