Post by Jetzt on May 10, 2005 10:45:40 GMT
AL has been on TF.N since Aug 1998, so we can trust him... he has also got us some great EP3 pics from insiders. Its a nice review...
There is one very brief shot in Revenge of the Sith of Anakin as the Vader helmet is slowly lowered down to his head and it is possibly the most human moment of the entire saga. Anakin has lost everything including his soul, his humanity: he is barely conscious as he lies on that gurney, now nothing but a shadow - a very badly charred shadow - of his formal self yet there it is. In his eyes is the most primal of feelings. His eyes convey that rawest of human, nay animal emotions. Pure, unadulterated fear. It is simply amazing.
My one advice to you is this: do not go into this film expecting anything. Do not go in thinking it's going to be brilliant; nor should you go in thinking this is a nail in the coffin that has been the prequels. Do not go in thinking it is just another summer movie either. But more so, do not go in expecting a Star Wars film. Go in with a clear head.
It is obviously easier said than done and I definitely did not go in not expecting a thing. I went in expecting quite a bit actually. I had not been as involved in the spoiler scene of this flick as I had been with the previous two, mainly because I went off to do my national service for almost a year during post and because I moved to a different country, got a new job and started a new life. Still, by the end of the spoiler run, I was pretty well versed in virtually everything about the film. I had read the script(never read the novelisation - never read any SW novelisations), heard most of the music, seen virtually all footage I could get my hands on and had very high expectations. These were met. And then some.
So why should you now expect anything going into the film? That's because this film is so very different from any other Star wars flick that it is unbelieavable. The first half of the film feels like a prequel. A good one; but still a prequel. So people who don't like the whole idea of prequels might not be too much into it. I dug it. I dug it hard. The action is amazing; it's great to see the shark ship (it's in there), the McQuarrie design, the ARC fighters as well as easily the best space action sequence ever seen on film. It does not surpass the Jedi battle mainly because I am such a hardcore Lando and "Into the Trap" fan but technically this is millions of miles ahead of anything that has ever graced the screen. And rightfully so: they started working on this sequence even before principal photography began, if I remember correctly.
Anyway, the action moves to the Invisible Hand and this is possibly the weak link of the whole film. Certain bits feel like a rehash of the beginning of TPM; a much better action sequence, but still a feeling of "been there, done that, inhaled the dioxis" (I am a nerd). The Dooku duel and the subsequent crash landing is good stuff too but by this time you have a serious feeling of "enough". You need a breather and you get it in the next thirty minutes or so. I really disliked AOTC (but I love TPM, so there we go) but the most AOTC-like parts of this film actually work quite well. The less insignificant senators talking crappy sub-Dickensian mumbo jumbo, the better. There is virtually none of that in this flick. The exposition heavy scenes of Sith all relate to Anakin's inner demons that eventually lead him down the dark path and even though they are not at all great (let alone good), it's conversation I had always wanted to see and hear so I went with it.
Anyway, yada, yada, yada and we get to the arrest scene. The film changes in tone significantly after this. It becomes...different. It does not feel like a prequel; it does not feel like any of the OT flicks: it does not feel like Star Wars. It feels so weird and strange and, yes, beautiful in a morbid way. Seeing the end of Mace, the Clone War montage, the demises of all ancilliary Jedi like Ki Adi, Plo Koon, Aayla Secura etc, seeing the fall of the Jedi order and the rise of Vader. It is mythology come to life. It's all leading down that inevitable path of molten lava (for not just Vader physically, but the who galaxy as a whole metaphorically) and you can't help feel giddy with excitement but also dread for these characters you know and love.
The rest of the film is, simply put, amazing to behold. The action is great, the duels are brilliant: everything is just wonderful. I did not think that Padme's funeral would get me but it did: I hated seeing the little, feisty girl from Naboo get killed by the one person who thought she was an angel(This film has so many links to my beloved Menace that it was awesome. The camera actually pans down to show the fricking japor snippet: if that was not for the fans, I don't know what is). I also started choking a little bit during the Vader on the bridge/Death Star construction bit.
But my emasculation was to come in the very last scene when I found myself crying my eyes out as Luke is handed over to Beru by Ben. I was crying because the scene was poignant. I was crying because the music so wonderfully encaptured me. But mostly I was crying because it was all over, I think. As the last shot looked over at the twin suns I heard that little Turkish kid whose first ever Star Wars experience was Empire at the Ari Cinemas in Ankara in 1982, whisper to me gently: "Time to grow up now, mate". Yeah.
Bugger.
boards.theforce.net/Revenge_of_the_Sith_(Spoilers_Allowed)/b10331/19607764/?60
There is one very brief shot in Revenge of the Sith of Anakin as the Vader helmet is slowly lowered down to his head and it is possibly the most human moment of the entire saga. Anakin has lost everything including his soul, his humanity: he is barely conscious as he lies on that gurney, now nothing but a shadow - a very badly charred shadow - of his formal self yet there it is. In his eyes is the most primal of feelings. His eyes convey that rawest of human, nay animal emotions. Pure, unadulterated fear. It is simply amazing.
My one advice to you is this: do not go into this film expecting anything. Do not go in thinking it's going to be brilliant; nor should you go in thinking this is a nail in the coffin that has been the prequels. Do not go in thinking it is just another summer movie either. But more so, do not go in expecting a Star Wars film. Go in with a clear head.
It is obviously easier said than done and I definitely did not go in not expecting a thing. I went in expecting quite a bit actually. I had not been as involved in the spoiler scene of this flick as I had been with the previous two, mainly because I went off to do my national service for almost a year during post and because I moved to a different country, got a new job and started a new life. Still, by the end of the spoiler run, I was pretty well versed in virtually everything about the film. I had read the script(never read the novelisation - never read any SW novelisations), heard most of the music, seen virtually all footage I could get my hands on and had very high expectations. These were met. And then some.
So why should you now expect anything going into the film? That's because this film is so very different from any other Star wars flick that it is unbelieavable. The first half of the film feels like a prequel. A good one; but still a prequel. So people who don't like the whole idea of prequels might not be too much into it. I dug it. I dug it hard. The action is amazing; it's great to see the shark ship (it's in there), the McQuarrie design, the ARC fighters as well as easily the best space action sequence ever seen on film. It does not surpass the Jedi battle mainly because I am such a hardcore Lando and "Into the Trap" fan but technically this is millions of miles ahead of anything that has ever graced the screen. And rightfully so: they started working on this sequence even before principal photography began, if I remember correctly.
Anyway, the action moves to the Invisible Hand and this is possibly the weak link of the whole film. Certain bits feel like a rehash of the beginning of TPM; a much better action sequence, but still a feeling of "been there, done that, inhaled the dioxis" (I am a nerd). The Dooku duel and the subsequent crash landing is good stuff too but by this time you have a serious feeling of "enough". You need a breather and you get it in the next thirty minutes or so. I really disliked AOTC (but I love TPM, so there we go) but the most AOTC-like parts of this film actually work quite well. The less insignificant senators talking crappy sub-Dickensian mumbo jumbo, the better. There is virtually none of that in this flick. The exposition heavy scenes of Sith all relate to Anakin's inner demons that eventually lead him down the dark path and even though they are not at all great (let alone good), it's conversation I had always wanted to see and hear so I went with it.
Anyway, yada, yada, yada and we get to the arrest scene. The film changes in tone significantly after this. It becomes...different. It does not feel like a prequel; it does not feel like any of the OT flicks: it does not feel like Star Wars. It feels so weird and strange and, yes, beautiful in a morbid way. Seeing the end of Mace, the Clone War montage, the demises of all ancilliary Jedi like Ki Adi, Plo Koon, Aayla Secura etc, seeing the fall of the Jedi order and the rise of Vader. It is mythology come to life. It's all leading down that inevitable path of molten lava (for not just Vader physically, but the who galaxy as a whole metaphorically) and you can't help feel giddy with excitement but also dread for these characters you know and love.
The rest of the film is, simply put, amazing to behold. The action is great, the duels are brilliant: everything is just wonderful. I did not think that Padme's funeral would get me but it did: I hated seeing the little, feisty girl from Naboo get killed by the one person who thought she was an angel(This film has so many links to my beloved Menace that it was awesome. The camera actually pans down to show the fricking japor snippet: if that was not for the fans, I don't know what is). I also started choking a little bit during the Vader on the bridge/Death Star construction bit.
But my emasculation was to come in the very last scene when I found myself crying my eyes out as Luke is handed over to Beru by Ben. I was crying because the scene was poignant. I was crying because the music so wonderfully encaptured me. But mostly I was crying because it was all over, I think. As the last shot looked over at the twin suns I heard that little Turkish kid whose first ever Star Wars experience was Empire at the Ari Cinemas in Ankara in 1982, whisper to me gently: "Time to grow up now, mate". Yeah.
Bugger.
boards.theforce.net/Revenge_of_the_Sith_(Spoilers_Allowed)/b10331/19607764/?60
