Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith [Blu-ray]

For those of you who are new to the Star Wars universe(What planet are you from?!) here is a brief story on the films. Originally conceived as one film (supposedly) by George Lucas, Star Wars was thought by the studio to be too big for one movie, so George divided his story into episodes and decided to do Episode IV - A New Hope in 1977 because it worked as a single movie. He then named it Star Wars, but kept the episode's title on the beginning scroll. He figured if it doesn't work, it will be just one movie, but if the public liked it and it made money he'd do the rest of the episodes. Well, the people liked it alright. It became the top grossing movie of all time, until E.T. came along, but then after the re-release in `97 it regained the top spot again with $460.9 million. That is until Titanic came along with $600.8 million. But anyway, its still # 2 and if adjusted because of inflation, it's the 2nd highest grossing film ever at $1026.7 million, after Gone With The Wind $1187.7 million.Anyway, even though it was his creation and it made tons of money, George didn't have a pleasant time directing that movie due to the limitations at the time. So he passed the directorial reigns to other directors for Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI - Return Of The Jedi both of which continued the success of the original. Many fans consider The Empire Strikes Back (which at the time was considered dark and didn't quite match the originals box office) to be the best of the trilogy and even the whole saga. This is because here we learn who Luke Skywalker's father is and the story line gets elaborate and we have a few twists and turns that are later resolved in The Return of the Jedi. Anyway after Return of the Jedi he decided to call it quits, since the trilogy ends in a happy note. One thought remained in George's brain, originally the movie's story line revolved around Darth Vader, his childhood and his seduction to the Dark Side. In these three movies, you only get to see his redemption and also Luke Skywalker comes off as the main character. So George put off making any sequels and actually decided to scrap his idea to make it into 9 episodes. He thought that if he did all episodes, he'd be well into his 80's and too tired to take on such projects. So 6 episodes was his final decision. He felt he needed to tell the beginning of the story and luckily for us started making Episodes I, II & III which show us Anakin Skywalker before he became Darth Vader. So in 1999, after decades of waiting, Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace was released and then in 2002 Episode II - Attack Of The Clones.He directed both of them and that is probably the weakness of these movies. Now don't get me wrong I love all these movies, 5 stars to all, but George is a storyteller and a special effects director, he is not good in the Drama department or the screenplay dialogue. Some fans felt a bit disappointed with the last two movies, even though they still flocked to see them. I wasn't disappointed, it is all one big movie and even though some of the dialogue was boring and some of the love story seems childlike (mostly in Attack of the Clones), I have a good imagination and go with the flow. Had I been the director I would have eased on the quick editing and elaborate more on some of the feelings and characters scenes, I always feel that he cuts away right when there could be some more emotion showed. In my opinion when I view each movie individually my favorite is still 1.) The Empire Strikes Back, then my second believe it or not is 2.) The Phantom Menace, it's the beginning of the story and I love the setting, everything seems light and pure, before the Dark Side starts messing things up. I was not bothered by the dialogue, it explains all the politics at the time, I liked it. I liked the Qui Gon character played by Liam Neeson and of course Darth Maul, the best Sith warrior in the movies in my opinion. And everybody's favorite Jar Jar, the most hated character ever, who just happened to be digital, did not bother me at all. I thought Boss Nass was more annoying, but it's a small price to pay for such an awesome movie. Many disagree with me and consider this one to be the worst of the bunch, oh well. My 3rd favorite is now 3.) Revenge of the Sith (see below) then 4.) Return of the Jedi and finally I'm tied for 5.) & 6.) with Star Wars A New Hope and Attack of the Clones. Some days my least favorite is the original and some days Attack of the Clones, this is because I find the beginning of A New Hope a bit boring, only picking up when Han Solo is introduced. But I still love them both.Now we are BELOW. Ok I loved Revenge of the Sith. I can't review a lot of it because I don't want to spoil it for you. Here's what I thought. It is awesome, mind blowing and dizzying at some points, maybe cause I was close to the screen or maybe because its jammed packed. I did feel it was a bit rushed for me, hence my comment above of adding some of this story line to Attack of the Clones. Also I hated the childlike tone in some scenes and the stupid little noises the droids make, it's supposed to be funny. Anyway most of my demands were met. Not entirely to my liking but they were explained or hinted at, specially the whole father issue with Anakin (watch the Phantom Menace). I thought the love story was better handled here and Natalie Portman did a great job in all her scenes (she was given very little) This movie makes the original 3 more poignant, you feel sad when you start seeing the repercussions of Anakin turning to the Dark side and you see what a jerk he becomes, you feel the betrayal. I thought some parts were very well acted by all, some were ok, like Samuel L. Jackson's screaming, a bit overdone. Yoda is cool, you get to see Chewie again and the movie just moves along quickly. SEE IT. The Force is with you!

:-)I have read the reviews on line here at Amazon.com about the trailer for "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith," some I agree with, others I don't. I saw this trailer several times as TiVo grabbed it and I won't let it go. The one unfortunate thing is that Lucas is directing again and he is no director, a great storyteller, creating great characters and a great adventure to watch those characters grow within the film, but he is no director. As I have viewed many of the movies Lucas has directed, from "THX 1138," "American Graffiti," "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope," and "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace," and it became apparent to me that Lucas is no director as his camera angles are trivial and not very imaginative - much different from the collaboration between he and Steven Spielberg in the "Indiana Jones" movies. That collaboration really works and I bet had Lucas asked Spielberg to direct his saga he would have agreed - after all Spielberg is directing "Indiana Jones 4" as he did all the pervious "Indiana Jones" movies. Still I suspect this will be a magnificent movie.I have read all the speculations but I choose to go from only that which I have seen on the trailer. In the preview we see Palpatine tempting Anakin with greater power, Anakin getting appointed to the Jedi Council but withholding the rank of Master leading Anakin to believe he is not trusted, Palpatine getting into a lightsaber duel with many of the Jedi Masters, we see Bail Organa actually get into the fighting, we get to see Chewbacca once again, we see Palpatine declare all Jedi enemies of the Republic likely after declaring himself Emperor, we see Anakin killing members of the Trade Federation, the long awaited lightsaber dual between Anakin & Obi-Wan, even the Emperor versus Yoda in the hall of the senate and finally Anakin all armored up as Darth Vader.Now for those speculations -First Padmé dying - well there is no evidence of her death or for that matter dying during childbirth, nor is there evidence that she lives three years after the movie allowing Leia to get to know her mother. Both of these are speculation. Seeing Qui-Gon's spirit is another speculation, as is General Grievous being constructed from Darth Maul's torso. The whole review titled "Anakin is deceived into becoming Darth Vader!" is pure speculation based on educational guesses from the novels. What this person fails to take into consideration is that although all of the "Star Wars" novels are pre-approved by George Lucas that they are not canon - in fact had any of the plot of one of the movies been revealed prior to the movie release Lucas would not have approved it at all - this being the case I believe this review to be nothing more than following the bread crumbs to an incorrect conclusion. This person's facts are in place but this person is reading the facts wrong coming up with incorrect conclusions - please don't let this person investigate crimes, somebody will be falsely accused & convicted. There is also no evidence that Dooku will be beheaded by Anakin, nor is there evidence that Chewbacca will be the only surviving Wookie (in fact that is very unlikely to those of us who have seen "The Star Wars Holiday Special," and also no evidence that Anakin will kill Mace Windu. A lot of things that happen before "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope" may happen in "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" but a lot of these reviews are based in mere speculation - sure we know that Obi-Wan & Luke end up on Tatoonie, that Yoda will end up on Dagobah and that Leia will end up on Alderaan, but that does not mean we will see that in this movie. Also one person stated that since Padmé was a queen that is why Leia was a princess and that it makes Luke a prince - but if this person was paying attention to "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones" this person would have realized that the Naboo are a matriarchal society with an elected queen. Since the queen of the Naboo is an elected office there is no royalty and no inherent title to pass down. It is more likely that Leia's title of princess comes either from her adoption or is an elected position on Alderaan. Also this same person mentioned that Anakin was raised as a farmer - wrong answer again. Anakin was raised as a slave till age nine and then raised a Jedi Padawan. And this person expects to see a young Han Solo & Lando Calrissian - however though both are likely alive at this time they would be young adolescents and are not likely to be in the movie any more so than Greedo was in "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" - in other words no more than a cameo appearance.Basically what I am trying to say is stop speculating, you'll ruin it for those reading these reviews. Even when I know the outcome of a movie I do not reveal any important points of the movie - I just give feedback on things that are common knowledge and not giving away the surprises.Now on to the movie review itself. I must admit that I was weak and broke down & bought the novelization of the movie and read it three times before actually seeing the movie at 12:01 AM on May 19, 2005. I purposely went to "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" prior to "Episode III" at 9PM on May 18th so that immediately after the movie ended I could go right into the theater where "Revenge of the Sith" was playing and not have to wait to get in like all the rest - it worked (however I did purchase my ticket to the movie online on April 30th while I was in Israel and picked it up the monday following Mother's Day after getting back from Israel on the day before Mother's Day). Anyway the movie is great, well worth a thousand times the price of admission. But don't let the corny start turn you off as it is setting us up for the fall of Anakin. (I figure everyone knows he is going to fall so I feel this is not a true spoiler). As I said the movie really picks at the end. I was a bit disappointed in seeing General Grievous fight after seeing the fights on "Star Wars: Clone Wars" that the good General was in. This I will say though is that his fighting may have been effecting by Grievous' encounter with Master Mace Windu in the "Star Wars: Clone Wars" cartoon miniseries. As often is the case with trailers, the trailers of this "Star Wars" movie is deceptive - and much of the way the trailer was cut gives speculation to situations that happen differently than one would envision from the trailer versions. I will not go into what was different. By the way many of the speculations found in other reviews are correct, while others are totally wrong and if you were like I and read the book first - the book also fails the follow Lucas' version of the story. But this was a kick ass movie and well worth seeing and then buying the DVD.This was a great movie and although Lucas has stated this is the last - I really do not believe him. I feel he will in time release more chapters or as he has stated more television "Star Wars."