Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Movie Haiku - Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith

www.starwars.com

Dir: George Lucas

Cast: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid

He becomes Vader
Ouch, that lava is scorching
give me that black mask


The final Star Wars film then. Let me start by saying that I'm not a massive Star Wars fan. Sure, I liked the original trilogy as a kid, and I acknowledge their undoubted impact on popular culture today, but it has to be said that Lucas's previous two episodes have been spectacularly underwhelming. Still, my anticipation for Revenge Of The Sith is greater as we already know the plot for this final episode which ultimately sows the seeds for the original film. This movie concerns the rise of the dark side and in particular, the fall of Anakin Skywalker (Christensen) and his emergence as Darth Vader. We also know he's going to lose his wife, the now heavily pregnant Amidala (Portman) and turn against his mentor Obi-Wan (McGregor). It's going to be a darker film this time around, and that can only be a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Thankfully director Lucas just about manages to pull it off this time. The story is much more focused without any unnecessary subplots to slow things down, and it gets off to a great start with Anakin and Obi-Wan on a mission to rescue Senator Palpatine (McDiarmid) from the clutches of evil Count Dooku (Christopher Lee). Even R2D2 gets to shine here and really steals the show from the other characters. It's almost a shame that this battle begins the film as really it's the best part of the movie, but there's plenty to hold the attention as the rest of the plot unfolds. Again the acting is a little patchy, but McGregor finally nails the role of Obi-Wan at his third attempt, and McDiarmid - the unsung glue that holds the whole franchise together - is deliciously evil in his pivotal role. The special effects, which bored me so much in The Phantom Menace, are much improved here, and only once do they look a bit rubbish; sadly this is during the climactic showdown between Anakin and Obi-Wan amidst a lava flow. Nonetheless this is a fun movie and if you're a Star Wars fan then you can't fail to enjoy it.

soulmining rating ****

As a footnote, as a consequence of catching a late night screening of Revenge Of The Sith I had to walk home along Brighton's seafront at 1:30am. What I didn't expect to encounter was a chap standing in the bushes with his trousers round his ankles getting sucked off by another man! It's perhaps somewhat unfortunate that now whenever someone talks about this film I'm going to have the mental image of a bloke sucking someone else's cock.

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