Summary:
Three years after the start of the clone wars, Obi-Wan and Anakin find themselves lured into a plot that may offset the balance of the force, and set the Sith up for rule.
My Thoughts:
When I was a kid, I loved the first two Star Wars movies (well, Episodes I and II), because they came out when I was at the prime age to enjoy them. I saw those entries multiple times in theaters, watched them dozens of times at home, and was obsessive about collecting toys, books, what have you. By the time this third film came out I was growing… exhausted. I saw this film once in theaters, once more when I bought it on DVD, and I watched it for the third time last night, and you know what? I still find this movie exhausting.
“From my point of view the Jedi are evil.” “Well then you are lost!”
Three years after the start of the Clone Wars, Jedi Anakin (Hayden Christensen, “Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones”) and Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor, “The Ghost Writer”) still find themselves wrapped up in a violent clash between Count Dooku (Christopher Lee, “The Wicker Man”) and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid, “Star Wars: Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi”), but after Dooku’s demise, another threat rises in its place. The Chancellor takes Anakin under his tutelage. Meanwhile Anakin is plagued by visions of Padme’s (Natalie Portman, “Vox Lux”) death, and searches for a way to save her.
SOME SPOILERS FOLLOW
I do like the fact that “Revenge” is a bit darker of an entry. Even when you look at some of the more recent entries in the Star Wars Universe, this film has moments of darkness that approach levels we never really reach again. I know a lot of people say they like “Rogue One” for how dark/bleak that film was, but that film doesn’t feature the protagonist slaughtering a room full of children, now does it? This movie is dark, but it’s also not as dark as it could’ve been, after all, this is meant to be the turning point for one of the biggest villains in cinematic history. While the things that Anakin does in this film are incredibly dark and violent, the film doesn’t want us to really focus on that, instead, it brushes over those moments rather quickly, and just moves on to more action. Instead of more action, I wish this movie had focused on the gravity of those actions: Anakin freaking killed a bunch of kids! Why doesn’t Obi-Wan come out swinging? It seems to me if you’re willing to mass murder children, you’ve sort of already chosen a side, and any argument of persuasion is sort of moot.
I like some of the action in this film, but I also think that there are some battles that stretch on endlessly. This film came out after the conclusion of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and I honestly think Lucas was just trying to one-up the Helm’s Deep fight just by showing us fight sequences that stretched beyond the runtime of Helm’s Deep’s battle. The only problem is that many of these fights stretch on for so long that they become, again, exhausting. The characters just continue fighting over different terrain, swinging lightsabers, or shooting laser blasters, but no one ever seems to be gaining or loosing anything in the fights; it’s just action for the sake of action. Even films that are primarily action, like this year’s “John Wick: Chapter III: Parabellum”, have a purpose to the fight scenes. We know why John is fighting these people in every scene before he ever commences fighting them. In this film, some of the fights stretch on in such an endless and directionless way that I often found myself struggling to even pay attention, much less actively care about the outcome of those fights.
Hayden Christensen’s acting is as bad as he was in “Attack of the Clones.” Natalie Portman, again, bless her heart, keeps trying to make that stilted dialogue sound natural. Ewan McGregor gives it his all and I still have a hard time caring about his storyline, which is the story most bogged down with unnecessary fights. Ian McDiarmid, who takes up considerable more time in this film than he did in any of the other entries, is fine, but I’ve always felt his transition from Supreme Chancellor to Emperor always felt a little rushed and unearned, and that’s honestly how I felt about Anakin’s final transition to the dark side too. Anakin has dreams about his wife dying, and that alone causes him to betray everything he’s ever stood and trained for? I’m sorry, but it would take more than a few dreams and mild coercion from a Chancellor for me to murder a bunch of kids.
This film looks a lot worse than I remembered, and most of that is because it’s obvious close to ninety-percent of this film was shot on a green screen/ sound stage. Movies always look better when they use CGI as a polishing tool, and on the flip side, they always look worse when their entire worlds are created in a digital realm. Look at “Lord of the Rings”- films that came out around this time. Those films implement CGI, but they do it sparingly, mixing the CGI with miniatures, composites, and all sorts of camera tricks; those film’s use of CGI also hold up to this day. When CGI is used sparingly, it helps to enrich the world where sets and costumes fail, but when it’s used ubiquitously, it’s impossible to ignore the glaring difference between what is real and what was made inside a computer.
Verdict:
Rewatching these prequel films has been sort of a reminder of how great special entries in the Star Wars franchise like “Empire Strikes Back” and “The Last Jedi” really can be. I am a much bigger fantasy fan than I am a sci-fi fan, but I still do enjoy some entries of the Star Wars franchise. The prequels aren’t great, but they have inventive moments, a few cool scenes of action, and, though it pains me to admit it, watching them again fills me with a sense of nostalgia. Though I’ve spent the last week rewatching middling movies, I honestly don’t think they are a total waste of time.
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