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It was the most unexpected of situations. George Lucas returned to the Star Wars universe by telling the backstory of the famed villain Darth Vader, born Anakin Skywalker, as a new trilogy. The first film of this new series, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, had an unprecedented wave of hype surrounding it. After its release, it was as if someone let the air out of the room. While a significant financial success, the overall result was a tarnishing to the saga loved worldwide. Its follow-up, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, tarnished the saga further. What should have been a triumphant moment for American cinema became a textbook example of screwing with mythology. Suddenly, everyone was wondering how the man who built a story that has become ingrained in many cultures could be the same man who made Episode I and Episode II. As the inevitable conclusion to the trilogy approached, the anticipation was more muted. Audiences wanted to see the next installment but not in the way Lucas intended - people expected the film to pale in comparison to the Original Trilogy, so now they were wondering if it was going to be the trainwreck in mediocrity its two predecessors were. On May 19, 2005, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith was released, and while the audiences were right in expecting it to pale to the Original Trilogy, they were surprised that the film was good - in some moments, very good. Set three years after the end of Episode II, Episode III begins with the final battle of the Clone Wars - the Battle of Coruscant. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the leader of the Galactic Republic, has been kidnapped by the Trade Federation, now under military leadership by General Grevious and Count Dooku. Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker are sent to rescue Palpatine in the midst of the massive space battle. After the rescue, Anakin is given the honor of being a part of the Jedi Council but without the title of Master. Furthering his seeds of discontent, he has recurring nightmares that his wife, Padme Amidala, will die in childbirth, pushing him to find power over the Force that the Jedi perceivably lack. As Kenobi, Anakin's mentor and friend, is sent after Grevious alone, Anakin begins his descent to the Dark Side of the Force, eventually becoming Darth Vader and turning on the people he once considered allies. Episode III paralells Return of the Jedi less in its structure and more in its nature - it has dual personality of being light-hearted and fun in some moments and dark and heavy in others. Its duality is both a strength and a weakness, but the overall result is much better than its predecessors. The acting is more natural than in Episode I and Episode II. There are still moments of stiff line-reading, but they are not as prevalent as before. Ewan McGregor continues to be a highlight, fully emulating what made Sir Alec Guinness iconic as Obi-Wan Kenobi while adding enough of his own vigor to make a mark fully on the character. Natalie Portman finally gives Padme Amidala the personality she needed all this time, and while she still could have done a bit more with her, she at least seems like she's enjoying being in a Star Wars film. Hayden Christensen still has no chemistry with Portman - just see the apartment balcony scene toward the end of the first act, the worst scene in the film, as an example. However, he bounces off McGregor very well, showing the tight bond master and apprentice have and how tragic the breaking of the bond is after the turn to the Dark Side. Christensen may never be physically imposing as Vader was in the Original Trilogy, but he knows how to be deadly and threatening when it counts. The best role in the film, though, goes to Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine, the once and future Emperor. He is what the prequels lacked - a thoroughly engaging and imposing villain. He hams it up once his nature is exposed, but he allows Palpatine to be felt even when he is not on screen. Ian McDiarmid breathes life into the prequels, showing what they could have been. Everything in the film is more inspired. The music by John Williams is alive again, mixing themes and motifs from all of the films to emphasize the emotional journey. The cinematography by David Tattersall is more fluid, showcasing the action in all of its glory. The technology has finally caught up with the vision, allowing the visual effects to shine in obvious ways such as the opening battle but also in subtle ways, namely the details in the wonderfully constructed features of the computer-generated Yoda. Of the whole prequel trilogy storyline, Anakin's downfall and rebirth as Darth Vader is the most interesting and exciting plot point due to its nature. There's no more meandering around to get to this point in the story. We've had two films of build-up, most of it unnecessary. This is when all of the action happens. This is when all of the tragedy strikes. This is when the audience cares. This alone would make it a better film than Episode I and Episode II. What makes it much better, and what is the biggest surprise, is that George Lucas fully flexes his screenwriting and directing muscles. First is the surprising focus prevalent throughout the film. The focus begins at the introduction with Anakin and Obi-Wan flying into the Battle of Coruscant. Once their ships appear on-screen, the camera follows them into the battle, showing the scope of the battle without focusing on other random individuals for too long. This focus also allows us to see how brotherly Obi-Wan and Anakin have become. The audience has a connection. Their banter becomes hokey, sometimes too hokey, but we are having fun with them. In fact, about the first half of the film is mostly fun with a little foreboding menace. About the second half is all menace. Both halves work very well on their own, with one half not taking itself too seriously and allowing us to enjoy the ride while the other half becoming the depths of the Dark Side it needs to be and allowing us to feel for these characters. Emphasizing the dark foreboding is Lucas borrowing the cross-cutting technique his close friend Francis Ford Coppola mastered. Palpatine's formation of the Galactic Empire is cross-cut with Anakin's assassination of the leaders of the Trade Federation. The birth of Luke and Leia is cross-cut with the birth of Darth Vader. Both are done well, and both show the director Lucas was and still can be. However, while the overall results are good to very good, its the details that hold the film back from greatness. The lightsaber duels are well executed, but some moments devolve into pure visual splendor instead of maintaining emotional resonance. This happens early on in the Anakin/Obi-Wan duel and is prevalent in the Palpatine/Yoda duel. The music saves the latter duel, and the former has several intense moments that help keep it grounded overall. The duality of the film becomes a struggle in the second act. Everything involving Obi-Wan is fun and exciting, while everything involving Anakin is increasingly dark. At times, the feeling is schizophrenic, throwing the audience in too many emotional directions to make sense. The moment of Anakin's turn to the Dark Side could never reach the legend fans made it to be, but the moment becomes almost unintentionally funny due to stiff line-readings and poorly placed sound effects. This is the most important moment in the entire saga to date, yet it doesn't resonate the way it should. If the third act wasn't as strong as it is, this scene could have ruined the entire film. The scene involving the birth of the Darth Vader we all know is well done until the end. In a moment now immortalized as "FrankenVader," Lucas decided to pay homage to Frankenstein at the worst possible moment, ruining another resonating moment with something unintentionally funny, capping it off with a misguided scream from Vader. Lucas also tries too hard to bridge the Original Trilogy and the prequels together with this film, either relying heavily on fan service without really getting into a better understanding of things or only providing half-explanations due to bridging the films being more important than making the ideas work on their own. The maximum enjoyment factor in Episode III is found when watching with context provided from the Original Trilogy, but unlike Episode I and Episode II, there's a story worth telling within its runtime, and it tells it well. It doesn't reach the quality of the Original Trilogy, but Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is everything audiences wanted the entire prequel trilogy to be - good sci-fi fantasy. Blu-Ray Observations With technology catching up to how Lucas wanted to present his films, the Blu-Ray for Episode III is near-reference quality. The visuals are balanced very well, and the colors are vivid. Because of the digital nature of the production, the sterility of the computer-generated atmospheres Lucas inadvertently created come in full force, emphasizing how far away the film is visually from the Original Trilogy. The audio, again, is superb, this time represented by how the hum and clashes of the lightsabers are crisp, clear, and impactful. Overall, a great presentation. Movie Rating: 7.5/10 One-half light-hearted action and one-half journey into darkness, the two halves don't gel perfectly together but result in an exciting story. Film Rating: 7/10 What should be the key moments don't resonate, but the music emphasizes the heart of the matter, and what surrounds those missed opportunities carries surprising depth and craft. Star Wars Film Rating: 7/10 This is the prequel audiences wanted the other two to be. It's not on par with the Original Trilogy, but unlike the other two prequels, this one is worth seeing at least once. Blu-Ray Rating: 8.5/10 Finally, the technology catches up with Lucas' vision, and the Blu-Ray presents it in full splendor. However, it also shows how flawed that vision was with how sterile some of the environments are.
The hype and anticipation of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace gave way soon after May 19, 1999 to frustration and disappointment. What could have been the revitalization of a dormant series instead was a cumbersome movie mired in boring politics, forced performances, ruined mythology, and distant action - a far cry from what Star Wars is. The main question from the fanbase now was "Is the worst over? Does it get better from here?" On May 16, 2002, George Lucas provided a response for the fans with the release of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones: "Yes. No. Maybe?" Set ten years after the the events of Episode I, Episode II begins with an attack on Padme Amidala, now a Senator representing Naboo in the Galactic Republic Senate. This attack results in the Jedi Council calling on Obi-Wan Kenobi, now a Jedi Knight, and his padawan Anakin Skywalker to act as her temporary bodyguards while they find out who was behind the attack. A pursuit of the assassin eventually leads Obi-Wan to the planet Kamino, a planet that has been contracted to create a clone army for the Republic to fight the Trade Federation, now in alliance with fallen Jedi Master Count Dooku. The pursuit also forces Padme to flee to Naboo with Anakin as her bodyguard. Their time together brings about feelings between the two and leads Anakin to reunite with is mother on Tatooine. Everything comes to a head on the planet Geonosis, with Padme, Anakin, and Obi-Wan captured and the new clone army and the Trade Federation clashing in the first major battle of the Clone Wars. Like Episode I paralleling the original Star Wars, Episode II parallels The Empire Strikes Back - The heroes are split apart, two of the heroes develop feelings, one of the heroes goes on a discovery quest, the central character gets tempted by the Dark Side of the Force and loses an arm, and the ending, one with significant complications, sets up the pieces for the next film. However, like Episode I, the results are by-the-numbers instead of inspired. All of the actors struggle to make the material work again, but unlike the last film, there are improvements. The highlight of the actors is Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi. His emulation of Sir Alec Guinness is impressive, making the only earned connection of this film to the original trilogy. Samuel L. Jackson plays Samuel L. Jackson, but he adds some fun to the film's second half that the first film lacked. Newcomer Christopher Lee has more menace and stature as Count Dooku than Darth Maul had all of Episode I, making him at least a more thrilling villain. However, Natalie Portman and newcomer Hayden Christensen have no chemistry together as Padme and Anakin, making every scene they have together an endurance test. Portman can do fragile and tender, but her line reading lacks passion. Christensen comes off whiny and helpless, never inhabiting Anakin the way the audience would have imagined. He is outclassed by everyone else in the film. The music by John Williams is more uninspired this time around. It may well represent his worst work in a Star Wars film - the love theme is a partial rip-off of his work on Hook, and other than random revivals of previous pieces, there are no memorable themes or motifs like in the other films. The cinematography by David Tattersall is just as faceless as before. The visual effects are an improvement over Episode I, but the universe looks too clean and crisp to feel real, especially the overly sterile and artificial representation of the clone planet of Kamino. Again, though, these aren't the main problems. George Lucas makes the same mistakes he made in the previous film as screenwriter and director. The introduction to the film tries to provide excitement with the assassination attempt, but all of it plays too obvious and poorly sets up the instability in the galaxy. Worse, it yields to more of the political discourse that sunk Episode I before it got started. Once the heroes arrive, it becomes obvious how the trajectory of the film will go. Instead of anticipating where the film will go next, the audience only anticipates when the film will end. The love story is forced and inert, becoming unintentionally funny in its moments of awfulness. The audience knows Anakin and Padme will fall in love because there is no other significant female character with whom Anakin is emotionally close. The worst scene of the film, and arguably the worst scene in the film series, features the two of them fighting with their "developing" feelings for each other near a fireplace. It's as if Lucas wanted to emphasize how they had a fiery passion for each other that they couldn't control but couldn't get the actors to do it themselves. This scene and this plot thread is just a representation of an ongoing problem with the prequels - the characters are there to serve the plot, not the other way around. The protracted third act on Geonosis is awkwardly structured. It begins with a somewhat inspired survival fight within a coliseum - a way to one-up the podrace sequence from Episode I, though unsuccessfully. It becomes a visual spectacular once the Jedi arrive and become warriors. Once Yoda and the clones arrive, though, the fun vanishes and the boredome commences. The majority of this portion are clones fighting robots - beings with which the audience has no emotional connection. This is the closest Lucas comes to being Michael Bay as he indulges in the visuals without once pondering what it all means. However, the saving grace of the third act is the lightsaber duel toward the end of this sequence. Although it is as stylized, choreographed, and overdone as the duel from Episode I - the red and blue lighting and Anakin losing his arm especially - the focus is solely on the duelists and nothing else. We care about the duelists. We want to see what happens next. The reward for this anticipation - the introduction of Yoda the master fighter. It's the most thrilling sequence of the film, full of visual splendor. However, in the grand scheme of the series, it's a double-edged sword - it may be exciting, but instead of the simple pleasure of an old Muppet walking around with a cane waxing poetic about the Force, it takes every ounce of visual effects and acrobatics to create the excitement. This is indicative of the prequels in general. Instead of taking, in the words of Han Solo, "simple tricks and nonsense," George Lucas thinks it will take the the most complex sequences to make the film thrilling. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones is two steps forward, two steps back for the series - it's more genuinely exciting, but more emotionally distant. Blu-Ray Observations Compared to Episode I, the Blu-Ray presentation is a significant improvement. The visuals are sharp, but there is a softness to the image that can't be avoided. Part of the problem is that this was the first major film shot and released completely digitally. The technology was still in the early stages, and the Blu-Ray shows it clearly. The contrast is a bit off as well, especially in the scenes in Kamino. The audio is as excellent as all of the other discs, especially the reference quality of the seismic charges. Overall, the presentation of Episode II is good but not great. Movie Rating: 5/10 Exposition dominates the proceedings, and the effects are still too sterile. However, the surprising focus during the duel yields to the most exciting scene in the film. Film Rating: 2/10 All of the previous issues are still prevalent, and the love story is additionally terrible due to the lack of chemistry between two leads involved in that story. Star Wars Film Rating: 4/10 It tries and fails gloriously to parallel The Empire Strikes Back, but Ewan McGregor's emulation of Sir Alec Guiness and the lightsaber duel in the third act are highlights of what otherwise is another frustrating installment in the series. Blu-Ray Rating: 7/10 Much better than Episode I but the flaws of 2002 digital film transferring are apparent. The audio is fantastic, especially the seismic charges.