*closes jaw*
Opo, until now I'm still flabbergasted in the phenomenon that is the Starwars Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith!
The anxiously anticipating look...
Taking off from our house at only around 8pm, I charged to the Cinema 2 of Megamall to join the lines of Starwars premiere-viewers, and boy what LINES they've created! As early as 9:15pm (...and the screen time was 10:30pm pa!), may tatlong layers na yung lines papasok ng EVERY CINEMA that will screen Episode III. That's around 5 cinemas in Megamall, I think. Sabi ko na nga ba late pa yung 8pm na alis. Yeah, I know it will be a sure seat but hey bragging rights pa din yung mauna ka sa pila. Ha! I'm not Obi for nothing.
Anyway, on to "my take" of the film. First, a well deserved bravo with matching standing ovation for the digital mastery of Mr. Lucas' creative team. Isang malaking ASTIG ang buong production and no, I'm not worthy to even state how stunning the effects were. Basta ASTIG. Enough said.
Unfortunately, (opo may unfortunate things though) the storyline was not well portrayed as I hoped. Kung starwars fanatic ka, you'll notice and definitely will catch the implication that the story was compressed so as to encompass every vital moments that should happen on the film. Storyline specifics sacrificed in order to come up with a shorter (although it ran for 2 and a half + hours) but explainative film.
As for the lead roles, I still can't ride the casting crew's take on giving the Anakin role to Hayden. I have nothing against the guy or his performance, but the looks. His facial features are so far from the young Anakin in Episode One and definitely too far from the old Anakin in Return of the Jedi. Well, look how the Ep 1 Anakin and the Ep 6 Anakin has similarities but Hayden is just too hawk-faced to be the transition between the two generations of Anakin.
Now, Natalie Portman. Wow. Natalie oh my Natalie. I so so agree when Anakin told her on a balcony in Coruscant, "You are so beautiful". She replied, "Only because I'm in love." The young Jedi retorted, "No, you are beautiful because I am in love." She said, "Then, I'm only beautiful because you love me." HEHEHE. Bokya si Anakin. Ang cheesy kasi eh! Still, you can see the growth in Natalie as an actress and as the rightful owner of the Padme role. And if you'll compare her to Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa), they really have similarities not just on the facial features but on the body built as well. Kaya naman carry talaga niya pati yung attitude ni Leia Organa na headstrong and courageous. Not being biased when I say she's outright stunning in every costume changes BUT SHE REALLY IS STUNNING. PERIOD.
Here's a reaction I posted on a forum:
I'm all thumbs-up for the effects and the overall production of the movie, but as a Starwars fan and someone who has backgrounds on what should happen relative to the Starwars timeline, I could say that the storyline was somewhat upset by the constraints of having to shorten the film. Story-wise, Ep3 should have shown more of the important events during that time which could stretch the film to incredulous arse-warming hours in the cinema.
The sacking of the Jedi Temple could have been more "explaining" than just showing clips of this and thats, how much more on the Jedi purge scene. The Jedi should have not been portrayed as that shown in the film after the issuing of Order 66.
It's as if everything was rushed just to give hints of what happened and there's a couple of implicative scenes meant to be just "self-explanatory". some scenes should have been elaborated, me thinks.
Why cant Lord Vader remember what happened to Padme anyway?
Eto na yung pangako kong spoiler.
SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!
You've been warned. Read on at your own risk.
The author is under the influence of four consecutive Triple Choco donuts consumption upon the composition of this literature. Any offence taken, reactions, comments, detractions and the likes should be kept to themselves bcuz I don't give a deym. Hehehe.Here's a fact: for every Starwars movie, after the prologue fades from view into the void of space, the camera will pan towards a starship above a planet. Observe that. I can only recall some: Taintive I (an Alderan Blockade Runner) over Coruscant on Episode 4, an Imperial-class Destroyer over Hoth on Episode 5, and a Naboo Frigate approaching Coruscant on Episode 2.
As customary, Episode 3 (Ep3) started with the camera panning to a Republic-class Cruiser above the capital city-planet of Coruscant. The scene further evolved into a full-scale firefight between the Republic fleet and the Separatist's Droid Army headed by the insidious General Grievous who held the Supreme Chancellor aboard his flagship as hostage (in which, as Starwars followers should know, was plotted by Chancellor Palpatine himself anyway to lure Anakin to the Dark).
The ensuing sequence featured Obi-wan and Anakin's Jedi Starfighters racing towards Grievous's flaghsip amidst a hail of laserbolts (that part of the battlezone was so tight with starcrafts and fireballs that even a fist-sized asteroid won't be left unscathed, but heck they are Jedi!). In short, they made it inside the flagship and eventually faced-off with Count Dooku, Palpatine watching from captivity. In the duel, Kenobi got unconscious and Anakin eventually went into a predicament of killing or sparing the life of the Sith Count, which of course (through the taunting of the "evil" Chancellor and the thirst for revenge of losing a hand to him in Episode 2) ended up with Dooku beheaded.
With all things falling as he deviously schemed, Chancellor Palpatine gradually enacted his last and most evil plan to turn the then doubting Anakin Skywalker to the knowledge of the Sith, capitalizing on the latter's desire to stop the impending death of his wife (deym I should be her husband) Padme. Padme is pregnant and on a "Force dream" (a dream that somehow shows an imminent future), Anakin saw her dying after laboring for their child and that's what made him unpredictable althrough after that event. There's this instance when the Chancellor made him an official representative of the Republic to the Jedi Council, only to be counteracted by the Jedi Council to put Ani on the seat but not made him a Jedi Master which of course irritated the young, whiny Jedi Knight (Now this one is crap according to the original Jedi lore. Members of the Jedi COuncil are NOT always suppose to be Jedi Masters. Now why the heck our crying baby, Anakin wanted the rank in relation to being posted as a Council member?? Ask Mr. Lucas.)
To sum up, events unfolded wherein Jedi Skywalker's doubts were starting to be fed with disinformation - toughts of the Jedi hating the Chancellor and dreaming of ruling the Galaxy, thoughts of the Jedi not trusting on his capabilities to be a Jedi Master, thoughts of the Chancellor being a megalomaniacal tyrant in bloom, thoughts of Padme dying (oh no. please, no!), thoughts of his child, thoughts of his action being un-Jedi-ish, and other acts that sunk in to himself all at once. Emotion overload! That was what the movie implied as reason for his brash acts of un-Jedi-isms and his eventual fall to the Dark Side of the Force.
The climax all started when Chancellor Palpatine finally unravelled his true identity as a Dark Side enforcer to Jedi Skywalker. Being the righteous Jedi that time, Ani reported back what he discovered to the Jedi Council. Mace Windu and three more Jedi Knights charged into the Chancellor's office to apprehend the Sith Palpatine but as expected the powerful Palpatine, now the revealed Darth Sidious sprung into action and outright downed three of the Jedi escorts (yes, again another crap. count five seconds please... that's how fast he made three of the arresting Jedi fall. corny), eventually facing off with the esteemed Jedi Master Mace Windu. The ensuing duel is of course one of the highlight fights and will conclude with Palpatine forked with a violet lightsaber blade on his neck. Then came Anakin (still on doubt) and theatrically, Palpatine with a maneuver of his Force lightning made it seem that he was being the underdog on the duel and did his best to get Ani's sympathy with a tear-jerking plea. Mace tried to kill the Sith Lord but Anakin (upholding that Palpatine should not die and stand trial instead), stopped him in time and that's all the diversion Darth Sidious needed. He quickly jerked the Jedi Master away, hitting him with a lethal bolt of Force lightning, killing him in the process. Dumbfounded on what happened and the urge of the Dark side finally taking over him, Anakin agreed to serve the ways of the Dark Force. Sidious baptized him Darth Vader.
On the other hand, Obi-wan Kenobi (who faced of with a four lightsaber-wielding General Grievous!) and Master Yoda, together with most of the Jedi were on separate missions to finally end the Clone Wars as they have pinpointed one-by-one the locations of the Separatist bases, unaware of the impending doom back at Coruscant.
Chancellor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) then declared the Jedi attacked him and tagged them as part of the Rebellion. With this, he ordered the clone troopers to annihilate all Jedi, including sacking the Jedi Temple - headed by now Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker). "Show no mercy.." the Sith Lord said verbatim. Darth Sidious then enacted the dreaded Order 66, which will order the clone troopers to kill all Jedi on the planetary missions to quell the Separatist Rebellion. One by one, Jedi were caught in surprise as their own clone trooper kill them on their back, sparing none but Yoda and Obi-wan as they had somehow escaped the treachery (rumormills and Starwars books accounted that there were several more Jedi that actually escaped the Jedi purge).
After the declaration of the Jedi as enemy of the Republic, Chancellor Palpatine summoned an emergency congregation of the Senate wherein he declared, under emergency powers, the declaration of Imperial rule over the Galaxy - a Galactic Empire! Beforehand, he sent Anakin to Mustafar, the lava moon, to finish the remaining leaders of the Clone Rebellion - the Trade Federation headed by Viceroy Nute Gunray. The end of the Clone Wars will front as the success of the Imperial declaration. Darth Vader upon arrival to Mustafar massacred the entire entourage of the Neimodian leaders of the Trade Federation further fueling his anger and fall to the Dark side.
Back in Coruscant, Yoda and Master Kenobi managed to ride along the ship of the Alderan Senator Bail Organa to the Jedi Temple and having fought their way in, they discovered the massacre of the Jedi and Anakin's raising arms against them. Fasttracking ahead, Obi-wan followed his sense to track his former Padawan and went to Mustafar with Padme while Master Yoda "visited" the Sith Lord Sidious. The following duels were outright EPIC in the truest sense - the Jedi Knight Obi-wan Kenobi versus the Fallen Jedi Anakin Skywalker and the Jedi Master Yoda versus the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. (I say Yoda rockz! If Episode 2 is not enough, here in Ep3 the green-skin rockz even more!) The latter's duel ended up in stalemate with Yoda escaping back to the Alderan Blockade Runner. On the other hand, Anakin lost both his legs to Obi-wan and the Jedi Master left his fallen Padawan for dead on the lava shores of Mustafar, returning to Padme who is already in labor. They headed back to meet with Yoda thereafter.
Aboard the Blockade Runner, Padme (the ever stunning) died giving birth to twins which she named Luke and Leia. Both Jedi Masters decided that the babies should be separated to secure them from harm of the Emperor's wrath. Leia was adopted by the kind Senator Bail Organa while Luke was handed to the then young Owen and Beru Lars in Tatooine by Obi-wan Kenobi himself. Kenobi will look for the boy as he will grow up as the stubborn Luke we'll know in Episode 4.
The ending scenes will show the Emperor standing with a younger Moff Tarkin on the bridge of a Republic Cruiser beside the black-clad Darth Vader as we know him from Episode 4. Palpatine had managed to resuscitate him from near death and gave him the ominous ebon life-support armor he had became famous for. They are watching the construction of the Death Star in the Cruiser's viewport. All in transition for the original trilogy. Aztig!!
