How do you rate Episode III: Revenge of the Sith?

[JediTricks]

Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith opened across the globe last week to favorable reviews and impressive box office sales. The film marks the last Star Wars movie to ever grace the silver screen (or perhaps not, you can never tell with that crafty George Lucas, some suspect even he doesn't know for sure) and the boldest tale in the prequel saga. Episode III raked in over $16 million just on its midnight theater openings on Thursday, picking up over $150 million in the US alone throughout its first weekend... suggesting that you, the Star Wars fan, have probably seen it by now, some more than once. Thus, this week's poll was a no-brainer really, what do the fans think of the movie just after opening weekend?

[Astromech]

Overall, as a movie I thought it was sub-par. As a SW movie it was pretty good when held against the last two.
Doesn't touch the OTC for some very obvious reasons:
1. Bad acting (there is no substitute)
2. Bad directing & editing (movie didn't move well).

If I were to have been in the room when George was making his final cuts:
1. Dooku should have been killed in EP2. Why wait just to kill him in the opening sequence?
2. I would have cut ALL off the Grevious stuff. Talk about a villian that I never got invested in. Why? Because there was ZERO character development on him unless you saw the cartoons. All you had to go on was the crawl. You knew he was, well sort of bad, but he kidnapped the guy who we know is bad, so is he really bad? Ahh, who cares, he'll be dead in 10 mins.
3. The whole Kashyyk scenes were totally gratuitous, had no impact on the plot whatsover, and only served to use Chewbacca as a marketing tool. Which worked famously as always. Us SW fans will buy anything and go to any movie over and over again, so who really cares.
4. Tion. Boy did they have a chance to make a cool and interesting character out of that guy. Struck out AGAIN by giving the coolest looking character in the movie a bit part (see Darth Maul).
5. Jedi Counsel. These guys and gals have been marketed to the hilt. They are interesting looking, have cool powers, and I imagine had something to offer the movie if there was ANY development on ANY character other than Yoda. EP I & II failed to do that development so when these lightsaber wielding strangers were getting whacked, I didn't care. Sam Jackson is one of the best actors in the world. He was stifled with lame lines and stiff acting direction.
6. Weapon & clone trooper development. One of the things I loved about the OTC was that things evolved a little at a time. Usually as each world was introduced, they had their own cool defense weapons and the Empire had a way to fight on the planet that was unique. (sandtroopers, walkers, tie-bombers, etc...)
This movie just threw tons of new weapons and craft at us with no understanding of care as to how they worked. The audience didn't have that fascination and anticipation the rebels had in the trenches of Hoth. It was just, how much crap can we pack onto the screen.

Besides those glaring errors, the special effects were fantastic. I loved the duel choreography as well. Mustafar was great.

The movie was long.

Hayden is a BAD actor. Period. I did not believe him. Geroge could have got ANYONE to play that role. He chose a lame duck. I was happy when he caught fire. The love between Anakin and Padme was laughable. I never bought it. Nothing like the tension between Han & Leia. But it doesn't matter. It's SW and it will break all the records.
And yes, I'll go again. (there was just so much to see!!!)

[Slicker]

I had to give it a 4. The only reason for that is because I've only seen it twice and was very tired both viewings so I don't have a really good opinion on it. Don't get me wrong I loved what I can remember but it takes a couple of viewings to really get what's going on and see the visuals. Great movie all in all but I think I'll need about 20 more viewings to give you a really good opinion.

[OC47150]

I thought it was great, the best of the prequels.

There were some things that could've been tweaked here and there that could've elevated the movie even more, such as some of the battle scenes extended and a little more of Order 66 being executed.

I'm anxious to see the deleted scenes on the DVD.

[Darkross]

I was disappointed with the film...I mean within the first 5 minutes of AOTC...I loved the film...but 15 minutes into Sith...I was still contemplating on whether I liked it or not. I guess a couple of things that stood out for me as just plain STUPID:

1. the STUPID BUZZ DROIDS? What's up with those? I mean can you say Sentinals from the Matrix? They add nothing to the movie...and certainly no suspense. They could have just had Obi-Wan and Anakin fly through a ton of droid ships or heavy batteries lasers.

2. Rocket-launching R2D2? I mean this guy was constantly rocketing out of his socket each time the ship carrying him landed. They could have done this better.

3. Battle-droid voices? Just plain stupid dialogue and voices.

4. Droid ships? I mean come-on...they were dumb!

5. Frankenstein Darth Vader...that whole scene where his yells and everything around him starts crushing...that whole scene was dumb. Sure he was mad...but again he could have taken it out on a couple of Imperial Officers.

Things that I thought (Huh?):

1. Where is Shak-Ti? Where all of the Jedi truly killed off? Maybe she'll be used for the TV series and killed off at the end???

2. Luke and Leia born on Asteroid Colony?...I thought they would be born on or near Dagobah?

3. Why did Lucas use Mustafar instead of Sullust? It would have tied the OT and the PT together nicely.

4. Why did Mace die so easily?

5. Where is Boba Fett? I thought he would kill Mace Windu? Not that I really missed him that much...

6. What was that building on Mustafar? Was it part of the DeathStar under construction?

Things I thought were GREAT:

1. All of the lightsaber duels...especially between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Dooku getting both hands cut-off...and kneeling defenseless against Anakin with two lightsabers at his throat.

2. When Vader was suited up...I was silently hoping that he would be screaming NOOOOOOO! when they lowered his mask. Would have been cool!

3. Mustafar ...the whole planet was cool.

4. Seeing the Deathstar under construction.

5. Finally seeing Alderaan...although I was diappointed that it was only 2 seconds on-screen.

6. That Lucas pretty much addressed all of the loose ends (Spirit Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan knowing about both Luke and Leia before ESB which is what I have always believed).

Overall...I liked the movie...but I didn't have the same feeling at the end like I did with AOTC...like I gotta see it again. I'm not sure if I will or not before the DVD is released...I'll have to see.

Definitely a good movie...but still unsure about how it rates in the PT.

[Darth Kev]

I give it a 5. I've seen it four times now, and I still love it. Yes, there are a couple of cringe-inducing moments, but overall I thought it was a nice bridge to the OT. The worst scene is Padme brushing her hair on the balcony and talking to Anakin, but hey, Lucas just can't write a love story (which I guess is good, that way we don't have to expect any "chick flicks" from him now that he's free to "make the films that I want to make."

I have to agree with Spielberg's first impression in that it was sad, as I did feel for the Jedi when Order 66 was given. I loved Palpatine--revealing that same old evil cackling laugh of the emperor in "Jedi."

The saber battles were great, although I thought the Dooku fight was too short. Grievous was a necessary foreshadowing of Anakin's fate--another half-man half-machine baddie.

As far as the Tion Medon comment above, what more could they possibly have done with him? Bruce Spence is a bit actor, and it was a bit part. If anything, I'd have rather seen more from the separatists instead of Gunray being their only voice and poster boy. A little hint of the coming rebellion also. I heard that there were scenes that showed the rebel beginnings with Padme, Bail, and Mon Mothma. They'll be on the DVD I believe.

And speaking of Mothma, where was she? We have this new figure and she didn't even make the final cut. Same with Shaak Ti, and I only caught a brief glimpse of Luminara directing clones on Kashyyyk.

I'm betting that the TV series focuses on Mothma and Organa organizing the rebellion on Dantooine.

Anyway, Sith was awesome, with a great bittersweet ending that *nearly* (I said nearly) brought a tear to my eye.

[DarkArtist]

I have mixed reviews as well. In some cases yes the acting was anything but acting, rather people reading Q cards or teleprompters. Some of the visual effects looked bad, the shot of the Tantive IV and Grievous starfighter docking, it looked as if George tried to use models again to bring back the look of the OT.
The lightsaber duel between Anakin and Obi Wan was not up to par, I expected more. Plus the novel totally blew away the movie, greater details in the novel were cut from the film, plus what happened to the Qui Gon Jinn scene ?
I will go see it again and can only hope that the DVD splices in some of the deleted scenes like Lucas did for TPM.

[stillakid]

That is a tough question to answer. After my first viewing, I left with a sense that it was a "fun" movie in general. By ignoring the glaring plot, continuity, character, and dialogue problems, it is possible to sit back and enjoy the eye candy and potential toys flying across the screen. Turn off your brain and this is enjoyable.

But then there is the story and character stuff. Yikes. Only a Lucas Worshipper could still be making excuses for some of this. Yet it is difficult to lay the blame entirely at the feet of ROTS as most of the difficulty was established by TPM and AOTC. ROTS had nowhere to go and no way to pull the story out of it's predetermined tailspin. If George did anything correctly in ROTS, it was that he kept the actual plot elements to an absolute minimum and filled the other 2 hours with pure videogame action sequences.

I waffled between giving it a 2 or 3 and settled on 2.

[dindae]

I gave it a three. I have only seen it once and it might go to a four after a few viewing but right now I'm disappointed. I really thought Dooku and Grievous fell too easily especially Dooku. Part of this was probably because I had concieved a scene that Dooku and Anikin would fight in a mirrored battle of Luke and Vader in ROTJ where Palpatine try to turn Luke but this time it worked. So when he went down so quickly I was a bit shocked. The battle droid continued cartoonism dialogue really got old. The romantic scene between Anakin and Padme could only be worse if they broke into the "I love you more" "No I love you more" fight. But my overall complaint was that I didn't have the emotions I thought I should during the scenes. As I watched all the jedi get slaughtered I didn't feel horrified. I felt only the slightest amount of pity when Vader found out he had killed Padme (part of that was that I was still trying to figure out how Leia could have any memory of her mother when she just died and why if it was not Padme would she be so sad all the time). I felt a lot of scenes were very rushed. I know the movie was already well over 2 hours but if Lord of the Rings can get away with 3+ hours I'm sure Star Wars fans would be able to give Lucas a few more moments of their time to develop some suspense and emotion.

[Ryno]

I gave it a 4. The first time I saw it I found myself getting very irritated in the beginning with the stupid battle droids (the moaning, the Super Battle Droids' personalities, etc.) I also felt like after the rescue sequence that the movie just came to a grinding hault until Obi-Wan went off to Utapu. The thing is that you see these trailers and they just look so dark and cool, but they're just snipets. You forget that George has to bog it down with the weak romance, his lame version of comedy, etc. I just wanted to get to Anakin turning to the dark side, which I thought was perfect. From that point on I loved the movie. The second time around I just sat and tried to enjoy it for everything it was and I found myself really having a great time with it.

I think the best part of the movie for me was that Anakin didn't turn easily. He really did struggle with his decision; even after he helped take out Mace (I may be wrong, but didn't he even have a couple of tears in his eyes on Mustafar?).

The bad secondary character development (jedi, Darth Maul, etc.), horrible dialoge, "comedy", etc. where all parts of TPM and AOTC, so why should we be surprised they were in ROTS? What I felt was really missing from ROTS was.....

1. Leia's explenation of her mother. Are we to assume now that she is talking about Bail's wife? I don't think she could have conjured up that many "images and feelings" of sadness from the whole two seconds they were together after her birth.

2. No Dagobah. I was interested to see why Yoda chose that place and how he got there.

3. No Qui-Gon. I was looking forward to seeing him again, but at least the whole spirit thing is kind of explained.

4. More of Order 66. The movie was already over 2 hours 20 minutes, what would it hurt to add another minute or two to one of the most interesting parts of the movie?

5. The formation of the rebellion. See description for Order 66.

This movie was never going to be perfect for anyone and we were all going to have complaints about something. I personally though did think it was a pretty good movie that I enjoyed watching very much and can't wait to see again.