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This is an unbelieveably interesting read. Lucas just seems so cool in this one. It's almost like watching a prequel of his life, knowing the tragedy that will come.

Alright, let's get to it. Most of you know me, those who don't, here's the gist. I love Return of the Jedi, didn't hate Episode I or II but strongly disliked them, a dislike that has grown every time I've watched them.

Episode III furthers my dislike of the 2 other prequels. But hey, in baseball, .333's a damn good average. And I couldn't be happier this movie was made.

But I didn't feel that way until after at least the first 30 minutes. The opening scrawl sucked. The space battle sucked. I thought the red Star Destroyer was a big lego when the 2 Jedi fighters flew over it. Some of the effects were brilliant, but for the most part it was just plain old boring, even more boring, I would say, than some of the scenes in Episode I and II. The only saving grace was how at ease Anakin and Obi-Wan were, and it showed them as they should have been: calm, collected, and friendly.

R2's antics were ok, but certainly not hilarious, and I was almost embarassed by the battle droids.

So then we get to Dooku, in a very short, not-at-all emotional lightsaber duel. The ending draws some good parallels to ROTJ, but still has no true emotional resonance. The battle ends, and we go to Coruscant.

And all of a sudden, ROTS becomes a great movie. From the crap that was the beginning, we get a wonderful film.

Anakin's and Padme's scenes in AOTC are horrible. Their scenes in ROTS, however, are horrible only if you want them to be horrible. Not only did I not dislike their scenes, I liked them. Yes that's right. I liked the romance. Well, most of it. There was still the occasional horrible line, or overacting, or underacting, but for the most part, they were actually good scenes, helped immensely by a great atmosphere and wonderful music by John Williams (which, by the way, the album does not justice to whatsoever).

The movie packs a punch. Like JAWF said, no one spoke at the end. No one clapped. People just either sat in their seats quietly while the credits rolled, or walked out silently and slowly. And though this will sound ludicrous, that's exactly the reaction Million Dollar Baby and Crash got when I saw them. This is a tragedy. You're not supposed to clap. Oh, I smiled. As a Star Wars fan, you get plenty of excuses to smile. But you don't clap.

I had 2 problems with the movie. One was the beginning, as I said. The other was Anakin's very abrupt turn to the Dark Side, which only makes me dislike Episodes I and II more, because it was THEIR job to show his gradual transformation. Lucas painted himself into a corner, and amazingly does get out of it, but by cutting corners here and there, and doing some things with the character that you must suspend disbelief for.

Vader's birth, when you see him in the suit, is a fabulous scene. It's played over the music from Qui-Gon's funeral, and is cut simultaneously with Padme's Death. Vader is supposed to be awkward, and to ask for him to be the imposing figure we know in the trilogy is ridiculous and blatant, ignorant prequel bashing. His movements, even his voice, despite being James Earl Jones, are those of a scarred young man unsure of himself, his new body, and new life. His NOOOOOOOOOOOO! scream was a bit cheesy, but it instantly fades away into beautiful music, and is made all the better for it. And I got goosebumps when they put on the mask, and we hear his breathing and his voice for the first time. It was extremely powerful.

The end, amazingly, leads almost perfectly into Episode IV, despite being 18 years behind it, ending with a powerful version of my favorite theme of the saga (I'll leave you to guess what that is). And despite my complaints about the beginning, and despite the action being less exciting than it should have been, this was a great movie, driven, amazingly, by the dialogue, performances, and atmosphere. I hate making generalizations, but I would almost think that any open-minded Star Wars fan would have to come away at least liking this movie. Even Chef, whose 2 main reasons to hate Episode III will almost certainly be
1. Episode I
2. Episode II

It doesn't redeem those 2 movies. It makes them worse by comparison. There is only one prequel, and it is this movie. It is Episode III.

EDIT: Yeah sorry, I have no idea how to do white text. So I'm settilng for the yellow. Don't look at the yellow if you don't want to see what happens. Again, sorry .

http:// www.atomfilms...tions/starwars/

Watch and Discuss. I've seen most of the short ones, and let me tell you, they suck. But watch "One Season More." It's really unbelieveable, both the music and the animation (I didn't know it was animated till like 1 minute in). It blew me away. But other than that, some really amateurish stuff.

- Anakin is assigned to be Palpatine's bodyguard after his resuce to spy on him....and try to learn who the Sith in the Senate might be. The Council realizes the two are close and use Anakin to exploit that closeness for information. This would contradict the original rumor that Anakin was assigned to protect the Supreme Chancellor as a punishment for killing Dooku. This new theory sounds a bit more plausible and does more to heighten the Jedi's concern about the Sith infiltration into the Senate and suspicions about Palptaine himself.

- Anakin is apparently having dreams and premonitions of Padme's death, much like his mother's dreams haunted him. (Maybe the yellow-eyed shot is from that dream sequence...I don't know). Either way Anakin is rumored to confide these dreams, as he has in the past, to Palpatine, which sets the Supreme Chancellor's final act into motion

-- It is in the theater one night, in celebration of the Chancellor's safe rescue, that Palpatine proceeds to warn Anakin as to the true goals of the Jedi Council, telling a story that the Council is actually behind the corruption of the Senate. He even asks if the council has asked Anakin to act against Palpatine, knowing full well that Anakin was placed there to keep an eye on the Supreme Chancellor. Anakin admits that he was assigned to watch Sidious because the Council felt he was under the influence of this Sith.

Palpatine quietly tells Anakin about what he knows of the Sith. He tells him about a certain mentor he'd had a long time ago, and how he taught him how to extend life. The Sith Lord was so intuned with the Force that he was actually able to manipulate the midichlorians into creating life....(NOTE: it's suggested that the idea that Sidious created Anakin will stop at that comment, remaining a somewhat ambiguous suggestion more than it will be explicitly confessed....meaning we will never then know for certain if the midichlorians created life in Anakin to combat the Sith or was manipulated by the Sith. Perhaps Sidious refers to ancient Sith....or. But it really ups the ante that perhaps Anakin was indeed a Sith apprentice by conception......Lucas' s own way of leaving some ends untied it seems).

Anakin apparently becomes interested because he believes by learning these things for himself, he can prevent Padme from dying....and fulfill his promise to his mother to one day "stop people from dying." Anakin asks if he could be taught this, and Palpatine smiles wickedly and says, "Clearly not from the Jedi."

Sidious: "A Jedi gains power through understanding; a Sith gains understanding through power.”

-- It has also been suggested that Anakin will betray Sidious as well at some point in the film....but no more as said about the context or direct reasoning for this.

-- Rumor suggests that Anakin does NOT kill Mace...and that it's Palpatine instead via force lightning. Anakin's crime being doing NOTHING, as he's torn and watches his master slowly die. This (nicely, I might add) would mirror Vader standing by doing nothing as Sidious shocks Luke to within an inch of his life. WOuld give us a clearer picture of what was going thru Anakin's head as he watched his son nearly die before deciding to act....

-- Obi Wan is sent to Utapau by specifically leaked information about Grievous's whereabouts in order for Kenobi to be killed before he learns too much about Palpatine too soon. Anakin discovers this "leak" and passes it along to the Council, who then dispatches their General to Utapau. It's a set up by Palpatine and Grievous. Yoda is sent to Kashyyyk with the same intention....to put him in position to be killed and to be far away from Coruscant.

My commentary:

Eh. I'd be a lot more optimistic if Hayden was a good actor who could deliver dialogue well. At least McDiarmid will be in it more, he's one of the only good things about the prequels so far, and with a bigger part, maybe he'll make this one rise above the others. Also, I guess they're going to explain exactly what a sith is.

I still have an open mind and am ready to like ROTS if it's good, I'm not going to go in expecting to hate it. But idk, I have such mixed reactions, on the one hand this does sound more complex like it ties other stuff together (though apparently Lucas will not just let midichlorians go off an die) on the other it could be terribly corny and boring. We'll see.

I have heard many movie critics who hate the show and likewise hate the movie. That didn't worry me.

What worried me was critics who loved the show, and hated the movie, for whatever reasons.

I just saw it.

I love the show. I now love the movie.

Butler, Rossum, and Wilson are all great. As great as the original cast? No. Butler acts the role better and sings a bit worse, and Rossum isn't perfect as Sarah Brightman, but their overall performances are fabulous.

The music, actors, and direction generate what is perhaps the most emotion I've felt in an onscreen musical. Schumacher does a fantastic job.

If you hated the show, this doesn't make it any better.
But if you loved the show, chances are you'll be enchanted by the film as well.