Movie : Star Wars Episode III - The Revenge Of The Sith

[image=left]http://www.alternativenation.net/gallery/files/2/4/8/GeneralGrievous4.jpg[/image]I’ll get the obvious question out of the way first, quickly and concisely. Yes. It’s good. Very good. I’d even go so far as to say that this movie is on a par with The Empire Strikes Back. That’s just how good it is. I've probably forgotten a lot of things that should be mentioned here, but I'll be seeing this a good many more times, and I suspect most other people will do the same.

From the incredible opening space battle—with shots that couldn’t even have been dreamed of in the ’70s, and couldn’t have been pulled off in the ’90s—leading straight into some fantastic lightsaber fights…it just doesn’t let up. Every time you think: “Okay, that’s it. The scene’s over, and things are going to quieten down”, you’re proven wrong. The intensity of the combat in this movie has been kicked up so many notches from the rest that The Phantom Menace’s battles look like Warhammer 40k battles in comparison—viewed in real-time and played by people who need to look up every rule in the book.

It’s a vicious movie, and it pulls absolutely no punches in the violence stakes, pushing the rating up to a 12A in the process. I’m glad that Lucas made the decision to go for the higher rating—it made the movie.

There IS comedy in there, but unlike the godawful slapstick of Jar Jar and Threepio’s antics in Episodes 1 and 2, here it fits well, and is timed to perfection. Artoo gets his time in the spotlight and pulls off a well-oiled comedy routine with two Super Battle Droids...who, oddly enough, aren’t crap this time round either!

The new villain (General Grievous) quite simply rocks. It’s almost as if the CGI department took the attitude of “okay, well, Jar Jar was shit. We'd better prove that all-CGI characters CAN be good.” Point taken lads. The stupidly big closeup of his face you zoomed into is just rubbing it in.

And that’s just when he’s standing still. In motion it gets better yet. Not giving away too much of the plot, the battle between Grievous, Obi-Wan and Anakin is possibly the best lightsaber battle ever. I’d class it as better than Maul and Qui-Gon’s last fight. It’s not the only lightsaber battle either. Fans of the “vwing” sound are going to cream their pants here.

Original trilogy ‘nods’ abound too—I started geeking out when one of the clones tells his squadron to “lock S-foils in attack position”. I didn’t stop until the credits rolled.

The Wookiees are used sparingly, and well. There’s at least one Wilhelm.

***HERE BE SPOILERS***

***No, really—you’ve been warned!***

Anakin’s fall is gradual, and subtle. And completely understandable. As he turns to the dark side, so the Republic slowly devolves into the Empire. He actually becomes ‘Darth Vader’ well before there’s even a hint of his armour. “Order 66” is executed as the film moves into a montage of violence that actually manages to be quite disturbing: putting yourself into the shoes of the Jedi who are being turned upon on planet after planet and trying to imagine the fear they feel is not pleasant. As for the Younglings… I’ll leave that sentence as an ellipsis. I don’t need to elaborate.

Even within the film, the look of the universe is evolving. By the end, ships are flying past that sound exactly like TIE fighters…Tarkin is looking out from the bridge of his Star Destroyer at the beginnings of the Death Star, and Vader is the evil presence we first saw striding onto the Tantive IV all those years ago.

As he said himself… “the circle is now complete.”

[Ness]

Brilliant review m8, but how did you see it!!!?!?!!??!?!

my viewings next thursday goddamnit!

[Rev Scapegoat]

My mate got me into a press screening as a birthday treat

BTW, Staley - Fuck's sake... Hardly constructive criticism, eh?

[Akasha]

I must admit that after being so disappointed by episode I (which caused me to not even bother with episode II) I was considering not bothering with this one, but after reading your review it seems like the force may well be stronger in this one (sorry - felt it was necessary!!!)

[Rev Scapegoat]

Seriously - Go see it!
I gave into the temptation to play the first section of the Episode III area of Lego Star Wars - And all the way through it was thinking "Man, if the battle in the movie's anything like this Lego rendition, it's gonna be stunning".
And it was

[Neil.]

Ii'm seriously thinking of not going online until the 19th, i cant resist spoilers


So excited. Dear lord.

[Largest of Als]

Great review Steve.....

..would have been nice to have in the magazine section of the site..... y'know, the place where reviews of stuff are supposed to go?





Al

[*blaine*]

will not say anything until i have sen it myself, which judging by how much of a TIGHT ARSE SCROOGE LIKE FUCK lucas is may be thursday night, the amount of conditions on cinemas getting this film are more than just slightly ridicoulous. but my bosses all went to see it today and there raving about it, so ill give it a chance and thanks for the spoiler warnings but could ya not but hide tags around it so its easier to avoid?

[Griever]

Good review you absolute jammy cuntbag

[Rev Scapegoat]

Originally Posted by Largest of Als

Great review Steve.....

..would have been nice to have in the magazine section of the site..... y'know, the place where reviews of stuff are supposed to go?





Al

Wasn't sure if it was good enough for the mag, since I was absolutely shattered when I came in and wrote it!

Am I remembering wrongly though, or does the process for submitting a review for the mag not begin with "Post the review in the appropriate section of the forum" anyway?

[Rev Scapegoat]

Ah, hang on... aye, right enough.

*Still tired*

[Hevs]

Tickets are all booked for this one, really looking forward to it

[Ness]

tottally agreeing with griever here,

wheredo you meet people with the connections to give such a wealthy birthday present.

by wealthy i dont mean rich,

[*blaine*]

befriend people who work in cinemas

[mysterio]

I'm very, very excited.

I'm thinking Episode 2 was deliberately shite just so our hopes weren't too high for Ep3.