We got Death Sta, we got Death Sta...
While the eye candy of the previous two movies was certainly a lot of fun, it's nice to see that George Lucas is still able, when the need arises, to eke some emotion out of his (otherwise cardboard-y) characters.
Episode III is an interesting movie, to say the least (By the way, here's a big, fat SPOILER WARNING for those who have yet to see the film *gloats*).
As with the other movies, the special effects in this movie (and there are tons) are frequent and very well done; it's hard not to sit through one of the many battle scenes in this film without feeling somewhat high. Unlike the last two prequels (well, Episode II, in any case), there's a bit more to this movie than eye candy. The plot is much more interesting and easy to follow than that of Attack of the Clones, and is emotionally more complicated than either PM or AC.
Something else interesting: All of the previous movies, without being necessarily fluffy, have been very...safe. In many of the past movies, Lucas hasn't really done anything really unusual, or shocking. In this movie he does, however. For example, in this movie he has the guts to kill off kids, and many of them. That's certainly not the sort of thing you'd (or at least I) expect from something like Star Wars, something that everyone goes to see and more or less expects the usual Lucasfilm fare (of course, the movie's rated PG-13, so people probably knew something was afoot. But several of the rather frightening tricks that were pulled in this movie I wasn't expecting at all). Anyhoo, summing up these last few paragraphs: This movie takes more risks and is certainly more frightening and thought-provoking than the other SW movies.
Now for another side: The ideas behind this movie. I noticed several interesting things while watching. Of course, perhaps this is just a case of me seeing what I wanted to see, but, well...anyway.
First off: The movie seems rather pro-life. Padme and Anakin are secretly married, something not good for either of them (Padme holds a fairly high position in the government, and Anakin is a Jedi and therefore more or less sworn to celibacy), and if this fact was to become public, it would be good ol' scandal 'n' ruin for both of them. Then, guess what: Padme gets pregnant. Another guess what: Despite the fact that this is a pretty ruinous thing to happen, Anakin and Padme choose to keep their baby (babies, as it happens). Of course, I've no idea whether the galaxy has abortion methods on hand, but you catch my drift.
Second off: The bad guys in the movie appear to be moral relativists. A speech Darth Sideous gives Anakin while trying to convert him to the Dark Side distinctly reminds me of the type of psychobabble often given by the liberal, atheist, anti-Christian crowd. Also, during Obi-Wan and Anakin's climactic lightsaber duel towards the end, Obi-Wan says something to Anakin to the effect of "The Sith are evil, why did you join them?" and Anakin responds: "From my point of view you're evil." (emphasis added)
Hmmmm...
Episode III is an interesting movie, to say the least (By the way, here's a big, fat SPOILER WARNING for those who have yet to see the film *gloats*).
As with the other movies, the special effects in this movie (and there are tons) are frequent and very well done; it's hard not to sit through one of the many battle scenes in this film without feeling somewhat high. Unlike the last two prequels (well, Episode II, in any case), there's a bit more to this movie than eye candy. The plot is much more interesting and easy to follow than that of Attack of the Clones, and is emotionally more complicated than either PM or AC.
Something else interesting: All of the previous movies, without being necessarily fluffy, have been very...safe. In many of the past movies, Lucas hasn't really done anything really unusual, or shocking. In this movie he does, however. For example, in this movie he has the guts to kill off kids, and many of them. That's certainly not the sort of thing you'd (or at least I) expect from something like Star Wars, something that everyone goes to see and more or less expects the usual Lucasfilm fare (of course, the movie's rated PG-13, so people probably knew something was afoot. But several of the rather frightening tricks that were pulled in this movie I wasn't expecting at all). Anyhoo, summing up these last few paragraphs: This movie takes more risks and is certainly more frightening and thought-provoking than the other SW movies.
Now for another side: The ideas behind this movie. I noticed several interesting things while watching. Of course, perhaps this is just a case of me seeing what I wanted to see, but, well...anyway.
First off: The movie seems rather pro-life. Padme and Anakin are secretly married, something not good for either of them (Padme holds a fairly high position in the government, and Anakin is a Jedi and therefore more or less sworn to celibacy), and if this fact was to become public, it would be good ol' scandal 'n' ruin for both of them. Then, guess what: Padme gets pregnant. Another guess what: Despite the fact that this is a pretty ruinous thing to happen, Anakin and Padme choose to keep their baby (babies, as it happens). Of course, I've no idea whether the galaxy has abortion methods on hand, but you catch my drift.
Second off: The bad guys in the movie appear to be moral relativists. A speech Darth Sideous gives Anakin while trying to convert him to the Dark Side distinctly reminds me of the type of psychobabble often given by the liberal, atheist, anti-Christian crowd. Also, during Obi-Wan and Anakin's climactic lightsaber duel towards the end, Obi-Wan says something to Anakin to the effect of "The Sith are evil, why did you join them?" and Anakin responds: "From my point of view you're evil." (emphasis added)
Hmmmm...
posted by James at
8:34 PM
