All right fellow Star Wars nerds, lets hear your reviews!

**alnorth** · 02:18 AM

I just finished watching the movie, here's a few impressions.

First for those with ADD and want the basic information, yes the movie ticket is worth the price of admission. If you hate crowds feel free to wait, but you eventually should see it in the theater, UNLESS you are one of those very rare people who always hated Star Wars, including all the original movies. I personally liked it better than even Empire, but I'm still on the afterglow you get when you watch a movie you like. After a few weeks I'll probably rate it 2nd or 3rd best out of the 6.

- My God the theater was crowded. I went to the midnight showing at the Pittsburg, KS theators. We arent a one gas station town or anything, but youd think little old Pittsburg wouldnt be that crowded. They sold out three screens for the midnight showing, full of people willing to stay up to 2:30 am, it was freakin packed. If you hate crowds in the movie... its gonna take a while. I can only imagine what its like in KC.

- Prepare for a very long movie, at least 2.5 hours. Its like Lucas thought to himself "You know, I am making the most anticipated movie in the history of the world. Its the last movie of freakin Star Wars, I'm gonna do whatever the hell I want and cut nothing. What are the distributors gonna do, refuse to show the movie?!? Hah!" Then again, the movie did cover a hell of a lot of stuff. Some of it could have been abbreviated, but I'm glad it wasnt.

- Kids... I thought it was overhyped personally, the way people were talking, youd think it shoulda been rated R or something. It aint PG, but PG-13 is probably fine. I think some younger kids can handle the movie, but not too young, and worried parents should probably screen it first. There are only two scenes I think would be questionable for young viewers, if you look around the internet youll find out what they are, I wont spoil anything here.

- Dont expect Shakespear. The story was very good, the acting was ok, the lines were.... well Lucas always sucked at writing lines. The man's working with what talent he was born with and I think he did the best he could.

- The best actor, by far, not even close, was the emperor. All the other roles (except Vader, and he did a passable job) are secondary and wont sink the movie, but this is one role that easily could have been cheesey and ruined the film. Thankfully, the most talented actor in the cast pulled it off well, and at times it seemed the sinister emperor was carrying the film during slow parts. (Jackson really didnt get much of a chance to shine and use his talents to the fullest)

- This film has by far the most action of all 6 films. It sometimes gets to the point where your on overload and wish the movie would slow down to take a breath. For some people the action overload will be a good thing, for others it wont, you be the judge.

- They tied up a lot of loose ends, as many as humanly possible, including ends that I didnt realize needed to be tied up untill they pointed it out, then its like "oh ok, so thats why this is the situation in episode 4!"

- Obi-Wan was pretty impressive. (I'm talking about the character now, not the actor) You always get the impression that he has less power in the "force" than most jedi, but he uses his intelligence to make the most of what hes got, especially in the pivotal fight with Vader when it seemed he was overmatched.

- General Grievous was pretty cool

Again, in summary the acting was kind of cheesey at times (Lucas cant write a good romance scene to save his life, it was like high school or something), passable at times (Anakin did a pretty good job at Vader, but not perfect, you sometimes get the impression that the character isnt believable, but it wasnt horrible) and excellent (no man alive on our planet could have possibly played the emperor any better)

The lines... were somewhere between ok and bad. In spite of the questionable script writing, the story was excellent, and together with good performances from some of the cast, took the movie on their shoulders to make it a very good experience in spite of the lines. It could have been better, but after episodes I and II, I'll take whatever we can get that resembles a good movie and be satisfied. The movie is definitely worth the price of admission, just dont expect to be happy if your a film geek/snob fresh from college who overanalyzes crap all the time.

Pants · 05-19-2005, 02:23 AM

Just got back, and I couldn't agree more with your review, very well done.

As you know, I'm not a big Star Wars fan, yet this movie greatly impressed me. It is by far my favorite of the six, and would be an awesome stand alone piece. Yet, Lucas found a way to connect it to everything to an extent I didn't know was possible. If you imagine the rest of the six episodes as separate pieces belonging together that have cracks when assembled - Episode III is like water that fills up the cracks, freezes and makes everyting a perfect one piece.

I have one comment to add alnorth's review - Mace Windu is a bad ass motherfucker, I won't spoil anything, but you can look forward to seeing him in action.

teedubya · 05-19-2005, 02:25 AM

Decent Flick... at the end there is a major time discreptancy...

SPOILER [highlight text with mouse to read]

Luke and Leia go to their adopted parents... Vader is now fully functional and goes to the big window with the Emperor, and they look at the beginning stages of construction of the Death Star.

This thing is gonna take 20+ years to build? They only get it operational when they fire at Alderan in Ep 4.

Anyway... very live action flick. I give it 3/4 schwing.

Hammock Parties · 05-19-2005, 02:26 AM

Well, I just got back.

It was a total blast (Darth Vader walked by me when I was in line. I yelled "WHAT'S UP DARTH!") and I am exhausted.

I pretty much agree with the above comments. I felt two of the Anakin/Padme scenes should have been cut. A couple of the lines were just awful. Where have you gone Leigh Brackett?

I was pleased with Hayden Christensen's performance. Much better, IMO. Ian McDiarmid was FANTASTIC as the Emperor. He chewed the scenery with delight. His duel with Yoda was simply amazing. Yoda wasn't kidding when he said "Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor" in Return of the Jedi.

R2-D2 was spectacular in this movie.

And as the twin suns of Tatooine set for the first time on Luke Skywalker...yes, I am afraid, I did shed one single tear...or two.

May the Force be with you.

Hammock Parties · 05-19-2005, 02:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ali Chi3fs

This thing is gonna take 20+ years to build? They only get it operational when they fire at Alderan in Ep 4.[/color]

Evidently it does. The Empire isn't operating at it's peak efficiency as Episode III closes, obviously.

Hammock Parties · 05-19-2005, 02:38 AM

One thing I was hoping to see and didn't was Vader's lightsaber. Would have been cool to see Vader wielding a red blade in the duel with Obi-Wan.

I noticed some shoddy CGI in a couple places. Some of heads/bodies on the clonetroopers were not meshed well at all. But overall the CGI was the best I've ever seen. The space battle was AMAZING. Obi-Wan riding his lizard thing was badass and so was Greivous. I love the way Obi-Wan kills Greivous, too, very original.

And hearing James Earl Jones as Darth Vader for the first time since Return of the Jedi was...awesome.

Pants · 05-19-2005, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gochiefs

One thing I was hoping to see and didn't was Vader's lightsaber. Would have been cool to see Vader wielding a red blade in the duel with Obi-Wan.

I noticed some shoddy CGI in a couple places. Some of heads/bodies on the clonetroopers were not meshed well at all. But overall the CGI was the best I've ever seen. The space battle was AMAZING. Obi-Wan riding his lizard thing was badass and so was Greivous. I love the way Obi-Wan kills Greivous, too, very original.

And hearing James Earl Jones as Darth Vader for the first time since Return of the Jedi was...awesome.

Yeah, those orange troopers looked really fucked. I don't know what Lucas was thinking. Isn't he a stickler for such things?

Hammock Parties · 05-19-2005, 02:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metrolike

Yeah, those orange troopers looked really fucked. I don't know what Lucas was thinking. Isn't he a stickler for such things?

Well, when the troopers had their helmets on, everything was fine. They looked great. But when they took their helmts off...something was awry. It definitely distracted me.

Complaining about CGI in a Star Wars movie is like complaining about Carmen Electra's tits when you're fucking her, though, so I will shut up.

I was really glad they didn't overdo Chewie's role, too.

I really enjoyed the Chancellor's rescue at the beginning, from start to finish. The best Star Wars swashbuckling action since Han, Luke and Leia were galavanting around in the corridors of the Death Star.

I'm still laughing at R2. Those Super Battle Droids got OWNED!

Wallcrawler · 05-19-2005, 02:47 AM

Agree with just about everything said.

This movie kicked ass. This is definately a flick that should be experienced in a theater at least once though, unless you have a kickass home entertainment center. The space battle will blow you away, the first 30 minutes or so is nothing but nonstop, in your face action.

The Anakin/Padme scenes did kinda slow the movie down, but thats just my view. Im an action fan way more than love story/drama type stuff, so it just depends on point of view. They werent as bad as what I had been reading in earlier reviews however.

Id recommend this movie to any fan of the science fiction/action genre.

Pants · 05-19-2005, 02:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wallcrawler

Agree with just about everything said.

This movie kicked ass. This is definately a flick that should be experienced in a theater at least once though, unless you have a kickass home entertainment center. The space battle will blow you away, the first 30 minutes or so is nothing but nonstop, in your face action.

The Anakin/Padme scenes did kinda slow the movie down, but thats just my view. Im an action fan way more than love story/drama type stuff, so it just depends on point of view. They werent as bad as what I had been reading in earlier reviews however.

Id recommend this movie to any fan of the science fiction/action genre.

The first 40 minutes seriously felt more like 4 minutes. I looked at my watch and couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Pants · 05-19-2005, 02:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gochiefs

Well, when the troopers had their helmets on, everything was fine. They looked great. But when they took their helmts off...something was awry. It definitely distracted me.

IIRC, the only helmetless troops in the movie were the orange ones, that's why I specified the color.

Hammock Parties · 05-19-2005, 02:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wallcrawler

The Anakin/Padme scenes did kinda slow the movie down, but thats just my view. .

At least one of them should have been cut. There were some editing/cutting problems for about 20 minutes after Obi-Wan and Anakin finally set foot on Coruscant. The pacing was off....it got way too slow.

Pants · 05-19-2005, 02:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gochiefs

At least one of them should have been cut. There were some editing/cutting problems for about 20 minutes after Obi-Wan and Anakin finally set foot on Coruscant. The pacing was off....it got way too slow.

The movie got really slow for me after about the first 50 mins - my bladder was exploding.

Hammock Parties · 05-19-2005, 02:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metrolike

IIRC, the only helmetless troops in the movie were the orange ones, that's why I specified the color.

That would be it then. Also, seeing 4 or 5 clones of Jango Fett/Temeura Morrison all in a row was...disturbing.

I'm just gushing here, sorry.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED the way they cut the Jedi purge with the Temple raid. Some masterful editing right there. And the intercutting of Anakin vs Obi Wan/Palpatine vs Yoda was fantastic, as was using Duel of the Fates for the music in that part...

Hammock Parties · 05-19-2005, 02:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metrolike

The movie got really slow for me after about the first 50 mins - my bladder was exploding.

I didn't drink anything from 10 pm to 3 am. No way I was leaving the theater for a second.

05-19-2005, 02:11 AM
alnorth . Join Date: Dec 2002 Casino cash: $57156239	All right fellow Star Wars nerds, lets hear your reviews! I just finished watching the movie, here's a few impressions. First for those with ADD and want the basic information, yes the movie ticket is worth the price of admission. If you hate crowds feel free to wait, but you eventually should see it in the theater, UNLESS you are one of those very rare people who always hated Star Wars, including all the original movies. I personally liked it better than even Empire, but I'm still on the afterglow you get when you watch a movie you like. After a few weeks I'll probably rate it 2nd or 3rd best out of the 6. - My God the theater was crowded. I went to the midnight showing at the Pittsburg, KS theators. We arent a one gas station town or anything, but youd think little old Pittsburg wouldnt be that crowded. They sold out three screens for the midnight showing, full of people willing to stay up to 2:30 am, it was freakin packed. If you hate crowds in the movie... its gonna take a while. I can only imagine what its like in KC. - Prepare for a very long movie, at least 2.5 hours. Its like Lucas thought to himself "You know, I am making the most anticipated movie in the history of the world. Its the last movie of freakin Star Wars, I'm gonna do whatever the hell I want and cut nothing. What are the distributors gonna do, refuse to show the movie?!? Hah!" Then again, the movie did cover a hell of a lot of stuff. Some of it could have been abbreviated, but I'm glad it wasnt. - Kids... I thought it was overhyped personally, the way people were talking, youd think it shoulda been rated R or something. It aint PG, but PG-13 is probably fine. I think some younger kids can handle the movie, but not too young, and worried parents should probably screen it first. There are only two scenes I think would be questionable for young viewers, if you look around the internet youll find out what they are, I wont spoil anything here. - Dont expect Shakespear. The story was very good, the acting was ok, the lines were.... well Lucas always sucked at writing lines. The man's working with what talent he was born with and I think he did the best he could. - The best actor, by far, not even close, was the emperor. All the other roles (except Vader, and he did a passable job) are secondary and wont sink the movie, but this is one role that easily could have been cheesey and ruined the film. Thankfully, the most talented actor in the cast pulled it off well, and at times it seemed the sinister emperor was carrying the film during slow parts. (Jackson really didnt get much of a chance to shine and use his talents to the fullest) - This film has by far the most action of all 6 films. It sometimes gets to the point where your on overload and wish the movie would slow down to take a breath. For some people the action overload will be a good thing, for others it wont, you be the judge. - They tied up a lot of loose ends, as many as humanly possible, including ends that I didnt realize needed to be tied up untill they pointed it out, then its like "oh ok, so thats why this is the situation in episode 4!" - Obi-Wan was pretty impressive. (I'm talking about the character now, not the actor) You always get the impression that he has less power in the "force" than most jedi, but he uses his intelligence to make the most of what hes got, especially in the pivotal fight with Vader when it seemed he was overmatched. - General Grievous was pretty cool Again, in summary the acting was kind of cheesey at times (Lucas cant write a good romance scene to save his life, it was like high school or something), passable at times (Anakin did a pretty good job at Vader, but not perfect, you sometimes get the impression that the character isnt believable, but it wasnt horrible) and excellent (no man alive on our planet could have possibly played the emperor any better) The lines... were somewhere between ok and bad. In spite of the questionable script writing, the story was excellent, and together with good performances from some of the cast, took the movie on their shoulders to make it a very good experience in spite of the lines. It could have been better, but after episodes I and II, I'll take whatever we can get that resembles a good movie and be satisfied. The movie is definitely worth the price of admission, just dont expect to be happy if your a film geek/snob fresh from college who overanalyzes crap all the time. Last edited by alnorth; 05-19-2005 at 02:18 AM..
Posts: 36,130

05-19-2005, 02:23 AM	#2
Pants Time Keeps On Slipping Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Overland Park Casino cash: $3489900	Just got back, and I couldn't agree more with your review, very well done. As you know, I'm not a big Star Wars fan, yet this movie greatly impressed me. It is by far my favorite of the six, and would be an awesome stand alone piece. Yet, Lucas found a way to connect it to everything to an extent I didn't know was possible. If you imagine the rest of the six episodes as separate pieces belonging together that have cracks when assembled - Episode III is like water that fills up the cracks, freezes and makes everyting a perfect one piece. I have one comment to add alnorth's review - Mace Windu is a bad ass motherfucker, I won't spoil anything, but you can look forward to seeing him in action. __________________ "Turn the channel to 26!"
Posts: 27,418

05-19-2005, 02:25 AM	#3
teedubya Most Valuable Poster Join Date: Oct 2003 Casino cash: $8993042	Decent Flick... at the end there is a major time discreptancy... SPOILER [highlight text with mouse to read] Luke and Leia go to their adopted parents... Vader is now fully functional and goes to the big window with the Emperor, and they look at the beginning stages of construction of the Death Star. This thing is gonna take 20+ years to build? They only get it operational when they fire at Alderan in Ep 4. Anyway... very live action flick. I give it 3/4 schwing.
Posts: 36,832

05-19-2005, 02:26 AM	#4
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $720478	Well, I just got back. It was a total blast (Darth Vader walked by me when I was in line. I yelled "WHAT'S UP DARTH!") and I am exhausted. I pretty much agree with the above comments. I felt two of the Anakin/Padme scenes should have been cut. A couple of the lines were just awful. Where have you gone Leigh Brackett? I was pleased with Hayden Christensen's performance. Much better, IMO. Ian McDiarmid was FANTASTIC as the Emperor. He chewed the scenery with delight. His duel with Yoda was simply amazing. Yoda wasn't kidding when he said "Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor" in Return of the Jedi. R2-D2 was spectacular in this movie. And as the twin suns of Tatooine set for the first time on Luke Skywalker...yes, I am afraid, I did shed one single tear...or two. May the Force be with you. __________________ Chiefs game films
Posts: 297,620

05-19-2005, 02:38 AM	#6
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $720478	One thing I was hoping to see and didn't was Vader's lightsaber. Would have been cool to see Vader wielding a red blade in the duel with Obi-Wan. I noticed some shoddy CGI in a couple places. Some of heads/bodies on the clonetroopers were not meshed well at all. But overall the CGI was the best I've ever seen. The space battle was AMAZING. Obi-Wan riding his lizard thing was badass and so was Greivous. I love the way Obi-Wan kills Greivous, too, very original. And hearing James Earl Jones as Darth Vader for the first time since Return of the Jedi was...awesome. __________________ Chiefs game films
Posts: 297,620