Defending Episode III...Somewhat

POSSIBLE SPOILERS



Wow...maybe I am just happy b/c episode iii didn't totally suck like the other 2...but i had generally high praise for this one...

1) the action sequences - much better this time around b/c lucas hired a real director (spielberg) to storyboard all the action scenes first

2) the padawan death scene - "what should we do, master anakin?" Anakin: (pulls out lightsaber) "Don't run"...hehehe

3)CGI was off the meter...even if sometimes there was too much stuff going on to see everything

4) Palpatine was by far the most enjoyable part of the movie...even when he had to do dull stuff like watch that opera thing, whatever the hell that was

Having said all that:

Agreements:

1) Christiansen and Portman are absolutely terrible together...too bad she peaked at 12 (the Professional); I hear hayden is going to retire and be an architect...in the words of dan spainhour, "you need to go play the piano or something because you suck! Get the hell out of my gym!"

2) Continuity problems (not strictly episode iii): Cullen knows how I am a stickler for continuity (I think I was the only person to complain how the end of X-Men would never happen b/c Rogue's powers don't work that way) but I digress:

A) How does Leia remember her mother at all? Internet posters have guessed that maybe she was thinking of her adoptive mother; I personally think maybe through the force...either way, a major slip-up

B) Why can Vader not feel Leia using the Force the way he can with Luke? I mean, he did torture her in Episode iv so its not like he had no contact with her. Plus he just "knows" Luke is his son?

C) How the hell did Obi-Wan get so old between the end of the republic and the start of the rebellion? I know they lived in the desert for all those years, but geez!

D) Why exactly is R2D2 such a badass in the prequels and so lame in the originals? I know the real answer (special efx tech.) but he can't do anything remotely close to fly or kill battle droids in episodes iv - vi

I'm sure if I sat here I could think of more...I guess that's what happens when you try to shoehorn in more stuff 20 years later, Lucas...

3) The Fall, er short trip, to the Dark Side: Was it just me or did it take an insanely short amount of time to go from threatening to kill palpatine to killing children? I stand by my assertion that this entire enterprise should have been 2 movies...fold episodes i and ii into one...no jar-jar, no virgin birth, no midichlorians, turns to vader at the end and then have episode ii be a big war: vader + palpatine + clones against jedi

4) I still have trouble suspending the disbelief that an army of jedi could lose to ANYONE, much less a bunch of robots and test tube babies...i mean Luke Skywalker didn't even have complete training and the Empire couldn't touch him...here are the cream of the crop and they all go out like suckers...including Shaft Windu

Overall though, I give it a solid B...I think its the 4th best movie in the franchise, just a hair behind Return of the Jedi (which gets points for the slave girl outfit, a green lightsaber (which at the time was a major innovation) and the fact that Billy Dee "don't Let the Smooth Taste Fool You" Williams survived to the end)

Cheers,

DMick