I’ve been working on this post forever since seeing the movie just this last week…after reading up and looking around I’ve scrapped together a few things about the last piece of the new trilogy:
Growing up, Star Wars was like any regular appendage on our bodies…it just ‘was.’ Meaning, there was never life before Star Wars, never any a time when the sentence “May The Force Be With You…Always” had no meaning, it always just ‘was.’ There would always be playground sword fights and identity labeling (you’re Luke, I’m Darth, etc), and the girls would always fight over who was Princess Leia–thank God they actually had a girl character! Several weeks ago, while traipsing around the park with my nieces I heard a pack of little boys armed with lightsabers exclaiming, “You’re Darth Mol, I’m Anakin!” And so it goes…Star Wars ‘is.’
My father and mother saw Star Wars right after it was released back in 1977. I was a few months old, and it was the first time they left me to go on a real date since I was born. I’m not sure what impact it had on my Mom but I know my Dad LOVED IT. He’s a bit of a sci-fi nut, and I know he went back (alone) and saw it several more times in the theater. At the time, he claimed, there was nothing else like it…sure they had a handful of space movies prior to the Star Wars release, but nothing with actual galactic fighting in it. The new generation of Star Wars geeks have plenty of eye candy to compare it with, (the whole Lord of the Rings Trilogy to for instance). Sure, the effects are cool…but the first Star Wars was truly incomparable and hence it has a very special place in most of our hearts.
That being said, I truly didn’t think I would see the third movie until months later, after the lines had thinned out and I got around to it. Not so, last Tuesday was Ryan’s birthday, so of course we had to go. And it was awesome, and fantastic, and sad. Today I looked over Johnny’s notes and feedback and I largely agree with him that Lucas created more emotional attachment this time around. Obi Wan crying, “I loved you!” actually came off as really painful and touching instead of cheesy and forced. (Although Darth Vader crying, “NNnoooooo!” invoked a horrible round of giggling from Josh, Ryan, and I). Ryan had issues with Darth’s Hamlet-like infatuation with his mother’s death…but I suppose he couldn’t “go bad” without at least a little motivation.
I don’t think we learned much about Padme, except that she looked really hot throughout all 3 movies. Granted she kicked some major ass in the first two, this last round she simply paced around looking worried. C’mon, she’s Luke and Leia’s Mom, why no in-depth look into her life? Who were her freaking parents, anyway? We only saw them trailing after her corpse at the end. And I have a bone to pick here: How the hell did two fully-developed-to-term babies come out of her teeny tiny belly at the end? I was already for the kids to be plopped into an incubator as a result of their premature birth, but oh no, two very healthy newborns came out instead.
And, wow, Anakin killed KIDS in this movie…and got seriously screwed up in the end. The last battle was truly fantastic. Did people applaud when Anikan officially became Darth Vader? They did in my theater, and I almost started booing in response. OK, OK, the placing of the mask over his beat up body was pretty bad ass. Overall, I give the movie two thumbs up.