The Unseen Movie Review

Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith

What is there to say? We’ve all been disappointed by the last two and yet we’re still all going to go and see this one anyway.

This marks final closure after more than twenty-five years of Star Wars being the single most successful set of films of all time. At least, until George Lucas changes his mind again and goes off to make another trilogy.

Yep, with this movie we finally find out the official version of how Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader. It involves an intergalactic war, lightsabre battles, a volcano and a bunch of incredibly detailed special effects, that much is guaranteed. But is it actually any good?

What is most interesting about these Star Wars prequels is not so much the reactions of the 25-40 year-olds who are old enough to have been the target audience of the original films at the cinema, but the response from the kids who are the target audience today. Back in the late 70s and early 80s, Star Wars was everything. We lived and dreamed Star Wars, and our parents loved it too. These new films simply don’t seem to have captured children’s imaginations in the same way.

To be fair, it’s a fairly tall order to compete with the rampant success of the original trilogy. They did something no other films had previously managed, with groundbreaking special effects and a depth of imagination rarely before seen on screen. So it’s not really fair to complain that the new films aren’t as innovative. It’s also not fair to complain that they aren’t as liked – moaning fans of the originals have ensured that most people will slag them off, given half the chance.

The only fair thing is to wait for a quarter of a century and see how they all look then. Of course, the trouble with that is that the original trilogy as most people remember it no longer exists. George Lucas likes tampering with his creation so much that the DVDs are based on the 1997 “Special Editions”, with further new special effects and footage. Even the new series has been altered between cinema and its DVD releases – The Phantom Menace in particular receiving a number of effects tweaks to ensure the computer graphics were as up to date as possible for home viewing.

In the meantime, this latest – and final – instalment brings twenty-eight years’ worth of storytelling to an end. Star Wars has had such an impact on not only Hollywood, but also people’s lives in that period that it would be a shame not to mark its passing. But – as with the last two bitter disappointments – don’t get your hopes up for genius.

posted by Nosemonkey @ 12:00 AM