Day After Clairty

My Thoughts after seeing 'Revenge of the Sith'
May 14, 2005

Last night my husband and I were lucky enough to attend a premiere event for Revenge of the Sith. As long time Star Wars fans we had long waited for the movie that would bring the prequels to our beloved Original Trilogy.

Yesterday we saw that movie and walked away with our major questions answered and I walked away knowing I would never look at Darth Vader the same way again. My main thought for the night was simply "Wow" and I went to sleep that night with visions of Anakins smile in my mind. Forever more will the mask of Vader, in my mind, hold that smiling young Jedi Hero.

My husband sat quiet after the credits started and I finally had to prod him for his reaction. "That was sad," he said with a pause. "Really sad....That was like 'Snoopy Come Home kind of sad, only Snoopy had a happy ending!"

My hubby...gotta love him.

I'm going to first highlight the spoiler free parts - the full spoils will follow.

* Opening Action Sequence: Anakin sums it up well - "This is where the fun begins" WOW! While visually amazing and the CGI effects are incredible - what I pulled from it is more about relationships... Anakins dedication to helping Obi AND his dedication to R2. I *love* how he interacts with R2 during this scene and I am reminded of Little Ani who said goodbye to C3P0 in Episode 1 by saying "You've been a really great friend". Clearly, R2 is as well. R2 is quite the character himself and brings 'the funny' in ways only R2 can.

* First 'Jedi in Action' moments - again - WOW. Anakin and ObiWan are an amazing pair and, honestly, funny as hell...you can tell that their relationship has really grown into a partnership. Hats off to Ewan and Hayden for this dynamic change because it is done so well that it makes the end where he leaves the little red haired girl...oh wait...wrong tearjerker. :-)

* First Anakin/Padme moment - they're so much in love that it hurts you to watch because you know how its going to end. Its through those jaded, knowing eyes that you watch these two and think how much more tragic the OT just became. Admittidly, I focused completely on Hayden, but his reactions are dead on and I wonder how he nailed his expressions so perfectly.

* General Anakin/Padme Relationship stuff - they are in love, and he clearly worships her. To watch him play that out was a privledge. You almost felt like you were evesdropping on a private moment each time they were together...and no matter what was going wrong (or on) at the time, he ALWAYS stopped to run to her. ::SIGH::

* The Emperor...lets just insert here my "I <heart> Ian McD" bumper sticker. He makes Palpatine so endearing to Anakin and yet, just so slimey at the same time...

I could go on and on, but it's approaching 'spoiler land' because, honestly, its impossible to give an accurate review without going to the dark side. Let me just say, before throwing myself that direction, that I was fully spoiled going in and yet, it didn't ruin my experience at all. In fact, seeing everything played out so much better than I ever could have imagined was like being unspoiled.

Also...I went in fully expecting to see Hayden, but he performed so well that all I saw was Anakin...I was pulled in and enveloped by this man who wanted so much for his life, his wife, his child, and his republic... it makes it all so much more tragic.

One last thing before the spoilers begin...part of me watched as a fangirl, but part as a parent.  I don't dispute the PG13 rating, but I think the warnings are bit overzealous. In true Lucas form, there is implied violence. You see no blood, though in Jedi form you see loss of limbs. I think it got the rating based on numbers of acts of violence. We know theres a significant loss of life - thats no spoiler, its in Episode 4 - "He helped the Emperor hunt down and kill the Jedi" - but the story does well to explain that. As a parent with two boys who love the series and want to see it, I am confident that I can explain things to them and prepare them ahead of time. I would, in my opinion, be remiss if I couldn't make this a lesson for them.

Ok, stepping off my soapbox. Now...onto the spoilers...

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It is a wonderful time to be a Star Wars fan.

From the start - this is now such a tragedy I don't think I can put it into words. Hayden is suberb - he gives Anakin everything in this movie: Comedy, Action, Anger, Pure Hatred, Undisputable Love and a desire to save what he loves....Padme, his child, his republic. I totally lost Hayden in Anakin.

Killer points...

Opening sequence - Nothing sort of awesome and dizzingly busy! Lots of comedy, lots of action.

Saving Palpatine - Wow! Anakins first turn toward the dark side. There are several things to love about this scene - one of them is NOT how digital it looks as Count Dooku incapacitates ObiWan.  After giving Dooku a good run for his money, Anakin cuts off both of Dookus hands and holds the sabers up to his neck. Palpatine cheers him on to kill him like cheerleaders during football season. We see Anakin pull the two sabers to the side, executing Dooku, but we don't see the actual cut and the movie cuts to Dookus body on the floor, but with the shoulders conventently shaded. I think Jango Fetts death at Maces saber in Attack of the Clones was MUCH worse.

Hit with instant remorse, Anakin is assured by Palpatine it was necessary. As prone as Anakin was to listen to him and kill Dooku, he ignores him just a few moments later when he is urged to leave a knocked out ObiWan behind on the failing ship. He carries ObiWan out on his shoulders as they attempt to leave the ship.

Returning Palpatine to Coruscant quick eyes can catch celeb spotting #1 - as their ship docks, look below it to see the Falcon. :-) The exchange between Anakin & ObiWan is GREAT! Ewan and Hayden pulled off the humor SO well between them. Obi goes back onto the ship to report the Jedi counsel while Anakin goes to report to the politicans...where he sees Padme for the first time in months.

Oh. My. God. This is what my friend Maria calls 'Horny Anakin'. He runs to her, swoops her up in his arms and spins them around. He holds her and kisses her but when she says "Not here..." (stupid twit) he gets that bad boy glimmer and says "yes here..." <<THUD>>. Anakins reaction to Padmes news of her pregnancy is dead on perfect! Having delivered that unexpected news myself, I saw that same range of emotions in Anakins eyes... the ride from thrilled to scared to worried and then so quickly back to thrilled.

The scenes of them just being them killed me with foreshadowing. Anytime he sees her - even after killing the Separtists on Mustafar, he still runs to her to wrap her in his arms. Each time he asks how she is and are she and the baby ok? He wants this child with her, he wants to be a father and a husband. To think ahead to Ep5 when the Emperor tells him of the offspring of Anakin Skywalker and that he must be killed...

I can hear Anakin now, not Vader, saying "...but he's just a boy". I can hear the thoughts in his mind...this was my child. I held Padmes stomach and felt him kick... now this man, who I hate but I need, wants me to destroy him.

But...back to the story. The scenes at the Opera House is celeb spottings #2 & #3. As Anakin jogs through the hallway of the opera house (side note - <crash><thud>) just as he walks through the doorway into Palpatines balcony, George Lucas is on the left of the doorway, painted blue. Once inside, as Anakin kneels next to Palpatine to talk to him, look below the balcony to see Pablo Hildago (the man behind StarWars.com/Hyperspace) walking from left to right down the aisle.

Opera scene - never has there been a more conniving slimeball than Palpatine but the way Ian protrays him as he tells the story of Darth Plagueis and of how the past Sith Lord taught his apprentice to use the dark powers to save people from dying...oh. my. god. Mixed with undertones and just the right amout of humor - it really endears this jackass to you. You can see why Anakin considers him a mentor and a friend. Plus, already tormented by dreams of Padmes death, Anakin hears exactly what he wants to - that there is a way he can prevent it. What Young Skywalker doesn't understand is the same as most teens find in high school - the advice is limited to a certain point of view and one would prove wise to look at both sides openly before making rash decisions ;-)

The scenes later when Anakin figures out that Palpatine is really the Master Sith Lord they've been looking for... there are no words but I'll do my best. He is OUTRAGED at this man he trusted was a friend and a mentor. He ignites his saber and tells Palpatine he wants to kill him - but thats good news for the dark side...the more hate the better. Plus he's got the upper hand - the powers on the dark side are strong - he tells Anakin that as the remaining Sith, only HE knows how to stop people from dying and that if he were dead who will show him how to save his wife...who will save Padme?

Anakin leaves and, wisely, goes and tells Mace, but returns against Maces wishes (side note, this battle ROCKED! and explains why, in the OT, the Emperor looks like hell). He urges Mace to let Palpatine live and to let him stand trial...that he NEEDS him. Mace says he must die and ask he goes to strike, Anakin cuts off Maces saber hand and the Emperor throws Mace out the open window while shooting him with force lightening...Anakin collapses (yes, its a gut wrencher) and knows there is no going back, but you can tell he hates where he's at and who he's with. Resigned to the necessary evil if he wants to save Padme and the baby... He pledges himself to Darth Sidious and becomes Darth Vader.

<<SOB>>

By far the turn of events that followed were far worse than any before...the execution of Order 66 that causes the Clone armies to turn against the Jedi they have been fighting with is heartbreaking.  The Jedi become the enemies and we watch as they are hunted down and killed...not only by the clones but my the newly named Darth Vader...and it is devestating. We've seen the footage in ads - Anakin marching into the Jedi Temple, Padme watching the smoke from her apartment in tears...

You have now become so invested in these two that you know her fear is that he's in there, and you begin to mourn for the moment you know is coming - when she finds out it was him leading. Anakin Skywalker was a Jedi hero - a poster boy for the Republic - so when we see him walk into a room full of younglings, it's not surprising to have them come out of hiding and run up to him...

"Master Anakin, there are too many, what shall we do?" Your heart stops beating as he ignites his saber and they cut away... chills, just chills...

Celeb sighting #4 - Jett Lucas (son of George) is the young Jedi who helps defend Bail Organa as he escapes the temple.  Later we'll watch more temple destruction as Obi Wan and Yoda survey the jedi corpses. "Killed by a lightsaber this youngling was" he says... it leads Obi to the hologram tapes where he sees Anakin fighting celeb sighting #5 - Nick Gillard (swordsman and SW stunt coordinator), and pledging loyalty to Darth Sidious. Ewans shock is another dagger into your already broken heart.

Yoda orders ObiWan to destroy the Sith and his reply is a killer... "I won't kill Anakin." More forshadowing for the OT fans... when Luke tells ObiWan he won't kill his father and Obi replies, "...then the Emperor has already won" he speaks from experience.

Celeb sighting #6 is in here somewhere.  On Bails ship, the Tantive IV, his captain that announces a call from Palpatines office is Jeremy Bulloch, who was Boba Fett in the Original Trilogy.

After the Jedi Temple assault, Anakin returns to Padme to, again, check on her and the baby and to let her know he's alright. He asks her to wait for him, he has to go to Mustafar. After that attack on the Separtists on Mustafar he stands, cloaked above the lava. From a distance, the vision is evil - a killer on a lava planet, but they come into his face and we see him crying. OMG...its just heartbreaking. He wants so badly to make things right for Padme, he has no idea how terribly screwed up its really become.

ObiWan visits Padme looking for Anakin which prompts her to go to Mustafar with stowaway ObiWan When Padme arrives we see something I never thought I would see... Hes now Darth Vader, but he looks like Anakin and he loves like Anakin. We see hes not totally evil. He spots her ship and runs to her again as he's done each time on Coruscant. He holds her, he calms her (as she rambles about the terrible things ObiWan has told her), he strokes her hair and tells her it will be ok. He smiles. This is what does me in. He's supposed to be dark and evil - a villian, but no villian can love that completely.

How quickly he changes from that desire to pure hate at the sight of ObiWan is equally as chilling. His rage as he tells to Obi "YOU WON'T TAKE HER FROM ME!" cuts right to the core of every emotion. He's doing this for her and there is ObiWan, who he believes is against him, and all he can see is an enemy trying to get his wife to look at HIM as the enemy.

Disbelieving, Padme tries to talk him back - "You're a good person, don't do this, come away with me..."  Its not until she says she loves him but he's gone down a path that she can not follow that the force choke arrives... yes, he chokes her. No, he doesn't throw her as previously reported, it really looks like he just lets go and she falls. I am still contemplating why - I'm leaning toward just pure hatred. "Look at what I can do so you won't get her" kind of thing...Obi checks on her before the duel begins and the duel is KICK ASS!!!!

Anakins stance, his postures, his gaze... you get folded into the hate and the drama. John Williams haunting 'Battle of the Heros' plays as they cut between Yoda fighting Darth Sidious and Anakin fighting Obi.  'Battle' has such strong undertones to Episode 1's 'Duel of Fates' (the QuiGon/ObiWan/Darth Maul battle music) that you get those same chills all over again.

Anakins injuries...I was actually happy to see that Anakin sustained his injuries all at once from Obi - to see multiple instances would have done me in... but that said, as he's laying on the ash on the side of the lava river, clawing his way back up, he is Oscar worthy. His eyes have yellowed with anger, his face screams of more hate than pain. He literally SPITS out "I HATE YOU" to ObiWan who picks up the fallen Jedis light saber. "You were my brother Anakin...I loved you."

WWWWWAHHHHHHH!!!

As he prepares to walk away the lava river reaches Anakins legs - he walks away as Anakin bursts into flames. We are left to watch the end of dreams and hope for happy endings as Anakin rolls around screaming in pain as he burns.

You don't have to wonder - my guess is that was it's clincher to PG-13 - its incredibly difficult to watch.

ObiWan gets a still knocked out Padme back on the ship and they take her to the Polis Massa medical facility. She awakens there and her first question to Obi is 'How is Anakin, is he ok?' Ewan NAILED this!!! No words but speaks volumes with his eyes as he rubs her head. The medical droids say she is physically mended but has lost her will to live - they must act quickly if they wish to save the babies.  She lives to see and name both twins (Luke is born first) and tells Obi there is still good in Anakin before she dies.

Cross cut between those scenes we see the Emperor rest his hand on Anakins charred head just as Obi does to Padme. They take him to Sidious labratory and we watch as droids pulled charred flesh off his body and attach robot legs to him as he screams in pain. His face, just as the mask is lowered is...well, there are no words but I'm sitting here crying if that tells you anything. They change point of view as well and we watch through Anakins eyes, as the mask drops onto his face.

WAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As he 'rises' his first question is of Padme...where is she? is she ok? Sidious tells him that he's killed her and he screams so loud the medical droids explode and he breaks his restraints. It is gut wrenching...it was all for nothing in his eyes - and now he's tied to this man he wanted to kill only a few scenes before.  The man he hates, but needs. A fallen Jedi with no order to return to.

I just can not tell you how much I loved this movie...and I don't know HOW I'm going to make it to Midnight Wednesday...