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Hmn. Oh well. I saw it. It was OK; better than the past two, that's for sure.
I think the problem with the retconning that people have (or don't have in some unusual cases) is that it's so inconsistent. I mean, when Obi-Wan does the deed to Anakin (in effect), my first reaction was "woah, he totally hacked his legs off, neat".
But then, later, I realised that the only reason Obi-Wan killed him like that wasn't because it was the intentions of Obi-Wan (the character); it was necessary so that George Lucas could have a reason to explain why the hell Darth Vader is a full foot taller than Anakin Skywalker.
And that stinks, frankly. Unfortunately, it's necessary, because Lucas has to join up so many dots. I quite liked the final stage in the evolution of production design - the new Jedi Starfighters look more like TIEs (especially the TIE Advanced, and Vader's Prototype) than ever; the cruisers are practically Star Destroyers, and it almost suggested that the reason for bizarrely stilted design in IV/V/VI (compared to I/II/III) is that when you become an empire, your tastes go all Bauhaus or something.
It's not quite a bad film. But it is a boring one. Lucas makes all these excellent concepts - lightsaber fights, for goodness' sake! - and makes them dull. General Grievous: yes, he has four lightsabers, but he loses two of them almost immediately and then gets into his tie-in-toy-mobile. And then, in the middle of this fight, we cut. To a conversation. Which isn't really taking place at the same time. And then later we cut back to the same point in the previous sequence Da fug?
That annoyed me, because in the twilight sequence, and indeed the birth of Luke & Leia/birth of Vader sequence, we saw a director who really understood editing.
I quite liked the opening space battle, though those stupid droids in it. Lots of waste, though: Wookies were an almost pointless flashback, and Jimmy Smits was painful. Also, how the hell does Leia become a princess when her Dad's only a senator? The lack of explanation for some stuff is made more obvious by the desperate retconning.
One thing I enjoyed quite a lot: just how nasty they made the "demise" of Anakin. Melty flesh. And then subesquent pain - the scream he emits on the operating table suggests he doesn't want to be fixed. That's better than the James Earl Jones "NO" that everyone hated so much.
Still, glad it's all over. |
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