MAY 19
At last, Lucas has done something worthy of Star Wars—not that Revenge of the Sith quite matches the near-perfection of the Original Trilogy, but still…wow. This time, he did it right, and I actually cried in the theater from relief.

Admittedly, RotS has its problems. As a whole, I felt the movie moved far too quickly. Dooku is dead in the first ten minutes; Anakin goes from heartbroken regret over Mace Windu’s death to pledging his soul to Palpatine in a split second; and really, I just expected so much MORE out of Mace Windu and General Grievous, not to mention the Wookies. I’ve read the books and watched the Clone Wars cartoons—Mace is supposed to have this insanely intense style of fighting that he developed himself, and Grievous was nigh undefeatable and terrifying in the cartoon. But Lucas has leashed both characters down to relatively brief and unimpressive sequences, and I can’t understand it. The movie was 2 hours 15 minutes, but it should’ve been at least 3. I would have gladly sat in the theater for 45 more minutes to watch Mace and Grievous put up a real fight. The love story is still somewhat lacking, but it is much more believable and more touching. Anakin actually smiles at Padme—a real, loving smile, not the lustful leer that ruined Ep II. There are a number of smaller things that bothered me: how fake Palpatine’s makeup looks for half the movie, the continuing stupidity of Sith names (Darth Plagueis? Give me a break! How un-subtle can Lucas be?), etc. But RotS’s worst moment comes in the middle of an otherwise powerful scene. The birth of Luke & Leia and Anakin’s final conversion into Darth Vader are beautifully interwoven and very poignant. Padme’s labor pains and Anakin’s shrieks of agony correspond powerfully; Vader draws his first breath and she breathes her last. It’s chilling and heart-wrenching, but then Lucas has to ruin it. When Vader finds out he killed Padme, he smashes everything in the room with the Force in rage—very well done—but then, he howls, “NOOOOOOOOOO!” at the top of his lungs. And something about the inflection and sound of that “no” is so wrong, so utterly corny that it makes this serious moment laughable. It nearly ruins the entire movie’s effectiveness.

But that aside, it was Star Wars, real Star Wars. There was real humor, not the childish, insulting “jokes” of JarJar or Threepio’s painfully bad puns in Ep II. The story has emotional depth, and Lucas’s digital world has finally developed enough to 1) not look so obviously fake and obtrusive, and 2) not be the main focus of the movie. Ian McDiarmid is brilliant as Palpatine, playing the Sith Lord with all the complexity, subtlety, maniacal evil, and chilling cleverness that make the character so awesome. The implication that Palpatine himself is responsible for Anakin’s existence is mind-blowing, adding a whole new dimension to the story. And there are so many small but significant moments of true genius in the movie: the tear that trickles down Anakin’s cheek after he has slaughtered the Separatist leaders on Mustafar; the lighting in Palpatine’s office as Anakin accepts the job as his representative to the Jedi Council, edging into deeper and deeper shadow; Vader’s mask being lowered over Anakin’s face so that we see, just for a moment, through the lenses what Anakin will see for the rest of his life until Luke removes the helmet at the end of the saga; Owen Lars standing outside the homestead on Tatooine, watching the sunset exactly the same way Luke does in ANH—and the list goes on. Sure, RotS has its share of faults, but Lucas has finally delivered what he promised. Darth Vader has become infinitely more complex, the hope that Luke and Leia give to the galaxy more profound, the entire saga richer and deeper and more poignant as a whole. Even the other prequels are more resonant now (barring JarJar, bad puns, and lustful leers, which unfortunately cannot be undone). Lucas did it right.

MAY 23
Unbelievable. I didn’t expect to be even more affected the second time around. But I was. I started crying at “Execute Order 66” and didn’t stop until the movie ended. My biggest problem with RotS initially was how fast everything happened—I felt that Mace Windu and General Grievous in particular were shortchanged. Now, I have no trouble with it, because this time around I realized that the focus of the movie is not on the battles, and rightly so. Lucas has finally given the proper amount of attention to the actual story and the characters, not the action and special effects. I admit it’s still too easy for Obi-Wan to disarm (not a pun!!!) Grievous, but I’m terribly grateful that Lucas put the emphasis on Anakin’s conversion. The movie could not have been so powerful and emotive otherwise. The small things still bug me, but there are small things that bug me about the Original Trilogy, too. I don’t consider them a problem. I still hate Vader’s super-cheesy “NOOOO!”—it still ruins that perfect moment, but now it is the only problem in the entire movie. RotS has so many layers of emotion and depth, so many touches of sheer genius…there are just too many things to say about it. RotS is no longer just a good Star Wars movie or a satisfactory conclusion to the beloved saga—it is a darn good movie all on its own, unbelievably powerful and resonant. Watch it more than once, even if you were a bit disappointed the first time. RotS is more than worth the effort, and if you are perceptive enough to catch all the insanely nifty things Lucas has poured into it, you will not be disappointed anymore.