(warning: details of the movie given here, so if you haven't seen it, don't want it spoiled, stop now)
I took the night off to relax a bit. I promise to put something interesting out in the next few days.
I went to see "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith" this evening, somewhere in Chicago, sometime around 7:30pm.
Like any proper geek, I saw this movie with other geeks and even one finance guy. This showing was courtesy of Microsoft and their Midwest Evangelist Chris Mayo who organized this get-together (a big thank-you to Chris and Microsoft). The theater was rented and private for the group and included free popcorn and soda.
The movie was outstanding. As a self-proclaimed old guy, I saw Episode IV when I was 14. Episode III brought back the charm of the first trilogy that Episodes I and II seemed to have lost. No silly Gungans (Ok, I saw a Gungan, but he wasn't allowed to speak), no slapstick comedy. The humor was kept to a minimum and usually involved R2-D2 and other big robots. Visually, Lucas returned to his roots and softened the CGI considerably in this episode, providing warmth, rather than high-contrast detail on the screen.
The details of the storyline were wrapped up quite well. We see the power of good in Yoda against the evil (you know, that blue lightning ray stuff) of the emperor and that evil is not more powerful than good (News flash: good ties evil). We see the emperor use a light saber and beat the crap out of three Jedi at once. We also see Yoda walk into the emperor's office and as he walks in, he waves his hand, knocking out both "cardinal" guards (the guys that look like Vader, but wear cardinal red). This was hilarious, given their size and Yoda's size.
The only thing that makes me angry about this storyline is as follows: Many of the Jedi believe that Anakin is "the chosen one", whatever that means. He's supposed to bring balance to the force. If there are more good guys than bad guys, then bringing balance means either training more bad guys or killing some good guys (was Lucas bad at arithmetic, but good at writing?). Nobody in the Jedi ranks seems to get this silly principle. The fact that Anakin is powerful and that the temptation to move to the dark side may be overwhelming, leaves me puzzled by how often in these first three episodes Anakin asks for advice, help, companionship, etc. from the Jedi and specifically Mace Windu and Obi-Wan and is rebuffed and then left alone. Mace Windu in particular on his way to arrest the emperor tells Anakin to stay behind, because he is too confused. Ummmmmmmmmmm, ok, you go arrest that emporer guy (and don't forget to bring too few Jedi for backup) and if you need me, I'll be over here, converting to the dark side. In fact, when Anakin is made a member of the Jedi council, he is not given the rank of Jedi Master. "Don't give in to anger, that leads to the dark side of the force" is all he hears. Then every Jedi on the council proceeds to do something that will anger Anakin by not awarding him that rank. Any reason to think that Anakin won't give in to the dark side?
One note on the Anakin/Padme relationship. Anakin marries Padme. Then he takes off and goes and does Jedi stuff, leaving the chick at home. When he comes home, she's pregnant. Ummmm, honey, what have you been doing? Has the mailman stopped by or something? But the cool part is that even though they are married, Anakin gets to be a Jedi and go do cool Jedi stuff whenever he wants and give the woman attention only when he wants. "Honey, we're going to over to that planet across the way and play light-sabers again, ok?" I was almost convinced that this was real life drama. Perhaps this viewpoint is why I'm single.