Just returned from watching Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. The phenomenon that began in 1977 has come full circle and ended with a bang in the final chapter. Absolutely brilliant.

As usual, picked up my tickets for the midnight premier, and I must admit I’d never do this for any other movie. Heh, maybe I’m just biased, but I think the movie was really good. The lightsabre scenes in this movie outclass all the ones from the previous movies. Haha, something I live for when watching Star Wars movies. On the storyline, it was a really dark movie, and the emotions that Anakin Skywalker went through could realistically happen to a person.

*spoilers ahead*

My thoughts on this movie. It’s starting its transition to the grittiness that made the original 3 episodes so realistic. This movie didn’t have all the bright colours of the previous two, and felt more authentic in execution. Digital imaging technology has improved considerably since Episode II, and the blending of real life acting and computer wizardry is almost seamless now. The detail in the design of ships, weapons, costumes are so elaborate it’s almost astounding.

Regarding characters, I think Christopher Lee always seems left out. He only had a cameo appearance in this film, much like being edited out in the last installment of the theatre version of the Lord of the Rings. After playing such a major role in the previous films for both sagas, he is swept aside just like that. The battle between Yoda and Darth Sidious is a pale comparison to a Hokage type battle (Naruto reference, a fight between the real masters) and while spectacular, does not match the light sabre battles between Obiwan and Anakin. Natalie Portman played a very minor role in this movie and sounded less cheesy in her romantic gestures when compared with the previous movie. The ending ties up a lot of the inconsistencies that fans have commented about over the past 20 years with only 2 minutes of dialogue.

I was really wondering how George Lucas would be able to pull off tying up the ends in this movie, explaining how Anakin turned to the dark side. He provided a very plausible scenario and made the movie much more believable than when I first watched the young Anakin win a pod race and blow up a Trade Federation ship. Heh, you can take this movie quite seriously.

Still trying to process all the sound and imagery running amok in my mind from the movie. Now just waiting for the DVD release so I can relive all the action. Heh.

I just watched the trailer for Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith.

I must ask why, why do we have to wait another six months before it graces movie theatres worldwide? I only had to wait 6 months before I knew what happened to Neo in the Matrix Revolutions but that was different, because the Matrix Reloaded was just fresh off the cinema and the knowledge I’d see it soon was enough to satiate that curiousity (although until today I’m not very convinced I liked the ending, and Trinity died in very lame fashion). The Lord of the Rings trilogy spanned only 3 years, and the production crew and actors/actresses did one of the most impressive movie sets of all time (well, to date). So why the suspense of having to wait so many, many years for the Star Wars saga to conclude? *end rant*

I can’t believe it’s nearly 6 years since Episode 1 was released. The original trailer for that one looked great and fed anticipation. This trailer for the movie in 2005 totally blows away anything I’ve ever seen as a trailer for a movie and is practically jet fuel for your car engine (blame Shell adverts for giving me bad ideas on what to propel a car engine). I WANT TO WATCH IT NOW.

Heh, I’ve managed to secure midnight screenings for the last two movies, and by crook or by hook, I’m very well getting ready to be the first few to watch this final movie too.

Oh no. Now it will be jumping zombie mushrooms, wild boars and light sabre duels haunting me in my sleep tonight.

I’ll admit, I am a Star Wars geek fan.

Bought the DVD edition of the original trilogy today, and spent 4 hours watching a documentary on how the fantasy came to life. Considering all the problems and mishaps each film went through, it was amazing the films actually did reach the theatres back then.

George Lucas is a revolutionary. Star Wars just feels eternal. Even after nearly 20+ years, the films still look good and believable, something hard to find in a lot of other films.

The other thing I dig about Star Wars is the soundtrack composed by John Willliams. His style is distinct (for epic orchestral tunes anyway) and I can remember almost every single tune churned out. He is a true master of his art, drawing from all his experiences with tune, tone, rhythm, types of instruments, vocals etc.

Today we have Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), the company responsible for so many of the digital effects we see in films these days. His vision has inspired countless directors, including my other all time favourite, Peter Jackson’s LOTR trilogy, another masterpiece to behold.

Also got to watch the preview where Obiwan and Anakin kick each other’s butt, and boy, did that light sabre scene look cool, even if it was only on a blue backdrop with sticks and no sound effects. While I think Episodes I and II have lost a little of that sparkle in character development (Han Solo the antagonist always makes life interesting), the vision for cutting edge filmatography (if there is there such a word) is still very evident in Lucas’s work.

Heh, sorry for the random blurps. Just so much info to digest and probably discuss.

Looking forward to May 2005 now.

PS. Have you ever noticed that in Star Wars, there never were any opening credits (no reference to the director, the actors etc, all these are put only in the ending credits).