Star Wars Episode III

     Just got back from seeing "Revenge of the Sith." Parts of the movie were very, VERY good. It was incredibly complex. Foreshadowing was done very well. There was no black and white - lots of grey, lots of mistakes made by "people" on all sides. The case for Anakin turning to the dark side WAS made - his confusion was palpable.His visions twisted tragically. The scene where he is so horribly disfigured is disturbing - truly - but is also wonderfully done.
     However, parts of the movie didn't work. Unfortunately, some of those parts were key to the believability of the story. The scene where Anakin finally does go to the dark side was woefully underdone and unbelievable. The absolute, complete, and sudden change is too radical. He doesn't evolve into it, he is suddenly there. I didn't buy it. The time they should have spent making that scene more believable was wasted in a way too long battle scene between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Yes, that was pivitol too, but not nearly as important.
     Then there were the little bugs, like Padmé giving birth to full grown babies (I'm talking, long out of the womb sized babies), when she is hardly five or six months pregnant.
     The thing I found most amusing were the obvious references to the Bush administration: "If you are not with me, you are my enemy"; "So this is how liberty dies. With applause." Supposedly George Lucas wrote the lines long before he'd ever heard of George Bush. It's downright disturbing how well they fit as political satire.
     So, overall, I'm torn. I thought this one was MUCH better than I & II, and it prepared wonderfully for the original, or number IV, which of course I'm dying to go back and watch. Did it really first come out in 1977? Gese, I'm getting old. It did not wow my socks off, which I was hoping it would do.
     See it. Do see it. But don't set your expectations too high.