The Imperial March To Mann's Chinese Theatre & "Revenge Of The Sith" Review

Through various channels I learned the march of the 501st led by Darth Vader on Wednesday, May 18th would start at The Arclight around 4pm arriving at Mann's Chinese Theatre by 5, meeting up with those waiting in line to return to The Arclight around 6:30 or 7. I decided to park my car at The Arclight so when we returned I could just stay put and enjoy the festivities. I made my way around to the front of The Cinerama Dome where the troops were forming up to depart. I got there just in time because 3 minutes later the march began. To your right is a link to photos from the day...again, same drill: please ask before posting this link on your's or anyone else's site.

There were around 25 stormtroopers, 2 Fett's (Boba and Jango), plus 30 of us fans trailing behind Lord Vader. We were also accompanied by 2 Princess Leia's; one in "Wars" white gown and the really good Slave Girl from C3. News choppers hovered high overhead. Making our way from block to block we began accumulating more fans, the curious, and a number of TV news and still photographers. People honked their horns as they drove by, yelling "Vader!!" out the windows. All we needed was "The Imperial March" playing on someone's boom box.

More and more people began to join us as we traveled 7 blocks, finally arriving at Mann's Chinese Theatre to thunderous applause by fans that had been lining up since April and hundreds of others waiting in anticipation of the column's arrival. People began singing the "Star Wars" theme as His Lordship approached. Suddenly it felt like 1977 with hundreds of fans converging near the place where Vader, C3PO, and R2D2 put their feet in cement 28 years earlier. This was why I SO wanted to be here! By this time the whole event had become The Star Wars Celebration 3.5! Later in the evening I would show up on CNN from a chopper shot. All Darth needed to do was go over to the head of The Line and say, "we would be honored if you would join us".

By the time the 'about face' came there were a number of LAPD officers in cars and on bikes wrangling the crowd, which was now growing to between 5 and 600! When we returned to The Arclight a number of news trucks lined the street outside the entrance along with another crowd waiting for Vader and company's arrival. Many a photo op was had as the fans converged on the Arclight courtyard for revelry and light saber demonstrations provided by Master Replicas throughout the evening.

Of course I didn't have a ticket for the midnight show because of the surprise sale date right before C3. I just wanted to be here at Star Wars: Ground Zero to share the excitement of opening night for the last film...a few short blocks from the most famous place where it all began.

So on to the review...

Our tickets were for Thursday night at the 11:15pm show in The Dome. A few days before they announced that The Dome would in fact be presenting the film digitally. I'd been torn when buying tickets as to whether I wanted to see it in digital or at The Dome first. Problem solved! The crowd was primed as the curtain parted to thunderous applause.

WARNING: IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE YET, DON'T READ THIS!

I'd read some of the reviews cautiously Wednesday night hearing critics like Roger Ebert rank "Sith" up there with "The Empire Strikes Back". I do feel it's the best of the prequel trilogy. Where it ranks against the first three films I have yet to determine. The script has a few quips that tickle the styling of the original trilogy and there is more of an adventure feel than in Episode I and II. Character wise Ian McDirmmid easily has the best role in this film. His recanting of a Sith Lord legend being one of the most memorable scenes. This is also Ewan McGregor's best turn as Obi Wan, channeling Alec Guinness to a tee right down to the way he gently tugs on his beard deep in thought. Samuel L. Jackson's confrontation of The Chancellor...the defeat of three other Jedi by Palapatine was a bit too easy, but I understood the point was to get to the squaring off with Mace, who of course is just The Man! Mace's best scene still is in "Clones" where he slowly walks down a stone hallway to confront Dooku and begin the rescue sequence on Geonosis...you damn right! Natalie Portman; basically after being 'Action Padme' in the last movie must now sit and just be pregnant while Anakin tries to avert the reality of his nightmares. No wonder you didn't see much of her in the trailers. I've always loved Natalie and thought she gave her character a strong send off.

Hayden Christensen...still not the greatest performance in the world but improved over "Clones". The scene on the balcony where he watches Padme brush her hair is the worst case of Lucas' not being able to write an affective love exchange. The most thought provoking scene between these two is when they gaze across the city toward one another, poised toward forever change. It's a great angst filled moment seldom portrayed in a Star Wars film but very welcome none the less. Christensen's performance however does heat up as Anakin begins his turn toward the dark side and the fight with Obi Wan. Anger has always been his strong side* (*see the post Tuskin Raider massacre scene, probably the best emotional moment in "Clones"). Quite frankly I blame the director for lapses in his acting.

Overall I thought this was one of John Williams' best "Star Wars" scores, "Battle Of The Heroes" being the breakout track. My only complaint was the recycling of exact music from "Clones" and "Menace" in several scenes. Did someone run out of money to give John for more work? In the original trilogy you had hints of themes from other films, including a brief swing into the Death Star attack theme from "Wars" used during the rebel assault on the new Death Star in "Jedi". A nice connecting theme but still not the exact same piece of music. This of course is not a reflection on Williams because overall I thought he did a magnificent job on "Sith".

It was great to finally see Kashyyyk, the home of the Wookies, and I liked Chewbacca helping to protect Yoda. But his level of involvement...in the end that could have been anyone. Now if Chewy played an important role with Obi Wan, so that when they meet at the Cantina Bar in the original film there would be a more meaningful connection, that would have been more satisfying. I definitely liked Jimmy Smits and thought his character was incorporated nicely into the story. Yesterday I picked up the Mon Mothma action figure in the store and read the blurb about her "Sith" younger self on the back. Essentially she was to have started forming the early stages of the rebellion in this film. Plus I read recently that Lucas jettisoned a script subplot for Padme involving her secretly helping to form the rebel alliance. That would have been a nice touch. Oh and BTW, after some of the advance buzz about Governor Tarkin being introduced in "Sith", he only has a small cameo at the end never uttering a word. D'OH! Glimpsing the first Death Star being constructed out the window...priceless.

This trilogy never seemed to settle on one bad guy for the whole story, except The Chancellor/Darth Sidious. First, Darth Maul, who I and many others thought was going to be the new big bad guy throughout these 3 episodes...killed at the end of "Menace". Then Count Dooku, commander of the Separatist army, dispatched a little too quickly in the opening of "Sith". Here was another moment that needed to have more anticipatory prelude to it. Perhaps Lucas felt he had to wrap up the whole Dooku thing quickly to get on with the story which is how it ultimately came across. Now comes General Grievous; definitely a great villain both in character and CG creation. I wish he had more of a presence in the previous films. Some would argue that his sole appearance in "Sith" comes off like the Batman villian of the week.

Editing wise two scenes bothered me a little. The battle on Kashyyyk just barely gets started and suddenly we cut to Anakin having a discussion with The Chancellor, then back to Kashyyyk after the fight has been won. They should have stayed on Kashyyyk until the conflict had wrapped a bit more. Then there was Obi Wan chasing after Grevious. Once again an action sequence cut in two with no sensible parallel scene to go to. This should have been left whole.

Once again I really appreciated the style of the costumes, especially Padme's and Bail Organa's garb, which harkened back to the "Buck Rogers" serials of the 30's. The digital effects were all very impressive although the clone troopers a touch rough in spots especially where several Tamera Morrison's were present with their helmets off. Ship designs continue to lean towards what we ultimate saw in the original "Star Wars" including a precursor to the X-Wing of the first trilogy. My favorite new ship in "Sith" would have to be the Jedi star fighters which of course resemble the later TIE fighters. The clone pilot's line, "lock X foils in attack formation", and that all too familiar sound effect of the tie fighter buzzing by before Vader joins The Emperor on the star destroyer bridge were like comfort food to the ears of the faithful.

I was very satisfied to see the graphic intensity at the end true to the way we all knew it had to be. Lucas certainly went the distance in portraying Anakin/Vader's defeat and grisly deformation near the lava river as well as his reconstruction on the operating table. The juxtaposition between his fight with Obi Wan and Yoda's duel with Darth Sidious was nicely done, as was Padme giving birth to the twins intercut with Vader's helmet finally enclosing what is left of Anakin's head. That first breath brought applause from the audience. A far cry from the days of the original film where his appearance would draw boo's...boo's of course for the 'bad guy' as opposed to boo's for stupid CG characters (who could that be?). And yes, Vader rising (RISE!) complete with James Earl Jones voice was fantastic. My one big complaint here: if he was going to ask about Padme at all it should have been before the final element of the Vader suit enclosed around him. That first breath needed to be a symbol that Vader had completely taken over and Anakin was gone, along with any feelings for Padme. Anakin using the Force to choke her should have been the final turning away point. She was a traitor now in his dark side tainted eyes, end of story.

Probably one of the most startling scenes, the type I never thought Lucas would reach for after "Empire", is when Anakin enters a room where younglings are hiding. They ask for help and his response is to ignite his light saber, poised to kill them. The scene cuts away but the suggestion is one I thought George would never entertain or portray. Ditto on the savageness of Count Dooku's demise...I was impressed. In general the grand sense that the end is near for all things 'good' echoes throughout the montage of Jedi being murdered. The music, again, is wonderful here.

Yoda gained his share of crowd-pleasing applause swinging his light saber and kicking ass once again. Best lines here: Sidious - "Master Yoda, you survived?", Yoda - "Surprised?". Another moment the audience reacted nicely to was the first view of a Bail Organa, Obi Wan, and Yoda walking down one of the hallways of the "Star Wars" blockade runner, Tantive IV. Too cool. Nice connector to Princess Leia one day presiding over the vessel. It's the family car that gets passed down to the kids. Alright I'll shut up about wanting to see the Millennium Falcon...but it still would have ruled!!

I felt tears swell up as baby Leia was brought home to Alderaan and especially when Luke was delivered to the waiting Owen and Baru against the setting suns on Tattoine; the anticipation of 'a new hope'. It was a wondrous, emotional end to an uneven prequel trilogy which I always felt had some good moments. Just not the parts where a little boy yelled "yippee!' or a lop eared aquatic spouted "pee-yusa!". Siiddown!!

C3PO's memory gets wiped to protect the twins, Yoda, and Obi Wan...BUT R2'S MEMORY IS STILL IN TACT! SWEET! He's allowed to remember everything and yet can't speak a word of it to anyone anyway! Now that puts an interesting spin on watching him in the other movies.

A shot of Qui Gonn briefly and silently appearing to Obi Wan in his hovel on Tattoine for a first 'after-life' lesson would have been a very nice touch though.

Lucas definitely made up for some of the slips and falls he had with "Clones" and especially "Menace", the latter being an episode we didn't really need. That was more like Episode 0. "Clones" should have been the beginning of the story. Overall "Sith" was moving, action filled, and left me wanting more. I never took the time to read the Timothy Zahn books which many consider to be Episode VII, VIII, and IX in a sense. Now I will. Looking forward to the proposed TV series Lucas announced recently...just don't give it to the fucking Sci-Fi Channel where they'll spend a whopping $1.98 per episode!

Next Wednesday night The Arclight will be presenting the original "Star Wars", with "Empire" screening a week later. I bought really good advanced tickets for both shows. Four hours later they had sold out. Can't wait. The audience in itself will be amazing. Then the following weekend I plan to see "Sith" again.

On a side note of course this Tuesday night is the screening of "Aliens" at The Arclight plus Q&A with Gale Ann Hurd and Stan Winston. This is going to be a great week...