We watched the last sequel to the prequel on DVD...

The wife and I saw it in the theater, but the girl child hadn't. Since we own the other five episodes on DVD, we picked up this final installment and watched it on the television. We've got a big hi-def television, so it was almost as good as the theater; I've got to get surround sound installed...

If you saw the original Star Wars (re-titled Episode IV when re-released in the 80s) and if you saw the previously last installment (Episode II), then you know what has to happen in this film. The still-good Anakin Skywalker needed to be turned to the dark side and become Darth Vader, somehow one of them had to father the children that would be his eventual downfall, the bulk of Jedis needed to be destroyed, and the Republic had to fall and be replaced with the Empire. We had to see the transformation of Obi Wan Kinobi from Ewen McGregor to Sir Alec Guiness. Not too much to put into a two-ish hour long movie...

The original Star Wars alluded to the Jedi Wars. This gave this then-11-year-old-child visions of a massive, long, costly conflict. I had envisioned more of a French Revolution battle (probably related to what we were learning in school at the time...), than what evolved in the movie.

At the end of Episode II, there was a stirring in the Galaxy as a number of planetary systems wanted to separate from the Republic. The battles we were immersed in when Episode I started were expanded to show us this endeavor to secede. Of course, we knew it was the urgings of that evil Sith lord who was behind this rebellion, and anyone who paid attention could tell that this same person was the man voted in charge of the Republic Senate.

Episode III also starts with an exciting space battle. Then it goes downhill when comical, cute little robots attack our heroes' space ships. As with the other Star Wars episodes (after the original release of the first one--some unnecessary comic relief was added to the re-release), the comic relief is far too plentiful, far too cute, and far to unnecessary in a SciFi movie. I'm not expecting an Alien-level darkness about every SciFi movie, but the cyclical, predictable, "someone fell-down" level of humor tossed into these films is distracting at times.

The action was also overwhelming at times. I understand in the space battle that there were many battleships and fighters darting about, and that massive numbers of lasers were being shot, giving us a tremendously active background. The crash-landing of the front-half of the star destroyer on a planet entirely covered in buildings was a lot more reckless than it seems, and it seemed far too easy. I understand, the force was with them, but still, it seemed to be a car crash for the sake of having a car crash.

The love story was left to the imagination, occurring largely in tense conversation. It was supposed to be the pinnacle of the conversion of Skywalker to Vader. He had visions, sometimes they came true, and this one was discomforting. Rather than take advantage of the tremendous technology around them, and the rather fortunate influence that the former queen and current senator have, superstition takes over.

The anticipated Jedi War was very disappointing, too. Let's rename it the Great Jedi Ambush. In Episode II we learn that the Jedi are behind the massive army of clones, and the first bit of Episode III they are used, quite correctly, to try to put down the violent separatist movement. At the word of the Emperor, still understandable and believable as they're cloned with his deviousness embedded, these masses turn on the unsuspecting Jedi leading their individual crusades. We're privy to a half-dozen assassinations where we see the clone warriors turn into the feared stormtroopers. Sure, their uniforms are a little different (although, did anyone else notice they didn't change as much in the last three episodes as they do in the first three?), but they're the same troops.

The overthrow of the standing government was very rapid. Almost too rapid. After the apparent attack on the Republic by the Jedi, and without further investigation, the Chancellor proclaims martial law to rid the Republic of opposition, and brings about the Empire with rousing applause. This is highlighted by the queen (Portman) pointing out that liberty dies that way...

The conclusion was a little hasty, I thought. The movie, whatever one felt to the end of it, ended suddenly with a lot of conversational conclusion, and a video montage to ensure everything was in place for the now previous Episode IV. Vader and Kinobi have their epic battle, in which Vader looses his limbs and is terribly burned; he's then rebuilt in the menacing uniform we always knew him as. The queen births the children, conveniently dying on the table (from a broken heart), orphaning them; they are summarily divided, one "disappearing" to Organa with the senator, one "properly" being returned to the only known relative on Tatooine. Yoda announces his plans to go into exile, and then says something about transcending death, and that later, off camera, he'll teach Kinobi how to do it. We see Vader and the Emperor (with a wickedly close to Peter Cushing looking fellow walking off before we can involve him) overseeing the beginning construction of the Death Star. Finally, as part of the closing montage, the 'droids were given to the starliner captain that opened the series.

Much of this was complete, but ill-timed, and very fast. The movie ended with a good 18-20 year span before the next. Not to sound like a total Star Wars nit, but the seeds of the rebellion were left to our imaginations as the discomforts of those who enjoyed the Republic, but that was left out of the montage; I almost expected someone to start planning the rebellion as the good-guys parted ways.

If I were making the film, I think I would have spread the turning of Darth Vader to the end of the second episode, or very early in the third, and made the core of the third episode the destruction of the Republic and building of the Empire. Instead, the third episode was about determining that the senator was the last Sith lord, as though we hadn't already been given enough clues, like using the same guy who played the emperor in the original trilogy.