The Pop Pirate

Finally: Payoff

Okay, call me a dork... I went to the midnight premiere of Episode III last night. I went to the Regency 20: you will never find a more wretched hive of nerds and geekiness.

But anyway, the movie- awesome. It does live up to the hype. My fears were proven baseless, and Lucas pulls off a masterstroke of film and popular culture. As it turns out, even though Episodes I & II were less than, er, stellar, they were necessary, if only to set up this one. I know it seems like madness to do $235,000 worth of movies just to set up another one, but Lucas was never known for his sanity. Regardless, this film would not be able to exist if it were not for the first two. There is too much information that you need to get to here to include in this film.

And what a film: fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles... all here. It's action packed, tense, beautiful and, yes, even a little sad. Anakin's fall, while expected, is for different reasons than you might expect. I didn't think that you would be able to follow him in his fall, because you wouldn't be able to relate to his choices- but you can. You can understand every choice, even if you don't always agree with them.

And sure, the special effects are great, but what really brings it home is the score. John Williams really makes this film the bridge between Episodes II & IV, even more so than the visuals. He ties many of the themes from Episodes IV, V & VI into the score, emotionally connecting the film to the beloved ones of 20 years ago.

Basically, if you like films, mythology, literature, sci-fi or even action, go see this movie. If you don't, go back to your cave.

posted by Jeff @ 8:16 PM