hopelessly devoted to deconstructing popular culture and conventional wisdom, one blog at a time

Published Sunday, May 22, 2005 by seanlmccarthy | E-mail this post

REVIEWING STAR WARS: Well, I finally saw the "final" installment of the George Lucas space opera sixology overnight (a 12:20 a.m. screening on the Boston Common digital screen with the fellow geeks, including a clearly anti-social guy who sat next to me and mumbled to himself throughout the film). But I won't let that taint my review of Revenge of the Sith.

Some random thoughts...

Loews turned down the lights at 12:13 a.m., clearly misleading us into thinking the movie would start on time. Instead, we got 25 minutes of coming attractions. No ads, just lots and lots of previews. Dizzying and fatiguing. Spielberg's tease for War of the Worlds seemed especially short compared to the ads before and after it, although that also made it seem tasteful and more appealing. Also, no Willy Wonka trailer? Foreboding, to say the least. And the Star Wars geeks only heckled one trailer -- Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Poor Brad and Angelina. Their honeymoon is almost over, and it hasn't nearly begun.

As for the film, well, it's better than Episode I (The Phantom Menace) and Episode II (Attack of the Clones) put together. But what does that really tell you? Methinks Lucas never really had a full grasp of the backstory to his original trilogy, no matter what he has tried to make us believe over the past quarter-century. Episode III comes closest to the "originals" because it is, in time and fact, closest to the original story. Here, at least, Lucas knew where he was going. In I and II, he seemingly had no clue what to write for his characters, and it showed. Glaringly so. For all of the plot holes and nonsense, just head to any fan discussion board. Lucas did manage to keep things moving fast and furious to the conclusion, and when the credits roll, you find yourself wanting to rush home to watch the original Star Wars trilogy -- or hoping the cineplex would just go ahead and screen it for you right there. In other words, it doesn't completely suck. And I'll likely see it again. So there it is. Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging.