2005-06-23 - 3:01 p.m.
Okay, like a good geek, I’ve got to weigh in on “Revenge of the Sith”.
This movie drove home one single elemental truth: George Lucas cannot write dialogue.
The man has incredible ideas. He can conceive epic story arcs, create entire worlds and races and technologies. But when it comes to creating a believable conversation between two people, he’s completely inept.
That is the final, distilled, elemental problem with the first three episodes. Bad dialogue, lousy character development, just bad writing. I understand that ol’ George is a control freak, but he could have gotten anyone, and I mean ANYONE to write good scripts for these movies. There are any number of killer sci-fi authors who would cream themselves over the chance to write a Star Wars movie script.
Neal Stephenson wrote a defense of “Revenge of the Sith” in the New York Times recently. Essentially, his argument breaks down to “This is a lot better if you read all the novels/comic books/cartoon miniseries/promo ad copy/cereal boxes that lead up to these final events.” Sorry, but for an epic like this you shouldn’t have to invest huge amounts of time and money in getting all the backstory. For a small film like “The Blair Witch Project”, it worked. The website, documentary, books, and so forth added depth and dimension to the film (and helped build the hype). They were not, however, essential to the comprehension and enjoyment of the film. The narrative should be able to stand alone.
To look at one major flaw in this whole thing, let’s look at Anakin. Yoda keeps yammering about how angry he is in Episode I, but we never see it. One of the deleted scenes shows Anakin trashing one of his friends for accusing him of cheating in the podrace; why was this left out?
Anakin refers to Obi-Wan as “like a father” in Episode II, yet we never see Obi-Wan teaching Anakin anything. He goes from being a youngling in Episode I to being this fully-fledged asskicker in Episode II. It would have helped immensely to show Obi-Wan actually teaching him something, or giving some fatherly advice. (Lucas did this in the first series, and it was effective.)
In his relationship with Padme, they should have shown more of the conflict between duty and personal desire. An important point: Padme was groomed for a life of authority. She knew from her youngest days that she would have to sacrifice much of herself to serve her people. At any time she could leave that life without necessarily losing the regard and affection of her friends and family. Anakin was brought into the Jedi, an order of celibate warrior-monks, before he was fully aware of what he would have to sacrifice. If he leaves the Jedi, he loses everything. His name is purged from Jedi records, and as far as they’re concerned, he never existed. Both of them want to have ordinary lives. Padme’s sense of self goes beyond being a politician; she can be an ordinary woman. Anakin’s identity is tied up with the Jedi; if he loses them he is nothing. Ultimately, it is the fear of loss that drives Anakin, and more could have been made of this.
His discontentment with being a Jedi should have been emphasized as well. Telekinesis and precognizance and mad lightsaber skillz are small comfort when you’re mourning the loss of your mother and fearing the loss of your wife and children. Being told to ignore your grief and fear is cause for a grudge. This could have made for an excellent plot twist: Anakin’s marriage with Padme is discovered, and he is drummed out of the Order. In a dramatic scene with the Council, he accuses them of being dried-up eunuchs afraid of feeling anything at all. He is forcibly stripped of his lightsaber and robes, and even Obi-Wan rejects him. In despair, he goes to his only remaining friend, Senator Palpatine, who accepts him as apprentice… and gives him a new lightsaber. A red one.
There were other problems too (Tarzan-yell battle cries, anybody?), but it seems to me that Lucas could have tightened his focus a bit. There was too much energy put into the fancy effects and not enough into the story. A common complaint these days, sadly.
(Though we did see a preview for Joss Whedon’s Firefly spinoff, and it kicks major Gungan booty. I can’t wait…)
