[rangwe]

This is speculative, so it is incomplete in specific addressment of issues, and it is limited to a personal bias on what will probably not be very good. There's no accounting for surprise, both in what actually works and what might prove disasterous. There is no underestimating the power of Lucas to make poor choices at this point.

*SPOILERS alert*

Revenge of the Sith

Dooku and Anakin Squash Match
After schooling two of the best jedi in the galaxy and beating Yoda to a standstill before outsmarting him, Count Dooku has the honor of jobbing to Anakin to make the point that Anakin is somehow "more powerful". This is grandstanding of the lowest sort, building up an invincible villain for the sake of giving a hero credibility. The only purpose this scene really serves is to wipe out the events of the previous movie so that we can "get on with the Anakin to Vader conversion." The separatists can now be relegated to the background while the escaping General Grievous can provide the chase for Obi Wan to follow pointlessly for half the movie. It is a testament to Christopher Lee that even with such a humiliating bit part he comes across as more captivating a villain and empathic a character than any other bad guy in the movie. That he is brushed aside after such promise for the sake of an inferior plot development only makes me like him the more, and the heroes less.

The Mortal Kenobi Finishing Move
The sucker punch of Obi Wan shooting General Grievous with a blaster has to be one of the poorest scenes in the movie. Its indicative of much of the focus on jedi violence I find objectionable in the prequels. Can't this guy win a single fair fight to prove his skill? That he resorts to the dirty trick of relying on a weapon as "clumsy and random" as a blaster diminishes his character. That General Grievous can't deflect the blaster shot is even more laughable. All you had to do then, to defeat him, was to lower yourself to his level? That says it all about the mental development of the jedi philosophy, and its influence on the "more civilized age" of the Old Republic.

Anakin Turns Heel
Here it is, the pivotal moment where Anakin chooses to consciously support the Emperor and walk down the road to the dark side. That Anakin is convinced by Palpatine to join him against Mace Windu, that he actually believes that malarky about the corruption of the jedi and an assassination plot is high slapstick comedy. You can't take it seriously at all. How could you, watching the Emperor bust a move against several jedi and beat Mace Windu back with the force of his mighty breakdance moves! Lets have Palpatine bust into a moonwalk with the force ghosts of Dooku and Maul scratchin the beat in the background. That Anakin doesn't ask for any hard evidence or investigate to see if its true afterwards even to cover his own ass politically shows him for a rube. The Emperor doesn't come off looking too smart either. There's no need for such terms as "Machiavellian" if every villain relied on dumbkopfs to help them at a crucial confrontation, their plots "revealed" when somebody finally makes a Perception check.

Warm It Up, Darth
After an extended video game lightsaber duel Anakin ends up in magma burning to the crisp *presumably for several minutes* before being rescued by clonetroopers for his fateful meeting with the Dark Helmet fashion designers. The campiness of this scene belongs in the 5.99 bin along with classics such as "Street Fighter" and "Freejack". Most actors after finding themselves in the crosshairs of such blunders commit career suicide shortly afterwards. We then get our reward for seeing all three movies: 5 minutes of Darth Vader hamming for the audience to the cheers of the geekboys and laughter of Triumph fans mentally projecting a bird-flicking Spock in the name of all that which does not suck. How does the prequel trilogy end? The defeated good guys waltz off the stage to their appointed destinies as plot-patches while darth heads off presumably to commit atrocities, much as the "Fightin' Jesus" did at the end of Mel Gibbon's The Passion. Yup, its time for kicking butt and taking names, yessir mister Vader-Jezuz sir. Balance has been restored to the Force. Where once there was only delight, imagination and inspiration - now there is also disappointment, emptiness, and disillusionment.

- rangwe

[HK 47]

The Mortal Kenobi Finishing Move

I honestly didn't pay this detail much interest since I found Anakins turn (which you include in your third point) to be far more worthy of contempt. But you really make a good point here. Grievous is a killing machine, Obi-Wan should win by playing a completely different game, more worthy of a Jedi Master. But then again, Yoda didn't in AotC. Obi-Wan will also chop an arm and both legs off Anakin. However, I feel the psychotic little punk deserves just that.

If you think Anakins turn is unmotivated how about this one: He force chokes Padmé and she dies from the wounds shortly after. So much for the "love" crap...

I was actually one of the few? people who thought Vaders "pardon" at the end of Jedi was alright. "You were right about me, you were right..." No! You were dead wrong Luke, the bastard killed your mom! Now when I see Christensens smug grin I just wanna

This post has been edited by HK 47: 11 April 2005 - 12:42 PM

[rangwe]

Indeed, HK. So much for "love". But in Love, Imperial Style, "You hit it once, then break away clean..."

I like the part about Luke being wrong, too. Now I won't be able to see that scene again without going off the same way. All part of the high slapstick that is Star Wars: Make 'Em Laugh!

- rangwe

[Sagacity]

Dooku and Anakin Squash Match
After schooling two of the best jedi in the galaxy and beating Yoda to a standstill before outsmarting him, Count Dooku has the honor of jobbing to Anakin to make the point that Anakin is somehow "more powerful".  This is grandstanding of the lowest sort, building up an invincible villain for the sake of giving a hero credibility. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I never thought about it that way!

[ernesttomlinson]

So Dooku goes down early and easy in REVENGE OF THE SITH? What a crock. What is it with Lucas's inability to create consistant villains? Like Darth Maul in Episode I, a badass for most of the movie, a moron in his last appearance: "OK, I won't kill Obi-Wan now that he's on the verge of death, I'll just watch as he figures out some way to slaughter me."

FREEJACK had Mick Jagger in it. That, all by itself, puts that movie a mile ahead of any of the Star Wars prequels in my estimation.

[Paladin]

The Mortal Kenobi Finishing Move
The sucker punch of Obi Wan shooting General Grievous with a blaster has to be one of the poorest scenes in the movie. Its indicative of much of the focus on jedi violence I find objectionable in the prequels. Can't this guy win a single fair fight to prove his skill? That he resorts to the dirty trick of relying on a weapon as "clumsy and random" as a blaster diminishes his character. That General Grievous can't deflect the blaster shot is even more laughable. All you had to do then, to defeat him, was to lower yourself to his level? That says it all about the mental development of the jedi philosophy, and its influence on the "more civilized age" of the Old Republic.

That's not all. Remember the duel from TPM? Obi-Wan was dangling down on the brink of falling into a bottomless pit as Darth Maul arrogently swipes his lightsaber and creates sparks to taunt Obi. What happens then? Possibly the stupidest possible move to end what could have been a great duel... he uses the force to leap out, gets Qui-Gon's lightsaber and cut Darth Maul in half... who does nothing but stand there in disbelief and confusion as to what the hell is going on.

Back in 1999, I thought this was 'cool', but I was only 16 years old at that time. Now that I've gained more experiance and skill at this sort of thing, I realized just what was wrong with the whole scene... a complete piece of crap, that's what it is. For one thing, a supposedly 'well trained' individual like Darth Maul would never allow himself to get caught by surprise. Also, by standing on the edge of the pit like an idiot and wasting valueble time by trying to get the sparks to make Obi-Wan fall, why doesn't he actually DO something better? Surely he can think of SOMETHING!

Furthermore, he seemed to be so overconfident that he won that he absolutely refused to believe that Obi-Wan would even attempt to find a way out of his predicament. That doesn't even end the fact that any weapon would have done to defeat Darth Maul in this situation.

Imagine this... Obi-Wan has a concealed knife on his person, and then leaps up from the pit, draws the knife, and thrusts it into Darth Maul's neck as soon as he gets into position... the exact same way he would have cut him in half.

I could go on, but you get the idea. In fact, I would daresay you already got the idea BEFORE I wrote this rant.

Anakin Turns Heel
Here it is, the pivotal moment where Anakin chooses to consciously support the Emperor and walk down the road to the dark side. That Anakin is convinced by Palpatine to join him against Mace Windu, that he actually believes that malarky about the corruption of the jedi and an assassination plot is high slapstick comedy. You can't take it seriously at all. How could you, watching the Emperor bust a move against several jedi and beat Mace Windu back with the force of his mighty breakdance moves! Lets have Palpatine bust into a moonwalk with the force ghosts of Dooku and Maul scratchin the beat in the background. That Anakin doesn't ask for any hard evidence or investigate to see if its true afterwards even to cover his own ass politically shows him for a rube. The Emperor doesn't come off looking too smart either. There's no need for such terms as "Machiavellian" if every villain relied on dumbkopfs to help them at a crucial confrontation, their plots "revealed" when somebody finally makes a Perception check.

Rangwe, did you watch the spoof trailer "a lost hope"? In that trailer, they make fun of Anakin by showing him to be a complete moron who has no thinking capability and Palpatine manages to turn him against Obi-Wan by showing a childish sketch that was presumably drawn by Obi. It's all one big joke, but you can't deny that those jokes DO reflect Anakin's canon movie stupidity quite well, can you?

I never watched the actual trailer in its entirity, but if its as bad as people say it is (why does Palpatine have to fight, anyway? Can't they be a little more subtle and clever with his character?) then I think I might want to delay my watching it as much as possible.

[Lord Aquaman]

It's true. It's all so true...