[Casual Fan]

I had only seen the second half of the Revenge of the Sith, got to see a bit more tonight, starting with Anakin's conversation with Padme right before the Opera Scene and ending with Palpatine's duel with Mace. At that point I had to run out and make a phone call. By the time I got back it was into the final scene of the movie.

So this means I'm still missing the opening battle, Anakin's initial "rejection" by the Jedi Council, Palpatine's face melting, Anakin killing the younglings (except on hologram), and Order # 66. Except for Order # 66, none of the descriptions I've seen of this stuff indicate that I'm missing anything. Still the movie is entertaining enough to me to want to see more, which is a big improvement over the other prequels.

The opera scene itself is wonderful. First, we see people in Coruscent going about their business, unconcerned with the lives of the main characters in the movie, and once again get a sense that space is a big place. Second, the conversation between Palpatine and Anakin is interesting, makes sense, provides a good deal of insight in the motives of Palpatine and a little bit into the motives of Anakin. Excellent acting job by McDiarmed and decent acting by Christiansen as well.

Unfortunately, the movie next goes to the Wookie's impersonation of Braveheart . The next few scenes that follow are increasingly ridiculous, with overuse of CGI and implausible acting, and when Palpatine started swinging the lightsaber like a baseball bat I had enough.

A real shame, I got a glimpse into what could have been.

[jxw]

The opera scene itself is wonderful.  First, we see people in Coruscent going about their business, unconcerned with the lives of the main characters in the movie, and once again get a sense that space is a big place.  Second, the conversation between Palpatine and Anakin is interesting, makes sense, provides a good deal of insight in the motives of Palpatine and a little bit into the motives of Anakin.  Excellent acting job by McDiarmed and decent acting by Christiansen as well.

Agreed. This scene should actually have been in AOTC to set up Palpatine's influence on Anakin much earlier and to show the relationship between them. It gives some real depth to what is going on, something that doesn't happen elsewhere in the prequels. The way McDiarmid manages to convey that he was the Sith apprentice who killed the master was great.

Unfortunately, the movie next goes to the Wookie's impersonation of Braveheart .  The next few scenes that follow are increasingly ridiculous, with overuse of CGI and implausible acting, and when Palpatine started swinging the lightsaber like a baseball bat I had enough.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Wookiee scenes are probably the most inconsequential in the whole PT, and that's saying something. There's no reason at all for them and putting Chewbacca in doubles the insult.

[maestro_of_mirth]

It's too bad the opera scene made mention of Darth Plagus...

Anyone else notice that the huge lava lamp in the opera house was ripping off the Space Bar in Space Quest 5 - The Next Mutation?

[floppydisk]

Am I the only one who hates this scene? I thought Palpy was very unconvincing. Basically the dialouge went like this.

P: I know X, Y, and Z.
A: Do you really?
P: *nods unconvincingly* Oooohh, yes...

And someone tell me why a bunch of fish = opera.

[Mnesymone]

Well star wars is space opera so theoretically everything in it could be said to be opera (It is possible then that it approaches the length of the best damn opera ever, Wagner's Ring of the Niebelung cycle) but I'm guessing they were opera fish.

I guess opera was the term everyone gave it because though the show looked more like the circus, the mood and setting and the upper-classness of the crowd gave it an opera feel.

[njamilla]

Yeah. The opera sucked!

A couple of my friends had to ask me what was going on. So, in my geekdom, I'm explaining stuff about Mon Calimari.

McDirmid's (sp?) got some pretty good lines here. Though, overall, Anakin sounds like an idiot and a dolt in the way he "figures" out the he's been speaking to the Sith lord all of these years.

In the original screenplays, GL basically had a Sith order which competed with the Jedi order for influence in the universe. He didn't have all these "there can be only two"stuff. It's a shame Boba Fett became such an icon because he fumbled that all through the OT, and then took it and fumbled it through the PT.

[Thracozaag]

The yawning, wide, gaping chasm in acting ability between the two principal players is made painfully obvious in this scene.

koji

[J m HofMarN]

For my part I rather liked the opera scene, as well as ROTS as a whole. It was good to see Mcdirmid allowed to act rather than just act shadey.