Opportunity, resources, and mood finally converged this afternoon. After nearly a month of encouragement from practically everyone I know, I finally made my way to the theater and saw Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Here is the obligatory blog entry.
Regular readers of this forum and of my personal blog have seen me say some unkind things about The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, mostly concerning the writing and the dialogue. The current movie is not entirely free of such issues; this is generally known. My biggest problem with the first two episodes, however, had to do with the storytelling.
I went into these first two movies hoping to see a story about a good man and a great warrior who falls from grace. I didn't get that. In E1, Anakin was just this kid with big dreams, a few unusual talents, and a hangup for a girl that was clearly out of his league, but not much else. In E2, he had become neither a good man nor a great warrior, but a defiant, spoiled teenager who thought he was smarter than everyone else. Based on these experiences, it was no surprise to me that he became Darth Vader. There was no fall, per se, because he had never attained a lofty place from which to fall.
Revenge of the Sith changed that for me. It gave me a reason to care about Anakin. It gave me a reason to sympathize with him and to feel sorry for what he ultimately became. It made his fall a tragedy rather than an inevitability.
It short, it did for me what I had hoped the first two episodes would do.
To me, this movie is about choices. Anakin finds himself in some very difficult situations, most of which are ultimately of his own making. He has several key decisions to make—and in almost every case, he makes the worst possible choice. Of course, he has help. Emperor Palpatine is at his elbow in almost every moment of decision, giving encouragement that leads him carefully down the road to the Dark Side.
The biggest problem Anakin faces is that he keeps falling victim to Wizard's First Rule: People will believe any lie if they want it to be true, or if they're afraid that it might be true. Palpatine knows just which lies to tell, and his timing is impeccable. That's not surprising; he's been subtly moving Anakin in this direction for years. And this brings up another concept, that of the incremental lie. It's hard to get most people to swallow a big lie all at once, but if you start with smaller lies and work your way up, it becomes almost frighteningly easy.
Each of Palpatine's lies leads Anakin into a choice that binds him more closely to his erstwhile master. Still, I could see—and wanted to see—a way out for him. And then came the confrontation between Palpatine and Mace Windu. The choice was unambiguous, as simply drawn as possible. Sith or Jedi. From the moment that Anakin chose to side with Darth Sidious, knowing full well what he was, his destiny was sealed. There was no going back.
Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski is fond of saying, "The monster never sees a monster in the mirror." In his confused state, Anakin sincerely felt that he was doing what was right, what was best—for the Republic, for Padmé, and for the Chancellor, but ultimately for himself. Only when he's lost everything does he realize the state he's placed himself in. He sees what his choices have led him to, and there's nothing he can do about it. And I felt sorry for him.
This was what I was hoping for from this movie. Let it be known that henceforth, I will complain no more about the shortcomings of the Star Wars franchise. I am content.
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