Order 66

Phew! I just made it back safe & dry in between two summer night showers, and now I can enjoy listening to the rain lashing down outside as well as my customary late night / early morning pot of Earl Grey simmering in the kettle.

But probably, that's not what you wanted to know. In fact, I went to see The Revenge of the Sith with W, T, R & M tonight, and it was a fun evening! However, the general turnout for a Friday evening show on the third day after the première was surprisingly low. It looks like the story has indeed run its course.

Generally speaking, I think Episode III is a worthy conclusion of the double trilogy, offering plenty of interesting background & explanations. Also, the historico-political plot with the fatherly character of the Chancellor provoking a constitutional crisis in the Republic in order to assume control and at the same time eliminate the Jedi order - much like the historic order of the Knights Templar - alone makes it worth seeing. Some of the political messages were none-too-subtly coined for the benefit of the present US administration. Likening the neo-cons to the Sith is maybe less fair than plausible ...

And there is of course the big moment that everything has been building up to: Darth Vader's first machine supported breath, coïnciding with the same of his progeny Luke & Leïa.

But unfortunately, all is not well: Some of the (numerous) dialogue scenes, especially the more intimate ones, were actually quite lengthy. That has to be attributed to the sub-par acting on the part of the main characters Anakin and the Chancellor turned Lord Sidious. While Anakin just lacks personal depth, Sidious gives the impression of a raving, hysterically cackling lunatic, which just does not add up, given how tactically wise and personable he was as Chancellor. That's a pity as well as quite an incomprehensible blunder of the direction.

So, it's definitely worth seeing, if only via a downloaded version - amazing, that! May the force be with the studios and the MPAA. They can certainly use all the help they can get, although most of the time, they bear more semblance to the Sith rather than to the Jedi.

P.S. Check out #22 of Theory of Everything!