April 29th, 2005 -- Written by Rodney
I’m a Kevin Smith fan. Not just his work, but I also really like his approach to things and how he carries himself. I’m also a total Star Wars Maniac! So as soon as i saw that Smith was offering his personal review of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, I was instantly curious.
Smith gave the kind of review I’ve been wanting to hear… and the good folks over at Cinema Confidential put up this little excerpt… straight and to the point:
“Revenge of the Sith” is, quite simply, fucking awesome. This is the “Star Wars” prequel the haters have been bitching for since “Menace” came out, and if they don’t cop to that when they finally see it, they’re lying. As dark as “Empire” was, this movie goes a thousand times darker
Damn this flick is going to be Awesome!!!
Posted in 
I’ll post a comment later. Right now I have to go change my pants.
As soon as Roger Ebert says that he loves ROTS, then the stage will be set for joy. Everybody knows for a film to be successful the buzz AFTER the movie is released has to be good. That is why “Titanic” did so well - word of mouth.
“This is the “Star Wars” prequel the haters have been bitching for since “Menace” came out”
Kevin Smith is a blind Star Wars fan, like so many.
He’s saying that only “haters” hated the first two prequels?! Kevin, STOP!!
Even die-hards were disappointed - and ANNOYED - with Jar Jar and thought he had no place in the movies!
Even die-hards thought the story regarding trade in the senate was weak and boring!
Even die-hards thought the kid portraying a young annakin was silly, stupid and too dumb!
Even die-hards thought the best parts of Menace and Clone was the fighting - Yoda especially in Clones!!
So stop it, o blind ye of too-much-faith.
If this movie is as good a Empire - which, sorry, I seriously DOUBT - then I’ll “cop” (?) to it as you request. Kevin, I loved Clerks, I loved Mallrats, I started to hate you when you came out with Chasing Amy, but then you regained my trust with Dogma, and lost it again with Jay and Silent Bob …
See - even die-hard Kevin Smith fans will admit that 2/3 aint bad.
hey dru,
its too bad u feel that way about luke. But then as psychologist say- it is people who call others names(like “faggot”) is what they themselves are actually in reality. Empire WAS/IS/WILL ALWAYS BE the best SW film. It was the first film i saw on my own in the theatre. In the first week when it came out in 1977 i saw it 49 times. i saw ESB over 150 times in the theatre. This was before vcr’s or dvd’s or anything you young buckos have today. First of all i must make a few corrections to your post. If you dont even know the name of the film ” made in the seventies” then why are you here in the first place!?!?! it is called STAR WARS-numbnuts- and it is because of that film(unfortunately not that film alone- that honor goes to 2001:a space odyssey) that made the sci-fi genre what it is today. Secondly- her name was Princess Leia- SHOW HER SOME RESPECT DUDE! After all she can kick your sorry punk ass into oblivion any day of the week.Thirdly- Kevin Smith isnt from the suburbs- he is purely a city boy- and he has a job- he makes movies- its too bad u have to sit in an internet cafe’ with your bad english and lack of proper grammar and rant on here as if you actually purport to know something about the Star Wars series of movies. Since you claim to think that Empire was second worst -as you put it. tell me this…..who was the original choice to play obi-wan kenobi? and…….why didnt your parents use a condom?
I am laughing uncontrollably here you guys! LOL
In the last 2 SW prequels, I have hang onto AICN’s Harry Knowles’ review, now after having discovered The Movie Blog, apart from Knowles, I shall be looking forward to John and Richard’s take on the film. Then there’s the rest of all of you. :-)
Arr!!! This movie was worth the schillings ARR!
I was so disappointed after viewing Phantom Menace that I never actually made an effort to and see Attack of the Clones in the theater. When I finally saw it on HBO, I was glad that I had never spent the ten dollars. I thought that Revenge of the Sith would be just as weak. However, upon reading a positive Associated Press advance review (AP is reliable), my hope was rekindled and I quickly made use of the side-door of the local cinema via “special” connections. Revenge of the Sith was surprisingly great. I has happy to find that the moral heart and soul had returned to the series (to me, this is what made the original trilogy timeless). Only time will determine if this installment surpasses Empire Strikes Back, which still reigns supreme (and I think it always marginally will). Though some dialogues were disappointing, the pros far out-weigh the cons (as in the first trilogy). dishearted hardcore fans should seriously give this movie a shot while trying to forget the sadly-pointless previous two episodes. Most of the negative reviews that I’ve read were either written by people who obviously decided upon hating the movie in advance or forty-year-old “super fans” that live in an idealized and over-glorified past. The critic from the Rolling Stone web site had some valid points, but he exaggerated the flaws of the movie because, I think, he anticipated other critics would rip it apart (as with the last two episodes). Rolling Stone writers are talentless and trend-driven spewers of cheap “literary pornography”. Also, “Kevin Smith Fan”’s (above) father should have pushed his mother down a long staircase when she was eight-months pregnant with him. I’m sorry if this was long-winded, but I felt the need to express my feelings. That said and done, as Peter Griffen once said, “I’m gonna go microwave a bagel and have sex with it.”
I DISAGREE with ALL the reviews praising this movie! The pacing was horrible, the dialog stiff, and many parts of the story did not make sense! The action was good, but not enough to make up for the bad story! Here are my main points of contention:
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!
- The beginning rescue of the Senator started the movie at break-neck speed, but then it slows to a lull!
- The movie focused on too many events/people and it made the movie awkward in the way scenes jumped from one place/person to another!
- Anakin’s trip to the dark side was not given the proper setup to fully understand his reasoning. One moment he is conflicted, and the next he just surrendors completely! After doing this he just kills ALL the Jedi in the Temple including the children! Where did this cold heart come from?
- Also, the empire initially states that he CAN give Anakin the power to Save Padme, but after Anakin turns he tells him that they must “discover ” this power! And Padme is obviously close to giving birth so how much time was Anakin going to have to learn this new power?
- The ending was very anti-climatic, and cheesy with the showing of the birth of Luke and Leia.
- If the Death Star was started when Darth Vador was born, and completed when Luke was about 20; how did the senond Death Star get finished so fast? (this is minor)
This move was plain cheesy. Bad acting and the dialog sucked. Very thin on Anakin’s turn to the dark side.
This move was plain cheesy. Bad acting and the dialog sucked. Very thin on Anakin’s turn to the dark side.
This move was plain cheesy. Bad acting and dialog. Very thin on Anakin’s turn to the dark side.
This move was plain cheesy. Bad acting and dialog. Very thin on Anakin’s turn to the dark side.
although it is undoubtably the crown jewel of the prequel trilogy , ROTS still has its many flows, one which bothered me the most , ( me being a dedicated comic and novel fan) was that when anakin apologizes to obiwan for his blunders, he then almost immediately after tells padme that he doesnt think obiwan trusts him. There is also the fact of how general grievous came to be , i mean cmon, you cant just randomly stick a new character in the mix and declare him to be the next greatest threat of the seperatist movement, the guy had no background! no origin ! besides his dinky lil role in the “animated” version of attack of the clones, which doesnt count since nobody over 12 watched that shit… still the movie does have its moments, palpatine easily demonstrates his ability to push all of the right buttons and pull all the right strings in his manipulation of anakin , ( its almost too obvious of how he tells anakin just the right words he needs to hear when he needs to hear them) then there was the scene of mace windu and palpatine squaring off, which sounded pretty much like a black thug beating upon an old crippled man, ( palpatine doesnt shut the fuck up when hes firing off the sith lightening, and he increasingly sounds like a croaking toad on its death bed in his pleads for survival, his stuttering is a whole other story ), and anakins heartless slaughter of the jedi kids was just uncalled for and not believable, i mean, the guys gonna be a dad himself! the part where the clones systematically hunt down the jedi however is very appropriate and helps show how grusome the jedi purge was. finally I felt that vaders cry of NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO was simply retarted and undeeded, he could have easily just thrown a few droids around in his frustration, but no, he had to bitch about it. The funeral for padme was dark and neccessary, the cameo of a younger grand moff tarkin was an interesting treat, and the scene of the lars family with luke was justice to the movie. overall the movie accomplished its main goals, despite some cheesy scenes and scenery as well as its over reliance of digital animation, ( yoda once again looked like a fucking cartoon ) but still, the movie does its job and overall is not a dissapointment .
Let me just preface this by saying that I did not go into this movie “expecting it to be bad” or any other such nonsense. I love the Star Wars original trilogy, and I find the story to be one of the most compelling I have ever followed, but put plainly, Revenge of the Sith was the biggest let-down I have ever had. It was supposed to be the most badass Star Wars film! It was supposed to be gut-wrentching!
It was just terrible, I can’t express it any better than that.
Let me just touch briefly on why:
Once again the dialogue was dreadful, absolutely dreadful. I do not blame the actors. The only guy worth watching on this film is Obi-Wan and for a few moments, Palpatine. All the rest of it is cheesy or wooden or both. Pathetic. And yes, I know I could write better dialogue. It would not require much skill to do so. I mean, for crying out loud! Who the fuck puts the following exchange in a movie and tries to pass it off as romantic chemistry? I think it went something like this (Im trying to forget!!)
Anakin: “You’re so beautiful”
Padme(brushing her hair): “Only because I’m in love”
Everytime Anakin opens his mouth I had to choke down a mouthfull of puke. Even some potentially cool lines he totally louses up.
The opening space battle was just neat to look at, and totally unengaging.
General Grievious was rediculous. I at least thought he looked cool until I saw him move (and why in the blue fuck does he cough??). As for the scene where he weilds the 4 lightsabers and proclaims “Dooku trained me in the Jedi Art” or something like that……then just twirls them like an idiot at Obi-Wan…..I still can’t believe how aweful this movie was even as I write this!
Lucas got money, his head swelled, he got arrogant. It became his litte money making machine, and he would not allow anyone who knew how to write a script or direct human beings get involved with these prequels. Damn his oily hide for wasting my hopes!
This was a horrible, boring movie…basically an advertisement for Lucas’ ILM. The story made absolutely no sense (ie, Obi Wan can’t tell Padme is pregnant even though he’s a jedi, and always going there to find Anakin?…and, why exactly does Yoda go into exile?…him and Obi Wan should have been enough to overcome things)…the acting was incredibly bad…and, the action wasn’t all that good (Samuel Jackson is just too awkward looking when he moves).
The scenery was good…and that’s basically all this trilogy is good for.
This movie is just a commercial for future filmmakers to tell a story that holds water.
everyone should get of their high horses about jar jar binks. If you hadn’t realised he plays one of the most important parts in the whole saga. For it is him who grants power to the senate to create the clone army. It was also him who gave sanctuary to Qui Gonn and Obi Wan when they were chased by a thousand terrible things. They surely would have been fucked right over if not for Jar Jar.
To Chris,
General grevious is a cyborg you poorly uneducated fool. That means that he has living organs wrapped in steel. The reason he coughs which you would know if you were actually half the fan you act is because he had just been in a fight with Mace Windu previous to the start of the movie. Refer to the cartoons. Mace Windu nearly beats the absoulte puss out of grevious.
YOU ALL SUCK ARSE. Have you nothing better to do than whinge about this movie. I believe that the movie went along with all the story lines that preceeded it. The story was loose and a bit sketchy ill admit, but was it any better or worse than any of the others. I believe on par. Can you truly blame the acting either. Since the beginning of the saga almost all the actors were relatively unknowns with little to no prior acting experience. Could any of these actors be worse than Mark Hamill. Anyways to end my little bitch about all of you ungrateful cunts,FUCK OFF and watch battlestar galactica or lost in space. You have no right to bag out on something that you have obviously taken the time to research or talk about on the net. If you really hated it or disliked it wouldn’t you have left it at that. No because you are brainless twerps who secretly thought the movie was a bit of alright with a few mistakes that you keep picking at. I feel very sorry for your narrow mindedness also. Any true SW fan knows that George Lucas expects a fair bit of prior knowledge to his story before seeing it. By the way none of your mums can cook. I know this because I like all of you am an expert on all subjects.
To tremags. I wouldnt say that you suck arse like most others so i offer you insight. You should actually know this being the comic fan you are. General grevious was onboard his battleship leading his troops into battle. They were overwhelmed and the ship was destroyed. All that remained of grevious was a charred corpse which was turned into a cyborg by the Utapau. After he was revived he cursed the emperor for keeping him alive as he wanted to die with his crew in battle. So as you see for as long as palpatine controlled the republican army general grevious has been around. And as for nobody over 12 watching the cartoons id say that nobody over 11 had read the comics. By the way I’m almost 30 and I thoroughly enjoyed the cartoon as i understood that ROTS wouldnt make to much sense without watching them.
The prequels were awesome because it showed us who Anakin was and how he came to be Darth Vader. If you don’t agree with wat Lucas did, fuck u.