Post your ROTS reviews and thoughts!

[Holographic Elvis]

OK, time to chime in.  Saw it last nite at midnite and again today at Mann's Westwood (digital projection and amazing sound.)  I loved the movie, but there were flaws and things I would have liked to have seen different. 

1) The droid dialogue was absolutely pointless and did not fit at all. 

2) Too many scenes of Anakin and Padme together.  Could have cut at least 1 (maybe 2), combined a couple and used that space for other stuff pertaining to the story. 

3) I would have liked to have seen the other Jedi Masters who came to arrest Palpatine actually fight because then their deaths would have made Palpatine look far more powerul.  Mace's death was also too long. 

4) Palpatine was too cartoonish at times and it seemed like his voice pitch was changing constantly and even echoing at times. 

5) More Darth Vader at the Jedi Temple.  We know Anakin is powerful and has become evil.  Show it!  Show him taking down multiple Jedi at once.  Show him using his newfound power.

6) The Duel didn't seem as epic as advertised.  It was amazing, but could have been a bit more. 

7) For all the hype Grievous and his 4 arms got, he sure wasn't the saber master he is made out to be in the books and Clone Wars cartoon. 

Show Qui-Gon!!!  Have him appear over Yoda's shoulder.  That would have been great. 

9) Would have liked to have seen Tarfful and Chewy kick some ass while aiding Yoda.

10) Call Palpatine "Darth Sidious" a couple more times.  Got tired of hearing "Sith Lord."

11) Let Samuel L. act more.  Mace either seemed emotionless or brooding.  When Anakin tells him Palpatine is Sidious, be surprised man!! 

12) Spent too much time on the buzz droid scene.  Make that happen quicker and show Anakin and Obi-Wan in action during the space battle for a bit. 

13) R2-D2 as comic relief.  Why?

Well, it's late and I could go on but this is what is standing out in my head right now. 

[Jim]

I forgot to mention that the screening we went to was ruined before the movie started.  A couple brought there baby, around a year old.  Cried and screamed through the first half of the movie. Then they decided to take the baby out and let her roam free through the theater.  Without paying attention to the kid.  Real good parenting skills   Everyone including myself kept asking them to show some respect.  The last half hour I just lost and it and yelled shut your f**kin kid up and called them disrespectful.  At which point they moved to the exit standing the last half hour with the kid still crying.  Anyone with kids out there please dont bring them.

[Herbert_Ackermans]

Anakin would've been the true evil Darth Vader that he is supposed to be, had we seen him relish in his acts, show him enjoying and wallowing in his evil acts, let him use the dark side with full force, let me see how twisted and evil he became.

But not... try and pass poor Anakin of as some tragic hero, show him embracing the Dark Side completely.

I'm not sure I mentioned it earlier, but the pacing really is off on quite a lot of the later parts of the movie. Once Anakin becomes a Sith, things seem rushed.

I don't get it, first we get 2 movies that seem drawn out and just used to fill 2 episodes with non-sensical subplots and side-stories, and in this 3rd one, everything is rushed.

Darth Vader is the scourge of the Jedi, not some crying brat who goes to pieces...

[Darth Broem]

Ok here I go.  I saw it last night.  I really enjoyed the movie.  I was surprised at how smoothly it ties into the next film ANH.  I was not really expecting that. 

Anyway, the opening battle scene was good IMO.  I thought we were going to get a little bit more dogfighting.  Glad we did not though that camera was starting to make me nauseated with all the spinning and dipping   Is there anyone that did not love the ARC pilot getting blasted out into space?! 

The droid voices did not bother me at all.  I thought the bit with R2-D2 and the Super Battle Droids were actually funny.  I laughed at them anyway.  Sorry so many others did not like that stuff.  I loved that scene where Kenobi crashes into the hanger and jumps out of the cockpit with lightsaber ignited!  I also like R2-D2's new dismount out of the Jedi Starfighter. 

I thought the thee-way battle with Dooku was much better than the AOTC duel.  Kenobi just can't solve Dooku can he?  I loved it when Anakin slices off both of Dooku's hands!  Palpatine egging Anakin on to kill Dooku was nice and subtle.  However, right after Anakin chops off the head he immediately says something like "I should not have done that.  Jedi don't do this."  The words are fine but he sounds like he just smacked a dog and is like golly gosh that's to bad I did a thing like that.  No pancakes for me.

For whatever reason Samuel L Jackson  can not deliver his lines well in this flick.  He was a disappointment in some of these scenes.   He was fine with the duel between him and Palpatine in front of the window.  But in the other scenes he is not.  Particulary when Anakin tells him Palpatine is a Sith Lord.  I was kind of disappointed with Samuel overall. 

Loved, loved, loved the opera scene with Palpatine and Anakin.  Mainly Palpatine himself explaining Darth Plaguis (sp?) and the dark side powers, Sith vs. Jedi, etc.  I loved how he told Sly Moore and the others to "leave us!" like get lost you losers.  LOL! 

I was surprised that I actually liked General Grievous.  I was a bit worried about this character.  I thought he was in it just long enough.  Others will disagree.  However, it would have been nice to have seen him take out a Jedi.  I thought his wheelbike was pretty cool actually.  I am kind of mixed about Kenobi's creature he rides on.  That still had a cartoony look and feal but not too bad I guess.  It did not bother me that much.  I was kind of left wondering how Kenobi actually got the creature.  It's like all of sudden he has it.  Maybe I went to the bathroom or something?

I was disappointed the wookie battle was not longer.  Who isn't?  I would have liked a few more scenes or extended scenes of the Jedi getting killed by the clones.  It was fine though.  I just wanted to see Aayla fight to the death instead of getting shot in the back and that was it.  I thought Stass Allie's death scene on the bike was pretty cool even though it was short.  Ki-Adi's death was ok but to short again.  Plo Koon's scene was ok.  I would have liked to have seen some of this stuff though.

The Jedi Temple stuff was pretty good to.  Again I would have liked some more of it though.  I mean the adult Jedi fighting the clones and Anakin.   The Jedi Younglings scene with Anakin was short but disturbing at the same time.  Very effective I thought.  As was Yoda and Kenobi looking at the younglings carcasses later.  Of course Anakin marching them into the Temple was cool.  However, I was hoping for the Vader theme from ESB there. 

Yes, Palpatine kills the other Jedi with Mace Windu a bit too quickly.  I blinked and missed how Kit Fisto was taken out.  Gotta like Palpatine's three twist dismount and scream at them though!  I did like Palpatine getting the force lighting shot back in his face and disfiguring him.  I liked Anakin slicing off Windu's arm.  Sam did have a good reaction to that I thought.  Palpatine getting him with the force lighting and shooting him out halfway across the city was pretty cool IMO. 

However, Palpatine talks way too long to Anakin after killing Mace.  I actually started to crack up looking at Palpatine all demented there.  LOL!  I can't remember what he was saying?  It's not too bad though especially when he names Anakin...Darth Vader. 

I liked Kenobi taking out Grievous by the blaster and saying "so uncivilized".  Nice nod to the "...an elegant weapon for a more civilized age," in ANH.  Grievous wielding the 4 sabers was good.  Again it just reinforces to me that they should have showm him mowing down a few Jedi in this manner earlier in the film. 

I actually liked the scenes between Anakin and Padme this time around.  I did not cringe at least.  There were some goofy smiles and junk like that though.  But it was ok.  The scene where she arrives at Mustafar and he describes his intentions of overthrowing Palpatine and then he and she can rule the galaxy as husband and wife was a nice nod to his intentions with Luke in ESB.  IMO at least.  I thought the choke scene was pretty good to. 

Of course the duel between Kenobi and Anakin was great IMO.  I did not care for the CGI droids that pop up towards the end of the duel.  To me it was unclear that Kenobi had sliced off three of Anakin's limbs there at the end.  I was thinking that would be a bit closer and clearer.  But overall it was good IMO.  I liked Anakin bursting into flames and basically getting melted. 

I liked Yoda taking out the Royal Guards in the manner he did in Palpatine's office.  I thought Yoda and Sidious would battle a bit more with the lightsabers.  It was ok though.  Good stuff in the senate there.  Again I wish that was a longer battle. 

I liked Palpatine finding Anakin and touching Anakin's forehead.  You almost get the sense that Palpy really does like Anakin there.  I thought we were going to see some healing magic from Palpy there but we did not.  Oh well. 

The last scenes of the movie were fun I though.  I was kind of disappointed that Sidious did not struggle during Vader's "nooooo" thing after learning he killed Padme.  Did like the construction of Vader.   Tarkin looked odd though. Death Star was decent IMO. 

I really liked the final moments on Tatooine with Luke and Beru, Owen, and Kenobi.  Puts you right into ANH. 

[Brian]

My wife and I had the day off yesterday, and went and caught a 1 o'clock matinee of ROTS.  We got to the theatre (next to a mall) about 11:15, and there were already people waiting outside.  The doors opened at 11:30 and we got what I consider to be the best seats in the house...so I was happy with that.  It ended up being sold out I believe, and although we had a bit of a wait (bought some magazines to read)...we had some entertainment with some little kids re-enacting lightsaber battles at the front of the theatre.  It was pretty amusing.

Anyways, the movie.  I liked it, liked it a lot.  What many people and critics have said, this is the type of prequel movie I wanted.  Had much more of an OT feel to it than the others, but was still in the prequel era.  I really thought the opening space battle and following sequences were amazing.  I enjoyed the R2 bits as well, and those got quite a laugh in our viewing.  I thought the acting, which is always criticized in Star Wars it seems, was the best of the prequels as well.  Hayden, Natalie, and Ewan (not to mention Ian and Frank Oz/Yoda) were all very good, and Hayden in particular should break free of some of the criticisms given to him after AOTC.  I think this kid is really a heck of an actor, and I hope he doesn't get bashed as much after this performance.  To me, this movie seemed like almost non-stop action and that is a great thing.  It seemed like it just flew by, and I didn't want it to be over.  I really liked the Kashyyyk battle scenes, and wouldn't have minded seeing more of them.  I guess they aren't necessarily "intregral" to the story of Anakin descending, but they were just cool to watch.  The "Jedi purging" montage was very emotional, and it was sad to see them all going down that way.  It was neat seeing the different planets (and in some cases, different clone/stormtroopers), if only for a brief moment or two.

I thought the relationship part of the movie was much better done this time around.  I got a better feeling of Padme and Anakin caring about each other, and Obi Wan and Anakin actually having a true friendship.  I wish AOTC would have had a little more of that, and a little less of the scolding "my very young apprentice" lines.  Anyways, I thought the relationships held more meaning this time, and kept you involved emotionally.  The lightsaber battles were amazing as well.  Seeing Anakin and Obi-Wan going head to head is something we've all been looking forward to for quite some time, and to me, it didn't disappoint.  Mustafar really added to that, with the "hell" vibe to it, and great visuals accompanying the battle (ILM really need some award consideration for this movie I think).  Although not the "primary" battle, I thought the Sidious and Yoda showdown was really fun to watch.  Seeing Yoda take out those two Royal Guards right before the fight begins was quite cool, and overall the battle didn't disappoint either.

Overall, a great, great movie...at least to me.  I hope to go a couple more times at least, just to enjoy it again and try to catch little things I might have missed the first time.  I don't know that I really have disappointments with the movie, aside from the fact that it is over.  I wouldn't have minded seeing a little more action from Kashyyyk, and also to see Yoda go to Dagobah.  Hopefully the DVD will provide one of those, or both, but aside from that I like what was included.  My wife knows Star Wars pretty well now too, asking me questions, listening to me blab, and she said that she feels this is her favorite of the Saga...maybe just behind ESB if not #1.  Something she said to me as we drove home from the theatre, and something I agree with: "It seems like there should be one more movie, in between this one and A New Hope".  I couldn't agree more.  Although we know it won't happen (maybe some TV action, but no movie), I feel the same way.  Seeing Vader take those first breaths, and then aboard the bridge looking towards the early Death Star, it just makes you want to see what happened in that 20 year gap between ROTS and ANH.  Lots of years to be taken care of there.  Anyways, overall a great movie, and one I look forward to seeing several more times.  Great way to wrap up the Saga.

[Paul]

Anakin's decision to betray the Jedi occured far too quickly - there didn't seem to be enough inner turmoil. There didn't seem to be any real craving for power, which I thought was Anakin's major downfall. Palpatine's revelation about being a Sith Lord came too fast, too... It was just tossed out there.

This was my biggest dissappointment in the whole Prequel Trilogy.  Anakin's fall is not tragic to me, but expected.  He isn't heroic enough for me to care whether he goes to the Dark Side or not.

But as I told my wife as we were leaving...Lucas could never make a Prequel that would satisfy me, I had envisioned how Darth betrayed Anakin, and then how Anakin Became Darth in my mind 20 years ago.  And it was much more "Greek Tragedy" (or probably "B-Western") and less Melodrama.


I like the movie overall, not enough clones (I think I have more clone figures than were actually on screen at any one given time).

[DarthJah]

There will always be people who over-scrutinize the Prequel Trilogy and will moan and groan about the movies not living up to 'their' expectations. We have to remember this is Lucas' vision, not ours, so we take the Jar Jar's and the occasional off-dialog with the epic battles and moral lessons. I won't go into detail about all the things I liked about this movie, but instead will summarize the experience as a true longtime hardcore fan, not a movie critic...

Having been only about 2 years old when I saw the original "STAR WARS" (and yet still remembering begging my dad and subsequently getting to go even at that young age), the STAR WARS saga has been an integral part of my life, and "Revenge of the Sith" brought joy and tears simultaneously to this fanboy.
 
Some loathesome critics have always dogged Mr. Lucas for his art, but I always remind myself that those critics are often pompous, biased and hey, they DON'T BUY TICKETS. We, the diehard fans DO, and I think we've shown Sir George that we love his work. So much in fact that we are disciples who bring his magic and genius to all we can. I had the pleasure of taking my soon-to-be 5 year old nephew to see this, his only chance to ever see a new STAR WARS movie on the big screen. He was as drop-jawed as I was, because his uncle has taught him well in the ways of the Force and he's a hardcore fan already of all 5 other films (I won't even start about our collective STAR WARS toy collections). To enthrall a 5 year old AND a 28 year old (and several other older adults many years my senior as well) is something very few directors/writers can do.
 
What is most touching about this movie is its ability to literally take us old-schoolers back in time and bring us to our roots. And for the newbie fan, it opens up the main characters in a way that you lose yourself in the struggle they are all caught up in. I found myself almost in tears at Anakin's descent into the Dark Side, and as the movie's final scene closed, I was bawling. It's really over. But it is everlasting in the hearts of the fans. And "STAR WARS EpIII: Revenge of the Sith" in general has left many a jaded critic even patting Mr. Lucas on the back, as this is quite possibly the movie which could be considered the epitome of what makes STAR WARS so great: its universality (no pun). It was an experience for us kids at-heart, and a delight to share with true younglings. I applaud Mr. Lucas, and hope he's proud of the completion of his saga. Cinema is often measured by STAR WARS comparison, and after seeing this last installment, the bar is officially raised.

[John C]

My initial reaction is I liked it more than the last two movies.  TPM was a crapfest and AOTC was just okay, but this one felt more like an OT movie.  I liked the relationship between Obi Wan and Anakin during the first 3/4 of the movie.  You can tell they respect each other and are like brothers, which was missing from AOTC.  The only really cheesy part was the Franken Vader scene IMO.  I would have liked to have seen Mon Mothma and more Chewie.  There was still a ton of stuff crammed into this movie.  I really felt sorry for Anakin.  He was having a tough time deciding what to do, but managed to make the wrong choices anyway.  He's the image of a tragic Greek hero.  At least we know he redeems himself in the end.  The betrayal of the Jedi was kind of hard to watch, too.  I would have to agree with those who said this movie isn't for younger children.  It was pretty dark. 
Another problem with the prequels is that the OT is kind of spoiled for those who will be watching all 6 movies in their proper order.  When Leia kisses Luke for good luck in ANH, it's creepy.  When she kisses him in Echo Base, again, it's creepy.  The whole "Luke, I am your father" thing is ruined.  I don't know why I didn't think of all that until now.  I guess I just feel kind of numb now that there are no more Star Wars movies to look forward to.  Hopefully the TV series will be done like this last movie and the Clone Wars.  At least we have that to look forward to.

[Darth_Anton]

Without going into an in depth review, I think ROTS is by far the most sloppy of all the Star Wars films. It was rushed, poorly edited, had amaturish f/x and couldn't decide what movie it wanted to be. Dissapointing.

What sets the PT apart form the OT is that the OT films were meticulously made. Every detail was scrutinized by people who lost sleep over making every shot, every line and every bit of subtext work (at least in ANH and ESB.) The PT did not have that love and care and it shows.

One undisputable fact, Lucas created an excellent story, and ROTS is no exception. However, the perfect formula was reached in TESB with a top notch screenwriter, no BS producer and director who understands characters and relationships. If this formula was followed, ROTS could have been as great as ESB.

[proudfather2]

Let me start by saying that this film is visually stunning, especially the space and city scenes. I mean it was absolutely gorgeous! Also, I loved that they finally tied up all the loose ends. I particularly liked how the issue with 3PO’s apparent lack of knowledge of Tatooine in E4 was taken care of with one simple three second, off-the-cuff remark at the end of the film. I loved the homage to Karloff's Frankenstien monster etc. Great stuff! 

Unfortunately that’s where the good stuff ends for me. Perhaps the most unbearable part of this film to watch was the first thirty minutes. Although visually stunning, the corniness was at an all-time high. Much worse than all other SW films cheese level combined and it made light of all of these serious, tense, life or death situations and made them seem unimportant and even insignificant. Example; Why change the voices of the battle droids all of a sudden and why make them a hundred times dumber with idiotic comments and sounds that came out of them in every scene that is not how they were ever portrayed??? I know they made some silly comments in TPM but this was really bad. The cheese in this film was so over the top it was ridiculous!

Speaking of cheese, what was Grevious’s problem with the coughing and hacking? Was it Lucas’s attempt to make him seem decrepit and feeble and not much of an opponent so when the fight scene finally came we would be surprised at how well this guy can fight? Isn’t that pretty much the same formula GL used for Yoda and Palpy? Here, it was unnecessary and just plain dumb. Maybe Grevious was asthmatic and it just wasn’t explained ‘on film’, who knows? The Grevious character, IMHO, fell flat and came off unimportant in the end.

Speaking of characters; everyone, especially Padme`, Yoda and Palpy seemed to really be ‘out of character’ in this film. I mean they were acting, doing and saying things in a completely different manner in which we’d seen in any film to this point. It was bad! I know that Lucas has an uncanny ability to get mediocre acting from good actors but this was something completely different. I can’t quite put my finger on it however.

I was also a little surprised at the music, was this John Williams? Was it rehashed old stuff? What the heck was going on here with the score? The music didn’t seem to be nearly as fluid and in-tune with the film as it did in every other Star Wars film ever made. It seemed to be lacking and even felt at times like it just didn’t fit at all. Perhaps it was just because of the several scenes that stood out that had absolutely no mood music in the background whatsoever; perhaps it was something else entirely. Again, I don’t know?

Ultimately I felt, for some unknown reason, that this film just did not have that Star Wars feel to it. Its five predecessor films all gave me a certain feeling that when I left the theater I said to myself “Yeah, THAT was Star Wars”. This one left me scratching my head and wondering if I truly enjoyed the film or not. And for a Star Wars film, to a Star Wars fan, that can't be a good thing.

[JedioftheNorth]

This movie is great I have no complants at all it blow me away.  The coughing from grievous comes from the last episode of the clone wars cartoon.  Mace uses the force and crushes grievous thus the coughing.  Definently checkout the cartoons before going they do fill in the gaps before the movie.

Again this movie is awesome  .

[CHEWIE]

I've seen it twice so far.  I'm not going to go into a long analysis - mostly it was awesome and what a wanted to see - there are so many things about it that I loved, a few that I wish he had just expanded on -


1 - Dooku fight could have been a bit longer

2 - Kashyyyk battle should have had more of a plot to it and been at least 5 minutes straight of fighting

3 - Should have shown more Jedi in the temple getting killed (where was Shaak Ti?)

4 - Longer scenes in the corridors of the Tantive IV

5 - I wanted to see or at least hear Qui Gon Jinn talking to Yoda

6 - A conversation in the Star Destroyer at the end


Other than that - I loved it.  I just wanted to see more of it - 10 minutes longer would have really been great.

 

[DSJ™]

I finally saw it today. 

I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was surprised that there was not a lot of people there, about 1/4 full. Through out the whole movie not a sound was made, no one spoke which was fine by me as I hate people talking during a move.

The two things that really stood out for me was near the end when Bail brought Leia to his wife and Leia's theme was playing, same goes for Obi when he gave Luke to Beru and Luke's theme was playing. Owen standing there looking at the twin sunset brought back some memories from long ago...

Yoda slaming those 2 Royal guards against the wall in the Emperor's chamber was great. 

Sherry asked me after the movie what I was chuckling about in some scenes, I told her I spotted the Lucas clan. 

I'll being seeing it again on Sunday with a friend. 

[Diddly]

Got back a few minutes ago, my thoughts are pretty much the same as all of yours.

Likes:

Palpatine - pure awesomeness. Ian was at his best here. Just didn't like the change in voice pitch after the "transformation."

Visual effects - Best yet! Yoda looked almost exactly like the puppet in terms of lighting. The space battle was pretty cool too.

OT nods - I enjoyed all of them, definately brought back some nostalgia.

Cameos - Hell yeah! Tarkin! Antilles! Boss Nass! PADME'S ******* PARENTS!

Music - I could actually hear a lot of the music! No unnecessary sound effects covering it up! Woohoo! And I loved how the music from other movies fit in with certain scenes, like Duel of the Fates with the Yoda-Sidious fight.

Death of the Jedi - I thought these scenes were done very well. I just wish the Jedi had gotten a tad bit more offense. I know there was a whole bunch of "shock" to it, but they're Jedi Masters for goodness sake! Let them kill at least one Clone!

Dislikes:

Grievous - Cough was lame, and he really served no purpose. Why couldn't they just keep Dooku around a little longer instead of adding Grievous? He really didn't show off any great saber skills either.

Droids - WTF? Did the battle droids from E1 have kids who have yet to go through puberty? Really lame. And what was with them showing emotion? "Excuse me!" "You're welcome!"

Duels - All were a bit too short IMO.

THE Duel - I was dissapointed. I felt that there was too much stalling. If Anakin hated Obi-Wan so much, why wasn't he charging at him at all times? It should have been Obi-Wan using his skills and brians to overpower the overly aggressive Anakin, not just what felt like a stroke of luck.

Kashyyk - just felt out of place. I think they could have come up with another way to have Yoda survive. Or made the battle longer.

And one last irking question: Why the hell is Lucas' 9 year old kid allowed to kill like 20 Clones when the leading members of the Jedi Council can't kill squat?

That's just all I can remember off the top of my head right now. I'll definately need to see it several more times to get a better judgment. But I really enjoyed it and I think it still is the best prequel movie.

[Jim]

Having been only about 2 years old when I saw the original "STAR WARS" (and yet still remembering begging my dad and subsequently getting to go even at that young age), the STAR WARS saga has been an integral part of my life, and "Revenge of the Sith" brought joy and tears simultaneously to this fanboy.
 

Not to sound like a dick here but I highly doubt you remember Star Wars at 2 years old.  Most childhood memories do not form til the age of 4 unless they are traumatic.  I hear people all the time that they saw Star Wars when they were 1,2 and even 3.. Sorry I dont buy it.  Begging your Father to take you?  You must of been a prodigy who had great skills in the English language at that time.  I think some people just wish they were part of the original generation that saw SW on the big screen for bragging rights.