OMFG! Wookies rox0r!

…or “How I Learned to Stop Nitpicking and Love Lucas”

To be honest, I enjoyed Episodes 1 and 2. No, they certainly weren’t as compelling as the original trilogy, but it was foolish to think they could be. There was too much at stake, too much time had passed, and too many high expectations for them to even come close. But in the end, Lucas learned his lessons. Attack of the Clones dropped a lot of the childishness and plotless wow factors from The Phantom Menace. And now Revenge of the Sith (possibly the best named episode) loses almost all of the failures of the previous two and delivers the movie I dared not dream to be made.

In case you couldn’t figure it out, I caved in and ordered two tickets for Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith for Lisa and I just after work. And now I’m just soaking in the beautiful realization of a movie done right.

At this point, you should probably stop reading if you haven’t seen it yet. Not that I plan on spoiling anything, but I wouldn’t want to influence your opinion (because I know how much sway my words hold)…

For starters, let me just say that Lucas pulled no punches this time around. This film is PG-13 for a reason (the first 5 were all PG). I mean, this one made The Empire Strikes Back look like “Happy Fun Time Sunshine Hour”. And that was what the story needed. Let’s face it, this is when the good guys lose. We all knew it, the third film would have to be downright depressing to stick with the storyline set forth lo these many years ago. And for the first time in this trilogy, emotions were evoked.

Like I said, I enjoyed the first two. They were made for kicking back and enjoying the big special effects and silly self-references. More often than not, the dramatic sequences lacked any real punch. While they advanced the story, and sometimes managed to surprise us, none of them produced the true wonder of revelations that Luke and Leia were Vader’s kids or the shock as the main character had his hand whacked off. But there were scenes tonight that, honest to goodness, had me feeling a little choked up. For the first time since being a kid, I felt new emotions for these characters. And it was good.

Revenge of the Sith was not without its flaws. While the romance between Anakin and Padme certainly improved, there was still a lack of chemistry that continued to make it a weak point. And though I didn’t feel like the movie dragged on, the pace in the first half definitely could have been improved considering the torrid assault of the second half. But overall, just about everything you ever wanted to see in the Star Wars Universe was finally put to screen. All the answers to your questions… All the loose ends tied up… All the final revelations… All of them are here.

We definitely could have used some more Wookie, but I won’t let that kill the smile that’s been plastered across my face for the last 4 hours. Do yourself a favor – go out and see this one in the theaters, and relearn how to love the movies.