Oh boy...I started to type a response to this offline in a Works file, and when I finished it was 3 pages long.
Hmm. I guess I'll copy it all here, but don't feel like you have to read it, lol.
Holy buckets, where to begin...I could talk (type?) about this movie for hours. First off, I loved your radio show, CkRtech, you were reading my mind, I was thinking practically everything you said.
This movie is EXCELLENT. It's definitely the best of the prequels. Though it was a bit disturbing at times (I think the PG 13 rating was well-deserved...we had little kids in our audience and they did not need to be seeing some of this stuff). I keep thinking of it as a modern tragedy as well...for some reason it reminded me so much of Macbeth.
I really loved the beginning (well, I loved the whole thing). I liked the shots following the two starfighters leisurely around until they're smack in the middle of the fight. During the first 20 minutes or so, Anakin and Obi-Wan were working together as a team for practically the last time, and some of the banter back and forth reminded me a bit of Han and Luke in the OT.
Then when they were "rescuing" Palpatine, it was very reminiscent of the RotJ throne room scene, with Palpatine goading Anakin on like he later does with Luke. It's true Dooku didn't get much screen time, but I didn't care much because I never liked him anyway.
His fighting style always seemed prissy to me. and I could never quite get past the name "Dooku". Seems like if Jar Jar had a brother, Dooku would be a better name for him than for a Sith Lord.
I thought it was a nice proof of Anakin's loyalty to Obi-Wan that he carried him out in spite of Palpatine's urgings. Maybe it was unrealistic, but I thought it was pretty darned cool when Anakin caught the wire by his droid hand, stopping all three of them. I loved all the little touches of continuity, like the group swinging into the chamber using Anakin and Obi-Wan's grappling hooks, because it reminded me of Luke and Leia in the Death Star, swinging across the chasm.
Unfortunately right about here the sound in our theater cut out for about 10 minutes, and the soundtrack for the pre-movie commercials kicked in. So we were watching Obi-Wan talk, but we were hearing "Martha Gentry Real Estate: We'll find the perfect home for YOU!" ARgh. The sound finally came back on, and as soon as I got home I read the script for the bits that I missed.
I thought the way they showed Palpatine corrupting and manipulating Anakin was really well done. That smirk on his face when he was telling about Darth Plageius's apprentice killing him in his sleep was despicable. I noticed the order to kill the Jedi was "order 66", which immediately made me think of the number 666 in the Bible.
A lot of people I know who saw it cried when Padme died, but like CkRtech said, to me the scene that had the most emotional impact was the extermination of the Jedi. Going into the movie, you *know* the Jedi are going to die, you *know* Anakin will turn, but you keep subconsciously hoping against hope that it will all turn out well, because these are characters you care about. One of the most touching scene was of the last youngling, Zett Jukassa, battling through the clone troopers. At the time I didn't know who that last kid was who tried to fight his way to Bail Organa's ship, but I really liked him.
When Obi-Wan was telling Yoda not to send him to kill Anakin because he couldn’t do it because he was like his brother, it reminded me so much of Luke talking to Obi-Wan, saying he couldn’t kill Vader because he was his father. Then Padme telling Obi-Wan that there was still good in him, just like Luke did later on.
One thing I found very interesting was the whole “point of view” debate, as well as at the end when Anakin says, “If you're not with me, you're my enemy,” and Obi-Wan replies, “Only a Sith Lord deals in absolutes.” I found that whole thing interesting and even a little confusing, because if anything, the Jedi seem to be always concerned with the line between right and wrong. Something is either right, or it’s not; it’s the Light side or the Dark. But I realized that’s not entirely true, because in a moment of anger a Jedi can momentarily draw power from the Dark Side while still being ultimately of the Light, and vice versa. It’s if he stays in that mentality and encourages it (his “point of view”) that he’s turned completely…yet even then, the possibility for redemption is always there, as in the case of Vader. That brings up the question of the Emperor, though. Is he the one truly evil person, completely consumed by the Dark Side to the extent that there is no hope or good in him whatsoever?
When Anakin is about to leap over to Obi-wan on the shore, Obi-Wan says, “Don’t try it, I have the high ground.” That seemed to have a double meaning, as if he was saying he had the moral high ground and that good will always win out over evil.
It was the ultimate irony that not only was Anakin responsible for Padme’s death, but he never did learn the secret of immortality, whereas Yoda and Qui-Gon did. If he had stayed on the Light side, he might’ve had his wish to be with Padme forever. It seemed like Anakin and Padme had some kind of Force connection; when they were each looking out of different windows it was almost as though they could sense each other, and their trials at the end seemed linked: when Anakin became Darth Vader, Padme finally died.
There were so many moments when you could see where one action could have changed (at the risk of sounding melodramatic) the fate of the whole galaxy, like the duel between Mace and Sidious, when Anakin was watching. Then at the end, if only Obi-Wan could have brought himself to kill Anakin outright instead of leaving him…it might’ve been better not only for Anakin, but the whole galaxy. But then, if Anakin hadn’t survived to become Darth Vader, the Emperor might’ve successfully turned Luke to the Dark Side. Or the Emperor might have gone on to rule much longer than he did, if Vader wasn’t there to kill him and bring balance to the Force.
On a lighter note, there were a couple times my brother and I looked at each other and couldn’t help but laugh. As soon as Grievous whipped out all four light sabers and was whirling away, I kept thinking “Roto-tiller!” Another thing like that was the vractyl, the lizard-like animal Obi-Wan was riding on Utapau. I loved her and that yodeling-like whistle she had…my brother and I keep mimicking it at odd times which cracks us both up. One other part was when Yoda walked through the door to Palpatine’s office and smacked those two red guards against the wall.
The minions in Star Wars always make the same mistake: they say things like “no one could have survived that <fill in disaster of choice here>“ and therefore assume the good guy is dead. Example: Obi-Wan falling in the lake on Utapau, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in the gas-filled room in Episode I, etc. I thought it was funny, then, that after the duel between Yoda and Palpatine, a clone trooper says they haven’t found Yoda’s body, and Mas Amedda replies, “Then he is not dead.” Finally, someone learned!
There were a few little things I thought it was neat to see, like when Sidious calls one of the troopers with Ki Adi Mundi, he calls him Commander 1138, a reference to George Lucas’ previous movie. Someone said they saw the Millenium Falcon in one of the wide shots. They answered so many questions and really tied all 6 movies together beautifully.
There were a few things I didn’t like…some of the dialogue was pretty stilted. George, you have an awesome imagination, but you can’t write dialogue in the prequels. The only really cringe-worthy part was when Vader took his first steps (again like CkRtech, lol). He looked like Frankenstein or something. For some reason it was incredibly bizarre to hear him say “Is she all right?” All right is an expression Vader just doesn’t use. I did think some of the violence should’ve been toned down a little bit, maybe at the risk of losing some of the tragic element, but kids love Star Wars, and this definitely wasn’t for little kids. All in all though, George Lucas, you done GOOD.