Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of The Sith

DVD, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of The Sith (2005) film

The third and final part of the saga, the last piece of the puzzle, this was 'Revenge of The Sith,' and even the name has a great deal of history, being in parallel with the original title of 'Return of The Jedi,' which was originally 'Revenge' rather than 'Return.' A much better title than the pulpy monickers of the first two prequels that spoke more to the franchise's emulation of ancient 1930s sci-fi serials such as 'Flash Gordon.' For that was the biggest inspiration for the saga, perhaps to its detriment, but also to its strength, simple themes and archetypes wrapped in a strange and exotic new world of technology and aliens. In contrast, Episode III had a specific mandate to fulfil - to move the pieces on the board into the position that they would be in (or near to), for Episode IV. But where was I in 2005? In the cinema with everyone else, but not as eagerly as I had approached Episodes I and II - I was a little jaded by this time, not just with 'Star Wars,' but with all entertainment, and especially new films, so it may not have helped matters that I went with an all-female group who came out of it very positively, saying it was really good, where, although I liked it (it was SW after all), I had so many problems with it, not the least that it didn't feel like a very SW film, even if it did have more drive to it than the previous film.

Subsequently, until today, I had only seen it one other time, on DVD, and that was enough for me - it never called me to put the disc in the slot again, partly because I wouldn't have watched it on its own, but would have had to commit to re-watching all three prequels, also because I was all 'Star Wars'-ed out, I no longer felt the magic or was excited to see more. After my immense excitement in 1999, it would have been hard to believe back then that I would ever have arrived at that point, but I had, and I even felt I'd seen the Original Trilogy too many times to be able to enjoy them as much. That didn't stop me from being intrigued by comments in articles in 2006 that spoke of a SW TV series that would run to at least a hundred episodes and be set in the two decades between Episode III and IV - that certainly piqued my interest, but it was not to be, and so the SW discs sat on the shelf gathering dust [cue violin music]. In the ten years since this film came out I thought badly of it, in spite of considering it a reasonably good film, dwelling on Hayden Christensen and how little he resembled in thought and deed the great Jedi warrior, Anakin Skywalker, and that his fall from grace wasn't really a fall at all, just an acceptance of his destiny, and that the little 'family' of the prequel films, weren't really seen together (Obi-Wan, Padme, Jar Jar, C-3PO, R2-D2, and yes, Anakin), in contrast to the strong bond between the group of the OT.

The time has come to reevaluate the film that common wisdom considers the best of the three prequels, and which I, personally, considered the weakest. Having reconsidered Episode II, far removed from the novelty and excitement of the once involving action, I see that as being a little bit boring for a good portion of the running time, the CG more obvious to my modern eyes, and the lack of sense to the plotting a big mistake. Not even nostalgia could save it for me, so from previously considering it a great film that had some problems, I think of it as an average film. I wondered if Episode III would similarly seem to be a boring experience now that I'd long become disenfranchised (to the point where, after initial surprise and excitement at the announcement that the long-imagined third trilogy of Episodes VII, VIII and IX would be produced, I even lost my anticipation for them!), but it actually remained better paced and more engaging, though part of that must be related to my few experiences of viewing it, so it remained fairly fresh, though I remembered the opening and the ending. It was the middle that I didn't have much memory of.

The opening shot as we follow two small ships ducking and weaving around the equivalent of a Star Destroyer, then plummet down to see a vast space battle hanging above Coruscant, was the kind of spectacle you want from a SW film. The aesthetic, which I'll go into in more detail later, wasn't to my taste in this and the last film, being a combination of the fresh, new look seen in Episode I, and the future Empire's that would dominate the OT. But it was a pretty good sequence, even if I still didn't care about Anakin, what he did, or what happened to him. You notice that there's a lot less humour in the banter between master and apprentice in general through the film, as if they realised they had to grow up and not joke around at each and every threat, since that minimises its impact. So the duo of Obi-Wan and Anakin were more natural, and consequently less irritating than they were in similar sequences of Episode II. The lack of humour wasn't limited to the main characters, the whole film was much muted in this regard, but this was because it was a serious sequence of events, heavy with the dark hand of the Sith hanging over it. On the downside this meant that even C-3PO (blazing brightly as if Padme had given him the polishing of a lifetime), who had taken the mantle of comedy from Jar Jar's much maligned fingers, was little in evidence - Jar Jar himself relegated to muttering a single line and being seen only as a background character. I didn't have a problem with this, despite being a supporter of the Gungan, because he had no clear purpose and such distractions wouldn't have suited the tone of the film.

One character who gains a significant amount of screen time was Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the evil behind the 'throne' as it were, of the Republic. This is nothing but a good thing, since Ian McDiarmid was the best actor left alive in the trilogy and has provided a solid base for the character he took on in Episode VI. The Emperor, a pure personification of evil, was played fantastically in that film, and one of the biggest questions for me was how he revealed himself as the Dark Lord of The Sith, otherwise known as Darth Sidious. I mentioned in my previous review that I assumed we'd be jumping forward in time significantly for Episode III, since I'd always imagined the Emperor to be extremely old, hence his haggard and repulsive appearance, but we're only a little removed from the last film, and one of my biggest disappointments was how events panned out - his own Force lightning gets fed back to him by Mace Windu, standing precariously by the smashed window of Palpatine's office, which shrivels the old sinner up. I thought I remembered it was the use of this power that disfigured him, so I found this slightly more satisfactory than that his own evil was so potent that it changed his features to resemble what he 'really' was - I can't say I was entirely happy with the prosthetics, his face looking too latex-ey when they could have made it more translucent, and it does look like someone covered McDiarmid's face in a helmet of plastic rather than being a natural organic surface. But that's nitpicking, really.

We still don't know how he became a Sith, whether he was just an innocent native of Naboo who wanted power and searched out the dark arts of the dark lords, or whether he was some kind of creation of the Dark Side, an embodiment of it that was a tool through which the unseen evil of the Dark Side planned to beat back the Jedi. Maybe there's a book about it, but I'd love to know Palpatine's history. It is fun that McDiarmid gets to hang out with Obi-Wan and Anakin for a bit in the opening sequence, even though he looks a little bewildered and out of his depth by all the effects happening around him, though this suits the character whose act is that he is this weak, defenceless bureaucrat. I do find it odd that we cut to him when his rescuers arrive, at the point they do well in the fight he all but gives a fist pump, but there was no one but us to see this reaction, and we know who he is, so who is the direction trying to fool? They can't still be pretending that the audience don't know who he is, surely! It was also a bit farfetched for the character he's pretending to be that he can run and jump and hang from ledges in the sequence where the ship crashes toward the planet - he's supposed to be an old man! It does make sense from the point of view that he's really a powerful Sith, and you could argue that Obi-Wan and Anakin are too busy to notice and are probably relieved that they don't have to carry him!

The feel of the beginning is of the end of a film - you have them racing to free the captive, there's a climactic duel with Dooku, who looks horrified by his master's advice that Anakin should execute him - why doesn't he pipe up and reveal Palpatine's true identity in revenge for such betrayal, or is he too shocked by the outcome to respond? He might also think that this is a test, and that Anakin, a 'good' Jedi wouldn't follow through with it. The space battle rages outside and the atmosphere is similar to the end of Episode VI, though with far less power to proceedings - the parallel is there, though. Anakin chooses to obey his feelings and the urgings of Palpatine to kill, whereas Luke refuses (although at first he does respond to the Emperor's goading to 'strike me down'). I also like that the lightsaber fight isn't silent as it was with Darth Maul. It's a sequel to Episode II's fight where Obi-Wan and Anakin were left at the mercy of Dooku and Yoda stepped in to save them, only now Anakin has become ever more powerful and with the will of Palpatine behind him against his own apprentice, he can't lose. It's fortunate that Obi-Wan's knocked unconscious, and can't counter the Chancellor's wayward instruction, though the weight of that platform looked like it should have crushed his legs, yet he feels no ill effect any time in the film and is soon sprinting down corridors!

The structure of this film is vastly different to all the others in the series - this shows that you don't necessarily have to follow a set formula to create a SW film (something we'll no doubt see in abundance with the non-episodic films Disney are planning). It has many of the key elements, but is much more urgent, it has a sense of purpose, without cameos (for the most part - Chewbacca doesn't really count), or comedy: things need to get done, this is the last chance, because there was never going to be an 'Episode III and a half.' Although it doesn't feel very SW, it also doesn't suffer from the same pacing issues and treading water that Episode II had. It's never boring - well, almost never. Some of the Anakin/Padme scenes early on, where there's a concession to those that did like the romantic subplot of the previous film, do slump a little, but the personal stuff is kept to a minimum (even though we're subjected to another scene of Anakin sweating in bed with nightmares, this time foreseeing his wife's death rather than his Mother). His fear of losing Padme is the crux of his abandonment of the Jedi, the slow drip drip of Palpatine's wise-sounding voice, feeding him a poisonous diet of ego-stroking and lies against the Jedi taking their toll. Even so, it's hard to believe that Anakin, who early in the film displays his loyalty to Obi-Wan above that of Palpatine (no doubt because of all they've been through together), would be turned so easily.

I suppose it's a combination of fear of loss and distrust of his superiors - he's constantly been told he's The Chosen One and will be better than all the Jedi, so he senses they don't trust him or his friend, Palpatine. And he almost always puts his own desires above that of what's right… It's a little easier to accept the change now, because I know that SW isn't some great philosophical work of art, it's just a sci-fi adventure series and perhaps I was putting my own experience of seeing the OT at an impressionable age above the reality that they were never going to be able to create something that would live up to the hazy interpretation of my imagination - that Vader was once good, that he changed in his middle age, somehow twisted into the evil form we know him as, that it was partly his injuries and reliance on technology to stay alive that moulded him, not a few choice words from a mentor and a baseless galactic war that provided the backdrop. The Clone Wars failed to live up to the single line of Obi-Wan's in Episode IV that provided a springboard for the imagination of what this thing was about, and neither did the transformation of Anakin into a supporter of evil. He was basically tricked. And you'd think after all the talk of Darth Plagus and how he was able to keep his loved ones from dying (are the Sith allowed to love? I would have thought that would have been forbidden for them, since it's a positive emotion. Ah, but as long as it's a jealous love, or a lustful, or a selfish, these things are what the Sith thrive on…), the new Darth Vader would have made sure he brought back Padme from death (unless they're being pedantic and Plagus could only prevent death, not undo it).

Palpatine goes from sowing distrust between the Jedi Council and Anakin by putting him in an awkward position, promoting him onto the Council to rankle them, while also knowing they would use such an opportunity to have him report on the Chancellor. He just confuses and infuriates young Anakin so he doesn't know who to trust, and when all those support structures are removed he takes away his own, revealing himself boldly as the Sith Lord. 'But don't kill me because I can teach you how to save Padme,' basically. A conflict of interests by Anakin, although at that point he still does the decent thing and tells the Jedi, but realises what he really wants and that the Jedi are no longer powerful enough to stand in his way. So all that banter with Obi-Wan, the friendship they had, is for naught? All that he learned in all those years and it comes down to a secret wish to test himself against his master. And I do think that's what it is, more than a wish to kill him, he wants to show him he's the best. They always were competitive. Somehow it should have been the duel to end all duels (more on which, later), and though it was pacey and had some narrative progression to how it played out, it's still somehow underwhelming when you think this is the moment that turns the body of Anakin into Vader, after his mind has already turned (I always thought it would be the other way around).

Yes, Anakin's mind was in a whirl, pressure on all sides: The Council wants him to report on Palpatine, Palpatine wants him to report on the Jedi, Padme wants him to talk the Chancellor into ending the war and returning to diplomacy… accusations fly from him that Padme's chosen Obi-Wan over himself, but it's still difficult to accept that he was the author of his own wife's destruction, the very thing that caused him to turn to the Dark Side was his desire to save her, yet it's he that destroys her! And all it took was some strong emotional distress and a little choking, her realisation that he was one bad dude causing her to give up on life? Whaaaaat? It's bad writing and it also makes him completely unsympathetic, as he's buffeted around by the wind, with no real conviction, he's not even sure what he wants. He's already done things that are hard to fathom, mercilessly slaughtering the younglings (as annoying as they were, you wouldn't wish them to die), though I suppose he'd already had practice with the sand people's children, and I guess he feels he's gone too far to turn back and can't control the wildness that the Dark Side unleashes when it consumes his mind.

The mindset of the film itself I find to be a little off-kilter and I'm not sure if this is really the view the makers wanted to project. I'm talking about the ambivalence towards good or evil. Right from the opening crawl I noticed a strange sentence in there describing the war that has swept the galaxy: it says there are heroes on both sides. What does this mean, exactly? We've seen droids and clones fighting each other and that's as far as its gone on screen. They can't be good or bad, they're simply created to fight and obey orders, and we rarely see 'real people.' Do the Separatists include races that would actually fight against the Jedi, and how can they be heroic if they're not supporting the Jedi? Padme herself wonders if they're on the right side, and in the first place, what's wrong with members of the Republic leaving? I don't understand what the war is about, except as a device through which Palpatine seizes full power. There's also his assertion that Jedi and Sith are the same and that 'good' is a point of view. Coming from the main villain, I think it's safe to say this isn't the view held by the makers of the film, but the Jedi aren't exactly shown in the best light themselves: Obi-Wan himself claims only the Sith deal in absolutes, as if there can't be absolute good or evil, which is a dangerous message to teach, in my view! Also, they're worried by Palpatine's control, but (leaving aside their inability to even realise he's a Sith!), they also seem fairly powerless. Even the 'great' Windu is inconsistent, arresting Palpatine, then changing his mind and trying to kill him, in the space of a few seconds (so he fell to his death? Not the most majestic way for such a character to bow out, is it?).

Windu claims that the Dark Side of The Force surrounds the Chancellor, but it's so late in the day that he comes to that conclusion, so what was he thinking the rest of the time? And he doesn't say Palpatine's a Sith, so he won't even commit to that obvious fact - who else would have the Dark Side surrounding them unless they were one of the two Sith? Although we're supposedly seeing the Jedi in their prime, we never see them at their best, they're more like a martial arts club that goes out and does a bit of policing when they're not sitting around discussing things - once again, they're shown to be weak, when in the OT they were fearless and noble legends. Luke lives up to that, but perhaps he was the exception (a bit like Worf in 'Star Trek' - a Klingon that embodies what his people are always talking about, qualities in short supply to the rest of his race!). That's a problem, because they've given us more of the story in doing these prequels, but they've also evaporated the mystery and dissipated the power of inspiration from the OT. That's quite a crime to undermine all that made SW great and so I can see why people have hated the prequels so much. More knowledge isn't always a good thing - have we been able to watch the OT in the same way since Episode II and III were released? I would say yes, because it's easy to forget the things you didn't like about them and be sucked into that world of SW that we grew up with. I wonder if the prequels will one day be remade in the way people wanted them to be, so that the Clone Wars actually mean something and the major turning points aren't thrown together illogically?

Something else that reduces the SW feel of this film in particular is the lack of a big planetary battle. We have the requisite space battle at the beginning, and the expected lightsaber duels, but the closest we come to seeing a ground battle is the attack on Kashyyk, home of the Wookies. I can understand why they wanted to show the Wookies and tie them in, it's the same reason they involved Jango Fett in Episode II: to bind the universe together with the later SW films. So we get to see Chewbacca and Yoda together as droids land, but we're not given any reason to care, we don't get to know any of the Wookies, it's all so clumsy. First, we're not clear on how and why this planet is so important to the Republic forces - it's very difficult to get a sense of a galactic conflict that encompasses so many worlds because it's too big to show on screen. We can see a battle here or there, but we can't see everything, so an impression of the scale has to be enough. Unfortunately, we don't have that impression, it's like Episode II when there's a chaotic battle on the desert planet with no real structure. When you look at the OT, the approach was to focus on one thing. The Rebellion may have been going off all over the place, but we see the main attack or defence. Hoth matters because we have time for build up and to see a battle unfold, but there's not enough time given to the structure in Episode III. That was probably for the best because they'd have likely done another Episode II battle which zero sense or satisfaction to it. It's almost a question of why you would show any of the battle at all.

You show battles because that's what's expected, the clue's in the name, after all! While there isn't much of the 'Wars,' to get our teeth into, neither is there much of the 'Star,' since much of the events take place on planets. So it's up to the lightsaber battles to provide a SW feel, and they always do, though they tend to be below par, perhaps structure or lack of imagination being a flaw again? At least the most integral duel, that between Obi-Wan and Anakin, is vigorous, even though it relies, as much of the prequels have, on CG environments. It's frenetic, though the power of duels comes from the characters enacting them, and because this version of Obi-Wan is less real than Alec Guinness' (though it's a lot more interesting to see him fight here - he only taps Vader's saber a few times and gives up in Episode IV!), and because Anakin isn't very well played, though marginally improved from Episode II, the power is lessened. The anguish of Obi-Wan at his pupil and friend turning out like this, is apparent, but we all knew this was how it would end and we've been waiting for him and his Jedi pals to catch up to what we knew thirty years ago! At least their fight is spectacular and believable - Dooku's destruction by Anakin is short and merely a taster, while Obi-Wan and Grievous' face-off is harder to invest in. Just what is General Grievous? He's a droid, but he has organic parts (his downfall), but there's no explanation or exploration of what we assumed was going to be the next 'big villain.'

Villains have been the prequels' problem (one of many), in that no one can outshine Vader as that would preempt the main point of the trilogy, but equally, no one has risen to the standard of Darth Maul, either. Each film has had its dark pupil to do Palpatine's dirty work, but General Grievous isn't even really connected to Palpatine, being a subordinate of Dooku's who takes on command of the Separatist army. I can't buy a droid proving much of a match for a Jedi, and it's another example of the weakening of their mystique. We'd had a double-bladed lightsaber, we'd had a bent-handled lightsaber (really, how did that help?), and now we get a droid that collects lightsabers and uses four at once in what I call the 'whisk manoeuvre': he spins them superhumanly fast so it would be basically impossible for anyone to counter - he's even been trained in the Jedi arts by Dooku (so even a droid can learn how to fight like a Jedi?), yet somehow Obi-Wan manages to defeat his stunt. That should make him seem super-cool, but they still don't pull off the ability to make a Jedi look powerful! Four lightsabers is just a gimmick to differentiate from what's gone before. What next? A centipede creature with a hundred lightsabers wriggling through space taking out entire ships? Ugh! And Grievous looks like he should be able to punch a hole right through Obi-Wan's chest with one hand, but he doesn't. Instead, Obi-Wan punches a hole through his extremely badly placed heart, and takes him out. So much for 'the next grand villain.'

Obi-Wan doesn't even seem the most switched on guy in these films. He infiltrates Grievous' base by scurrying around atop a gigantic, noisy lizard! Is that the best way to creep into a secret HQ? Could we not have seen some effort on his behalf, leaping from outcropping to outcropping and using his Jedi reflexes and strength to get himself across what appears impossible terrain? That would have been an ideal way to show the power of a Jedi, and their resourcefulness, but the impression we get is of people that hop around with a lightsaber and that's all there is to them. It's not all the fault of characters to draw you in, however, CGI is again used to the detriment of the film where more physical sets and characters could, and should, have been created. That's one of the things that makes the OT so real and vast and impressive, that they built amazing sets and filmed in beautiful locations. Such things are sacrificed so you can get increasingly less believable shots which your mind knows to be false, and it's just one more element that subtly takes you out of what could have been an involving story. The design is another issue. I know there had to be the beginnings of the Empire's look to technology, and I like that look, it's what the OT films are made of, but here it's such a halfway point between the shiny new Coruscant stuff and the dingy, darkened settings and varied ship designs that it doesn't fill me with fascination and the desire to study the ships or sets. Why not have the Clone Troopers wear ordinary Stormtrooper helmets in the first place? What's the difference?

It can be seen as a bit pedantic to complain about the look of the production design compared to a well-known look in the other films, but it's all part of what makes up this thing we know as SW. So it is with great pleasure that we finally come to some parts of what we know from the OT: seeing Darth Vader (so named because, well, Palpatine just thought it up on the spot - it sounded good in his head, so that's what he'll be called!), the Emperor, and even a young 'Governor' Tarkin (though he looked like he had a problem with his face!), on the bridge of a Star Destroyer. It seemed a little early for them to have built so much of the Death Star, which is what they're looking out on, especially as the plans had only been revealed in Episode II, which is around four years before. I suppose we don't know exactly when this shot is taken from, so it could be months or years later. The other great joy is to see Senator Organa's ship, run by Captain Antilles - that famous white corridor that R2-D2 and C-3PO hurry along at the start of Episode IV! It's wonderful to see how they tie the droids into that period (and if you enjoyed the 'Star Wars Droids' cartoon, in which they serve with Antilles on their own adventures, it's like a validation of that, too), even if it's hard to believe that a sparkling white ship would look exactly the same twenty years later. As I thought, 3PO gets his mind wiped, making R2, who is secretly the real hero of the saga, the only one to know everything!

I can't end my review without mentioning Yoda's fraught battle with Palpatine. If someone had told me years ago that I'd one day get to see these two duke it out, it would have filled me with unfettered anticipation, but while it isn't bad, it doesn't live up to the billing, as CG is used for everything. The senate is dismantled (literally), and the pair end up leaping around the senate chambers throwing the seating barges at each other. Well, Palpatine had stayed in office long after his term had expired, and he wasn't going to relinquish power, only little Yoda stood in his way. It's a more interesting fight than when he was up against Dooku, and it does have some structure - it's especially interesting to see where the Chancellor emerged from when he entered the Senate. But as I say, it's let down by reliance on CG. Yoda's story is sad, banishing himself far away, one of the few moments of emotion in the film, but it does end on a positive note, Obi-Wan delivering Luke to Owen and Beru as they watch the suns set on Tatooine, mirroring the famous shot of the young Luke Skywalker looking out at his future, and dreaming. But what does Obi-Wan have to keep him occupied for twenty years? I know Yoda lets him know that Qui-Gon Jinn is ready to speak with him, having returned from the netherworld of The Force, but it must be a boring life to be sequestered away, after you've spent it on adventure, and he was still young enough to be very active. Are their tales of what he did in those years? I'm still sore that Qui-Gon didn't appear, as that would have been one more positive for me to take from a pretty good ending.

I'd love to end on such a positive note, but there's still so much that annoys me or niggles in this film: if Palpatine knows Anakin will become more powerful than either himself or Yoda, why keep him alive? He could have kicked him into the lava and nobody would have been the wiser, and onto the next pupil. It must be that he likes having such a powerful right hand to do his bidding, and thinks he'll be able to dodge the bullet of the inevitable uprising from his apprentice, not counting on the purity of Luke to rescue his Father and turn him back to good. Was Anakin really The Chosen One, or was it Luke? Vader is the one to kill the Emperor in the end, saving Luke, but surely it is Luke that brings balance to The Force. Then again, what does that mean, exactly? It's all a bit vague, and you could probably interpret it how you wanted to (Leia could be The Chosen One, for all we know!). Why didn't Obi-Wan do the decent thing and put Anakin out of his misery instead of leaving him to burn? Or couldn't he stomach dealing the killing blow? The first SW film to get a '12' rating, and you can see why from such a moment as Anakin, his limbs chopped off, burning like kindling as the heat of the lava sets him on fire in great agony. There're also things like Dooku's beheading and Palpatine's shrivelling transformation, shown in all its 'glory.' The tone, too, is quite serious and adult in many ways, not something you could show to a young child. Which is a shame, because despite there being moments of gore in SW (arms being chopped off in a pool of blood springs to mind), it's child friendly, and only pushes enough in that direction to keep an uncertain, dangerous edge to proceedings. Again, direction is at fault.

Nute Gunray and his minions are unceremoniously cut down by Anakin, and I couldn't help but feel that much of this kind of stuff, rather than taking advantage of a gifted opportunity to craft an incredible finale to the prequels, was box-ticking: 'we have to get this, this and this done,' rather than seeing it as something to be exploited. The voices of some of the Trade Federation types were changed to American to avoid criticism of racism, which is a bit jarring when you watch the film - it's inevitable that a film based in the past (I'm not talking 'A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away….'), owing so much to 'Flash Gordon' and the sci-fi of yore, would reflect some of the attitudes of the time. While it was made in modern times, it's of a different time, so I don't see any problem with stereotypes being used in a minor way and it's rather going into political correctness which is a strange thing to encounter in a SW film. It's not a big deal, it's not even about the stereotypes, but about keeping a consistency within a created world, so although I'm not arguing for stereotypes, I can see why they might have left it as it was rather than trying to please people. This trilogy itself has smacked of trying to please, reacting to the criticisms of each film to make changes, which suggests the Director's vision wasn't as strong as it should have been. Do, or do not, there is no compromise: that is why you fail… Although the Jedi themselves fail simply because… I'm not even sure, they were just useless, failing to demonstrate their powers of foreknowledge or lightning reactions at any time, cut down by clones in the most unimaginative way. So pass these 'great heroes' of legend. So much for them!

Some final notes: I wondered if they couldn't get back the actor who played Captain Typho, as you see him only in long shot and it could be anyone, but then he's there in the credits! Also in the credits, Bruce Spence straddled 'The Matrix' and 'The Lord of The Rings' franchises (as the Train Man and the Mouth of Sauron), and now gets his foot in the SW door as one of the lined aliens Obi-Wan goes to help (were they setting him up, or were they really captive?). While I said earlier there were no cameos, Jeremy Bulloch (the original Boba Fett), is credited as Captain Colton, but I never noticed him, and Mon Mothma was, too, but she was never in it unless you count the deleted scene on the DVD - you wouldn't usually credit someone on the film unless their scene was included. And I have to mention the shot of the ch'poka snippet (or whatever it was called), clasped in the cold hands of Padme Amidala on her death carriage. That was the kind of subtle, heart-tugging visual that matters, and if the film had been able to understand that earlier, then we might have had a film that lived up to the SW name, while also advancing it into the modern era. There's been a bit of a backlash on CG in recent years, with many filmmakers opting to promote their films as being more real rather than reliant on CG, as it affects the actors' performances as well as our belief in its reality. If SW was in large part responsible for this shift in attitude from the be-all and end-all into a useful tool when not overused, then that's at least one positive thing to credit the trilogy with, even if there's not a lot else.

***