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Reuters wrote: LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Director George Lucas feels like a college kid setting off on a new adventure.

His final film in the long-running, multibillion-dollar series of six "Star Wars" movies is due in theaters in less than two weeks, after a string of global premieres that start on Thursday.

"Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" wraps up nearly 30 years of storytelling about space battles waged in a galaxy far, far away. It tells how a young Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker, is transformed into evil warlord Darth Vader, father of eventual Jedi hero Luke Skywalker

"I'm relieved it's finished and I made it to the end," Lucas said. "It's like going off to college. You miss your parents, and you'll see them on holidays. But at the same time, you're glad to be out on your own. You got your whole future ahead of you."

"Revenge of the Sith" is, at once, the most complicated "Star Wars" and the simplest to tell. It features over 2,200 visual effects shots -- more than the last two episodes combined and far more than the 350 for the original "Star Wars" in 1977.

But the wizards at Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic effects studio said that unlike previous "Star Wars" films, no new technology was needed for this latest installment.

There are no major new characters, either, and fans who hated the pidgin-English-talking Jar Jar Binks from "Episode I" will be glad to hear that.

In a word, if "Revenge of the Sith" is anything, it is more -- more light saber fights, more spaceship battles, more lush landscapes of far-away planets and a bit more romance. It is a "Star Wars" formula that, after $3.5 billion in cumulative worldwide box office receipts and $9 billion in merchandise sales, does not need alteration.

"It's not like I could change the story and say, 'Oh yeah, Anakin was a good guy the whole time, and Darth Vader was a figment of your imagination,"' Lucas said.

GETTING THERE

So getting to where Anakin (Hayden Christensen) forsakes his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and dons Vader's black mask is the major focus of the new film.

"I had a lot of fun going to the dark side," Christensen said with a mischievous grin.

Anakin is torn between his love for the Jedis, his love for the Republic that governs the galaxy and his love for his wife, Padme (Natalie Portman).

Jedi Master Mace Windu, played by Samuel L. Jackson, suspects Republic leader Chancellor Palpatine of wanting to assume too much power. Palpatine believes the Jedis want to unseat him from his rule.

Both try to persuade Anakin to their side, which causes him to question the differences between good and evil. Only Anakin's love of Padme seems true, but even that love is called into question when he has a premonition she will soon die.

It is love, ultimately, that drives Anakin to hate.

"They turned out the way I wanted them to turn out," Lucas said of his creations.

STILL MORE TO COME

This is the final "Star Wars" movie, of course, but it is not the last word on the series for hard-core fans. There will still be new novels and comics featuring the key characters.

Two television shows also are in the works: an animated series and a live-action adventure that involves the Jedi Knights fighting in the Clone Wars.

A DVD for "Revenge of the Sith" will feature scenes that were deleted from the final movie. And a DVD set of all six films will eventually be packaged and sold, but when that may happen is still undecided, Lucas said.

One thing that has changed since 2002's "Episode II" has been the exponential growth in the DVD market -- so much so that even at a cost of $113 million, the film can turn a profit with a domestic box office of $200 million.

That figure is well below the $300 million "Episode II" -- which cost $115 million to make -- had to gross back in 2002 to make money. DVD sales make up the difference, Lucas said.

While "Revenge of the Sith" may not be the final curtain for "Star Wars," it is the end of an era for Lucas, he said.

He will help produce the TV shows, but for the most part Lucas, 60, is off on a new adventure. He said he wants to go back to his roots and make art films that are concerned more with visual style than Hollywood storytelling.

Nearly 30 years ago, Lucas said, "Star Wars" was to be his final big-budget Hollywood movie before he delved deeper into the life of an auteur. Only, it wasn't to be.

"That's the way life is," he said. "You go north and end up south." Now, he has a chance to head north, again. May the force be with him.

Straha wrote:Where can I find this original letter?

Praxis wrote:

Straha wrote:Where can I find this original letter?

I want to know as well. I've never even heard of this.

Stupid Bitch wrote:Revenge Of The Kids

Review by Katrina Maguire

GEORGE Lucas is about to receive a letter from my nine year old son informing him that his history of that famous galaxy far, far away is about as accurate as a light saber in the hands of an ewok.
Anakin Skywalker, my little boy's hero, was never tempted by the dark side, let alone fated to become its leading evildoer, and Lucas's attempts to cast him in that evil twilight have caused the Stars Wars writer and producer to grow horns on his head and develop glowing hot coals for eyes.
This week I explained to my son that he wouldn't be seeing Revenge Of The Sith, the final instalment of Star Wars, for two reasons - one because of it's reputed violence and darkness and two because seeing the hero of The Phantom Menace and Attack Of The Clones turn so breathtakingly evil, particularly when he is the idol of children the world over, is amoral movie making at its worst and a betrayal of childish trust.
I was suprised by son's reaction. "I don't want to see it anyway," he said. "George Lucas doesn't know what he's talking about. Why would a good hero become evil? He wouldn't have been a hero in the first place, would he?
"It's too stupid. If Anakin was Darth Vader then Darth Vader couldn't have been so bad, could he? George Lucas is dumb".
Indeed, if George Lucas thinks Anakin Skywalker is his character to remake and remould however he chooses, he may be seriously mistaken.
Judging by my son's reaction I can see Revenge Of The Sith spawning a whole range of breach of copyright actions as the young followers of Anakin Skywalker attempt to correct this perverted telling of his story.
My young one has vowed to remake the movie and has already started work on the script.
I hope it's a vast improvement on Lucas's effort. This producer has betrayed his young fans just as he has Anakin betraying the Jedi younglings in one of the movie's most horrific moments.
Anakin Skywalker enters the council room to find the younglings hiding behind seats. As they emerge one reputedly asks, "What should we do, Master Anakin?" The question is met with a stony faced Skywalker firing up his lightsaber. Cut! The next time you see the younglings Master Yoda is identifying their their corpses.
Revenge Of The Sith sounds as though it is little more than George Lucas wallowing in a sea of self indulgence. He apparently has no concern about conflicting the emotions of children and breaking their hearts. It would be a different matter if The Star Wars series hadn't been pitched at children, as it has been until now.
I hope parents and kids vote with their feet on this movie and keep walking past the cinemas that are showing it after it premieres at the end of this month. Who knows, it may just inspire George Lucas to research the history of that galaxy with greater diligence.

Katrina Maguire blogs at Cait's Eyes.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Didn't it turn out that it was written by some student trying to make some stupid point or such?

Darth Wong wrote:I would say that people can't possibly be stupid enough to write a letter like that, but we live in a world where hundreds of millions of people think that a book with talking snakes in it is Absolute Truth.

CivilWarMan wrote:3) When Chewie, Han, Leia, and C-3P0 were captured at Cloud City, did Darth Vader look at the box of 3P0, think "Holy shit, that's the droid I built when I was a kid!", and then order it given to Chewie to make sure 3P0 was repaired?

CivilWarMan wrote:On a similar note to that letter which is hopefully a hoax, it would be interesting to see exactly how much of Anakin survives in Darth Vader. Three things I wonder:

1) Did Vader know that the droids the Empire was looking for were C-3P0 and R2-D2? If not, what did he think when he found out?

2) Did Vader realize that the Larses bought the droids? If not, how did he react when he found out about the deaths of his half-brother and sister-in-law?

3) When Chewie, Han, Leia, and C-3P0 were captured at Cloud City, did Darth Vader look at the box of 3P0, think "Holy shit, that's the droid I built when I was a kid!", and then order it given to Chewie to make sure 3P0 was repaired?

Drooling Iguana wrote:

CivilWarMan wrote:3) When Chewie, Han, Leia, and C-3P0 were captured at Cloud City, did Darth Vader look at the box of 3P0, think "Holy shit, that's the droid I built when I was a kid!", and then order it given to Chewie to make sure 3P0 was repaired?

Chewie rescued Threepio's parts from the conveyor belt leading to the incinerator, remember? The Ugnaughts even went out of their way to keep Chewie from getting the parts.

Firefox wrote:

Drooling Iguana wrote:

CivilWarMan wrote:3) When Chewie, Han, Leia, and C-3P0 were captured at Cloud City, did Darth Vader look at the box of 3P0, think "Holy shit, that's the droid I built when I was a kid!", and then order it given to Chewie to make sure 3P0 was repaired?

Chewie rescued Threepio's parts from the conveyor belt leading to the incinerator, remember? The Ugnaughts even went out of their way to keep Chewie from getting the parts.

Yet that was before their little dinner with Vader. He could have ordered the box o' 3PO scrapped or kept separate from the rest of the rebels, but it was placed in the cell with Chewie.

CivilWarMan wrote:On a similar note to that letter which is hopefully a hoax, it would be interesting to see exactly how much of Anakin survives in Darth Vader. Three things I wonder:

1) Did Vader know that the droids the Empire was looking for were C-3P0 and R2-D2? If not, what did he think when he found out?

2) Did Vader realize that the Larses bought the droids? If not, how did he react when he found out about the deaths of his half-brother and sister-in-law?

3) When Chewie, Han, Leia, and C-3P0 were captured at Cloud City, did Darth Vader look at the box of 3P0, think "Holy shit, that's the droid I built when I was a kid!", and then order it given to Chewie to make sure 3P0 was repaired?