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Having seen it a few times, and having had time to gather together all my thoughts on the film, I finally feel ready to post a rewiew.

Others have said that the film's opening battle provides a great contrast with the rest of the movie, and I am inclined to agree. There is plenty of light-hearted banter between Anakin and Obi-wan, not to mention the scenes with R2-D2 and the battle droids. It shows us the deep friendship that has grown between Anakin and Obi-wan, which makes those scenes all the more pogniant, given what happens.

The next act is the fall of Anakin, slowly but surely being manipulated by Palpatine. Palpy is the master of insidious acts and uses Anakin and the Jedi Council against each other to create the perfect situation to corrupt the Chosen One. Aside from some shaky dialogue, these scenes are dark, eirey (especially the Opera scene), and lend weight to the inner turmoil that Anakin is feeling, particularly where Padme is concerned.

Obi-wan's fight with Grevious (who, I have to say it, reminded me of a giant chicken) was pretty cool, though the saber duel itself was too brief. Much is made in the book of how intense and fast Grevious is, yet I don't get that same impression from the movie.
My girlfriend wants one of those giant lizards.

The demise of Windu and the beginnings of Vader are done superbly, especially the way Palpatine becomes so evil so quickly. His manner, his voice, the way he cuts down three Jedi with ease... it's incredible to watch, as is Mace's final encounter with Force Lightening.

Next we have the film's final, most powerful act. From the Jedi being wiped out across the galaxy, the assault on the temple, and Obi-wan's terrible discovery that Anakin has been involved, everything is moving and emotional. It sets up that final, titanic battle on Mustafar.

Before going into any detail about that, there is also the duel between Yoda and Palpy. The Master of all Jedi versus the Lord of all Sith. This is quite an exhilerating fight, with pods and platforms being thrown around like they're bits of cardboard. In the end of course, Yoda can't qutie cut it, and we see the pain on his face as it hits home to him that the Sith have won.

Anakin versus Obi-wan- well, to put it mildly, this is the most intense, ferocious lightsaber duel in all the movies. You get a feeling of how much Anakin wants to kill Obi-wan, and how much Obi-wan is tearing himself to pieces with the bitter knowledge of what he must do.
When the time comes and Anakin is cut down, the anguish is clear to see on Obi-wan's face. You can't help but feel sorry for Anakin, especially as the fire starts to burn across him, in what is one of the most powerful images of the entire Star Wars saga.

My one criticism of the film, aside from an all too brief battle at the start of the movie, is the slightly shaky dialgoue between Anakin and Padme, and the infamous 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO' line, which is horrible. Could we ever imagine Darth Vader yelling like that in the Original Trilogy?

Still, 9.5/10.

I think that the "NOOOO!" scene would have been incredibly better if they had substituted the line for a howl of rage and grief - not a shouted word, which comes off as very Calculon, but just a damned-soul scream.

I have no problem with the NOOO!! It's a scream of dispair, not anger.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I have no problem with the NOOO!! It's a scream of dispair, not anger.

My point was that I think the scene would have benefitted if it had been wordless - just a scream - rather than "NOOO!"

As it stands, it ended up reminding me of nothing more than Calculon (Futurama, if you haven't seen it).

Molyneux wrote:

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I have no problem with the NOOO!! It's a scream of dispair, not anger.

My point was that I think the scene would have benefitted if it had been wordless - just a scream - rather than "NOOO!"

As it stands, it ended up reminding me of nothing more than Calculon (Futurama, if you haven't seen it).

I really dont see the connection. Yes, they both say NOO!! upon hearing of the deaths of their wives.

I thought Vader's scream was stupid the first time I saw it too, but when I saw it again (without so many loudmouthed idiots in the crowd distracting me) I could really sense the anguish in the scream. I'll admit it might have been toned down some, but it was prefectly fine the way it was. A wordless scream would probably brought a lot of detractors too, frankly, it was a difficult scene to write, and there was no really prefect way to do it (I guess there probably is, but I cant think of it.)

Pure Sabacc wrote:

Molyneux wrote:

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I have no problem with the NOOO!! It's a scream of dispair, not anger.

My point was that I think the scene would have benefitted if it had been wordless - just a scream - rather than "NOOO!"

As it stands, it ended up reminding me of nothing more than Calculon (Futurama, if you haven't seen it).

I really dont see the connection. Yes, they both say NOO!! upon hearing of the deaths of their wives.

I thought Vader's scream was stupid the first time I saw it too, but when I saw it again (without so many loudmouthed idiots in the crowd distracting me) I could really sense the anguish in the scream. I'll admit it might have been toned down some, but it was prefectly fine the way it was. A wordless scream would probably brought a lot of detractors too, frankly, it was a difficult scene to write, and there was no really prefect way to do it (I guess there probably is, but I cant think of it.)

Eh, it's just that Calculon says "NOOOOO!" a lot. Offhand, I can think of at least three or four times he says it in Futurama, and given that he only appeared with lines about ten times...

The problem with the "NOOO!" is that it was too short. It should have been longer.

For the record, it does tie into Luke's scream of "Nooo!!" in ESB. And people also made fun of that when it came out, too.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:For the record, it does tie into Luke's scream of "Nooo!!" in ESB. And people also made fun of that when it came out, too.

Really? I found Luke's scream convincing, given that he's been just brutally butchered moments before, and learning his dad is *spoiler* Darth Vader. */spoiler* Meanwhile, the Calculon NOOOOO seems cheesier, because first it's Vader saying it, not some kid. His injuries occured hours/days ago, and he's got that voicebox distorting it comically.

ESB was regarded much lower back when it came out versus how it's regarded today.

His injuries occured hours/days ago, and he's got that voicebox distorting it comically.

What do his injuries have to do with it? His wife is dead, and he killed her despite the fact that he lost everything to try and save her. What would you do, shrug and say "Eh, thems the breaks"?

As for the voice box, I thought it sounded fine. And Spanky does have a point about ESB. Only time will tell how well ROTS is really regarded.

Honestly, I think a scream would have been better (see clone wars). But the main problem with that scene isn't the scream at all, it's the incredibly campy mime-posing Vader does. Either he should have reined it in or gone all out berserk, falling to his knees and pounting the ground or something. But he just assumes a very melodramatic pose that fits more with a comedy than a serious dramatic moment, and it ruins the scene. The NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO is just the icing on the cake.

In fact, check out the mileage NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO is getting at youre the man now dog dot com. This one is my favorite.