"Only a Sith Thinks in Absolutes"

Far more interesting to me than the actual movie (at least, for the moment; I already decided last night that, damn it to hell, a second viewing divorced of the Arclight's media circus atmosphere would be necessary to adequately search my feelings as to the film's quality), so crammed with incident that little resonates beyond the brutal (in theory) Jedi purge and the third act foreshadowing of A NEW HOPE, is the political hubbub a-bubblin' up around REVENGE OF THE SITH, and whether or not the absolutists of today, accustomed to Lucas's typically anodyne ideology, will respond to the film as shock therapy.  It must be somewhat disconcerting for the younger segment of this camp to get a lecture from the mythmaker of their youth -- the guy who, along with Rocky Balboa, restored America's swagger -- on the perils of extremist thought.  Is this what it takes to deprogram the this administration's pernicious, unrepentant*, post-9/11, "watch what you say", "with us or against us" propaganda?

For those millions who've graduated to a more deeply entrenched narrative cycle centered on a midichlorian-free virgin birth, I believe I'll see Kellen Winslow: The Heretic running curl routes before Lucas convinces them to tear up their Golden Ticket to the Great Beyond.  But like this latest wave of Islamists who've been fomenting discord for damn near fifty years in the Middle East, they do not represent a majority (though I will, it should go without saying, defend to the death their right to worship however they want).  The meat of Bush's support is supplied by an interfaith collective who value action -- who believe in American rectitude and are confident that its military superiority will crush any enemy foolish enough to challenge it.  For them, it's not spiritual; it's vengeful.

Here's the awful irony for Lucas:  had he taken greater care in the telling of the Prequel Trilogy, he would've easily overridden the retro red meat Rambo chic currently enchanting a legion of Gen X-ers on down.  He could've mobilized his children, his faithful, around the wise ethos of the Jedi (deliberate, then obliterate) as a reasoned refutation to the nattering nabobs of neoconservatism.  Calling back the teachings of Yoda, the lovely notion that "luminous beings we are", and connecting Anakin's fall to Luke's plumbing of his own dark side on Dagoba in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK...  it would've been an irresistible appeal to our most honorable ideals.

And, yet, there's literally nothing to hold on to in these films; the cityscapes of Coruscant, Kashyyk and wherever it is that Osama bin Grievous wages his last stand -- these are fabricated out of whole CG cloth.  That these films lack tangibleness is a tired charge, but it's still one of their most critical shortcomings**.  And this further bleeds the film of resonance, without which there's nothing more than admirable concepts to win the hearts and minds of the indifferent or the astray.

Lucas also errs (I guess this is kind of a review) by not trusting the power of his own images to stand on their own sans overly explicative dialogue.  There's no more horrifying scene in the film than Anakin drawing his lightsaber on a room full of adolescent Padawans; however, when we finally see the terrible result of his handiwork (and, yes, Lucas really shows it), he fills what should be a devastatingly speechless moment for Yoda and Obi-Wan with a needless exchange that even McGregor, the PT's flesh-and-blood MVP, can't rescue.  Even the lines I did like (e.g. the title to this post and Padme's "This is how liberty ends" remark) ring a little hollow when nestled in amongst so many groaners.

I'm not sure I disliked the movie so much as I despair at the missed opportunity.  But while I admire Lucas's bid for renewed relevance through pointed criticism, particularly in a climate when no icon is too sacred for organized and rancorous defilement, and agree with him politically, I can't sign off on such a muddled work.  Again, I'm going back to see this at some point over the next few days -- I've already had several people tell me I'm crazy for thinking the opening space battle poorly executed -- just to see if I'm being too harsh.  I hope my friends who dearly love this film know that I went in wanting to share their enthusiasm, and that I'm a little crushed that, at this juncture, I cannot.

*That's what galls me the most, frankly.  It's one thing to equate introspection with treason in the days following 9/11; to use that as a foundation for consensus building is a terrific way to turn a country against itself. 

**This is not to say that CG universes are inherently inert; it's just that I've never been able to square them with the terra firma of the OT.

Comments

[carrie]

The blanket political comparison to the U.S. - which Lucas is wise to deny - is retarded. The Bush admin. is far more actively evil than the Empire.

What drives me nuts about the prequels is the lack of real BADNESS on the part of the bad guys (Darth Maul??) In Eps. IV-VI, I assumed that the Empire had the galaxy in a choke-hold of oppression and injustice, and that was why people were rebelling. The Empire shot down ships, tortured folks, force choked people to death, blew up planets, etc. - you know, actual bad stuff.

In Eps I-III, I can't see why pre-Empire Palpatine is such a dastardly guy. Yeah, he has a lot of power, uses the Dark Side, meh meh, but until he gave the order to liquidate the Jedi, what did he do to the galaxy that was so evil? In fact, he seems to be helping a bunch of planets fight off some evil robots, right? Even wiping out Mace Windu could be seen as self-defense, if we didn't already know better. In the end, the Emperor is the only one who ISN'T a totally whiney bitch. The Jedi are unwilling to follow their own patient dogma, and they end up in effect creating the window for the very Emperor they were afraid of. Which would be a cool irony, had it been done on purpose. Again, agreed on the missed opportunity complaint.

That said, the opening battle kicked ass. Put down that crack pipe, J.

[carrie]

Bonus points, also, for not-hamfistedly allowing us to infer that the Sith could have conceived Anakin by messing with the midi-chlorians.

[carrie]

Ooop, except for all the naughty stuff he did as Sidious. I guess that counts.

[Peej]

I have to agree with you about the opening space battle. It should have been something grand, on the scale of Jedi only bigger, and instead we got a few wide shots and a whole bunch of 2 ship interplay with dorky looking, metal eating, droid decapitating, robots.