The Vader Problem
Went to see Revenge of the Sith last night. Disappointed, am I.
No, the movie is exactly what I expected -- and that's the problem. Anybody that ever knew any knew anything about the back story knew exactly where this was going to end up as soon as Palatine showed up on screen back in Star Wars I. Completely predictable was it.
Doesn't mean it wasn't the best movie of the series, though. I thought it was. Its just that there were no surprises. None at all. A two and half-hour ride through our expectations. Even the Droid War, Even the turn -- all predictable. Scripted. Yes, Lucas got to make his dream movie. But something isn't right: Skywalker turned too easily, and that's why I was disappointed. The writers failed to really make the best of the storyline they'd been handed.
Skywalker turned to the Dark Side for a number of reasons, but clearly, to save a single life was at the top of list -- not his own, of course. I think I understand love, and certainly, I would gladly give my own life for those I love. And the movie certainly plays on this. But there's a watering down of the story too. One thing that stuck out for me was Skywalker's utter indignation when we has made a member of the Jedi Council. This element -- that he had been wronged by Jedi -- was completely out of place and unneeded. Worse, it made moving the plot along all that much more awkward. Anybody that would have been ready to elevated to that level would have clearly understood why the council did what they did and would have agreed. And any fully realized Jedi wouldn't have reacted the way that Skywalker did to it. So it seemed completely artificial then, to have this be part of the reason that Skywalker turned. Instead, it simply acted as "plot sugar."
There's other problems too. Why did the fight with Windu so age the Sith master when fighting Yoda barely phased him at all? Well, that one is clear -- foreshadowing that whatever happened to the master would, eventually, happen to Vader. Why not wipe R2's memory as well? Did it really take 20 years to build the first Death Star, but only the span between "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of Jedi" to build a second? If Vader really did feel it was his Empire, why didn't he immediately kill Sidious? After all, the big reason for the turn was gone. What was left to learn that would have motivated Vader to keep him alive?
And I hate to say this, but the Wookies became simply the next Gungans or overstuff Ewoks, if you'd rather. Yet, they supposedly important enough to warrant Yoda become personally involved in their defense. Why?
These aren't so much plot holes as they are things that could have been added to the story to give it more fullness. Or least an element of surprise.
Maybe Obi-Wan put it best, though: Wait a minute. How does this keep on happening? We're smarter than this!