LA GUERRE EST FINIE/THE WAR IS OVER Co-worker Guy Keating and I left the office early on Friday afternoon and met up with Vivian C. Wong, a.k.a The Notorious V.I.V., to see Revenge of the Sith. It was a good thing that we left when we did, since our theater was almost completely full half an hour before the show. The crowd was surprisingly subdued: no one talked too much, no one was in costume, and no one showed up egregiously late. I know that I frequently complain about the obnoxious behavior of the cretins I observe at the movies, but I was a little disappointed by the serious, sober nature of the audience. I was hoping that everyone would be in a state of frenzied anticipation, but my fellow movie-goers looked as if they were there to take in the latest Ron Howard snoozefest.

(As an aside, I wonder if the opening night of Titanic in Times Square will always be my most intense movie-going experience. I saw it on an enormous screen at the Astor Plaza theater with about a fifteen hundred other people. Three or four fights broke out over seats and girls shrieked and moaned over Leo as if he were the second coming of the Beatles. There was just a buzz of excitement in the theater that night that was like none I've experienced before or since.)

As it turns out, my fellow movie-goers might have been the ideal audience for Revenge of the Sith, because it was one, goddamn, serious movie. I'm not saying that serious is a bad thing, as I think that all of the best Star Wars films - the original, Empire, and in my opinion, Attack of the Clones, (yes, that's right, I'm the one who liked it) - were made by people that took them seriously. By "seriously" I mean that the previous films were made with conviction and passion even though their subject matter was the stuff of Saturday morning matinee serials. This was the first Star Wars film where it felt like the makers took the material itself too seriously. The result is that instead of an exciting sci-fi action adventure film with a sense of tragedy, we get a dull tragedy with the trappings of sci-fi action adventure.

Revenge of the Sith begins with a lot of promise: Obi-Wan, Anakin, and R2-D2 infilitrate a ship where Count Dooku and General Grievous are holding Chancellor Palpatine hostage. This sequence displays what the most recent Star Wars films do best: digital animation of scope and detail combined with exciting action. Unfortunately, once this bravura opening concludes, we are hustled back to the planet of Coruscant and the political machinations of the Republic. It's as if Lucas is saying, "Alright, you've had your fun. Now it's time to get down to the important stuff."

I've come to dread the scenes in the most recent Star Wars films that take place in the Republic's Senate. I find myself cringing in anticipation of the boring speeches about trading rights or some equally sleep-inducing issue. Seriously, it's like Star Wars C-SPAN. I was reassured in my opinion of these "political" scenes by the amount of people that headed for the exits when they began. Indeed, everyone practically ran out of the theater during the first sappy love scene between Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman. It was like that moment in a Rolling Stones concert when Keith Richards sings one of his solo numbers, the result being a mass exodus to the toilets.

The problem with Revenge of the Sith is that since we know what's going to happen - Anakin transforms in to Darth Vader and the Jedis and their allies temporarily lose to the Dark Side - the film lacks suspense. Lucas doesn't compensate for this problem by adding surprises to the plot that catch us off guard, such as Yoda's duel with Dooku in Attack of the Clones. Instead, he opts for expanding and deepening Anakin's story, hoping that an attempt at high tragedy will mask the film's sense of inevitability. But Lucas's attempt at Shakespearean depth fails because he is unable to dramatize Anakin's transformation in an interesting or believable manner. This failure is chiefly due to the trite dialogue given to Anakin and Palpatine: instead of being subtle and powerful, it's flat and unispired. Hayden Christensen doesn't help either. He simply isn't skilled enough as an actor to pull off Anakin's transformation into Vader. When he attempts to express inner turmoil, he just looks like he had a bad burrito for lunch. Lucas's decision to turn Revenge of the Sith into a tragedy isn't a bad one, it's just that he fails to execute it convincingly.

Revenge of the Sith climaxes in a duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan that has an air of inescapability to it that is in line with the rest of the movie. What should be a rousing end to the Star Wars saga has a going-through-the-motions feel about it. Instead of concentrating on Anakin and Obi-Wan, Lucas seems more interested in the heavily animated backgrounds of the volcano planet that is the setting for their battle. It's as if Lucas has lost faith in the ability of the characters to interest and move us, thinking that what we want is more special effects. He seems even more desperate when he shows us the destruction of Anakin's body. What should be a fascinating look at the man behind the armor becomes off-putting in its gruesomeness. I was reminded of Saving Private Ryan, a film that similarly tried to amp up a weak story with gratuitous violence.

With all of the above said, I didn't hate Revenge of the Sith. I thought it looked beautiful and came to life during its action sequences. Lucas has attempted a grand conclusion to his thirty-year artistic endeavor, but I just don't think he has suceeded in creating the epic tragedy that he had obviously hoped to. A noble failure, but not a catastrophe.  ¶ 11:40 AM