Episode Three Worthy Conclusion to Star Wars Saga

Twenty-eight years ago, 32-year-old George Lucas electrified audiences with the release of Star Wars, a summer blockbuster and space saga of good versus evil that has since been regarded as a film for the ages. The magnificent sci-fi fantasy and its stirring 1980 sequel The Empire Strikes Back are both listed among the American Film Institute’s top 100 films of all time. Lucas, now in his 60s and bit more grizzled, returns near to the form he showed in the first three films in the series with Star Wars, Episode Three: The Revenge of the Sith and thankfully so, for the director has publicly stated that it is the last film in the series. Fans of the series can breathe a little easier now that the last film is closer in craftsmanship to the first and the best three films in the series. Two weeks since its opening, The Revenge of the Sith continues to set box office records and satisfy the legions of fans who became disenchanted with the moribund plotting and alarmingly stilted dialogue that plagued The Phantom Menace and The Attack of the Clones.

Although a vast improvement over the latter two films, The Revenge of the Sith is not without its problems. Plainly and simply, it suffers from some of the same flaws of the last two Lucas efforts, murky plotting and poor dialogue that is further marred by uneven performances from the actors. Some such as Ian McDiarmid (Darth Sidius) and Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi) appear to be the most comfortable in their roles, while others such as Samuel L. Jackson and Natalie Portman still seem out of sorts. As Anakin Hayden Christensen is given a wide range of emotions to portray, and by the end of the film one can say that his performance is reasonably competent. He is awkward at times and yet wholly in command at others. And like its two predecessors, the first third of this film is devoted to more talk about politics and ideas about freedom, few of which are convincingly developed.

Rumors abound that Lucas pulled out all the stops to make improvements over his two previous efforts. Much maligned for his cultural insensitivity in creating Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace and for the convoluted political plot points of The Attack of the Clones, Lucas supposedly turned to Steven Spielberg and to legendary playwright Tom Stoppard to avoid further damage to the series. Once again there are reports that Lawrence Kasdan and the screenwriting team of Gloria Katz and William Huyck were called in to rewrite portions of the dialogue. Despite the possibility of consultations with these acclaimed artists, The Revenge of the Sith is still George Lucas’s film. His work here is tighter and more focused, paying careful attention to Anakin, Yoda, Darth Sidius, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Padme, and the things of great import they have to say and do. The political machinations in the faraway galaxy are merely a backdrop for a much more involving story of love, the loss of it, and the fine line that often exists between the two.

What separates Episode Three from the first two episodes are the stakes, revelations, and the director’s own passion for telling a story involving the evolution of perhaps the most famous villain in the history of cinema, Darth Vader. Episode Three begins with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker joining forces to rescue the Chancellor (Darth Sidius), who has been kidnapped. In the early stages of the film, Anakin is wide-eyed, obedient, and deeply in love with Padme, who he secretly married at the end of Episode Two. But life for the young Anakin is complicated when the Council instructs him to watch over the Chancellor without giving him the title of Master. In addition to his political worries, Anakin has visions of Padme being in danger, and his new wife informs him that she is pregnant. It is from this point on that life begins to change forever for Anakin, Padme, and the other major protagonists.

Episode Three will be remembered for what it revealed about its characters and their motivations; the brilliantly choreographed fight sequences between its wise and majestically powerful creatures; and the long-and anxiously-awaited depiction of Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side. These plot developments occur in such Byzantine fashion in the last one hour and fifteen minutes of the film that the movie’s sagging second half hour will be an afterthought by the end of the final frame.

The shot of the infamous black mask being placed on Darth Vader in the last third of the film will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the single most significant scenes in all of cinema in 2005. It is a moment of both truth and loss: the truth that Anakin has at last evolved to become the evil Darth Vader, the legendary villain we remember from the glorious epics of 1977, 1980, and 1983 and the loss that ultimately sets him on a path to even greater destruction. Although it never rises above what Lucas himself identifies as a “popcorn film,” The Revenge of the Sith distinguishes itself as a coherent conclusion to a cinematically-historic saga that revolutionalized the art of making movies and recaptured for us all the joy of watching them.

Grade: B Content: Some violence

Crash Explodes into Theaters

In its tense and taut 107 minutes, Crash, a new drama about racism in Los Angeles, delivers one stirring scene after another. That Crash possesses uncommon power and intelligence should come as no surprise. It is the directorial debut of Paul Haggis, the Canadian-born writer who penned the screenplay to last year's Oscar-winning picture, Million Dollar Baby. As in that film, Haggis's words elicit first-rate performances. Here he receives them from everyone from A-list actors such as Don Cheadle to newcomers such as rapper Chris "Ludacris" Bridges.

Crash is that rare ensemble piece. It is magnificently efficient. It is a collage of brief scenes and verbal exchanges that are at times shockingly brutal. Crash is composed of moments--moments of little detail but much importance, for the power of what is clearly spoken and even what is not lingers well into the next scene. Crash is as much a study of how racism affects the lives of people in LA as a riveting display of the way inner angst triggers race-based acts that are shocks to humanity itself.

The film opens with insightful words from an African American detective played by Don Cheadle. He speaks about the various cultures and the disparate nature of life in his city just after his partner and girlfriend (Jennifer Esposito) is involved in a traffic accident with another racial ethnic woman. Later the same evening Cheadle and Esposito are called to a crime scene, from which the film then flashes back in time to the events of the previous evening.

On that particular evening an angry, loquacious Ludacris and his more mild-mannered friend Larenz Tate steal a sport utility vehicle from LA's district attorney (Brendan Fraser) and his snobbish, malcontent wife played by Sandra Bullock in a role far from anything she's ever done. After the robbery and mugging, Sandra Bullock tells Brendan Fraser that she saw it coming when she spotted the two men walking towards them and urges Fraser to replace the "gang-banging Hispanic" changing the locks on the doors of the couple's home.

The hardworking locksmith has his own story involving an immigrant store owner who believes he has cheated him out of money by overcharging him and not completing work to the store owner's satisfaction. The locksmith, his wife and child, and the utterly distraught store owner have a scene that is as intense and exhilarating as any scene in any film this year.

Terrance Howard and Thandie Newton are cast as an upper middle class African American couple who are at the other end of the socioeconomic ladder from Ludacris and Larenz Tate. The couple is stopped while driving home by a racist police officer, brilliantly played by Matt Dillon. The officer is accompanied by a seemingly more sensitive partner, Ryan Phillipe, who watches in disgust as his more senior partner frisks Newton unnecessarily in front of her husband. Newton, in a tour de force performance, chastises her husband's meek and polite behavior during the incident. The couple's emotionally wrenching confrontation concerns her humiliation and leaves him in anguish, questioning both his blackness and his manhood. His reaction to the evening's events lead him into unfamiliar and dangerous territory.

None of the film's characters remain unchanged by the events of the day and a half, particularly those portrayed by Howard, Newton, Dillon, and Phillipe. What's so impressive about Crash is that some of the characters have not two but three sides, and it's not easy to predict which facet of a character will be shown in any given situation.

Like many of the best works in theater, Crash is chocked full of coincidences. Characters reunite under some unlikely circumstances, and people appear at just the right moment on several occasions. But in this particular case, the coincidences don't detract from the power of the film; they fuel it. Perhaps the coincidental appearances are symbolic--symbolic of the various times and ways people are confronted by racism and symbolic of the many opportunities all of us have to come to grips with the diversity and equality with which humanity has been blessed. The strength of Crash lies not in the mechanics of its storytelling, but in its sheer ability to move and compel us to consider the harrowing effects of the anger that lurks within humanity and the various forces that cause us disparate creatures to crash with power and efficiency.

Grade: A- Content: Violence, Profanity

Movie News

Alias and Lost creator JJ Abrams will be making his directorial debut with Mission Impossible 3. The film is set to shoot in China in the next several months. Michelle Monaghan of the recent Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang has been cast.

Star Wars: Episode Three grossed $304.2 million in four days. Despite the impressive opening, industry insiders are still worried about the overall box office slump. (For thirteen straight weeks industry insiders have witnessed box office ticket sales decline from last year’s totals.)

Topher Grace (That 70s Show and In Good Company) and Thomas Haden Church (Wings and Sideways) have signed on to play villains in Spider-man 3.

Warner Bros. will remake the 1972 disaster classic The Poseidon Adventure. Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, In the Line of Fire, Troy, and The Perfect Storm) is set to direct. Shooting for the film will begin this month.

As of May 27, the top five movies in terms of box office receipts are as follows: Star Wars: Episode Three, The Revenge of the Sith; Monster-in-Law; Kicking and Screaming; Crash; and
Unleashed.

Cinderella Man, the new film from Oscar-winning director Ron Howard, starring Oscar-winners Russell Crowe and Renee Zelwegger will open nationwide on Friday, June 3. The film will likely garner a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Paul Giamatti, son of the late Bart Giamatti, former Major League Baseball Commissioner. Ron Howard produced the film with his partner Brian Grazer and director Penny Marshall.

David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence and Woody Allen’s Match Point were two of the most well-received films at the Cannes film festival. Other acclaimed entries include Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers, a tale involving a womanizing Bill Murray who suddenly learns he has a child.