A curious psychological phenomenon: The more you anticipate an event, the more pleasure you will convince yourself you had when it happens, even if it actually sucked. For example, let’s suppose Hollywood has seduced you onto pins and needles for an upcoming movie release, and you are all worked up over how cool and wonderful the movie will be, and you plan for days how you will see this much-anticipated movie on its opening day, and it winds up a boring, annoying experience. Your brain will deal with this disappointment by convincing you that it wasn’t that bad.
That, essentially, is what happened with me and Episodes I and II. And having bought tickets to see Episode III in DLP (big screen digital projection!) last Saturday night, knowing full well that going to the movie theatre in the midst of opening weekend madness would be hell, I was praying Lucas gave us something good. And he did. And that’s not the compensatory post-anticipation delusion talking.
This is the only prequel Star Wars that matters. It’s compact, action-driven, and explains a lot of the history behind the original Star Wars. Sure, it had inconsistencies and excesses (did you really need to put Chewbacca in it? I’m surprised we didn’t see the Millennium Falcon whiz by the window that Padme was constantly looking out of), but I thought it was kinda cool.
Though the action and story were excellent, one of the major lackings of the prequels has always been the weak characters to whom no one had childhood emotional bonds. You can’t help but to compare the stiff, prissy Padme to Leia, who was a true female role model. Loopy Luke and hunky Hans were fun characters. Obi-Wan and the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine are not. Only the energetic, kick-ass Yoda’s appeal has increased in the prequels.
No one should need me to give a plot synopsis. But there’s some incredibly powerful stuff. The last half of the movie had me riveted. I didn’t even care that I was sitting in front of a woman who kept making loud, inane remarks: That’s the young Darth Vader! That’s the Death Star! That’s Natalie Portman!
