YEEES! Saw the Star Wars EP III:Revenge of the Sith yesterday at GreenBelt. It was my first time to watch a movie after a long hiatus, my first time in that cinema, and my first time watching it with ladies. (:)). So it was a little uncomfortable at first, but once the reel start rolling in, I was complety absorbed. (Well, almost).

Episode 3 was STAR WARS in its all VISUAL glory. The opening battle scene, the city corucanth, the outlying regions, the lava world. It's really hard to imagine that they were all computer generated scenes. Mr Lucas definitely made a good use of his industrial light and magic group for this one. The opening space battle scene was really awesome. It was a stark contrast between STAR TREK and STAR WARS. STAR TREK battle scenes are a bit boring, firing pulsars one at a time, waiting for target impact, and phasers? I very much prefer a light saber thank you. At the end of scene, I feel like shouting for more. I just comforted myself, hoping that somehow my craving will be satisfied in the coming scenes.

Light Saber duels are always my favorite part of any stars movie. It's always fast and furious and flashy(Well, it's because it's LIGHT saber duh). I have to commend the fight directors for executing some of the best duels I have ever seen. The duel between count dooku and Obi-Wan/ Anakin/Tandem is a little frustating. I was expecting dooku to wield a double light saber but he didn't. Though he is still used his old fencing style, it was not as graceful as the he executed before. (That's why he got his head chopped-off). The fight between Mace Windu and Darth Sidous was cool. This is one part of the movie that I was really anticipating for .I was suprised by Sidous's skill in light saber. I never expected that he'd be able to move that fast and parry Windu's attacks. I was happy that the fight directors are able to consider that Sidious is a master Sith lord. I wasn't able to see much difference in Windu's style but he's still good, showing that ala Hajime Saito style. Now, for the best light saber duel in EP3. Obi-Wan VS. General Grievous. That had me nearly jumping off my chair. General Grievous was the coolest droid I've seen in all the star wars movie. I've already knew before that he'll wield 4 light sabers, but I was never expecting that way he'd use it. I was actually rooting for Grievous during the fight. With the way he pumelled Obi-Wan, it was suprising that Obi-Wan was without a single scratch. I was a bit disappointed when Grievous was finally turned off with a single shot. I was hoping that he'll still rise up like a T-800 and beat the living daylights out of Obi-Wan while he's riding ship to bail out the planet. I still kinda liked the Cartoon Network version of Grievous. On the battle between the masters, sidous and yoda. (Btw, Yoda's entrance to Sidou's lair was just classic hehehee). The duel was a bit disappointing with Yoda again jumping around like a green frog(Although, he did jumped quite well this time :)) and sidious started throwing senate flat forms like dinner plates instead of swinging his light saber. The only good thing was that they played the soundtrack Duel of Fates again! I nearly shouted wooohooooo!! They should have played it while Yoda and Sidous were fighting light sabers not throwing stuffs! booo!

Now, for the final light saber duel of the movie, with the blue light saber, sporting a trimmed oh-im-so-much-cooler-with-this beard, Obi-Wan Kenobiiiii! On the red light saber, having an ego bigger than than the death star, Anakin Skywalkerrr!! Let's get it on!!

The fight was a good watch for the first few minutes.(Good, because there is this thing called intensity. The fight simply didn't have it). There is a build up of energy at the beginnning but it just fizzled out. To compensate, Anakin and Obi-Wan had to resort to some "superflous" moves making them look like baton twirlers on steroids. Visual effects (like exploding volcano) needed to complement the fight because of the lack of intensity. Also, the length of the duel, tooks it's toll to the of the overall fight scene.

The duels are definitely better than all the other star wars movies. But it was not enough to best my favorite, the Qui-gon Jin/Obi-Wan tandem versus Darth Maul. Now that is what I call a duel.

On the other aspects of the movie, like

Acting - Hayden should take acting lessons from Keanu Reeves hahaha! Natalie was simply a suprise. I didn't know she could act that ..... bad.

Dialog - This is really disappointing. I was expecting more powerful lines to be delivered. Afterall, this was the last of the Star Wars, and this was Anakin's transformation to the dark side. I was not much of a drama person, but I was expecting something heavy, but all I got was something like "Oh hold me Anakin, hold me like you did in Naboo" That probably was the most cheesy line I've ever heard. I simply couldn't believe that Natalie, an Oscar nominee will say such a thing. George, this is STAR WARS! This is not Dawson's creek for crying out loud. I tried to contain my chuckles so as not to offend the STAR WARS experience of my seatmates but I think I failed. I'm sorry.

Violence - It didn't quite passed to my standards as being a violent movie as George has promised. I still think Kids can still watch this movie, without being traumatised or swinging a bolo at their playmates. (Or am I just too exposed to violence in my daily life? in the office?) No blood and gore because the light saber wounds are cauterized(woo, I actually searched for this term hehehe), so it's a clean cut. So I always prefer light sabers. :)

Story - The movie gives the feeling of being rushed. There should be more scenes, more dialogs, more events before Anakin succumbed to the dark side. Palpitine was not as manipulative as he had been. He just mumbled about be consipired against by the JEDI and the dark side of the force can prevent Amidala from dying. I mean, Anakin being seduced by the dark side should have taken a bit longer. Also, the take over the empire over the JEDI was just rushed. I was thinking that there should be a big battle scene between the empire's troopers and the JEDI order.

Overall the movie, although marred with bad acting and dialog, is still good watch. It's something that I'll watch a couple of times or thrice even if I was in a much cheaper cinema. George and the whole star wars team all deserve a pat in the back. Whew, this was probably the longest post I'ver ever written. Hmm.. maybe I can qet a job as movie critic? Nah, this are just my opinions and besides I SO LOVE my job.

Oh, thank you Mia and Tina for inviting me :) (Although mas masaya sana kung libre ;) hahaha!)

HAAR! Never mess with light saber weilding dyeba!!.