First we discover that Newsweek lied to us about Koran flushing, now it seems Time has lied to us about Episode III being good. It's becoming so I'll have to read the Weekly World News to get my news: at least they're up-front about being liars. I'm beginning to feel a little like Anikin in the Revenge of the Sith; it seems everyone I've trusted has lied to me.
Spoilers exist in this review so be warned.
Okay, Ep III isn't a horrible film. It isn't a bad film. But it isn't a good film. It's a film with one big flaw, a flaw that we first discovered in the mid 80s and just got worse.
There are excellent fight scenes, especially light sabre duels and neat force powers (Obi-wan jumping from his damaged fighter to clear the bay before Anikin can get his seatbelt unfastened? AWESOME). The Jedi are at their full glory as compared to Star Wars (don't call it "A New Hope"), ESB or even RotJ, with Obi-wan showing wicked cool abilities against General Grievous (why was a robot leader wheezing?), Anikin taking on Duku with finesse and the fight between Yoda and Palpatine being beyond cool. The general plot was pretty good, up there with Empire almost and certainly better than Episodes 1 and 2 and RotJ. The movie kept me entertained and interested, for the most part. However, the acting was horrible (with the notable exception of Ewan McGregor as Obi Wan) with actors that should know better doing lackluster jobs. The writing was stiff, especially anytime Anikin and Padme shared screentime, to the point where I wanted to leave the theatre whenever love was in the air(let's hope the DVD will allow us to skip those parts). Most of all, however, the moral story was atrocious.
Ever since the appearance of Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back, the wise and ancient leader of the Jedis (assumed throughout to be the good guys), the Star Wars films have been morality plays to a great extent. We learn that fear and hatred can lead to the Dark Side, that good must strive to overcome evil with love, that redemption is possible even for the worst in us, and that we must keep ourselves focused on the Good to avoid the trap of Evil. Not too bad of a moral system, although the focus on feelings over reason is problematic. (This is different than allowing intuition to guide us at times, which can be okay, although Lucas seems to blend emotion and intuition into the general "feelings" category.) So amid all of the the action and special effects we got a morality lesson on how to be good Jedi, and therefore good people, which is fine until we get some major problems, especially with truth.
At the end of Empire we find (I told you there were spoilers) Vader telling Luke, "I am your father." This is, of course, in direct contradiction to what Obi-wan, the paragon of Jedi knighthood (and therefore the voice of goodness), had told Luke in the previous film: "A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi knights. He betrayed and murdered your father." (All quotes are courtesy of IMDB and are only as accurate as they are there. Thanks IMDB!) Lots of speculation about this (and other things) flowed freely throughout the next three years as people waited for the big reveal in Return of the Jedi. The general consensus was that Vader was lying because (a) he is evil and evil will lie to further its own ends and (b) Obi-wan is good and good is about truth.
The general consensus was wrong: Obi-wan had lied.
How did he (in ghostly form) respond to this, with Yoda's full approval? He gave Luke line that suggests that Jedis believe that truth (and therefore morality) is relative: "Your father... Was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and BECAME Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So what I told you was TRUE... from a certain point of view." What? You said he murdered him, not that he became him or something possibly ambiguous. Murdered. Obi-wan is a liar with Yoda's implicit approval.
So the Good Guys are liars.
Well, they were still cool, with those light sabres and neat powers. So sixteen years later we get the vomitous Episode I. Here we discover the Jedi Council in the height of their power and influence. Surely if they lie or are deceitful it is only when their backs are to the proverbial wall, right? Nope, the Good Guys are bad here too. And in Episode II. And they reach new heights of immorality in Episode III.
In fact, let's recap some of the moral lessons Lucas and company teach us through the course of the Star Wars films:
- Truth is relative. Good guys lie (or at least use the "From a certain point of view" answer when they should tell the truth). No wonder when confronted by Obi-wan and told that the Sith and Palpatine are evil Anikin replies, "From the Jedi point of view! From my point of view, the Jedi are evil." Episodes III and VI (at the least).
- Being for life is not being for freedom. When given the opportunity to free those in slavery and right great injustice, Qui-Gon Jinn tells us that he didn't come to free slaves. So although they preach a "reverence for all life" it doesn't matter if that life is enslaved. Episode I.
- Trust your feelings, except when they are bad. Not "do what's right" or "follow your conscience" or "don't overthink; allow your intuition to guide you when fighting," but trust your feelings. Maybe that's why truth is relative, because you should trust your feelings rather than an objective "right or wrong." All episodes, except arguably, IV.
- You should follow a Code, except when you shouldn't. One of the things that drives Anikin in this film to question the Jedi is that they ask him to break the Jedi Code. Mace Windu, in a single scene, goes from placing Palpatine under arrest for trial before the senate to attempted murder when Palpatine is "defenseless." Episode III.
- Don't finish the job you're given. Episode III.
What was that last one? About not finishing? Obi-wan goes to the lava planet (why is it that every planet in Star Wars has a single environment: The ice planet, the desert planet, the ocean planet, the city planet, the forest moon, the lava planet?) to stop Anikin. He tells Anikin, "I will do what I must," and they proceed to have a (really cool) light sabre battle for the next ten minutes. During this time Obi-wan gets the upper hand on the bank of the lava river and tells Anikin to give up. Anikin, of course, doesn't listen and Obi-wan deprives him of his legs and an arm. Then, while Anikin lies helpless on the riverbank, sliding into the lava, what does Obi-wan do? He lectures Anikin and leaves (picking up Anikin's light sabre to give to Luke, of course). While he lectures Anikin, Anikin ignites from the heat of the lava and burns, screaming. Does Obi-wan slay his fallen friend, whom he loves and calls "brother"? Nope, he just walks away while his old friend and new enemy burns. Mercy? Nope. If that's in the Jedi Code it isn't in a part that Obi-wan follows. Does he pick up Anikin and take him to a hospital (or the Star Wars equivalent)? Nope, he walks away while Anikin writes in agony when we heard, just moments before, he lectures Anikin that, "It's reverence for all life, including yours," that he respects.
No wonder Anikin turned against the Jedi. The Sith are definitely worse but our hero's, the paragon of Goodness according to Lucas, are lying, shifty, moral relativists with neither mercy or reverence for life.
In other words, the morality play teaches us to be immoral for the cause of good (whatever that may be).
Ach.
The first Star Wars was cool because it was an enjoyable space opera for everyone, neatly combining cutting edge special effects with the best elements of the old westerns, samurai films, and sci-fi serials of cinema before it. Empire trumped it with not only great action but two fantastic acts of true heroism (Han risks his life to rescue Luke in the frozen wastes of Hoth and then risks his life with an experimental freezing procedure for his friends' lives) and a cool twist ending. Jedi was the beginning of the end, with cutesy Ewoks, moral relativity, a second Death Star destroyed almost exactly like the first, and one act of heroism that makes up for years of genocide (so tossing the Emporer into the pit excuses Vader for destroying Alderaan?) clouding the great stories of previous installments. The first two prequils were almost painful to watch with Obi-wan's exploration of the water world and discovering the clone army the only good part of either of them, in my opinion. This new "last" Star Wars film, whie entertaining, was still a massive disappointment.
I think I'll watch Empire again and dream of cool light sabre duels without the garbage.
