If one more person comes up to my desk asking for "help," I swear I'm gonna...

Stupid library patrons.
So, I'm sitting here, wasting time that should be used for some of the multiple projects coming up, and I'm doing nothing. I looked up a lot of wikipedia articles that did nothing but rot my brain, and now I'm watching Episode III. Ah, capitalism and its wonderful incentives to do work. Pshah (trying a little onomatopeia there).
You know, I wanted to strangle myself during the scene with Anakin and Padme on the veranda or whatever. God, horrible dialogue. Portman looks horrible in the shot, with this emaciated, sunken eyes, "on the verge of death" look like someone who experienced the Holocaust for about a month. I really don't get why she looks so god-awful in that scene. And then Anakin says something along the lines of "You're so beautiful" and I almost shouted (in the middle of the library, mind you),"No, you fucking moron, she doesn't. I've seen shots where she looked beautiful. This, you dumbass, isn't one of them." I mean, seriously, Lucas, you'll digitally fuck with every other fucking thing in the movie, why not give her some complexion in this one damn scene. If you're going to say how beautiful someone looks and not have it be a pity compliment (like saying to a burn victim, "No, you're still beautiful, honey"), at least make me understand it. Of course, the scene also has this line, "So, love has made you blind?" which I suppose makes her look make some sense if you want to stretch like a poodle across a couch, but that ain't how it's meant to be.
I guess I'll do a running commentary like I did with War at Home.
So, I really liked Ewan McGregor in this one. See, in the other two, he wasn't Ben Kenobi. He was a shade of Old Ben, but he wasn't there yet. I'm not sure if he slowly adjust to be more like the Ben of the original trilogy or if the writing changed for the character each time. I understand the idea behind having a young Obi-Wan who was by-the-book and very strict in his ideals and then have him change over time to be a more adaptive and resilient Jedi, but it just didn't really work for me. It wasn't until this one where he really seems to be a younger version of the Obi-Wan we see in the original trilogy. There's a balance of humor and serenity, of friend and mentor, of duty and drive. That's the Ben I see in the original movies, that's the Ben I see in Episode III. Rock on, Ewan.
"This war represents a failure to listen." There's something about that line that works in the current contexts of our world, but I'm not really sure how it works in the Star Wars universe, or at least with the Clone Wars. It wasn't a failure to listen that led to the wars, it was (at least on the surface, Sith influence not withstanding) a corrupt bureaucracy that was bogged down in tradition and petty squables that led to the vast majority of systems leaving the Republic. Ultimately, I think it's that line that really, for me, drives home Lucas' attempt to make a statement with the film.
"Good is a point of view, Anakin." Man, how true is that line. See, that's why Palpatine steals the film. He gets all the best lines and spouts a philosophy that one can almost understand why Anakin falls for it. True, it's portrayed as evil from the film's point of view, but it's all relative.
"I know [the Jedi] don't trust you." "Or the Senate, or the Republic, or democracy for that matter." Look, let's cover a few things. First, as I have preached so many damn times, a republic is not a democracy. There might be democratic elements to a republic, but for a republic to exist, true democracy does not. Second, why the hell should the Jedi trust Palps? His term had expired, he's trying to manipulate the Jedi Council by putting Anakin on it, and he won't say that he'll give up his post once the war is finished. To me, that's not a leader that should be trusted. Plus, dude's so friggin' evil, man. Come on!
I've got to say, I read the novelization of this and it was absolutely awesome. I generally dislike novelizations of anything, but the one for Episode III had a cool style and system behind it, analyzing the characters in a really cool way. One of the things that it did was explain why Anakin was so pissed off about not being made a Jedi Master. The Jedi Temple had a bunch of texts that were only accessible to Masters, and some of those texts dealt with prolonging life and bringing people back from death. So, with those texts, Anakin might have been able to save Padme without Palp's help (bunch of good that did him, anyway). At least that concept made it seem more like Anakin actually gave a damn about someone else and not just himself.
"There's no war here, unless you brought it with you." I really like that line. There's this inner war idea that it invokes, that war exists only in the hearts of those whose wage it and that is how war gets transmitted, through contact with those not involved in it, almost like a virus. There's also this sense that war follows you wherever you go. You can see this sense in some veterans, that the war will constantly follow them, no matter where they go.
"Hello there." See, that's something I can totally see old Ben Kenobi doing, analyzing a situation, dropping right in the middle of it, and just totally kicking ass. When I first watched this scene, it was out of context. The video game had the part where he looks down and just drops into the middle of all these droids and says, "Hello there," then instantly pulls out his saber and it switches over to gameplay. To me, it seemed like Ben was just being stupid. Now, I completely understand what he was going for.
"Oh, I don't think so!" There's just this closeup shot of Grievous and Ben's eyes that's totally awesome. The CG of Grievous' face, complete with alien skin and eyes and cracks and scratches in the mask, is really well done. It really lends an intimate feel to the battle between the two characters, too.
"I get the feeling that I'm being excluded from the Council." Gee, you dumbass, could it be that you're not supposed to be on it anyway? It's like gays in scouts. If you force a gay child or leader to be part of a troop, the others are going to exclude them because they're being forced upon them without true acceptance.
There's this moment where Ben kicks Grievous and then yells out in pain, because, well, he's kicking solid metal. As stupid as it seems, it's a totally human moment. When humans are desperate to defend themselves, they'll hit, kick, scratch, do whatever they can. So, to me, Ben's kick, while stupid, is a real human moment for the character, which is something that's often criticized about these films.
Oh, God, it's the horrible scene where Anakin and Padme look at each other while they're several miles apart. Talk about a scene that just drags and adds nothing. We know that Anakin's going to turn because of her, we really don't need this scene. Look, I started typing this paragraph about fifteen seconds into the scene and it's still going on. God, so long.
Finally, cool shit with a bad motherfucker taking on just an evil motherfucker.
I get this sense that Palpatine is really digging the fight, just enjoying the hell out of it. Think about it, he's been this politician in public for roughly twenty years, when's the last chance he's had to kill some Jedi?
"The treason of the Sith will never return." When Mace says this line, we're just supposed to buy it, and I can because I know about "the treason of the Sith" from thousands of years before the movies begin. But what about the fans who haven't a clue? The background of the Sith isn't set up that well in these movies, causing the whole arc concerning the Sith to be somewhat confusing.
"A powerful Sith you will become." Why does Palpy have a Yoda line? Hmmm... Never caught that before.
Gotta tell you, those yellow, glowing eyes on Palpy freak me the fuck out. They freaked me out in Return when I was five, they freak me out now that I'm in my twenties.
"Commander Cody, the time has come." So, you're telling me that the leader of the Republic/Empire has the time to learn the names of every clone commander of every army on every planet, and then to contact them individually. Shouldn't it have just been a broad order to every clone? Palpy's got some serious free time on his hands.
Well, that's it for now. I'm going off to lunch, and then I'll enjoy the live episode of West Wing. God, I hope Alda totally forgets his lines and says something extremely dumb, like the Social Security can be saved. Somebody's gotta slip up or else it just won't be any fun.