Star Wars: Episode 3.

Star Wars – Episode 3.

Hmmm… it’s 12:43am now and the Star Wars effect still hasn’t worn off (watched the 8:45pm movie courtesy of Computer Associates). Not to say that it was a great movie, but somehow it leaves an impression in my feeble mind. “Oh I pledge my soul to you Master Chancellor… Bestow upon me your powers to control death, and I shall control my fear, (and you) and rule the world!…” haha… This is the part that wasn’t developed too well. It was like Anakin’s so weak and the Ugly Palpatine need not do anything to control him. Maybe Lucas was trying to give the impression that Anakin is evil within and it doesn’t takes much to turn him into the “dark side” as he was a willing victim. Just as Padme was “willing to give up her life”. Well, who wouldn’t feel like dying right after giving birth to twins… haha… Imagine having to do all the hard work with a robot and a 200-year-old man and while you’re pushing, you have to think of appropriate names for the babies. Amazingly, she could still calmly name her babies one by one as they were brought out from her womb. It was like,

Obi Wan: “It’s a girl.”

Padme: “Leia.” And continue to scream to bring the other twin into the world.

Obi Wan: “This one’s a boy.”

Padme: “Luke.” And then proceed to die, of course after enriching Obi-Wan with some important parting wise words.

Well, Lucas tries to appeal to both sexes by making it an extremely tragic love story for the girls and extremely great gadget/sci-fi/robots movies for the boys. However, I really can’t feel the love or passion in this movie. Nor do I feel disturbed when the Jedis were brutally slaughtered. Maybe it was horrible to watch the carnage of the “Younglings”, but luckily it wasn’t shown nor was there any bloodshed like that of Kill Bill.

Anyway, as I watched the show, I can’t help but analyse what kind of message is Lucas trying to send. The obvious one is the good vs evil; where no matter how much good training you’ve undergone, power, lust, fear, can make you weak and send you towards evil.

It also seems to project that love is the root of all evil! This is clearly shown where Anakin sold his soul mainly out of love for Padme and not wanting her to die like his beloved mother. Even the Jedi Masters train their Young Padawan (in a dialogue between Yoda and Anakin) not to have feelings as this will make the Jedi weak. This is equivalent to monks/priests in our world. So now you know where all the good men have gone… to Shaolin Monastery everyone. Ha ha just joking.

Well, let’s not overanalyze here. Let’s just sit back, pop the popcorns, sip the coke and enjoy Lucas’s lifetime masterpiece. I really admire Lucas’s vision for he thought of this during the 70s where robots, lasers, space exploration was really “Beyond 2000”. Now that we’ve already gone beyond year 2000, some of these robots have been actually been built and used to serve humans, i.e. robots that can help fix spaceships or other robots, or robots that can help with the housework etc.

In this concluding episode, the final piece of jigsaw puzzle in the whole Hex-logy, Lucas has cleverly bridge all the gaps from this current trilogy to the next trilogy, like how Anakin became Darth Vader, how Luke and Leia got separated, and why the Emperor has such an ugly face etc… Ah… now we feel complete… May the force be with us all!

Kelly Rivers

1:45am (9 June 2005)