"This is how liberty dies - to thunderous applause," Star Wars Politics

[norml]

Some Surprises in That Galaxy Far, Far Away





I.L.M./Lucasfilm/20th Century Fox
Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen in "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith." Anthony Daniels, as C-3PO, is at left.


By A. O. SCOTT

Published: May 16, 2005





Movie Minutes: 'Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith'
A. O. Scott reviews the final installment in George Lucas's epic science fiction series.





I.L.M./Lucasfilm/20th Century Fox
The Jedi master Yoda, voiced by Frank Oz, makes a return appearance in the new film.




ANNES, France, May 15 - With "Episode III - Revenge of the Sith," the "Star Wars" cycle at last comes to an end - or rather to a middle, since the second trilogy, of which this is the final installment, comes before the first in faraway-galaxy history even though it comes later in the history of American popular culture. Like many others whose idea of movies was formed by (and to some extent against) the galactically later, terrestrially earlier "Star Wars" trilogy, I was disappointed by "The Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones." So I approached the recent press screening of "Episode III" in New York warily, and perhaps a little wearily, though to balance my own trepidation I brought along two fans whose enthusiasm in 2005 easily matched my own in 1977, when I was a little older than they are now and when "Star Wars" - oh, all right, "Episode IV - A New Hope" - landed in my hometown.

I was anticipating, at least, a measure of relief: finally, this extravagant, ambitious enterprise, a dominant fact of our collective cultural life for nearly 30 years, would be over. But I was hoping, a little anxiously, for more. Would George Lucas at last restore some of the old grandeur and excitement to his up-to-the-minute Industrial Light and Magic? Would my grown-up longing for a return to the wide-eyed enthusiasm of my own moviegoing boyhood - and my undiminished hunger for entertainment with sweep and power as well as noise and dazzle - be satisfied by "Revenge of the Sith"?

The answer is yeth.

This is by far the best film in the more recent trilogy, and also the best of the four episodes Mr. Lucas has directed. That's right (and my inner 11-year-old shudders as I type this): it's better than "Star Wars."




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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/16/movies/16star.html?hp

[Ouabache]

1. uh, did you know your first picture is missing a light sabre?

thought you might want to know.

[norml]

2. Cannes 'Star Wars' premiere inspires foreign policy discourse

Posted on Mon, May. 16, 2005





Cannes 'Star Wars' premiere inspires foreign policy discourse

By David Germain

ASSOCIATED PRESS


CANNES, France - Without Michael Moore and "Fahrenheit 9/11" at the Cannes Film Festival this time, it was left to George Lucas and "Star Wars" to pique European ire over the state of world relations and the United States' role in it.

Lucas' themes of democracy on the skids and a ruler preaching war to preserve the peace predate "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" by almost 30 years. Yet viewers Sunday -- and Lucas himself -- noted similarities between the final chapter of his sci-fi saga and our own troubled times.

Cannes audiences made blunt comparisons between "Revenge of the Sith" -- the story of Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side and the rise of an emperor through warmongering -- to President Bush's war on terrorism and the invasion of Iraq.

Two lines from the movie especially resonated:




snip




http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/11658644.htm