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House of Flying Daggers: B+ »

Now this is the movie I've been waiting since 1983 for. Episodes I and II were simply a five hour setup for this film, the real story of the prequel, and fucking thank god Lucas pretty much nailed it. It's as dark as it should be and it mostly avoids the traps he fell into with the last two films. There's no cutesy Disney characters (Jar Jar has a couple of walk ons but no lines) and the love story actually worked more for me here as it was tinged with the right amount of tragedy now. Yeah the script is still awful, yeah the acting is either wooden or too over the top, sure there's a few items in the overall plot that still don't quite fit, but none of that matters as much this time because Lucas hits all the right notes as far as finishing up this story and bridging the gap to episode IV.

It's actually a pretty good feat that he could successfully end a big Hollywood film series on a down note but he does just that. Mostly because it does a lot to remind you of the "New Hope" that arises in the next trilogy. In fact it does such a good job of tying into the beginning of Episode IV that I can't wait to watch all 6 in order now.

The most pleasant surprise for me, and a lot of people will probably disagree with this, is that Hayden Christensen really felt right as Anakin here. He seemed to grow into the role and I mean that more physically. Watching him lumbering behind Chancellor Palpatine, I could actually buy him filling that Vader suit. His weird inflection seemed to be minimized this time out as well and I think he did a good job of carrying the weight of fear and confusion that eventually brings him down. I might feel differently on a second viewing, but I totally bought his reasoning for shifting to the dark side even if it moved a bit too quickly.

Effects-wise it was, of course, stunning. I don't think the lava planet worked as well as I would have imagined it but that's a minor gripe. I've actually got a number of minor gripes that I could rattle off but for now I'm just going to revel in how close it came to being perfect.

Posted at May 20, 2005 03:34 PM

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