DVD Review: Revenge of the Sith - WS (20th Century Fox/LucasFilm)

[DJ Scotty]

THE SAGA IS COMPLETE.

And so goes the marketing hoopla splashed on this long-anticipated DVD release -- probably the most anticipated release of the pre-Christmas season next to Chris Nolan's Batman Begins; in my mind, there is little doubt that it is indeed George Lucas who spurred this recent Hollywood trend of introducing prequel stories to explain franchises already established with his prequel trilogy idea for the Star Wars legacy. Since Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, we have seen the likes of Exorcist: The Beginning, Batman Begins and will soon see the likes of Superman Returns -- although many will argue that Batman Begins and Superman Returns are more "reinventing" methods for these franchises rather than prequel tales; of course, this is going to be undoubtedly true with regard to Superman Returns as the Man of Steel's story was told in detail in the 1978 original and really needs no prequel introduction of any kind -- it will indeed reinvent the franchise without the help of the late great Christopher Reeve, which I personally think is a mistake.

But say what you will of these prequels today, Lucas has wildly built a rather exciting trilogy structure to tie in the characters we know and love so much from those classic "last three episodes" such as Luke, Han, Chewie and Vader, and while the buildup has been slow and a bit painful at times in terms of pacing and sappy love story backdrops (Attack of the Clones comes to mind here) the end result has paid off, as Revenge of the Sith opens with a bang, grabs you by the throat early and doesn't let go until the very end, bringing full circle the events leading to the original Star Wars as best and as close as possible; of course, the culmination of Anakin Skywalker ultimately becoming the black caped master Jedi Vader is what everyone was waiting for, and Lucas delivered in a somewhat "rushed-feeling" but eye opening end sequence. To be honest, what felt wrong about that whole sequence was that I simply couldn’t picture Hayden Christensen under the black cape as that hulking, heavy-breathing evil master Jedi; and I still cant, no matter how many times I watch it. What makes up for that little shortcoming was the effective use of special effects to punctuate the scene where McGregor cuts off Christensen's legs in their final lightsaber duel amidst the volcanic explosions and he begins to slip into the lava -- this was made vividly shocking through his glowing red eyes and scalding, hairless scalp which hinted at Vader's looks when he is unmasked by Luke in a later film. I thought this was the most effective realization of that final sequence. Don’t get me wrong -- it was a goosebump moment when the suit is fitted over Skywalker's burnt shape and he rises up on the table and speaks through the mask with that voice we all know and love -- the "yes, master" never sounded so cool. There was just something about Christensen being imagined behind that mask, helmet and cape that seemed a slight bit off-putting.....

And so here is the most exciting (in my opinion) entry into the prequel trilogy, after we had to sit through the decent Phantom Menace and then the better-than-decent Attack of the Clones which included some awesome and eye popping lightsaber fight moments (such as the one between Christopher Lee and Yoda at the end) but dragged on and on and on and on and seemed like it would never end because of the sappy, nauseating love story between Christensen and the lovely Portman intertwined within every other scene. Here, in Episode III, we have Christensen not playing such a whiny, ridiculously over-hammy infant as he did in Episode II; the character has matured, as his hair has become fittingly long to coincide with his turning to the Dark Side, and although he still rattles off cheesy, sappy lines from time to time during this, the performance is much more enjoyable than in Episode II as his rage and anger is encapsulated in the final showdown between him and his mentor, rather expertly bridging this rage that drives him to the Dark Side of the Force. And oh my Lord does Natalie Portman look even more delicious in this than she did in Episode II as if that were possible....she's one of the hottest phillies prancing around in Hollywood that can find a spot in my stable any time she wishes...

Gone are the drawn-out plot mysteries here as well, as Lucas, as aforementioned, starts things off with a bang via a monster space battle sequence and begins what seems to be action scene after action scene where lightsabers are being whipped out almost every moment and basically provides fans with what they want most. While there are moments during Episode II that can pretty much put you to sleep (those romantic interludes between Portman and Christensen are of note), that doesn’t really happen in this final installment. We are treated to a wicked lightsaber duel between Christopher Lee and Christensen (which begins with McGregor too but he is put out of commission during the fight by Lee and Christensen takes over) where Christensen's powers as a Jedi have increased to the point that he ends up cutting Lee's hands off with his lightsaber and then his head with two sabers -- it was a pretty cool moment. We also unfortunately witness the demise of Samuel L. Jackson's Master Jedi character who is eliminated during a duel with the Chancellor (who ends up becoming the evil master of the Dark Side) because of interference by Christensen's character who is struggling with the concept of good and evil as the Chancellor attempts to win him over to the Dark Side by promising him powers beyond imagination. Christensen plays this struggling lead role quite effectively here -- as I said, much better than his whiny performance in Episode II -- as we get glimpses of his "changing characteristics" from beneath the hood during his transition to "Darth Vader" with shots of his glowing red eyes and anger-contorted face. Lucas worked this in effectively in my opinion. And so it is here in Episode III that the Chancellor ends up being the Sith Lord the Jedi’s have been searching for all along -- once considered a peaceful, honest and government-minded man, the Chancellor is now unmasked as the power-wielding evil master, who has already turned Christensen onto the Dark Side, the clone army against the Jedi as they ultimately become the infamous Storm Troopers for the Dark Side, had his face disfigured during the fight with Samuel L. Jackson's Jedi Master character and even engages in a wild, over-the-top lightsaber fight sequence with Yoda. Lucas really went all-out on this last one.

Also of great importance in the world that is Star Wars and an aspect which Lucas didn’t gloss over (but is somewhat rushed at the end along with the Darth Vader creation sequence) was Portman's pregnancy -- which, of course, ties in the birth of Luke Skywalker and his sister. The film concludes with these births and their subsequent adoptions, as Portman dies during childbirth (as Christensen had been having nightmares about all along and was promised the power of the Dark Side would be able to save her life) and while rather abrupt in execution when you watch the film from beginning to end -- as the children are given to Jimmy Smits' character as well as McGregor's and then suddenly the credits hit the screen -- it was an effective way of Lucas getting the whole "Padmae-gives-birth-to-Luke Skywalker-and-his-sister" aspect stuffed in there during the picture's typical lengthy running time.

But the highlight of the whole project has to be the final confrontation between Anakin and Obi Wan before Anakin becomes Vader; the execution of the scene is shiver-inducing, as Anakin wants nothing more than to kill his mentor as his ways of thinking via his new evil master have clouded his mind into believing the Jedi’s are evil -- and Obi Wan wants nothing more than to stop his new evil-minded apprentice and kill him if need be for turning on the Jedi Order. The battle is awesome, as the two of them duke it out flipping, jumping and swinging sabers at each other while the volcanic unstable foundation they are fighting on comes apart. Christensen, towards the last moments of the fight, warns McGregor that his time is over, leading us to believe that Christensen is in a position to kill McGregor at the end of this battle -- but it is the more seasoned Jedi Master who ends up slicing off Christensen's legs with a lightsaber and then, in anger for turning to the Dark Side, lets him slide into a pool of volcanic molten lava without trying to save him as Christensen hisses "I HATE YOU!" while his eyes glow red and we enter the pre-Vader moments of his life. Lucas helps us understand the legend behind Vader's creation and how he came to be, as the now-evil Chancellor arrives after the lightsaber fight between Christensen and McGregor to find Christensen still barely alive. He is taken back to the Chancellor’s secret hideaway (where it is hinted at here the creation of the infamous Death Star weapon is already in progress) and the special mechanical life support suit is fitted for Anakin -- transforming him into Darth Vader. The rest, as they say, is history (or, in this case, future?)...

CONTINUED IN PART II OF THE REVIEW...

 

[DJ Scotty]

Revenge Of The Sith Review - Part Ii

20th Century Fox, in tradition of the first two episodes in the trilogy, has released Revenge of the Sith in a two-disc edition, available separately in widescreen or full screen formats; the widescreen version has been selected for this review and my personal collection, of course, while artwork on the cover remains in the fashion of the past two DVD releases. That is, the episode number and name remains on the upper left side of the front cover and face shots of the characters sprinkle the cover as well; in the center is a shot of Christensen and McGregor in the final lightsaber duel which could have looked a little less cartoonish.

VIDEO SPECIFICATIONS:
ANAMORPHIC 2:35:1 WIDESCREEN TRANSFER, THX MASTERED & CAPTURED AND CREATED DIRECTLY FROM THE DIGITAL SOURCE

What can possibly be wrong with an all-direct digital to screen transfer? In the latest trend by Lucas to transfer all these Star Wars trilogy sagas in their direct digital format, the results have been pretty jaw dropping from the time Phantom Menace hit the shelves; both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith look pretty much perfect and pristine -- although some purists will argue with the merits of an all-digital presentation as this eliminates a "roughness" sometimes found in film-to-DVD transfers that aren’t done in the original digital domain. There's really nothing much to say about this 2:35:1 transfer as it is everything you would expect it to be from a massively-budgeted over-the-top blockbuster of recent release; there were EXTREMELY brief moments when I was able to detect the image becoming SLIGHTLY less-than-perfect with a bit of "video noise" in the background of some scenes -- but the effect was extremely minor and didn’t distract from the overall presentation. The audio was where I was actually more concerned...

AUDIO SPECIFICATIONS:
ENGLISH THX MASTERED DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1 EX, ENGLISH DOLBY SURROUND 2.0, FRENCH AND SPANISH DOLBY SURROUND 2.0; ENGLISH SUBTITLES; COMMENTARY TRACK BY GEORGE LUCAS, RICK MCCALLUM, ROB COLEMAN, JOHN KNOLL AND ROGER GUYETT

I went into this with massively high expectations, especially considering that a fellow reviewer friend warned me not to run this DVD at reference level ESPECIALLY during the opening sequence because of the ridiculous LFE level used on the Dolby 5.1 EX track; what I came out with was disappointing to say the least -- in MY personal estimation and on my system, which I recalibrated several times after finding the first run of results, and which yielded the exact same responses. I began the film (running, of course, its 5.1 EX track) at reduced levels, per my cohort's recommendations, WAY under reference level, and that opening sequence of the space battle did exhibit some thunder from my sub -- but nothing that shook the plates off the walls like the ship explosion in the beginning of Episode II which often snapped my sub to death; from there, I noticed a distinct lack of "power" to the track -- ship fly-bys and score seemed to be "lost" somewhere in the mix -- a characteristic I found on Episode II's 5.1 EX track too and which just may be a recording style prepared for these films on DVD. But the overall impression that I got was that this was a SOFT audio track -- I know this sounds hard to believe, but to me, nothing seemed overtly aggressive here; sure, sounds found their way to the surrounds but it, unbelievably, wasn’t that often (the SAME thing I experienced during the film's theatrical run which leads me to believe this may have been the way it was intentionally recorded) and there was a lack of "punch" to the mix. Where during Episode II I could almost feel the lightsabers whipping around the room and through the surrounds on that 5.1 EX track, the saber fights here didn’t seem to have nearly the same impact. For the most part, I found everything remained up front and there was that typical "hushed" quality to the way the score came across over the action as it seemed, as I said, "lost" somewhere in the layers of other audio cues. This, as I am suspecting, may be a Star Wars DVD "problem" as I remember it plaguing the Episode II disc as well, but I thought that DVD was more aggressive in nature than Episode III. LFE was present, but, again, not as shockingly aggressive as on the Episode II 5.1 EX track -- that mix had a constant bombardment of bass that kept my walls rattling and it just didn’t seem to be happening on the Episode III track.

What was most unsettling, however, was the fact that I was finding that I needed to crank my master volume settings beyond what I normally would for a given action blockbuster of recent release -- that this soundtrack wasn’t giving me the sonic attack I was hoping it would. To give you a little example (which is irrelevant to anyone who does not own an Onkyo product), my receiver seems to be delivering a "comfortable" surround experience somewhere in the "50" range on the volume display and higher, based on my calibration settings; Episode III's 5.1 EX track didn’t get cooking and room filling until almost around "56" on my volume display, and it could have used more, to be honest. And even at that level, distractions broke into my theater and over the audio even during action sequences; it was disappointing as I was expecting a lot more.

Again, I recalibrated the system several times after making the first analysis of the mix, and I got the same results each time -- that the overall "level" of this track is on the weak side, believe it or not, and that it didn’t impress me all that much even though I had been anticipating its audio mix since the announcement of the November 1 DVD release. Now, there could be a couple of things at play here: first of all, it is remotely possible that I did in fact get a defective copy from Best Buy and that it has a somewhat flawed audio track; this is highly unlikely, I know, but remotely possible. Also, there could be a factor at work here regarding the EX "collapsing" effect which takes place in my system because I do not have that sixth back surround channel and so the EX signal is collapsed between the two standard surrounds; I don’t know if this is in any way affecting the playback results on this title, but I do know I was left with a rather empty feeling regarding the audio for such an action-packed conclusion to the prequel saga. Like I said, if anyone would like to discuss different -- or the same -- results of the performance of this title in your system, please fire away.

SPECIAL FEATURES on DISC TWO were mind-boggling, as they were on the first two Episodes' releases, and included:

-Six never before seen Deleted Scenes created just for this release, with introductions by George Lucas and Rick McCallum
-All new full length documentary "Within a Minute" gives you the most in depth look ever into the filmmaking process for a Star Wars movie by examining everything and everyone that went into making less than 60 seconds of Episode III
-Take an inside look at the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker as he transforms into Darth Vader in the exclusive featurette "The Chosen One"
-Witness firsthand the extreme training behind involved in creating the most intense Jedi action battles of the sage in the exclusive featurette "It's All For Real"
-Go behind the scenes of the making of Revenge of the Sith in an unparalleled 15 part web documentary collection
-"A Hero Falls" music video featuring John Williams' "Battle of the Heroes" track
-Theatrical teaser and launch trailer and 15 TV spots
-Theatrical posters and print campaign from around the world
-Never before seen Production Photo Gallery with special caption feature
-Access a special Xbox playable demo with two entire levels from the new Star Wars Battlefront II video game and watch video game trailers for Star Wars Battlefront II and Star Wars Empire at War
-DVD ROM weblink to exclusive Star Wars content

 

[Sheep]

Ok fella, I'll be the first to tell ya.

If your "review" is too large for one, or you want it separate, put in post 2, NOT another thread. Thats goes for all of your reviews.

SheepStar

 

[Audioholics]

I took care of that...

 

[hunnybunny2383]

Wow I thought Iwas the only one who noticed that the sound was a little off.. Its like home theater dropped back in time or something. Even on a 6.1 setup there was very little surround usge( with the exception of the musical score). However my front three did get a very good workout. The problems mentioned ( lack of LFE, very little surround use, etc.) does leave you with a feeling of sonic dissapointment because the sound doesnt envelope and surround you it just kinda comes at you leaving you with a incomplete emotional tie to the movie and whats going on in the scene..But this is just my very humble opinion.

 

[DJ Scotty]

Ok fella, I'll be the first to tell ya.

If your "review" is too large for one, or you want it separate, put in post 2, NOT another thread. Thats goes for all of your reviews.

SheepStar

Thanks for the info, Sheep, although it could have been said in a bit of a kinder way -- but now I know how to post long reviews. Thank you. I never experienced this lack of bandwidth problem on any other site!

 

[DJ Scotty]

Wow I thought Iwas the only one who noticed that the sound was a little off.. Its like home theater dropped back in time or something. Even on a 6.1 setup there was very little surround usge( with the exception of the musical score). However my front three did get a very good workout. The problems mentioned ( lack of LFE, very little surround use, etc.) does leave you with a feeling of sonic dissapointment because the sound doesnt envelope and surround you it just kinda comes at you leaving you with a incomplete emotional tie to the movie and whats going on in the scene..But this is just my very humble opinion.

Hey Bunny,

Thanks for your thoughts and for reading the review! Im glad someone else noticed this audio problem on the 5.1 EX mix here; the sound was DEFINITELY off, even according to my contacts over at Home Theater and DVD ETC. Magazines; they confirmed this for me that the sound was nowhere near as impactful as on, say, Episode II.

 

[Sheep]

Thanks for the info, Sheep, although it could have been said in a bit of a kinder way -- but now I know how to post long reviews. Thank you. I never experienced this lack of bandwidth problem on any other site!

Sorry if it sounded harsh, Tone is hard to percieve through typing.

On the other hand, this isn't a place for you to pimp your reviews for free. This is an Audio/Video forum. They conduct their own professional reviews of movies.

You can have reviews, but they can't be TO large, and so frequent.

SheepStar

 

[DJ Scotty]

Sorry if it sounded harsh, Tone is hard to percieve through typing.

On the other hand, this isn't a place for you to pimp your reviews for free. This is an Audio/Video forum. They conduct their own professional reviews of movies.

You can have reviews, but they can't be TO large, and so frequent.

SheepStar

I'm not trying to "pimp" anything "for free"...lol....just sharing some information about audio and video specs on DVDs......