Odds & Ends

We have a Revenge of the Sith review.

Filmmaker Kevin Smith has given it a rave review on his website (note that spoiler and language warnings apply: in particular, I feel a little miffed that Smith gave away the final shot of the film). It's the first definitely legitimate review we have.

There have been previous near misses and false alarms. A few months back Josh Griffin, then the editor of The Force.Net, the biggest Star Wars fan site, hinted on the site's forums that he had seen a working version and stated that he would provide a "review of sorts," setting off something of a frenzy. In the end, there was no review - "of sorts" or otherwise - and Griffin instead resigned as editor. (For an interesting but harsh blast at Griffin about this whole debacle by one of Star Wars fandom's more obstreporous figures, click here).

But this is the real Kevin Smith, and he has no doubt seen the film. Smith has good credentials to be posting this review: as he explains in an essay in Glenn Kenney's anthology A Galaxy Not so Far Away, he is a lifelong fan and even got married at Lucas' Skywalker Ranch while doing post-production on his film Dogma. He has also been rumoured as a possible writer / director for the likely Star Wars TV show, a fact that he seems to allude to in the review. Of course, this also counts as a possible conflict of interest.

The other thing that some fans have used to discredit Smith's review is the fact that he gave a positive review of The Phantom Menace back in 1999. In particular, he gave the following damning quote:

I'd rank it right after 'Empire' in a list of fave 'Star Wars' flicks.

Damning because it is of course accepted wisdom by fans that The Empire Strikes Back is the one, shining masterpiece of the series (with the original film close behind). To rank the execrable The Phantom Menace just behind Empire is considered by fans pretty much definitive proof of insanity.

Which would be fair enough if it weren't for the fact that the rest of Smith's 1999 Phantom Menace review is so underwhelmed that it completely fails to back up the quote. He sounds - as so many of us did in 1999 - like someone desperately trying to convince himself that it was okay.

An example? Smith in 1999:

Compare this to Smith in 2005:

"Revenge of the Sith" is, quite simply, fucking awesome. This is the "Star Wars" prequel the haters have been bitching for since "Menace" came out, and if they don't cop to that when they finally see it, they're lying... this flick is so satisfyingly tragic, you'll think you're watching "Othello" or "Hamlet".

Hyperbole raises its own suspicions, but you can't doubt that the enthusiasm level is much higher in the second review.

I obviously have not seen the film: however, I have seen a 7 minute compilation of footage that seems to be very similar to the one described here, with the conspicuous difference that there was definitely no dialogue in the version I saw, only music. The copy I saw was a bootleg, complete with silhouetted heads in the foreground, but you could still get a good feel for it. The footage looked absolutely spectacular. Here's the YouTube version:



I hated The Phantom Menace, and am one of the few who enjoyed Attack of the Clones - but I just have a feeling that this film will really deliver. If Lucas can provide some dialogue and plot that can halfway match what I saw, I'll be happy.