I am three kinds of depressed right now.
The first kind is a result of the perfect tragedy of the story. Anakin turns against everything he believes in, everything the people who love him believe in, in order to save the woman he loves. But as he walks further and further down that path, he loses even that. Just enough. Just enough so that when Sidious causes Padme to die, Anakin finds it conceivable that his own Force-choke was the reason. That he had killed his wife; that his ties with his former life have been completely severed; that all he can do now is move on down the dark path, continue his quest for power--not for any noble purpose, but because it is all he has left.
I could have believed in that tragedy.
The movie didn't let me.
It was so good. I was thoroughly enjoying myself. I was happy. New things were happening that I didn't expect, but that made sense. I watched Palpatine's web of deception and I understood, to the depth of my being, how it was affecting Anakin. I was convinced that it would all culminate in one great event that would send Anakin plummeting into the Dark Side; I had every indication that the story was that strong.
The event turned out to be Palpatine pretending to be frail so that Anakin would save him from Windu--Anakin slicing off Windu's hand--Palpatine "recovering", screaming "unlimited power!" and blasting Windu to his death with Force lightning.
This happened, and Anakin said thickly, "What have I done?"
And you see how this could not possibly have been the scene that turned him. For he still had remorse.
But he staggered forward as Palpatine approached him. He dropped to his knees. He said, "I will do whatever you wish." He said, "I pledge myself to you." And when Palpatine immediately slay all the Jedi, he said, "Yes, my master."
In his very next scene, Anakin ignites his lightsaber to kill a child.
I do not believe in Anakin's fall to the Dark Side!
I do not believe that the man who, for the duration of the film's exposition, was in anguish over his feelings of ambition and jealousy, who strove to do the right thing, who refused to leave Obi-Wan to die, could so quickly turn to slaying children.
The Windu scene could have been a factor. One that caused him to rethink everything. But it couldn't be the factor.
Not unless Palpatine was doing something to Anakin's mind. And while this is a possibility (especially given Palpatine's apparent ability to kill people from afar), there is no indication that he is doing anything. The film does not provide evidence of this theory. I have only come up with it out of desperation.
That scene is the primary reason for my second depression, my depression at the fact that the movie could have been brilliant. There is another.
Anakin and Obi-Wan's duel.
"Don't try it," Obi-Wan warns, but Anakin leaps anyway--and then Obi-Wan relieves Anakin of all his remaining limbs. Anakin's body falls to the edge of the rocky hill and catches fire due to the molten lava not a foot away from him. He burns, and writhes, and screams.
And Obi-Wan watches, and then turns and walks away.
"You were my brother," he said. "I loved you."
But he was going to let this "brother" die in torment, rather than putting him immediately out of his misery. He didn't expect Anakin to survive. But he didn't ensure Anakin's death.
I can understand the reasoning that Obi-Wan couldn't stand to kill Anakin. He said as much when Yoda sent him on that very mission. But I find it hard to believe that Obi-Wan could stand to watch Anakin suffer through that much pain. I find it hard to believe that Obi-Wan wouldn't show his padawan, his brother, mercy.
There is an answer for both of these scenes, and it is the worst answer possible.
"Well, it had to happen that way, to prepare for the other movies."
These scenes were very good, but in the end they were both forced to fit a mold that was no longer suitable. Realism--I mean story realism, realism of character--was abandoned in favor of getting everything to work out correctly.
I think Lucas was on the road to telling a different story than he originally intended, and I think the new story changed how other things worked out. Padme wasn't supposed to die in childbirth, after all. Leia remembered her mother. "Very beautiful...kind, but sad." Lucas had to change this to make Anakin's fall work out properly. I'm not happy with that edit, but I can understand the need for it. Anakin needed to lose Padme so that Palpatine could manipulate him fully. Leaving her alive would have fit the later movies, but it would have felt unbelievable. "Surely Anakin could sense Padme," people would say. "Surely he'd look for her, surely he wouldn't just believe Palpatine's word."
Lucas saw that this would be unrealistic, and he modified it. But he didn't apply the same wisdom to the two most important scenes of the movie.
I do not believe in Anakin's fall to the Dark Side, and I do not believe in Obi-Wan's decision to leave Anakin writhing in pain.
Those two scenes were the pillars for the entire film. And they completely collapsed, taking the rest of the movie--which was perfectly planned, well-executed, beautifully rendered, and even decently acted--down with them.
I think the overall story was sound. I think the acting was good. I think the special effects were wonderful, and they didn't seem to overshadow the plot this time. This could have been a brilliant movie.
But in crunch time, at the moment when everything had to make sense, when I was supposed to be twisted up inside with the terrible necessity of it all, when I should have been thinking, "They don't know what they're doing, but it couldn't have happened any other way"...it all fell flat. None of the artistry that went into making the rest of this film beautiful could save the two glaring plot inconsistencies that sucked all joy out of my final Star Wars experience.
And that, my friends, is my third depression. This is it; this is the end. This movie, that could have been great, that should have been great, has put the final nail in the coffin of the girl who once introduced herself to her dormmates with "The most important thing about me is that I love Star Wars."
It's all over. And I don't even get to say "What a way to go."
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11 comments:
ok, I'll open up the can o' worms...
the reason that the fall is a little more believable, at least to me, is due to a few things that you left out.
for one, Anakin has allready demonstrated a capacity for killing children when he killed the tuskan raider women and children after the death of his mother. add to that the fact that he was doing it, in his mind, to save padme because once he fullfilled palpatine's order of killing off all remaining jedi, he'd teach him about how to save people from dying, and he further expressed how determined he was not to let padme die like his mother.
well, at least that's some things that made it believable to me
Well, those are all good reasons. In fact, those are the reasons why the story itself is good, and should not have failed.
My issue is with the specific scene in which he turns. It occurs suddenly and inexplicably. This is a problem with execution, not with plot. A better storyteller could have gotten Anakin to that point without the intellectual disconnect.
well, I think that's what it felt like to me, it wasn't a sudden change, there was definite steps towards the dark side, even in that moment. It's just that each step was more severe than the next, then he takes the final step which was the almost killing of padme to make him totally go over to the dark side and want to kill kenobi. I just don't think that it was that specific scene where he turns, it was a gradual process of his growing distrust of the other jedi from really the beginning of ep. 2. I just don't think that it was that big of a leap, yeah, he saved kenobi at the beginning of the movie, but before that he was angry at him for impeding his progress.
The more I look at it, it actually seems more real cause it's a lot how a regular person would be, there's not usually going to be one huge event in a person's life that will make them a serial killer but rather a series of events that over time builds up to push that person over the edge.
People by nature aren't consistant and there will be plenty of changing of mind depending on the circumstance, but once anikan thought he killed padme, or actually did, that was his point of no return. After all he had nothing else to go on for except power, and where better place to find it than in the dark side. :)
I think you're confused about what scene I'm talking about.
Let me express that I have no problem with Anakin's actions after he becomes Darth Vader. It's the scene where he submits fully to the emperor that I have a beef with. Everything leading up to that, and everything after that is fine.
I was soooo loving the movie as I watched it. Unlike many reviewers, I had no problems with the love scenes. The action was intense and fantastic. Really the only thing I can think of to complain about, up until that scene, is General Grievous' voice, which just sounded weird.
But when that scene happened, all of that glorious experience died. Everything that came before was lost, and nothing that came after could make up for the fact that Anakin gave himself to Sidious in such an unrealistic way.
I have studied storytelling for years now, so maybe when a story isn't well-executed I have a harder time than other people in passing over the flaws.
But believe it or not, my opinion is actually very complimentary to the movie. If I hadn't been loving it so intensely up until that moment, there's no way I would have been anywhere near as disappointed as I was by that scene.
I understand where you are coming from I guess I didn't see it as being the one minute he's a good guy and the next he's not. at the point in that scene it seemed like he felt like the betrayal was the right thing to do, but he didn't feel good about it at all. Like the council was trying to take over, so he had to take sides. and he choose palpatine. Maybe I'm confusing the fall to the dark side with pledging allegience to palpatine. cause they aren't exactly the same things. but if were saying that he choose to ally with palpatine too quickly then I would still have to say that it was a gradual process.
I feel like we're both saying the same thing over and over and not getting anywhere, so I'll just stop here.
Oh, I will say one more thing.
In the theater we were in, when the scene with Anakin swearing fealty to Palpatine switches to the scene where the scared little boy asks Master Skywalker what's going on, and the new Darth Vader ignites his lightsaber...
...a huge group of people laughed.
If that scene had played out correctly, no one would have laughed at that.
I get what you are saying, Heather, and I totally agree with you. It was the most crucial scene in the movie and it fell flat. My friends and I agreed in a discussion after the movie that the last step he took lacks the intensity and conflict required in such a scene. We're talking about ditching a lifetime of Jedi values for the dark side. The conflict between that and his desire to keep Padme alive and by his side just didn't show. Where was the turning point? Why the abrupt change? I think it could have been done MUCH better. *sigh* And that's my main grip about the movie.
Dawn
yeah, i agree that the fall of anakin wasn't very smooth. it moved in small, sudden jumps of emotion, rather than a gradual slide down.
but here's my take on some of the situations you mentioned:
first off, the scene where anakin swears fealty is somewhat acceptable. anakin had made his choice when he left the council chambers. he knew what he would find, and he knew that he was there to see things go HIS way. whether it was the Light side, where palpatine was captured, or the Dark side where palpatine prevailed, he only cared that palpatine survived to teach him. he had given into the exact fear of loss yoda had warned him against.
when he said "what have i done?", that was supposed to show a small backslide in his morals. that was where you get to see the tiny seed of good in anakin. that is the tiny seed that bears fruit at the end of ROTJ.
instead, anakin finds himself in a state of shock. a state that palpatine easily takes advantage of, bending anakin's mind to his will. it's not a hard thing to do, because at this point, anakin has decided to give up all responsibility. he can't understand why he stopped windu, he can't deal with the evil he just did, so to protect himself from the guilt, he gives up his will to palpatine. he chooses to become a puppet, so that he can blame his actions on someone else. "lord sidious TOLD me to this... the jedi attacked ME..."
he doesn't exactly fall to the dark side. he just allows his actions to be dictated by a sith lord.
and when obi-wan watches anakin burn at the end, i felt indecision in him. he couldn't kill anakin, because he loved him so much. yet at the same time, he was on a mission to stop anakin at all costs. torn between his feelings of love for his padawan, and his feelings of duty to the order, he watched and let the fire make a decision for him.
Hai, thanks for your meaty explanation.
instead, anakin finds himself in a state of shock. a state that palpatine easily takes advantage of, bending anakin's mind to his will. it's not a hard thing to do, because at this point, anakin has decided to give up all responsibility. he can't understand why he stopped windu, he can't deal with the evil he just did, so to protect himself from the guilt, he gives up his will to palpatine. he chooses to become a puppet, so that he can blame his actions on someone else. "lord sidious TOLD me to this... the jedi attacked ME..."
he doesn't exactly fall to the dark side. he just allows his actions to be dictated by a sith lord.
I have to agree with your take here. I feel like this is the interpretation we're supposed to have. It makes a hell of a lot of sense. The pieces are all there, and they fit.
Because I didn't get that immediately during the scene, however, I am still going to have to argue that something was wrong with the way that scene was crafted.
I'm going to go see it again when I get the chance. I'll have to see if I am struck the same way by that scene, or if a fresh perspective will change how it affects me.
Concerning your explanation of Obi-Wan...yeah. I've said to friends that the Obi-Wan thing, while almost as bad as the Anakin thing, would have been forgiveable on its own. I think the believability of his actions was called into question for me because the film's credibility had already been deeply shaken by Anakin's fealty scene.
Shade actually suggested to me that Obi-Wan didn't put Anakin out of his misery because he subconsciously wanted him to suffer. That's something I would never have even thought of.
However, I have a theory that Obi-Wan was in unrequited love with Padme, and a person in that situation would hold resentment towards the person who had "beaten" him. Even if it's subconscious, and against everything he'd learned about restraint and giving in to emotions. (Of course, Obi-Wan still managed to restrain himself.)
There is little evidence for this theory, but I think that in order for Sidious' machinations to be successful, he had to play on events that were real. After all, the best lies are the ones that are filled with truth. So he picked up on Obi-Wan's feelings for Padme, and stuck Obi-Wan into Anakin's dream.
(I am really impressed with Palpatine/Sidious' plotting. This spans all three movies. I thought it was rather simplistic during TPM, and extremely confusing during AotC, but everything came together brilliantly in RotS.)
So. There were things in the movie that were a little goofy, and a little awkward, and a little canon-refuting, but nothing that really detracted. Even the Obi-Wan issue can be explained. It seems that the crux of the issue, for me, is Anakin's acceptance of Sidious' leadership. It is that scene that poisoned me against the movie as a whole. I'm going to see it again. I'm hoping that the scene will flow better the next time.
I don't think that my initial reaction is "wrong", however. (I mean, it's an opinion.) If I was in a situation of suspended disbelief, as one should be during a movie, and suddenly I was kicked violently out of it by something that happened on screen, that's not my fault. I wasn't going into this film looking for something to hate, so I could whine about how all three prequels suck. (Hell, I enjoyed AotC. While I wouldn't put it on the level of ANH or ESB, I sometimes think it's better than RotJ in terms of plot.)
Because I want to like this movie--because the movie is so good--I am hoping that my reaction to that scene will change the next time I see it. That won't take away my initial reaction, of course...but feelings can change over time, as we all know, and I'm hoping that I will love this movie in the long term.
At first I was locked into a second viewing because I had made promises to see the movie with two groups who, for various reasons, could not see it at the same time. After my first run through, I felt a need to see the movie again. I felt like I missed some things.
The second viewing helped me find those pieces. Perhaps a second viewing will help you too.
In truth, I'm still processing the two viewings. I think I may have to see it again, just be sure of some things.
--Mr.J
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