A Series of Inconsithtencies »
I took Nathan, our oldest son, to see Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith the other day. All in all, the movie was decent. Though I had heard ominous things about a couple of scenes, I can't say that it was too bad. Though only 10, I think he handled it fine. Not sure it's okay for our 7-year-old, though.
Anyway, the thing that jumped out at me most is the length. Episode III clocked in at around 140 minutes, or 10-20 minutes longer than the first three movies. That's just a little too long.
Beyond the length, it was okay. But there were many inconsistencies in the movie. Here's my list of just a few (mini-spoilers ahead)...
I find it odd how the technology 20-odd years prior to the first film was so much better. The ships were cooler and everything. An argument could be made that technology was lost or something, but how come R2D2 had jets that he'd apparently never used before? If I had them, I sure would have.
The lower part of the eye scar on Anakin appears to move, recolor and reshape itself throughout the movie. This could be lighting in different situations, but once I noticed it, it was very annoying.
When General Grievous' ship starts nose-diving, it is in space (a vacuum). The ship still appears to have gravity, since everyone is on the "floor". So why do people slide around? In at least two shuttle-crafts shown later, within the atmosphere and with no apparent (artificial) gravity, similar maneuvers result in the people aboard not moving.
Speaking of Grievous, the general appears to have fleshly organs that are later burnt to a crisp. How did he survive in the vacuum of space, while going through the process of re-entry (at least momentarily)? Wouldn't those organs have burned then?
General Grievous' ship is seen in orbit (or not far from orbit) over a night-time planet. It nose-dives, pulls out and suddenly is in full day sun when landed by Anakin et al. Perhaps the runaway ship circled much of the planet during re-entry?
Obi-Wan later gives General Grievous a lead in a motorized vehicle, then several moments later starts pursuing on an (apparently very fast) beast, as the very next scene has the beast nearly on top of the general's transport.
There was a scene that I cannot completely recall where Anakin was in full daylight - perhaps even the beginning of twilight. But just a few moments later it's the blackest night.
The most noticeable time gaffe had Padme going from a nearly imperceptible bulge in her tummy at the beginning of the film to at least 7 or 8 months pregnant towards the end, while the elapsed time appeared to be a matter of days.
In most scenes of the senate chamber, we see staggered rows of seating, much like a brick wall. Each seating capsule is offset from the one below it (and above it) by half. In at least one scene, the senate chamber shows neatly-stacked columns of the seating units with no overlap.
The lava shoots up and eats through the support of the appendage on which Anakin and Obi-Wan are standing. It seems to take a few seconds. The end of this chunk of metal is soon upended in the lava river itself, where it then floats for a while without suffering any damage.
Also, lava doesn't typically seem to move quite so fast - and the air around a "lavafall" would probably cool the stream considerably, meaning by the time it gets to the bottom it would harden into solid rock again (or very nearly so). While neat to look at, is there some sort of superheated riverbed under this whole thing that makes it flow like that?
How did Anakin put himself out once he was on fire? Assuming the aforementioned superheating of the planet, there is no reason why he should have survived being completely engulfed in flame (other than his role in future movies).
None of these were movie-killers, as it was an enjoyable afternoon. Neither were most of them completely obvious, and if it was one or two items, I may not have noticed the others. But once I started noticing, I couldn't stop. Even if there are explanations for some things, it made the flow of the film seem jerky to me. Sorry, but Star Wars (that's Episode IV: A New Hope to you young 'uns) is still my favorite.
